FINNEGAN!
He was given to us by friends because he was a boy, they had a girl, etc. We accepted him happily, and lived in harmony. UNTIL.
Until the Great Digestive Upset of Earlier in 2010. The vet then proclaimed him a girl, as she could not find testicles.
Okay. So, Finnegan's a girl now, eh? Okay. We can live with that. Same old Finnegan. what's not to love?
UNTIL.
Until we went on vacation for the first time in years, leaving Finnegan with a housesitter and her Chihuahua. When we came back, somebody had been a'markin'. We chalked this up to the Chihuahua (of course!). But the marking didn't stop. And lo, it did not smell like pug pee. (Trust me, I know what that smells like.) Finnegan had taken up the hobby of marking. Ewwwww. This had to stop, of course. So we booked her an appointment at the vet's to be fixed. (Spayed? Neutered? Whichever.) I had read up online that this might hopefully cure the marking problem.
Fast forward to the early afternoon after I've dropped her off. I received a call from a confused vet tech. "So, uh, what made you think this was a girl?"
"Er...we thought it was a boy, until the vet told us otherwise last time she was in."
"Huh. 'Cause the vet can't find any ovaries."
"What?"
"No ovaries."
"O-kaaaay. What about boy parts? Does she have any of those?"
"We'll call you back in a bit."
Now, to be fair to the local vet: they've always done a great job treating our pugs. We live waaaaaay out in the country, and it's *just* possible that they don't treat a lot of rabbits.
So naturally, I called Dan. "They can't find any lady parts on Finnegan."
"What?"
"I know!"
"Well then...it's a boy after all?"
"They don't know. They're calling me back."
Dan decided to talk to a co-worker who raises prize rabbits, among other livestock.
"Oh yeah, it can be really hard to sex the rabbits. If you don't know what you're looking for, you won't find it."
Dan called me back, and repeated this (and more!), much to the delight of his co-workers.
The vet called back, too. "So, uh, we can't find her ovaries. Or uterus. So we didn't fix her. My guess is that she was already fixed, and that's why the parts aren't there."
Really? Because my guess is that you don't know what you're doing!
I picked poor Mr./Ms. Finnegan up later in the afternoon. I also picked up a very large vet bill. Because although the surgery wasn't actually performed, poking around isn't free.
And my rabbit still is not fixed. But he'll get a cool scar out of the deal! Oh, and the marking will continue. That'll be $200, please.
