Before Neutering Ripley..

[Bunnylova4eva]

Do any of you have suggestions of questions to ask the vet beforehand? She's a well known bunny vet, but I'm paranoid out of my mind since we've never had surgery done on one of our bunnies. I'm so scared something will happen to Ripley during the surgery. I know some people say to ask what the rate is of bunnies they lose during surgery/how many they've lost. Any other ideas?

 

[BunMommaD]

Yes that is a really important questions! How many rabbits have had complication while being neutered under your care? And how many have died? I asked our vet this and his answer, was that in 30 yrs if practice and over a thousand rabbits he has only had 3 pass and they were all females with complicated situations! He's never lost one male... That reassured me so much! Good luck ripley

 

[LakeCondo]

Make sure she tells you about after care & what pain meds she'll be sending home with you.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Ask about fasting, a good rabbit vet will tell you NOT to fast or withhold food before surgery. You can also ask about bringing food from home, especially pellets since not all vets will have all pellets available.
Pain control. Even though vets will give a shot for pain before you pick him up (or at some point after surgery), it is still good to take home some medication. Males are usually ok with 3-4 days of medication.
If the clinic keeps them overnight, ask if there is someone in the clinic to monitor them. If there is no one there, ask if you can take him home that night.
If you are worried about the actual surgery, then ask the vet to go over what will happen. This can be from when you drop him off to when you pick him up or just the actual surgery part.
You can also ask what medications and anaesthetic they will use, but unless you know what the mean and what is good or bad, this might not help you much. You could write it down and look it up later too.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Ahh that is a good idea to ask about fasting.

I'm doubting they'll want to keep him overnight as it is a spay/neuter clinic who uses lots of volunteers to keep costs down. I've seen the hours they're staffed and it is not overnight. I will ask about this though.

Also, as to medication, I have left over Metacam from a year ago that should still be good-should I just tell them that and ask for a dosage?

Yeah I really don't know whether it's worth asking about what anasthetic & meds they use or not as I probably wouldn't have a clue about it..then again I could look it up so maybe I'll ask.


All good ideas! Thank you all! If anyone else has more, feel free to add

 

[LakeCondo]

Sometimes the vet knows fasting isn't necessary but the other staff will tell you to do it. That probably shouldn't reflect on the vet, it's just annoying to have to deal with.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Yeah well this is primarily a dog/cat lost cost spay neuter clinic. Once a month a well known bunny vet comes in for bunny spay/neuter. I think you can email if you have questions, but it might just end up being the staff there who may or may not know the answers.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Here's a list of questions for others use from the HRS if anyone is interested


What kinds of questions should I ask the vet?
about how many rabbit clients does the veterinarian see in a year?

how many spays/neuters OF RABBITS has the veterinarian has done in the past year?

what was the success rate?
90% success is way too low. Every doctor, whether for animals or humans will occasionally lose a patient; usually because of an undiagnosed problem. veterinarians across the country who spay and neuter rabbits for the House Rabbit Society have lost on average less than 1/2 of 1%.


if any were lost, what was the cause?

does the veterinarian remove both uterus and ovaries? (they should)

does the veterinarian do "open" or "closed" neuters? (closed is preferable--let your veterinarian explain the difference)

is entry to the testicles made through the scrotum or the abdomen? (Entry via the abdomen unnecessarily increases the trauma for male rabbits)

does the veterinarian require withholding of food and water prior to surgery in rabbits? (Do not do this--rabbits can't vomit, so there is no risk of that during surgery, and rabbits should never be allowed to get empty digestive tracts)

what anesthetics are used--some veterinarians are quite successful with anesthetics other than isofluorene, but the bunny is "hung over" after surgery, which increases the probability that s/he will be slow to start eating again, which can lead to serious problems if not dealt with.

Review the procedure (op and immediate post-op) with your vet. Ask how problems will be detected: how often will they (the veterinarian and the techs) look in on your rabbit and what will they look for?. What will they do pre-op to find any potential problems? How will they support your bun in the hours after surgery: Oxygen, warmth, quiet (barking dogs and yowling cats in the next cage are probably not helpful), and stimulation? What are they going to do to make it come out right?! Ask questions! That will get your veterinarian's attention. Let them know you're concerned and that you'll be paying attention.