Rabbit spay booked, super nervous mum!

[peanutbutter]

Hi all, I’ve had my sweet Peanut since January this year she’s about 6/7 months old now, and she is my life and soul and my whole child!
I have been procrastinating calling the vets for a little while as the vets have only started doing routine procedures fairly recently. I AM TERRIFIED
I know there are soo many risks and I am very nervous.
Rabbits obviously have a higher mortality rate with this kind of thing than most animals like dogs etc, and I don’t want to back out last second! But I am so fearful and I really don’t want to lose her

If anyone could tell me their good bunny neuter stories I’d be so grateful!
This is my girl

 

[Apollo’s Slave]

First off, she is so pretty!!!!

Secondly, if you chose a good rabbit-savvy vet, everything should go smoothly. Of course, there are no guarantees but there is a very low chance of death under surgery. The mortality rate is about 0.7%

You can ask your vet to do a health check before she goes into surgery, to make sure that she is well enough to go under the anaesthetics, and she likely will be.
When you take her to the vet, put hay in her carrier. When I took my bunny to get neutered, I put a few handfuls of hay in a food bag. I had prepared a variety of his favourite veggies, his pellets and some of his favourite foods for the vet to give once he woke up. Our rabbit stayed at the vet for 6-8 hours, I can't remember. The vet made sure he was eating and not in pain before allowing us to bring him home. They showed us how to check the stitches and how to give pain meds.
My bun recovered in a week.

Hopefully everything goes smoothly.

 

[OreoTheMiniLop]

I'm just as scared as you are. Oreo's spay is booked for August 5 and I know so many rabbit owners who had their bunnies spayed ther. They all said that the spays went smoothly.

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Wow! She is very pretty!
When Theo got neutered it went well, and he was acting fine the next day! I know it is riskier for females, but as @Apollo’s Slave said, there is a very low chance she won't make it through surgery.

 

[Gelly]

Aww! What a cutie! If you look back at my really early threads, I probably had about 4 panic attacks before my bun got neutered. I’m neurotic so it makes sense. As long as you have a vet that tells you your bunny should be eating before surgery, is rabbit savvy, and good resources for information for post-care (like rabbits online or house rabbit society) then you’re going to be great! It’s nerve racking I totally get it. We neutered Remy in October and I was a mess for a month before.

Definitely ask for a health check before surgery. It’s a little more $ but a good precaution for nervous bun-moms. Ask all the questions you need to! Never feel ashamed to ask a question that may seem basic. Find out how to check stitches, how to and when to administer meds, proper enclosure set-up for after surgery etc.

 

[Freedom]

I was terrified when we got ours neutered. I was a nervous wreck.
Everything went smoothly.
48 hours after he was pretty much back to normal. Moving around etc.

Please remember not to withhold food and water before. They will need food right up to surgery and immediately after waking.
Sending Good vibes your way.

 

[rabbit_friend]

I don't know how soon your spay was booked for and if this is too late, but if you are nervous and the doctors in your area have just started doing spays, there is no harm in waiting up to 10 months longer, especially with Covid going on. I waited till one of mine was over a year old because she was a dwarf bunny AND underweight. You DO want an experienced rabbit vet to do it, and ask lots of questions about it. Have you checked this website to see if there are any more experienced vets near you: Rabbit Friendly Vet List ?

My little one did have trouble when she got home, mainly because she became hypothermic afterwards (thank goodness I recognized the signs and wrapped her in a heating pad). She also didn't eat for over 24 hours, and the vet said that wasn't a problem (which showed me he wasn't as rabbit-savvy as he had pretended to be). So I would especially ask the vet to explain exactly how they will proceed and what they will do to monitor and keep the rabbit's temperature up both during and after surgery. My current vet uses heated water bottles around the body to keep the bunny warm, and another vet I know who is superb at rabbit neuters/spays uses heating pads and a heat lamp.

Here is another page that lists some great questions to ask at the bottom: Spaying and Neutering | House Rabbit Society.

It's normal to be nervous, but the more information you gather and the more time you give yourself to get comfortable with the idea, the better. You don't need to rush into it, is all I'm saying. Some vets even feel it's better to wait till after the bunny is a year old and completely developed, since hormones help bone development.