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Will spaying my 8-month-old rabbit calm her hormones and territory?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Small Animal | Rabbit | Female | spayed | 8 months and 26 days old | 3.5 lbs

She is getting spayed in 1 week, but is she young enough for it work? (Settle her hormones and stop her being territorial)

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on November 27th, 2017

There is no way to know if spaying will help to change her behvavior or not. There is no guarantee but it probably will help somewhat. Rabbits are very territorial so once that behavior is ingrained in them it is hard to correct it even with surgery. When they are spayed younger, the surgery has a better chance of working to change unwanted behaviors. It is recommended to spay around 4-6 months. Here is a link to an information sheet that may answer more of your questions. http://rabbit.org/faq-spaying-and-neutering/ Hope this helps. Best wishes.

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    Answered By Dr Stafford, BVetMed, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on October 13th, 2017

    Hopefully when her hormones withdraw it will settle her down. You are right in saying that sometimes it becomes learnt behaviour as opposed to hormonal influence, but this is more an issue with testosterone in males. I would get her spayed and hopefully it makes a good difference. However be prepared that it may not help and in some rare cases can make behaviour worse.

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