pre/post spay care

[MiniLopHop]

Rebecca had her check up today, which went well but it looks like she is not spayed yet. We set it up for Wensday. The vet has lots of previous bunny experience and she automatically mentioned wanting to send her home with pain medicine to make her more comfortable.

What should I do to help her before (I don't imagine much) and after the procedure? I'm planning to take Thursday off from work so I can keep an eye on her and make sure she is eating.

Her house has 4 levels. Should I remove the levels so she can't jump? It takes a hop to get the few inches from her house into her play-pen. Will she need to be locked in the house so she doesn't hop down? Will she eat her normal food or do I need to have something special?

I'm sure the doctor will answer everything when I go in, but I'm a paranoid mommy that wants to be prepared. She is so sweet and trusting I hope this is not too horrible.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

I bought all my buns favorite stuff when they came home. Basically to get them to eat.

I bought some banana baby food and some gas meds to JIC.

Its took Jessi about 24 hours to start eating again. Girl take a little longer to eat. Her pain meds drugged her up though.


I hope this helps just make sure she can get to everything easy and yes take the levels out Jessi was back to herself in about 3 days. Now boys are a totally different story.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I just had Amelia spayed on Thursday, so have some current experience with spays.

I didn't do anything before. Just feed her normally. She should have food during the night and morning before. Depending on your normal feeding routine, you might not want to give pellets that morning if they won't be eaten before you leave.

You will need to block off the levels in the cage. I have Amelia in the top level of the cage she shares with Korr so they can still interact but not be together. This arrangement will stay for at least the next 10 days, but maybe more depending on how she heals and if they get along right away again. You will need to restrict excercise for at least a week so she can heal, so she should not have access to the play pen.

You can feed her what she is used to eating, but have some yummy things on hand to temp her to eat. Amelia is still not eating normally, but she is eating. She is a bit more sensitive to big changes, so hopefully just needs a bit more time to adjust. She did spend about 6 hours sulking after I gave her the meds this morning.

Rabbits generally do well after surgery and will seem back to normal within a day or two. I haven't had issues in the past with spayes and they are usually fine and ready to go soon after but you do need to still limit them.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Yep, definitely block off the levels so she cannot jump.

Also, you can use a sock and stuff it w/ raw rice, tie off at end. Warm in microwave, of course make sure there are no hot spots. Give to her to snuggle w/ for pain management. Just a little secret...

 

[MiniLopHop]

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. Becky is home now and resting. She ate a little hay on the way home and I just tempted her into eating a little banana. How much is enough? She has hay, greens, cilantro, carrots, and apples to try to tempt her to eat. I know she took a couple laps of water when I first put her in her cage. She even stood up to sniff a couple times,which surprised me. How can I tell if she is drinking enough?

I put a heated rice sock in, but she is just sitting in her litter box. I don't think she wants to move. Should I make the room warmer in general? I'm playing soft music, which can't hurt. She will get more pain medication in the morning.

I took the levels out of her house and shut the door. She wanted to hop out, so I imagine in a couple days keeping her calm will be the hardest part. Andre (the cat and her boyfriend) is sleeping on the floor by her cage. He kept crying for me to let her out, but he seems to get it now that she needs to rest. I'm just very glad she is home and I can stay home with her tomorrow. If the weather acts as predicted I may stay home on Friday as well.

Thank you for being patient with me, I'm just a little over protective I think, so I worry. :hugsquish:

 

[Tweetiepy]

This is info for a post neuter: My vet asked that Peaches be kept in his "hamster" cage for a few days. He absolutely hated it - he had a 2x4x2 NIC cage with levels! It was hard getting him out or putting him in (top loading cage). One day when I tried giving him his meds, he escaped and ran into his NIC cage - he was happier there and I just left him there for a few days without letting him run outside his cage. He healed super fast and he seemed happier. It,s hard for them to go back to a small cage once they're in a big cage - I felt so sorry for him!

His levels weren,t that high anyways - he had the ground level, a small half level 6" above that and a 3/4 level 6" above that

 

[MiniLopHop]

Luckily the shelves are removable from Becky's cage, so I just took them out. She sleeps in her cage at night anyway so I know she likes it. She just covered herself up with her blankie and she seems pretty relaxed. I am glad that I got the larger cage to begin with though so she can easily spread out when she wants to.
The front of the cage has the door that is normally open so she can free access the play-pen. I will be able to get to her easily for her medicine, so that is good.
I think by Monday she will probably have free access to the play-pen, just not the whole house. She gets to running up the hall with the cat too much when she has full accesss. I think a week or so needs to pass before she's back to that.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Why weren't you instruced to give her more pain meds tonight? Hmm. What did they give you? Metacam? I know that what they give after surgery can last awhile, but I don't think til morning...

Glad she's resting. Sounds like she has enough to eat, lol.

 

[MiniLopHop]

They gave her pain meds before releasing her. I just gave her a dose this morning. Yes, it is metacam. She was such a good girl taking it.

I'm getting worried because she has eaten, but very little (perhaps a teaspoon of banana and an alfalfa treat stick) All of her greens and carrots were untouched this morning. She has peed but no poop yet. I'm going to give her an hour or so to let the pain meds kick in. If she doesn't eat good then I'm going to call the doctor.

 

[MiniLopHop]

She's still not eating so I called the vet, we are going to take her in. It's just so not like her to not want to eat. She covered herself in her blankie and is sitting hunched in the corner. I think she is in pain eventhough I gave her the medicine.

I feel so guilty for doing this to her. It was the right thing to do though, yes? My head says yes, my heart says no.

 

[MiniLopHop]

We are back from the vet. She got sub Q fluids and started on critical care. Apparently she is also a little gassy from things not moving along so I have simithacone for her as well. I was happy to see that she ate the critical care well once it was in her mouth. I'm going to mix with some baby food to make it taste a little better for the next feeding, but I think we are on our way.

 

[slavetoabunny]

Glad to hear she's doing better! I hope they gave you the apple-banana flavor critical care. The buns like it so much better than the anise flavor.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Just a question: How long did you wait until you brought her home? My vet keeps them overnight to make sure they are eating and pooping and fully awake. It can take some rabbits longer to get everything moving, so staying at the vet where they can treat it does help.

I hope she does well from now on. Make sure to still offer her regular foods so she can eat when she is ready. Hopefully she will be feeling better in a day or 2.

 

[maxysmummy]

MiniLopHop wrote:

We are back from the vet. She got sub Q fluids and started on critical care. Apparently she is also a little gassy from things not moving along so I have simithacone for her as well. I was happy to see that she ate the critical care well once it was in her mouth. I'm going to mix with some baby food to make it taste a little better for the next feeding, but I think we are on our way.

feeding critical care can be such a pain! it gets all stuck in the syringe then you press really hard and a huge wad SHOOTS out into the bunnies face. grrr. mixing it with baby food sounds like a good idea

 

[slavetoabunny]

Korr_and_Sophie wrote:

Just a question: How long did you wait until you brought her home? My vet keeps them overnight to make sure they are eating and pooping and fully awake. It can take some rabbits longer to get everything moving, so staying at the vet where they can treat it does help.

I hope she does well from now on. Make sure to still offer her regular foods so she can eat when she is ready. Hopefully she will be feeling better in a day or 2.

Keeping the bun overnight is probably a good idea if you are nervous and inexperienced about their care. If you're confident that you can care for them, home is the best place to be!

 

[MiniLopHop]

We have just plain, not any particular flavor. I mixed it up using chamomile tea (just plain chamomile, nothing else in the tea bag) and added banana baby food in it so it tastes better. She ate really well this last feeding and even ate some parsly! She's not sitting so hunched so I think it was the gas causing the issue.

I took her home the same night. I had the option of leaving her there, but I felt she would be more comfortable at home than in a strange place with dogs. She totally does not mind car rides so I think it was better to have her at home and then take her back in. She is very attached to our cat who slept next to her cage last night. I think it lends moral support the same way a bonded bunny would.
I will be home with her again tomorrow so we can adjust the food as needed. Since she is now taking food in there must be poop by morning.

 

[MiniLopHop]

Good news! This morning her food dish was empty and the litter box full. She's not eating all the way back to normal, but close. I'm leaving a bowl of pedialite in there to try to encourage her to drink more (apple flavored) but I'm not force feeding any more. I'm so relieved everything is ok. Thank you to everyone that helped us get through this.

 

[slavetoabunny]

YAY!!!! I'm glad to hear this. Males bounce back very quickly, but I've had females take 3-4 days to start eating and pooping.

 

[MiniLopHop]

I'm going to keep her in her cage for 4 days before I let her into the play-pen. She is feeling better though because she has started to chew on the bars to demand out. :nonono:
I gaver her then chew kabob and one ball so she settled down. She's grooming herself again and looking much closer to normal. :biggrin:
What I don't understand is why she was not spayed from the SPCA or have a contract to do so? What if I didn't spay her and she had lots of babies? Perhaps they don't know it should be done? :dunno

 

[slavetoabunny]

Our shelter does not spay the females either. Their vet isn't experienced with rabbit spays and just won't do it. They do neuter the males though. It doesn't make sense to us either that they would adopt out an unspayed animal!