My female Rabbit Has Just been spayed and has been given a hood to wear

Hi
She is finding it difficult to clean herself with the hood on. She hsd to have the hood on because she is having a little nip around where they did the surgery, and if she keeps doing it then her stitches would come out.

She is not that keen for a stroke with the hood on and the night before we got the hood, ( on the day of the surgery ) She layed down on my nap and had a sleep and only looked at her wound occasionally.

She is getting really stressed and she needs to eat more and she has to wear it for another 7 - 10 days until the wound has healed.

You can take it off as long as you can supervise her to make sure she isn't chewing her stitches. Then she'll be able to groom properly.

Helen xx

I am no expert but has she had pain killers, this may be wha is making her nibble it .

I have no experience whatsoever of a rabbit that needed to wear a collar so can't advise how to care for your rabbit wearing it.

Do you know how they closed the wound? Did they do internal stitches and then glue the closure or are there stiitches showing for her to get hold of? This is how our vets close and I have never had a rabbit that has wanted to nibble the wound. I wonder if it's painful or itchy? Possibly needs pain relief if it's longer than 24 hours after the original op.

I would also probably remove the collar and watch closely to make sure the rabbit doesn't go for the stitches. I have known for people to put one of those puppy tea shirts on their rabbit in these cases. One lady I knew did have trouble with her rabbit doing this and she bought a post op puppy top and it seemed to do the trick.

I just wonder if anyone has had a rabbit that successfully wore a collar actually. Rabbits field of vision is so very different from dogs and cats so I think it must be very stressful indeed as they must surely see the collar 'creeping up on them' and think it's a predator or something threatening.
Me no likey. Also I guess they would have to be hand fed their cecals as they won't be able to eat them directly - massively digestive problems possible from that one - No?