Candice Lawrence
Member
Good Morning, TinkerBell is getting spayed tomorrow, any advice for before, after, or during the surgery?
Spay
- Thread starter Candice Lawrence
- Start date
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From the House Rabbit Society:
What pre- and post-operative care should one give?
Some rabbit people give their rabbit acidophilus for a couple of days prior to surgery, just to be certain that the digestive system is functioning in fine form. But don’t change the diet it any way during this time.
After the surgery, ask your veterinarian for pain medication, especially for a spay. If you choose, continue giving acidophilus until the appetite has returned to normal.
Inspect the incision morning and evening. After a neuter, the scrotum may swell with fluids. Warm compresses will help, but it is nothing to be overly concerned about. With any sign of infection, take the rabbit to the veterinarian immediately.
After surgery, keep the environment quiet so the rabbit doesn’t startle or panic, don’t do anything to encourage acrobatics, but let the rabbit move around at her own pace– she knows what hurts and what doesn’t
Some veterinarians keep rabbits overnight. If your veterinarian lets you bring your bunny home the first night, note the following:
What pre- and post-operative care should one give?
Some rabbit people give their rabbit acidophilus for a couple of days prior to surgery, just to be certain that the digestive system is functioning in fine form. But don’t change the diet it any way during this time.
After the surgery, ask your veterinarian for pain medication, especially for a spay. If you choose, continue giving acidophilus until the appetite has returned to normal.
Inspect the incision morning and evening. After a neuter, the scrotum may swell with fluids. Warm compresses will help, but it is nothing to be overly concerned about. With any sign of infection, take the rabbit to the veterinarian immediately.
After surgery, keep the environment quiet so the rabbit doesn’t startle or panic, don’t do anything to encourage acrobatics, but let the rabbit move around at her own pace– she knows what hurts and what doesn’t
Some veterinarians keep rabbits overnight. If your veterinarian lets you bring your bunny home the first night, note the following:
- Males: most come home after being neutered looking for dinner — be sure they have pellets, water, and some good hay. Good, fresh alfalfa is a good way to tempt them to nibble a bit.
- Females: most want to be left alone, are not interested in eating at all, and will sit quietly in a back corner of the cage (or wherever in the house they feel they will be bothered the least). Try not to pick up or bother her much for the first 4 days.
- Your vet should send you home with Meloxicam (brand name=Metacam), an anti-inflammatory pain medication, to give your rabbit with an oral syringe twice a day for 3-5 days after spay.
- The following morning, or at latest by the next evening, it is important for the rabbit to be nibbling something. It doesn’t matter what or how much, as long as she is taking in something, so the digestive tract won’t shut down. If she isn’t, tempt her with everything possible – give them their favorite Italian parlsey, a piece of banana, dandelion green, cold, fresh greens, washed, and hold it for them. They should start nibbling on it. As a last resort, syringe feed Crtitical Care, or make a mush of rabbit pellets (1 part pellets, 2 parts water, run through blender thoroughly, add acidophilus, and feed in pea-sized bits with a feeding syringe through the side of the mouth with them sitting upright.
- Occasionally a female will pull out her stitches. Get her stitched up again, and then belly-band her by wrapping a dish towel around her whole middle and binding that with an elastic bandage wrapped snugly over it. If she can breath normally, it isn’t too tight.
Diane R
Well-Known Member
Very important - make sure your vet is a rabbit vet. Give the correct dose of pain meds twice a day for 5 days after.
Aspen’sbuns
Well-Known Member
Hi there!!! Hopefully you see this in time, we’ve found with all our buns that have been spayed and neutered; if they are fed critical care once they have woken up out of anaesthetic, and then once more a few hours later, and then have pain medication for the next three days, they recover really well. We had two girls spayed, one was fed two feeds of critical care (as she was done later in the day) and the other bun one feed and then she nibbled some lettuce at the clinic too. Once we got home, the bun that had two feeds ate as soon as we got back, and almost as much as normal. The bun that got one feed didn’t start eating once we got home, and needed another critical care feed. After that she ate like normal the next day 
Lucas the Bun 💕🐇
Well-Known Member
Lennon the Bunny has great videos on YouTube about that (All about spaying and neutering rabbits) and (How to care for rabbits after spay / neuter surgery)
