Spay advice please

:wave: Bluebell & Bramble are to be spayed together at the end of July. I have some (LOADS OF :lol questions! I'd be really grateful if somebody could help me out

Do they need to be separated? They live outdoors in a hutch.
Do I need to be with them? (I work full time and can't get any time off until October :shock I have Saturday & Sunday off - will that be long enough?
Do I need to ask the vet for any medication?
How long does it take to heal?
Can they still be handled?

So scared both females btw! :wave:

xlaurax said:

:wave: Bluebell & Bramble are to be spayed together at the end of July. I have some (LOADS OF :lol questions! I'd be really grateful if somebody could help me out

Do they need to be separated? They live outdoors in a hutch. They will need to be brought indoors. You can keep them together or separate, whichever works best for them.For example, some recover better with their friend, but if the friend starts chewing out the stitches of the other, then you may need to separate.
Do I need to be with them? (I work full time and can't get any time off until October :shock I have Saturday & Sunday off - will that be long enough? If all has gone well, then yes, that should be enough
Do I need to ask the vet for any medication? Definitely get Metacam for at least 5 days post spay.
How long does it take to heal? Visually they should heal very quickly, but it will take a couple more weeks to heal inside
Can they still be handled?Very, very carefully, but only if you need to because it will hurt a lot.

So scared both females btw! :wave:

Click to expand...

I've answered in bold. You might also want to read this.

What Sky-O said and also I had 2 girls done together and did not separate them afterwards and they were fine - no chewing or anything. They WILL lick their wound as that's natural but so long as they don't appear to be trying to pull out their stitches they will be fine. I didn't handle mine for 2 weeks. Possibly a little extreme but hey ho. They didn't need it anyway; they lay down and exposed their bellies themselves so I could check the wound that way. Check wound at least once every day to make sure they've left it alone and it's not bleeding. Make sure they cannot and do not jump up anything as this could stretch their wound and re-open it. Mine also live in the shed and I purchased a nice indoor dog crate and kept them in that for 2 full weeks post spay and they've had no problems whatsoever. The crate is now surplus to requirements but I'm keeping it in case of further illness. Oh, I strongly advise that if you do buy a crate for indoors place it on some plastic sheeting (I cut up some black bin bags) which is in turn covered by newspaper. It's amazing how they can get their wee onto the floor - and it stains! I also had an old dust sheet that I popped over the majority of the crate at night to imitate them going into their bed chamber in the hutch as that is enclosed; I thought it might make them sleep a bit better being "enclosed" as such.

Oh, mine weren't "cage bound" for the 2 weeks as after 24 hours we opened the door and let them roam around the utility room for a while until they got a bit boisterous and then encouraged them back in. Our floor is like a wood floor so to stop them slipping we put the aforementioned dust sheet down so they felt a bit safer. It's quite cute watching them explore new surroundings - but watch your shoes as they might nibble them! They made a right mess in our utility with straw, poop and stuff. And they stunk even though we regularly swept up and changed the newspaper. I was glad when the 2 weeks were over! :lol:

(I wouldn't bother using the puppy pad that comes with the cage as it'll get absolutely soaked with wee and although I washed ours, the stuff inside went all lumpy :roll

When I got Doughnut spayed she was sent home with fibreplex and metacam for a week. It was a relief to know she wasn't in any pain in fact when I got her home she jumped up on a shelf before I had time to put her in her hutch, nearly had a heart attack!

I left her in her hutch for rest for the rest of the day so she couldn't jump around and break the stitches.

Don't worry about them not eating straight away, I had to go back if she hadn't eaten in 24 hours. The following morning I panicked as no poops and no interest in the pellets she normally begs for. She started eating the following day by about midday and I think they are normally tempted by fresh herbs, so good to get some of them in. She didn't want her pellets for a few days and had her stitches out a week later. She'd had glue inside and normally stitches outside. She'd nibbled a few but had been a good girl apparently! Total healing time is a few weeks but she seemed fine after a week although they are still healing inside. The hair took a few months to grow back on her little tum.

She's an indoor rabbit but best to bring your's in and you can keep a closer eye on them.

Thanks guys, for your detailed responses and thanks for the link Sky-O I'll give it a read!

I will get my hands on a dog crate and keep it in the kitchen, they free range in there all the time so it's familiar territory which should help, I imagine.

I already feel guilty about it all. I know it's for the best for them health and behaviour wise but it just breaks my heart. They're going to think I'm just torturing them

Oh I felt terrible, so worried, I lost weight! Just think there is a very good chance of cancer of the uterus, so you are doing the right thing. Hopefully they will not die of a slow and painful death now and you have done all you can to keep them living longer.

I had time off but Doughnut is on her own so no company, so felt that was the least I could do.

If you get the metacam they won't be in any pain and since I couldn't syringe feed her, too stressful for both of us and she wriggles too much, I was putting it on a tiny piece of weetabix. She loved it and thought it was a treat! Did the same as with the fibreplex until I discovered she loves it and licks it off the syringe.

Good luck

Thank you :wave: you will no doubt be getting more questions when they've had the op! :lol:

Fire away, there's always someone who can advise. I was so stressed but looking back I didn't need to be, it's just making sure they start eating and are pain free. I would have got lots of herbs, rose leaves, rose petals etc in if I'd known she was off her pellets and could be tempted by other things.