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Posted: 2/8/2006 12:36:13 PM EDT
I seem to have acquired a pet rabbit, thanks to some people who decided not to take her back.
She's not spayed. I just found out that unspayed female rabbits have an 85% chance of cancer in their reproductive system. Spaying is expensive, even more so on rabbits than on cats because they don't tolerate anaesthetic well. So, is it ethical for me to leave her unspayed, or should I take her in to a vet to get her spayed? |
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Let it live for a while, give it a good life, lots of food, fatten it up, AND STEW IT.
Rabbit tastes good, it doesn't require any more care than a chicken, if it's injured or sick just put it down. It's a rodent, would you take a mouse your cat had wounded to the vet? |
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If you're sleeping with a crazy bitch it will be boiled soon enough.
If not then I'd get it done if you are seriuos about keeping it. |
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Here's my vote. Yum!
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I don't think it's unethical. It's nature. If you can deal with the consequences then don't do it.
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Another option is to contact a rabbit rescue and surrender the rabbit to be re-homed with someone who would give it the veteranary care it needs. I probably *wouldn't* get a female rabbit if I knew this were the case, but if I did have a female rabbit as a pet, and I found out about this, I'd take her to the vet and have the surgery done. Jim |
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Rabbits have short life expectacy anyways, they are not supposed to be pets they are supposed to be food, if you want to keep it as a pet do so but dont go get parts cut out of it because you think it will ive longer.
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It is not a rodent, but technically a lagomorph. Too common, cheap, and short-lived for surgery.
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Whatever you do, don't buy it a stuffed rabbit for a toy.
Friend of mind did that, and the rabbit humped his toy to death. |
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If it was my rabbit and I was going to keep it as a pet I would get it spayed and take care of it properly.
Bunch of rabbit-hating buttmunches! |
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Breed her and slaughter the bunnies when they get 3.5 to 4 pounds live weight.
FAR better than chicken as there is no E. Coli bacteria to worry about. When chickens are processed, the plucking is right after the head removal and all the nasties from the gut gets all over the meat. YUCK! But with rabbit, you kill them by dislocating the neck with a jerk of the wrist. Then you carefully skin it, keeping the outside out and the inside clean. When you eviscerate, it is very easy to keep the meat perfectly sterile. Not so with chickens. The meat is very low fat, tender and all white. It is far better than chicken as it has no fat. And it tastes very good. I don't hate rabbits, I LOVE rabbit. When raised, prepared and cooked properly. |
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If people are going to have pets they should spend whatever it takes to provide them with a healthy life or not have pets.
If people are going to raise animals for food they should ensure that the animal is healthy and treated humanely until slaughter. |
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This is bullshit vet speak for "bring it in so we can make more money!!!" I have found most vets are as ethical used car salemen and sleazy back dentists (chiropractors). While there are honest and good ones, they are hard to find. If the above statement were true, there would be dead rabbits everywhere. My (former) vet said the same thing about my lab. Full of Shit he was. |
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+1. To clarify for a couple of people, I didn't "get a pet rabbit", I took her in from some folks who were moving, and whom I thought were going to take her back once they resettled (they in turn had rescued her from someone who was taking very poor care of her). Then they decided they didn't want her back. And another person, who was supposed to help find her a permanent home if this happened, flaked out. Don't get me wrong, she's really sweet -- friendly, cuddly, and very easy to care for (much more so than a cat or dog) -- but this was a temporary favor that turned out to be a permanent one. |
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Then ask the locals. |
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as they say in Taiwan "you can eat anything with 4 legs except tables and chairs" |
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There is no answer other than what YOU want.
If you are very attached to it, and feel an obligation to take the best care of it that you can, then of course you should do what you can to minimize the risk of cancer. If you are relatively indifferent, and have already done a good deed by adopting it, then there is nothing wrong with "letting nature take its course" - it would probably have died much sooner if you had not adopted it, so you get "credit" for all its life up to the cancer anyway. I honestly don't think there is a "correct" answer. I've spent 10K on cancer treatments for my cat, but I don't see anything wrong with someone else deciding that it's not worth $100 to save a cat. As much as I like my cat, it is ultimately still just an animal, and has the meaning and value that YOU place in it. |
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Now that it looks like you won't be going back to Daneland (married and all) there is talk of a group buy to get you spayed. Do we need a poll? |
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15% chance it will be just fine. Personally, I will take those odds.
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I'm willing to take donations - if people send me enough money I promise I'll get a vasectomy (for the good of mankind). |
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....Ummm, , , , -you do know that after rabbits turn about six months old, they can throw five or six litters a year???..... (and in the wild, most of them probably do) ----- I am in the "don't keep a pet unless you will take care of it" camp. Try to find someone else who wants it enough to take proper care of it. ~ |
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Yes, I am aware of the procreation habits of the common rabbit and the hare. But I am also aware that vets are like surgeons and used car salesmen. They want to spay and neuter everything they can and run up charges wherever they can. Not all vets are this way, but many are. Additionally, unless Achmed's rabbit is the Blessed Virgin Mary, he should be fine with it. Immaculate Conceptions in the animal kingdom never happen. Keep the bunny in a cage by itself and there shouldn't be an little bunnys. BTW, Achmed, does your bunny have a pancake on its head by any chance? |
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I never understood these questions...
It's an animal, you either care for it, or eat it. Just make the determination. GM |
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There are bad vets, without a doubt, but to say that most of them are "bad" and only interested in money is foolish. By that logic most people on here are mass-murderers-in-waiting.
Anyway, a lot of vets won't spay rabbits because they are much harder to spay than cats/dogs unless the vet has a lot of pactice with them. If the rabbit is a pet then there is nothing wrong with spaying it, but it's your call. I like DKProf's answer. |
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It's a rabbit, it's not a long term buddy, it will pass soon enough, leave it alone.
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That rabbit is dynamite!
I disbelieve your Vet's statement. It just sounds illogical for the survival of a species. |
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Not if the species breeds like rabbits. |
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