Felicity spayed on Thurs; RESOLVED

[Maureen Las]

In the 2 yrs I have been bringing the shelter buns home after neuter/spays I have never had one single problem until today.
Felicity is a little under 2 lbs, A netherland dward X, female , 3yrs who was dropped off for a spay on Thurs. AM.

They always keep them overnight so I picked her up at 9:30 AM today.

She has not eaten or drank anything since then nor has she pooped. She doesn't hop but sort of hobbles.

I have given her metacam and offered her everything imaginable good to eat...finally I started to give her some pedialyte by syringe. I have pumpkin and some baby food ready for a feeding but I really don't want to push this if she will eat on her own.

She has peed but no interest in food and not a poop to her name.
I know some of this is normal but I have never had any trouble with spay/neuters..I'm getting stressed

 

[aurora369]

The important thing is to keep her hydrated. Keep giving her the pedialyte, as much as she'll take.

Is she showing any other signs of pain? Tooth grinding?

Is there anyway to get a different pain medicine? Maybe the metacam is not doing it for her.

I would keep her hydrated for tonight. Give her a wide variety of food over night. If she hasn't eaten in the morning, then I would try forcing something in her. You can try the baby food and see if she enjoys it or wants it too.

--Dawn

 

[Maureen Las]

Thanks Dawn
She just did 2 poops which is good but I haven't see her eat.
I just gave her more pedialyte and her cage is full of anything she would like to eat.
I think that the fact that she is starting to poop is making me feel a lot better.

Hopefully she'll be herself in the AM

We are starting to get another snowfall here. It is snowing here again very hard
I hope that it isnt like the last one which just about paralyzes the city. It would be harder to get her back to the vet.

I have another female here too that was spayed on Thurs. but she is about 13 lbs and ate and pooped right away. Her problem is going to be whether the stitches hold as she is overweight. Anyway I guess they both are good enough for tonight.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Have you offered her something tasty like banana or oatsies? I think at this point if you can get her to eat or drink ANYTHING it will help.

My vet gave Bo something that encouraged him to eat when he had his neuter. She told me they gave it to him.

 

[naturestee]

Pedialyte is great, even if you have to force it. Do you have any Nutri-Cal? It's a good appetite stimulant and can also provide some energy and nutrients. I think that's all I'd do until the morning, just so she doesn't get too stressed out.

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

I wouldn't panic yet. We have had rabbits not eat for days (especially after major dental surgery). If she was healthy enough to come thru the surgery OK, she should be improving soon. And in my non-professional opinion, metacam is totally insufficient for post op pain management. Again in my non-professional opinion, while metacam is an excellent drugs in the right situations, to me it is nothing but the animal version of our tylenol...and if my gut were cut open, I certainly would want more aggressive medications. And for some reason, dandelion greens are always the first thing our rabbits eat post op. Like you have done, we provide a "buffet" of anything and everything that is bunny safe...but the dandelion greens always come first. I would not stress her at this point...allow her to rest and she should start improving by Saturday. If not, insist (don't ask) on more aggressive pain meds. You will be amazed at the difference.

Just a comment on stitches (external sutures). I can't believe that doctors are still using them. With our spays,our doctor usesself dissolving internal sutures but the final close is by tissue glue. We have never had a problem.....even with our 25 pound Flemish Girl. The only external suture that any of our rabbits have ever had was for the removal of a "wart" from the leg of one of our girls....a single stitch.

Randy

 

[naturestee]

Well Randy, this should astound you. The shelter I volunteer at, which I swear used to use internal dissolving stitches (they did on my kittens), is now using external stitches and/or staples. Especially staples on the rabbits. Wow does that leave a scar! I don't understand why they would change, when it requires more work to take them back out after the animal has healed, plus they seem to be pulled out more often because they are uncomfortable.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Randy says it best - a buffet of anything rabbit safe! I always think of banana and oatsies cause those are my bunnies' favorites!

 

[ra7751]

Naturestee...Nothing astounds me any more. I even saw a rabbit in VA that had metal sutures...not staples....but sutures. Needless to say that this rabbit was in major trouble. I am beginning to wonder if I have it all wrong. The only advantage I see in using external sutures/staples to close a spay (and I am really grabbing for an advantage here) is that it will be very obvious that the rabbit has been spayed. What a huge "zipper" that scar tissue will make...not to mention the possibility of future problems from scar tissue inside the body.

Randy

 

[Bo B Bunny]

You know, I've had stitchesfor a cutand I had a glue suture when I cut my finger with a knife (slicing a tomato) and the scar from the stitched place is so much worse and it wasn't as bad of a cut.... so I can see that.

 

[Maureen Las]

I went to bed early last night and missed all the lively converstation re. internal vs external.stitches, gluing etc.

Update on Felicity
Icouldn't sleep because I kept worrying so I got up about 12 AM and gave her about 3ccs pumpkin and 2cc more Pedialyte. I crawled in the dog crate with the syringe so I didn't move her when I gave it to her. It would have made a funny video of me trying to get in and out but she took both very well when she wsn't moved.

Then I got up again at 7 AM and she had pooped quite a bit . I had so much food in her cage to eat that it is difficult to note whether she ate a lot but I did see her with a strand of hay. I am assuming that she is eating because of the poop and also because she has a livlier demeanor.

I was so zoned out from lack of sleep past 2 days that as soon as I saw the poop I went back to bed and slept until noon. and NO I am skipping the shelter today because the shelter is HERE.

The vet that put in external stitches is an older man. Out of the 4 of them he is the only one who still does this. Even the best vet there thinks that it is totally unnecessary as most rabbits pull them out and the scars are really horrible. Almost all the time they use internal stitches and glue I think together.

I have spent the last several hours just cleaning rabbit areas and I have to go back to it.

Both Addy (big girl) and Felicity (little girl) have clean wounds with no sign of infection.

When I get my work done I will take pics of these 2. Addy is a big sweet faced girl of mixed lineage. Felicity is a Netherland dward mix. They are both very adoptable rabbits.
Thanks for the help with this. ..I feel like I just went through a "stasis" episode because I have never had a spay/neuter episode.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Oh, good! I'm glad she's doing better!

I've noticed most all girls I've heard of take 24 to 48 hours to get going after the surgery. I think the smaller they are, the harder it can be on their little bodies.

 

[gentle giants]

I can't imagine using staples in a rabbit, that is awful. I had staples when I had a c-section, and those things HURT! Every time I would cough or shift in bed it felt like they were pulling out of my skin. A lot of my post-surgery pain went away when they were removed.

 

[Haley]

Im so glad to hear she's ok! Its so scarey when they wont eat. Shes in good hands though

 

[Maureen Las]

She is still not eating very much but since she is way more active and pooping OK I feel that I should just let her recover on her own and not force feed her. I took a picture of her yesterday so you can see who I'm talking about.

 

[Haley]

Yeah I think thats a good idea, as long as she's eating. Maybe getting some yummy romaine or parsley would encourage her?

And OMG shes sooo pretty! She looks like Lucy but with more of a ND shaped head. Whats her personality like?

 

[Maureen Las]

She is nice most of the time but if she feels that she is being bothered she gets growly and nippy but not in a serious aggressive way.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

She's ADORABLE! I love her little round head and big eyes!

 

[Haley]

How's the little one doing today, Maureen?

 

[Maureen Las]

The "little one" tried to nip my hand because I was rearranging her cage. That means that she is normal. lots of poop and eating fine.
Congrats on that successful rabbit transport. I am in awe.