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Not eating after spay, help please! U/D P83

J

JemimaH

Warren Veteran
Dee, my 5 and a half year old Nethie, was spayed yesterday morning. the spay itself went fine, but she is not eating or pooing... The vets have kept her in overnight and she is still there now, but she is going to be collected by us at 5.15 to see if she relaxes more in her home environment. The vets have been syringe feeding her, but she's done absolutely nothing poo wise! To me that is slightly confusing, because I would have thought having all that food in her would have surely made her poo but hey ho... Anyways, I just want a bit of advice as to keep syringe feeding as less stressful as possible? She's going back to the vets tomorrow for a check up but I have never syringe fed a bunny before! Is it the same as giving her medicine? Thanks :wave:

ETA: I'm wondering if I've made it worse by getting her spayed. The evening before I brought her inside, she's normally outdoors. She was very quiet, her poos were very black and small, and she was barely eating as it was. I probably say she had fifteen pellets from about 7pm to 7.30am the next day when we left. It's just occurred to me that I probably shouldnt have gone through with it if she wasnt eating much the night before?! :?
 
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I assume she is receiving pain relief and gut motility meds ?

If her guts were already slow prior to surgery then did you mention it to the Vet ?
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I assume she is receiving pain relief and gut motility meds ?

If her guts were already slow prior to surgery then did you mention it to the Vet ?
Click to expand...

I havent got a clue if I'm honest, it's my Mum thats spoken to the vets and I dont think they've mentioned medicine. No, it slipped my mind as she was being a little :censored: to catch which made us late and it was all very rushed, feel so guilty now :(
 
Make sure you are given pain relief, Doughnut had it for 5 days and also fibreplex which she liked the taste of. She loves her pellets but went off them after being spayed. Try and tempt her to eat with herbs or dandelions. I've never had to syringe feed as when I've given meds I've given them on food.

To get Doughnut to take her meds I gave her a bit of weetabix with the meds soaked in. She seemed to like this and it was less stressful for both of us than syringe feeding her.
 
Sorry about your bunny. She should be ok if her life can return to 'normal' when she gets home. Can you put her back in her usual hutch and give her something she enjoys. I h.ad a 7 month old female spayed last week and she took 2 days to start eating. They all differ but it is still highly worrying. I didn't syringe feed as I wanted her to start eating naturally. So she was spayed Thursday and it wasn't until Saturday morning that I noticed she'd eaten the food I had put in. With an older bun it might take a bit longer Let us know how she gets on.
 
I would make sure that she has received pain relief and that you are provided with more to administer for the next few days. I would also find out if she has had any gut motility meds and also if her teeth were checked whilst under GA. The small poo may be indicative of dental issues, something Nethies are prone to. Getting her guts working again is essential, hopefully things will improve for her in a familiar environment.
 
Okay thankyou, will check that we are given pain relief. I'm gonna be stupid here but ask why? Just so if the vet asks why I can give her an explanation :lol: Also, I doubt her teeth will have been done as they asked if we wanted anything else doing under GA and we said no, because she'd been eating fine a few days before we brought her in and we just thought she wasnt eating due to stress of being inside.
 
You shouldn't need to explain yourself, you should be sent home with it. Just say you want to make sure she's pain free and other friend's rabbits that you know have been spayed were given 5 days worth. She won't eat if she's in pain and I would have thought he would give her a gut mobility jab. Please insist on the pain relief and ask for fibreplex as Doughnut loved the taste of it and it helps the gut. She licked it off the syringe! If you had a major operation you would want pain relief and so would the vet so it's the same thing. She's your bunny and to know she's pain free will be peace of mind for you.
 
OK. Last time, when my other female was spayed, she was just given a 24hour lasting injection of pain relief before she came home so I will see if she has had that at all as well, I hope she has to be honest :?
 
Doughnut had a 24 injection, I had to administer pain relief the following morning twice a day and then fibreplex to encourage eating and gut mobility. I don't think the injection is enough. Rabbits hide their pain well and I would rather know she was pain free than thinking she looks pain free and not sure I would be able to tell, unless she's hunched up and it's obvious.

Even if you get another two days worth it will help.
 
She'll be going back in tomorrow anyway for a check up so even if we only get enough until tomorrow I can pick some more up, providing she needs it! How often do you have to give her pain relief would you advise??
 
I was advised from my vet to give it twice a day for five days. He had given her the 24 hour injection so i started the following morning. 5 days may have been over cautious by him but I would rather know she's not suffering and so she continues eating

Good luck
 
yh all mine had the 24 hour injection, its what most vets give now, i wouldn''t worry to much, my matilda didn't eat properly for 2-3 days, try tempting her with strong smelling stuff, basil, mint, parsley etc x
 
Just got in, we've got Critical Care and Fibreplex to give her, but she spits out the critical care apparently :roll: She's also had her teeth checked and a pain relief injection, so we know its not her teeth. I think the car journey back was more stressful than the vets! came across a huge accident where a car had flipped due to the wet roads, and Mum had to do a very impressive emergency brake to avoid a head on with a police car and ambulance going at a very high speed, poor Dee flew across the carrier and I heard her whack into the side!:(

She's got pellets, dandelion and some apple for now, but we'll be adding to it later on if she eats none of that. She's currently flopped out on her newspaper, I'm on poo watch now! This is gonna be a looooong night :lol:
 
Another question, she's laid out on her newspaper and she keeps having 'tremors' as such. All of a sudden she'll jerk her back legs then her whole body will shake for a few seconds, then she's still again. Is this normal? I've never seen her do this before :?
 
JemimaH said:
Another question, she's laid out on her newspaper and she keeps having 'tremors' as such. All of a sudden she'll jerk her back legs then her whole body will shake for a few seconds, then she's still again. Is this normal? I've never seen her do this before :?
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could she be cold? I put matilda next to a cover hot water bottle, with the medicine, I hide it IN peices of banana, mash banana up with it! matilda refuses to take fibreplex, but mashed in narna and its gone it seconds!!
 
It's good to try a few things, Doughnut wasn't interested in her pellets which worried me but I read that most start eating herbs, forage etc first. Since I was giving her her meds on a bit of weetabix I think she looked forward to it. She only gets a bit if she's ill!

Pleased she seems to be doing well. I was hiding the fibreplex on different foods until I discovered she thinks it's a treat as well. Funnily enough I give her carrot tops with a tiny bit of carrot and she has no interest in the carrot and fibreplex is suppose to be carrot tasting.

I don't know what the shaking is, but like the previous post said it may be cold.

Hope the poop starts coming.
 
Her ears do feel a little cold, not horrendous though. We have no microwave so I can't heat up an Ice Pod (i think you can heat them anyway!?:?) She looks so sorry for herself, makes me want to cry really :cry: Shes just had some critical care though and she took that without much of a struggle which is good, we're going to give her some fibreplex a little bit later as well as a few more feeds. I'm a little hesitant to give her a few more feeds though because whilst she's not pooing its just like building up inside her and I don't want to make her uncomfortable, if you get me? she's weed though, done a nice big wee which i will clean tomorrow :D
 
Have you got a fleece blanket or a towel she can lay on which is nice and warm and cosy. You could always warm it up in an airing cupboard if you have one!
 
I really don't know what to do to tempt her to eat now :( She's cold as well, I've given her a towel thats been in the airing cupboard but she's ignoring it totally :roll: She's done no poos since Monday evening/early hours of tuesday. She's not eaten since Monday evening and isnt drinking so I'm syringing her water every hour. She is weeing, but no poos and she is just hunched in a corner. I've given her critical care and some fibreplex, which she's promptly spat out all over the floor of her cage. One corner, not her littertray corner typically, is wet through because shes weed but she's in obvious discomfort. I've given her tummy massages and they've not done a lot, she was enjoying them though! She looks so so sorry for herself as well, it's breaking my heart :cry: I'm going to be up most of the night with her, monitoring her as well. I just don't know what to try now.
 
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