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Rabbit spayed - not eating

pigsforlife

Mama Doe
I can't post in the medical section (not sure why, it came up with a message saying I wasn't authorised or something) but I need some help.

Charlee is 17 wks old. She is a netherland dwarf and was spayed and vaccinated today at 9:30am. I picked her up at 3pm. She had not eaten. It is now almost 4pm and she has still not eaten. I have her in a small carrier so that she does not have to move much to get food. She has hay in there and a water bottle and some carrot slices (her favourite food). She had pain relief when she was under, and then at 3:30pm. She is due for pain relief again at 9:30pm and then 3:30 am :shock:!

Is this normal for recovering bunnies? I have some critical care that I have used for guinea pigs if that is any help.

In her carrier is her favourite bed (tried to make it feel like home). It is a small carrier but with access via the roof as well as at the front, so it is easier to watch her. Once she is eating I was going to move her into a larger carrier I have over night. When can she go back into her normal cage? She is an indoor bunny, and her cage is 3ftx6ft.

So, to summarise:
- When do bunnies usually beginning eating after surgery?
- Can I use critical care and do I need to use it at this stage?
- When can she go back into her normal cage?

If you have any other helpful info, please let me know.
 
:wave::wave: Hi there its horrible isn't it?

Bobby didn't eat from when I picked her up from the vets at 5 till 4 am the next day!:shock:

I was absoloutley beside myself, but apparently this is normal, have you put a bowl of water down instead of her bottle? As she may not have the energy to drink from bottle, but usually they do want to drink after GA.

I then just tried every fresh herb I could, parlsey was my saviour the flat leaf, and I beleive there are a few bunny mummies who will agree:)

Other than that just keep offering, she will prob perk up after her pain releif Bobby did and started eating although nowhere near as much as I was used to by day two in the evening.

She prob will have no interest in pellets for a few days either.

Hope this helps, I was absolutley stressed,

You will know when to move her to a bigger carrier as she will be trying to hop about a bit more;) I left Bobby for three days but she recovered fairly quickly
 
Oh and make sure is warm enough as they can't regulate their temp after GA...
I am no expert but RU really helped me through it when Bobby was spayed
 
Ooh, good tip about the heat. Her favourite pink bed has a pocket at the back for the snuggle safe to pop into. I will go heat it up!

I will keep trying to tempt her with different food. Usually though there is no stopping her with her carrots. I also just talked to the vet and she says to give her some Critical Care in a couple of hours if she has not started eating, would you agree with this?
 
Well I didn't have any, but I did get her to eat a tiny leaf within about four hours, so my vet said as long as she keeps eating little amount then her gut will be moving.

If she is a bit cold her gut will be slower, so hopefully she will pick up a bit and you won't need to!

I am a bit of a whimp when it comes to force feeding, but if you are confident and the bun is not too stressed, it should be fine. Cos stress can make them not eat, I just kept on refreshing her herbs as the smell got her interested... honestly flat leaf parsley is wonderful:love:
 
Ok, I will hold off on the Critical Care and see if I can get some flat leaf parsley. It is not that cold here (probably 22C) but it is starting to get a bit chilly in comparison to the hot weather we have been having so I am going to put the snugglesafe pad in at one end of the carrier and see if that helps.
 
I think the pain relief is working! :D

I went in to pop the heat matt in, and noticed that the back corner of her bed was all wet so I decided to transfer her to the larger carrier. In the process she decided that she wanted to go for a walk. She didn't move very quickly, but it was movement! I put a fresh towel, blanket and bed in the bigger carrier and the heat matt, hay and water bottle. She is still very groggy but looking a little brighter. :D
 
I think the pain relief is working! :D

I went in to pop the heat matt in, and noticed that the back corner of her bed was all wet so I decided to transfer her to the larger carrier. In the process she decided that she wanted to go for a walk. She didn't move very quickly, but it was movement! I put a fresh towel, blanket and bed in the bigger carrier and the heat matt, hay and water bottle. She is still very groggy but looking a little brighter. :D

:love::love: has she eaten any or drank any yet??/ I had to hold the bottle up to Bobby as she was not interested in the bowl?? Sounds like she is doing ok tho
 
When I first put the bottle into the carrier she did drink a little, not much but better than nothing. She has also nosed some hay, not sure if she ate anything but showing some interest. Positive signs! :D
 
When I first put the bottle into the carrier she did drink a little, not much but better than nothing. She has also nosed some hay, not sure if she ate anything but showing some interest. Positive signs! :D

definitley I am going off line to get my room ready for homecheck... god I am nervous
 
try some nice fresh herbs too like parsely and soup celery. a wee walk will do her no harm it'll encourage her tummy to work. also you could soak her pellets and see if she'll eat someof them. hope she continues to make a full recovery. it's very scary. getting the vacc along her spay wasn't a great idea but hope it won't annoy her too much.
 
When Ruby went for her spay she came out at 6pm and didn't eat until about 2am... and even that was a couple of strands of hay... I think it's quite normal for them to not eat, but it's very worrying and also deciding that point at which you do something about it is difficult!

Hope she is feeling a bit better today! :love:
 
I am sure you will pass with flying colours! I can't wait to get Charlee a pal. The rescue I am in contact with doesn't have any suitable males at the moment, so we are waiting for some babies she has (got a female in awhile a go and a week later she gave birth!) to get a little older so that she can sex them. Plus, part of their rules is that any pets adopted out have to be nuetered first, so I have to wait until they are old enough to be fixed or until a suitable male bunny comes along.
 
tabitha rabbit did not eat properly for days after the spay. she must have felt bad, and i felt awful! i ended up combing the garden for tiny dandelion leaves (it was just before christmas!). keep going with little things she likes. tabby is well now, three months later. :)
 
I am sure you will pass with flying colours! I can't wait to get Charlee a pal. The rescue I am in contact with doesn't have any suitable males at the moment, so we are waiting for some babies she has (got a female in awhile a go and a week later she gave birth!) to get a little older so that she can sex them. Plus, part of their rules is that any pets adopted out have to be nuetered first, so I have to wait until they are old enough to be fixed or until a suitable male bunny comes along.
we passed:love: How is she??
 
we passed:love: How is she??

Yay, congrats :D Have you already chosen a bun to bring home or are you still deciding? So exciting!

How is Charlee today? My Tilly didnt eat for a good 12 hours after I got her home, save for a few nibbles of hay and (of course!) parsley. She soon got her appetite back tho :) They just feel so poorly afterwards bless them, probs alot to do with the anaesthetic aswell as the actual op.

xxxx
 
Yep Carlo from honey bunnies, pics are in general chat..

Its horrible getting them spayed but once its done they can fall in LURVE:love:
 
That sould not happen. The vets are wrong to let her home so soon.

I'm suprise the vets let her to go home after she was spayed. They should not let her go home till she started to eat and pooping ok. Mine was done and the vets will not let her home till she was eating and pooping ok. She finally came home after 2 days. If she still not eating, my advise is to ring the vets up and tell them what the situation is with your rabbit.
 
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I had our foster bunny spayed yesterday and she is only just starting to eat stuff now. She had a few bits last night but only after us tempting her - basil seemed to work. She has just had quite a bit of kale. She had a nibble at some hay too during the night. No pellets yet though.

She was grinding her teeth this morning too so we asked the vet if she could have some more metacam so we have done this.

I feel so sorry for her as she is normally a bright friendly little girl.:love:
 
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