Spaying now not eating

[rebeccalyn7]

It's been 27 hours since my bun got spayed,
She's barely eaten, like a piece of hay , she's been drinking because I've forced her.
Going back to the vets soon, any advice?


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[missyscove]

Do you have any critical care or something similar you can force feed her? Was she sent home with pain meds?
In your time zone your vet is probably still open so I'd give them a call.

 

[rebeccalyn7]

Got some critical care now, but how do I force feed her? She's just kicking me and being stubborn.


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[ciarafly]

Hey, I had my bunny Pip spayed last Friday and she wouldn't eat or drink all weekend. By Monday I had began to panic as she was very lethargic and lifeless. I had a small syringe which I diluted honey with water and she drank it easy for me. I took her to vet on Tuesday as she was not getting any better. Vet gave her some anti-inflamitary and injected her with special medicine to rehydrate her. I also got some baytril to fight any infection and vet gave me some psyllium husks. I puréed carrot, apple, some natural yoghurt (good bacteria) with the husks and force fed her since then. If you put the syringe behind her front teeth to the side your bunny should take it. Give little at a time, so your bum can swallow. Feed a little every 2-3 hours. Then massage the tummy towards bum to get digestive gut moving. It's Thursday night here in Adelaide and Pip has only slowly began to nibble on her pellets and hay, but she seems to of pulled through. Thank god!! Main thing is to get to a vet as a rabbits digestive system begins to shut down if they don't eat which can be fatal! If you can't get to a vet, puréed food with some fibre will do for the intern. Hope you bunny gets better soon, hope I helped too!! Lil sick Pip photo


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[JBun]

Burrito wrapping the bunny works for some rabbits, or you could try kneeling with her in between your legs using a hand in front to keep her from taking off, or I just sit my bunnies in my lap on a towel and hold gently but firmly behind their head while I give meds or syringe feed. Just make sure to do the feeding slowly giving her time to swallow so she doesn't aspirate any of it. Do you also have pain meds for her? That's really important for spay recovery. And you may also need a gut stimulant if the vet didn't already give one.

When I got my boys neutered, one of them just wouldn't eat. It wasn't due to pain because he would hop around just fine, so I figured it was the after effects of the anesthesia. Though he didn't want to eat he would nibble on leafy greens. So every 30 min to an hour I kept giving him as much green leaf lettuce, parsley, or cilantro as he would eat He wouldn't eat much of it, but doing that all day added up, and it was enough to keep him going until he started feeling better and eating more normally on his own. It took him about 48 hours to get back to normal.

 

[Maureen Las]

I used to take the spay /neuters from my shelter to my home for recovery so I have seen hundreds of post-spays. These buns did have laser surgery.
In my experience some of the girls would eat almost immediately but almost all of them would barely eat until the 3rd day. I would feed veggies (esp. parsley) and they might pick at it a little but that 3rd day was the magic moment. I often would syringe pedialyte but only a small amount at a time .. Best not to force feed unless you have to because it will cause stress and maybe more pain to the bun.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Luckily, we only had to syringe feed one to get him going--the rest acted like nothing happened. Maybe try some herbs like Cilantro--it's worked for me in the past.

 

[nora123]

Try her favourite veg fresh grass, dandelion, spring green, kale, spinach green veg etc but only if she is used to veg but fresh grass and dandelion usually gets mine going, as for syringe feeding I have a couple of rescue rabbits that panic and struggle when Im trying to syringe feed them, so the vet advised me to wrap them in a towel and cover up their eyes or blow gently on them to distract them while you get the syringe in their mouth hope this helps.

 

[Azerane]

If you can't get her to eat on her own, you should try to syringe something in. Make sure you insert the syringe in sideways, and not from the front or you can risk causing choking. I found it pretty easy with Bandit, I didn't even need to restrain him, he was already laying down so I simply petted him and then gently just held him there while petting while I squirted some in the side of his mouth. She definitely needs to eat though, try offering anything she's used to, fresh hay, fresh pellets, fresh herbs. Whatever it takes Also, I'm not sure what the weather's like over there at the moment, but after Bandit was neutered the vet recommended I keep Bandit inside for a while because they have trouble regulating their temperature after surgery, so make sure she's keeping warm enough. If she's not warm enough, it could be another reason she's not eating.

 

[tonyshuman]

She probably needs pain meds. Many bunnies need them, especially females. At this point, anything they gave her at the vet's office will have worn off. I would call the vet and ask for pain meds for her. I do not recommend using yogurt because it contains lactose, which rabbits cannot digest. It does contain beneficial bacteria for rabbits' GI systems, but you can get those bacteria in other products that do not also contain lactose. The best products are made for pets or horses and are probiotics that are lactose-free; you could also use human probiotics. If you end up force-feeding Critical Care, that has probiotics in it. I know in the UK something called FibrePlex is a good rabbit probiotic. I am not sure what is available where you are. The first priority, however, would be pain meds and water. Also, if you do get instructed to force feed her, make sure she is at an ok body temperature (100-103F). A cold rabbit indicates a body in shock (usually due to pain) and forcing food into a rabbit in shock will just stress the system more. They need to be warmed up, preferably at a vet's, and given fluids.

 

[rebeccalyn7]

It's been three days now and she's got her appetite back which is awesome,
Thank you for all your help everyone, took in all your advice with the syringe feeding, was easier when my mum helped.
So thank you all,
You saved my rabbits life


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[Azerane]

So glad to hear that she's doing better

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:happyrabbit:

 

[BunnyRabbitShop.com]

hi,
do you have any willow trees in your area? Willow bark and leaves contains natural salicylic acid (aspirin) and this was the only thing my bunny would eat after she was spayed.. After a few leaves and some bark, it seemed to help the pain enough that I managed to hand feed her small amounts of dandelion leaves, kale, and plantain leaf all day long. I also had to keep her on a pet heating pad to keep her warm. She had a rough time of it, and I was up with her all night but eventually by the end of the next day she pulled through. The willow bark and leaves really helped a lot in her case.. Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your bunny!

Andrea
BunnyRabbitShop.com

 

[ciarafly]

My Lil bunny is still suffering. She's been back to the vet and they took her for two days to administer pain relief every few hours. She's eating but stops half way through and makes this wired sound as if she's gurgling. Her body also jerks as if she's trying to pass wind or poo. She's still got runny poo. She's just eaten a good bit of kale. Is there something else I should be doing? Still syringe fibre to her at night.


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[JBun]

If your rabbit is still having problems so long after being spayed, there could be something else going on. Has the vet done a fecal test to check for parasites and bacteria?

With the runny poop and also possible gas, it could also have to do with the food she is being fed. What besides the kale are you feeding her?

 

[ciarafly]

She has endless supply of hay, parsley. Offer her carrot and pellets at night. I've given her baytril too after operation for any infection.


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[nora123]

I would also give her metoclopramide to get her gut going and to keep it going until she eats herself my vet gives an injection of this and tablets to crush in a little water when i take my buns home to give them twice a day until they eat after every op that involves an anaestetic you can get emepride from vets which is liquid form i would give that and pain relief and syringe recovery food or her liquidised pellets and luke warm water to keep her hydrated hope this helps.

 

[rebeccalyn7]

I stayed with my bun the whole way through, she slept with me and everything just to make sure she was okay, she felt more comfortable having me there.

I agree, I think there may be something else wrong, try all her favourite foods, try apples as well because of the fluid content, is she drinking water?
If she's not peeing them she's no where near getting enough water.


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[rebeccalyn7]

Buy some rolled oats, they are high in fibre and give a tiny tiny pinch,


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