Rabbit Spay:Post Surgery Care

[bunbunbinkie]

Hello everyone!

I know it's been a VERY loooong time since I've posted anything, let alone logged on to RO. Lets just say I've had a very eventful (if you could call it that)4 months. Anyways, enough about that....

Merlie was spayed today and I have a few questions/concerns and thought I'd ask you all.

She has been nibbling on her hay, but not eating much. The vet anticipated this and told me to go ahead and syringe feed her some Critical Care. So I mixed up some and fed her about 12mls of it. She seemed to like it (but didn't care much for me squishing the syringe in her mouth).

She was prescribed Metacam and Baytril which I gave her about an hour ago.

I assumed plently of people and their bunnies on here have gone through a rabbitspay and wondered how their bunnies did. Did they need an e-collar? How soon did their appetite return? Is there anything I should take note of, from the opinion of someone whose gone through this before?

Sorry if I sound like an overly concerned *newbie* I just have never cared for a bunny post surgery before.

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions!!!!

-Kayleigh:huh and Merlie:zzzzz

 

[Amy27]

It can be very scary when your bunny has surgery. Mine just had surgery (bladder surgery) last week and you can look at some of my posts. A lot of people gave me great advice on what to do and about giving oral meds. Both of my rabbits were spayed. Both of them recovered differently. One started eating right away the other took awhile. I found that my rabbits prefer cilantro or parsley when recovering.

If she was just spayed today she is probably still tired. I would try to feed her and encourage her to eat but if she doesn't want to I would let it go for today. Out of the three surgeries I experienced with my rabbits they never had to have an e-collar. My rabbit was also on metacam. It seemed to help the pain or atleast my rabbit didn't seem in pain.

I am sure other people will come respond and give more advice but if you want to look at some of my recent posts here there is some great info. One gives advice about the e-collar to and ways to make a homemade one.

Good Luck and keep me up to date.

 

[Maureen Las]

Hi,
I've taken a lot of the shelter buns home to recuperate after spays so have seen a lot of them. Usually I don't try to syringe feed them right away but do offer fresh wet greens. if they are going to eat anything it is probably that. If I note the bun is not drinking on her own I will syringe pedialyte. it is important to give the pain meds with fluids . if she still looks really uncomfortable you can put rice in a sock and warm it evenly in the microwave as a "heating pad' to lie beside her... make sure it's warm not hot and that she can move away from it.
metacam is not a really strong med so if she looks like she is in pain tomorrow you may want to ask for something stronger. tramadol is a favorite with Randy

I usually don't actually keep her in a cage but in an x-pen that allowsspace for some movement but not leaping or jumping. I have never used an e-collar although if the bun is stitched I do watch theincision for redness and swelling and actually expect that after 3 days or so she may take a stitch out but usually without any damage to the area.
Usually it takes the female a few days to look like she feels well. I always note when pooping and peeing resume as she should have peed atleast within the first 24 hrs after surgery. Sometimes the poops don't come until the 2nd day and I have found that normal eating usually will resume on it's own by the beginning of day 3

Istill worry about the spays because they don't recup as fast as a neuter but for some reason they always surprise me by looking like themselves on the AM of the 3rd day .

the vet that does these uses laser surgery so it may be easier on them some other older surgical techniques
keep us up-dated
I'm sure that she'll do fine

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

I have been thru many spays. Couple of thoughts. I would call the vet first thing in the morning and insist upon more aggressive pain meds. Prey animals are quite good at hiding discomfort. Metacam (it's an NSAID similar to our Tylenol) is better than nothing but nowhere close to being sufficient. Narcotics such as Buprenorphine or Tramadol would be much more appropriate. Would you want a major invasive surgery and get only Tylenol for pain? It's not something I would want. Our surgeries are pretreated with Buprenorphine pre-op and follow up withstandard dosing for up to five days. We have found that three days usually does it.All of our spays are eating that night. And why the Baytril? That drug is pretty much useless anyway and if your rabbit is healthy and the vet did a professional job....there should be absolutely no need for antibiotics especially if they are administered by mouth. Using an oral antibiotic without proper pain control can lead to aminor digestive issue. E collars tend to be very stressful...rabbits (even domestics) are still prey animals and being in an e collar can be interpreted as being caught by a predator. We use laser surgery for all our spays....and there is some debate on the benefit....but we have been thru many and have seen the difference in laser and conventional. All of our major invasive surgeries have to be laser.That point is always non-negotiable. Less bleeding, clean cut that heals quickly and no external sutures. Don't sweat the food. Offer her a buffet of favorite foods....the fav around here post-op is always dandelion greens. If she is healthy, and it looks like she is since she came thru surgery well, she can go several days without food. I have actually had some rabbits go longer without food (major dental surgery with multiple extractions)....4 days. I did start fluids after 3 days.

My suggestions based on my experience.....and I am nota vet just very experienced with sick rabbits.....Insist on more aggressive pain meds for 3 days minimum. At the same time, if there is no clinical reason (like pre-existing infection) the down side of the Baytril far outweighs any benefit that drug could ever provide. And if there is an infections, Baytril would most likely not be the best choice of drugs. I would have to have a very clear answer on why we need oral antibiotics....and the reason shouldn't be"just in case"....treating infections that aren't there is part of the reason many of our drugs (like Baytril) just don't cut the mustard any longer. Don't sweat the food....give her time. Keep things quiet as possible....same as for a person post-op.Depending on the anesthesia used, it might take a bit until it's purged. Isoflourane takes the longest to recover....sevoflourane (a relatively newgas) is a faster rebound. And injectables can be quickly revered with a reversing agent. If she shows a lot of discomfort...light heat for her to sit on will help. Weuse a heating pad on lowest setting. If you use this....keepa close watch as it can become very warm.

And I have a suggestion for you...relax as you are doing a good job. If you are stressed...Merlie will pickup on that.

Randy

 

[bunbunbinkie]

Hello everyone!

Thanks so much for all the very helpful feedback. I have given Merlie some Alfalfa hay and she seemed to really like that. I am still giving her the critical care (but only because she just LOOOVES it!) She seems perkier this AM, although still very relaxed which is good I guess. She peed once last night and this morning I found about 30 healthy lookingpoops in her box.arty0002::litterhealthy:I tried syringe feeding her some water, but she thought that was a bad idea. I guess the critical care has water in it....

The vet did say she wants her to be on AB'S just in case... and I wondered how that could possibly do more harm than good, but I gave it to her anyways.. I work at a vet's office as an assistant (sadly there are no rabbit savvy vets there) so I think I'm going to go ahead and get some buprinex (buprinorphine) for her insead of the metacam. I do work for a vet who has limited knowledge of exotics and she has plenty of books on dosages that I can use. The vet I took Merlie to is about an hour away and I don't have time to drive back to pick up anything today.

I want to stop the AB'S but I'm scared about "going against the docotor's orders" so to speak. I don't think she really needs them though...

Thanks again for all your help!!!!

Oh...and one more thing... The vet did mention that Merlie had a slight elevation in her ALT (a liver enzyme) but that she wasn't concerned about it as of yet. I a to bring her back in 3 weeks to have all her liver values checked again... anyone else had this problem?

Kayleigh and Merlie:sickbunny:

 

[Maureen Las]

I would say that it would be good to get buprinex to have on hand ( incase )but to be honest it sounds like she is doing well and may not need. it

Use of cedar or pine shaving can increase liver enzymes. if the bun has spent extended time on them the damage may already have been done . if a person adopted a bun from a shelter and the bun had spent extended time on pine and cedar in a previous home they may continue to have elevated enymes


Any time a toxin is introduced into the body the liver has to attempt to detoxify it .

For ex. When a person is an alcoholic consuming large amount of the toxic sustance alcohol their liver cannot handle the toxic substance and the person often gets liver disease.

There are other more benign reasons for increased enzymes but it would be best to talk about this with the vet that did her surgery.
she really sounds like she's doing well.