Spaying and neutering pet rabbits provides significant welfare benefits including prevention of uterine cancer, reduced aggression, and improved compatibility for bonding — yet rabbit desexing rates remain lower than for cats and dogs.
The welfare case for rabbit desexing is compelling. Intact female rabbits face near-certain uterine cancer if they live beyond middle age, causing pain, weight loss, and eventual death without surgical intervention. Hormone-driven behaviours in intact rabbits of both sexes — aggression, territorial urine marking, and persistent sexual frustration — reduce quality of life and make bonding with a companion rabbit extremely difficult. Since rabbits are highly social animals that suffer in isolation, desexing that enables successful bonding directly improves welfare. Finding a veterinarian experienced in rabbit anaesthesia and surgery significantly reduces the procedural risk, which is higher than in more commonly desexed companion species.