Spay and neuter your house rabbits!

This is Turbo the Terrible!

Turbo was adopted from a local animal shelter. There are a lot of house rabbits in shelters and rescue facilities that need homes.

Turbo is a very spoiled Diva Bunny

The shelter told us that Turbo was not spayed. We planned to find a vet for the procedure. Spaying/neutering house rabbits is very important. Many people know about spaying/neutering dogs and cats. This is just as important for house rabbits for all the same reasons: the animals are happier and healthier and no unwanted litters are produced.

But, Turbo had a secret!

Nobody knew that Turbo was already pregnant when we brought her home. This is her nest of five babies that we found one morning shortly after her adoption!

After the shock wore off, we immediately contacted the shelter. They offered to take the babies when they were weaned. But because they didn’t neuter rabbits it wasn’t our favorite option. Now I’m not saying anything bad about the facility; the director even agreed to hand out a flyer we designed to educate adopters about rabbit health care.

Baby bunny!

Right after the babies were born, the work began. We did A LOT of research. The few rabbit-specific shelters in our state were full to capacity and couldn’t help us. We contacted dozens of facilities (veterinarians, spay/neuter clinics, other shelters) and learned a lot. Ultimately, we decided we would do whatever we needed in order to neuter all of our rabbits and end the cycle of unwanted litters. Vet services for rabbits can be costly: some vet offices gave me rates that were way beyond our financial ability. We had set aside funds for rabbit care but we had planned for one rabbit, not six!

Bigger bunny!

But we didn’t quit. There were plenty of veterinarians whose rates were much more reasonable. Eventually, we chose a vet. Then we did a little fundraising. Thanks to some generous friends and strangers the money was raised!

Now it was a countdown to 16 weeks of age and then the surgeries could be done. First was a health check, then the Big Day! Everyone got spayed/neutered on the same day. Post-operative care for six rabbits was a little stressful, but everyone recovered just fine.

Code name: Wild Man

Two of the babies have found forever homes. The others will stay with us, safe and loved, until they find their new homes. Turbo is our Forever Girl and we’re pretty sure Wild Man (now called Tank) will stay here, too. We planned for one rabbit and ended up with six and we love and protect them all. But this shouldn’t continue -too many animals are already in shelters and homeless.

Stop the cycle!

Spay and neuter your house rabbits!
If you’re considering a new furry family member do your research first. Talk to vets, go to your local library, search for online education resources, visit shelters.
Rescue.
Neuter.
Protect.
Educate.
This is Turbo the Terrible’s message for you. This is our Tiny Crusade.

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