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Feeding conehead / collared rabbits?

Vita

Mama Doe
Looks like I'm going to have to get a cone put on stitch- and bandage-chewing Ada this afternoon.

Have you had a bunny who had to wear a cone? Did you have to hand feed them, and if so, how frequently? What about at night? How often did you have to get up to feed them?

If I do have to get up at night, I'm planning to go to bed very early so I can get as much sleep in as poss, even if it will be interrupted.
 
You need to feed them their caecotrophs. I know others have tried the baby-gro on a bunny technique instead of the collars
 
You need to feed them their caecotrophs. I know others have tried the baby-gro on a bunny technique instead of the collars

How do you make / get a babygro for a rabbit?

The problem is that she is chewing and / or eating the bandage. She could do the same with the babygro.

She is getting more shy of being handled again as I keep having to pick her up this week.

How often do you have to gather the cecotrophs to feed them back them?
 
I put a babygro on Holly when she hurt her leg.

She had a collar to start with (you can see her leg injury here too it went from her shoulder to her paw :(

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She used to scoop pellets up in the collar and eat them from there (pretty clever) but it was distressing for her wearing it.
I got new born baby babygro's and cut the bit that fastens under the baby's bottom off to make a t-shirt. Then i cut the arms and re-stitched them into a more comfortable bunny leg position (mine needed long sleeves due to the nature of Holly's injury).

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She wasn't best pleased with it either

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She was very angry when i made her wear both :oops::lol:

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Depending on the nature of the injury you can cut and stitch the gro to the bunnies needs. There are also lots of small dog santa suits about just now which have the legs already in an animals leg position, then you can stitch it into the shape it needs to be. I opted for white as i wanted to keep it plain as it was necessity not a fashion statement, but its up to you what you choose as long as it benifits the animal :)
 
Some of the inury, pretty graphic, but to show you why it was necessary to dress her up. I still to this day do not know how she did it :(

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After the vet shaved her, it became apparent her fur was hiding a large amount of the actual injury

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Poor Holly :(

How long did she have to wear it?

Did you work out some kind of special sticky-out hay dispenser for her?

Ada hates the collar too. She keeps shaking her head :(

ETA
I have got out the Oxbow Organic Meadow Hay which has exceptionally long strands, is very thick and stalky and tends to clump in a big fluffy ball. She has been able to eat a little of that but I am really worried that her level of distress is meaning she can't settle to eat. She wouldn't accept a syringe of water from me :(
 
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Poor Holly :(

How long did she have to wear it?

Did you work out some kind of special sticky-out hay dispenser for her?

Ada hates the collar too. She keeps shaking her head :(

Goodness, erm, im not sure now, Holly's injury was 4 years ago now (scary that it only feels like it was recent and she is still as loopy as ever). I kept it on until the stitches came out, but i truly cant remember how long for :oops:.

I just gave her a massive pile of hay so it was high enough for her to grab some without needing to move her head too much, but when she was in the cone just left pellets in the floor to allow her to scoop.

What has Ada done to herself? :( poor wee soul, hope she is better soon.

p.s. sorry for threadjacking, just wanted to show you how i used it, and the best way was with loads of photo's :oops:
 
Goodness, erm, im not sure now, Holly's injury was 4 years ago now (scary that it only feels like it was recent and she is still as loopy as ever). I kept it on until the stitches came out, but i truly cant remember how long for :oops:.

I just gave her a massive pile of hay so it was high enough for her to grab some without needing to move her head too much, but when she was in the cone just left pellets in the floor to allow her to scoop.

What has Ada done to herself? :( poor wee soul, hope she is better soon.

p.s. sorry for threadjacking, just wanted to show you how i used it, and the best way was with loads of photo's :oops:

Not need to apologise whatsoever :)
Makes it feel a bit less freaky. The vet nurse had only seen one other rabbit who needed to be collared (she wasn't that old tho).

Ada was spayed on Monday. She chewed her stitches, we put a bandage over them and then she started eating the bandage:( Poor bored bunny.

I have taken pictures but can't find the USB cable. All a bit chaotic here!
 
Ah i see. Spay wounds are a bit difficult because of where they are situated on the body, a gro might now cover the area needed to be covered :?. Tricky one, i have never had issues with spays as my vet uses internal stitching and glue on the outside. Not really sure what to suggest, maybe supervised time with the collar off (dawn and dusk are most common for rabbits feeding and caecotrophs) so if that was possible then you could moniter her without the collar during these times? You could also cut a small chunk out of the collar at the bottom of it, to aid with feeding, but you would need to file the edges smooth so she cant cut herself.
 
Ah i see. Spay wounds are a bit difficult because of where they are situated on the body, a gro might now cover the area needed to be covered :?. Tricky one, i have never had issues with spays as my vet uses internal stitching and glue on the outside. Not really sure what to suggest, maybe supervised time with the collar off (dawn and dusk are most common for rabbits feeding and caecotrophs) so if that was possible then you could moniter her without the collar during these times? You could also cut a small chunk out of the collar at the bottom of it, to aid with feeding, but you would need to file the edges smooth so she cant cut herself.

I think I am going to have to do supervised time without the collar... but I am dreading putting it back on her. Poor creature.
She has mastered the pellet-scooping at least, and is having a bit of hay.
 
Hm. How about cutting some of the collar away and putting it on the wrong way around so the cone is facing back towards her body? The cut out bit is where her legs go! May work, may not, but possibly worth a try if you have a spare collar?
 
Hm. How about cutting some of the collar away and putting it on the wrong way around so the cone is facing back towards her body? The cut out bit is where her legs go! May work, may not, but possibly worth a try if you have a spare collar?

That's a good idea, then it isn't in the way or scaring them too much. I hope Poppy doesn't need one :shock: she stresses out easily :shock:

I hope Ada gets comfortable soon :)
 
Very concerned about sharp edges if cutting the collar. Not sure how to be 100% sure in filing it down so not sharp.

May take it off her later as she is so distressed :(
 
Bear with me on this, we had a cat who opened herself up after a spay, the collar was just impossible with her so we got my dads sock, cut the foot out of it and put that on so she had sort of a cylinder round her belly but her legs etc were free. I would take the cone off while i was with her if i was you but thats just my opinion. Twink never bothered with her spay, maybe i was just lucky.
Maybe a jumper sleeve would work like a sock. Good luck
 
Bear with me on this, we had a cat who opened herself up after a spay, the collar was just impossible with her so we got my dads sock, cut the foot out of it and put that on so she had sort of a cylinder round her belly but her legs etc were free. I would take the cone off while i was with her if i was you but thats just my opinion. Twink never bothered with her spay, maybe i was just lucky.
Maybe a jumper sleeve would work like a sock. Good luck

Thanks :)

The bandage is like that, aorund her middle. She rolls it down by moving about, and she chews it - probably eats it as there are no scraps evident. The wound was unharmed though, we found at the vets, so that's something.

She has worked out a clever thing now where she pushes hay up to the high sides of the corner litter tray, which makes it easier to get more into her mouth.

I am going to take the collar off her for at least a couple of hours this evening, if I see any more of the distressed head-shaking.
 
I can't get the sock on to her on my own. I managed to readjust the bandage, but it was quite traumatic as it came off twice and she really wanted to escape. She must be so stressed :(
 
We left Binky's cecotrophes - it was only a few days and she was fine. I think they'll only eat them VERY fresh anyway.

I had the water bottle quite loose, so it stuck far enough she could get it with the collar on.

Same with hay - made sure it was high up and big and puffy so she could get at it.

I fed her pellets by hand - I got up once in the night each night just to check she was ok - and see if she could reach everything, and got her more fresh hay sticking out.

Poor bun! I hope she's alright!

Binky tried to bath - she would have an ENTIRE bath bless her, and didn't seem to realise that she was licking the collar! She do the entire grooming process, try to do her ears and everything - very funny, but sad as well
 
I am sort of surprised to see a rabbit in a hard collar. I thought vets always used Brandon (Brenden?) collars for buns as rabbits can't generally eat their caetrophs or drink while wearing these. I'm glad you realise that this is a problem especially as they'll have no access to water! The collars my vet has always given me after operations are made from a soft material. The bun still can't get at any stitches on their body but they can bend them to eat and drink (and lick the inside of the collar!). Hopefully someone else will come along with more information.
 
Of all the animals I've had that have went through ops I've only ever been sent home with a collar for one rat (which looked hilarious). I ended up taking it off after a few hours and none of my other animals have worried op wounds. You might be lucky and Ada will be the same though I'd ask your vet for advice first before you take it off.
 
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