Tips on post-op eating etc

One of my bonded buns broke one of their back legs on Saturday morning, not to sure how since they both know the lay of the garden extremely well.. cutting a huge long story short, we decided to take the leg rather than put him down (don't think I could have lived with myself if I didnt give him a chance)

The surgery went ahead on Saturday night/sunday morning (if you can imagine the vet bill) His leg was amputated and stitched up fine. One vet wanted to keep him in due to his poor eating but the other one agreed with us that due to the horrible dog barking, strange environment and time away from his sister won't be doing him any good.

Brought him home at 10am this morning, as you can expect he is pretty shaken up, it has taken quite a lot of us just to get him to eat and drink through a syringe. He was mucnhing on hay and sipping from his water bowl once or twice tho.. very happy about that.

Besides from treats such as banana and syringe feeding him, any other tips? We are back at the vets at 9am (or local vet, the one who did the surgery was an emergency vet) so i'm sure she will advise us on what to do.

I'm still in shock to be honest, the sodding vet bills are £700 and rising.. never had something like this happen so its all very surreal.

I am sorry about your poor Bunny's accident.

I assume that he is receiving regular pain relief ? Is he pooing and weeing OK ?

You could try to tempt him with some fresh herbs, basil and coriander are often popular. Just a small amount if he has never had them before.

The fact that he is nibbling hay is good news, the more of that he eats the better. You could also give him some of the dried forage feeds now available either online or from Pet Shops.

We were worried about the medication to, the vet gave us none even tho I asked. We phoned about 5:30 and asked about it and she said they should last through the night so we will be asking our local vet at 9am about more pain killers. Thats my biggest worry as well.. that and the bandages.

Yes for poop, no for pee. I'v kind of left him for the past hour to relax since we have been prodding him to keep eating.

I will try those herbs! He is such a picky lil eater, not sure how much he would eat of the pet shop treats. He does like a bit of green veggies so i'll be giving him a go on those. But they do the the Wilko forage stuff so i'll pick that up to.

I'm just in shock.. its mad that this all happened yesterday. He is being so brave (and grumpy) poor little mite. Its quite nice to see all of the family supporting him, he is 'my' pet but its nice to see how loved he is by not just me.

Has he managed to get himself about at all ?

Oh yeh, he is in the indoor cage and moving about quite a lot. Obviously its taking time but in my opinion he is very steady, tho im not a vet so i dont know how much pressure he is putting on his stump (I hate that word ) But I mean we have a fleace blanket down and he moves every now and then. I'd say he was doing fine in the mobility area its just the eating.

house_bunny said:

Oh yeh, he is in the indoor cage and moving about quite a lot. Obviously its taking time but in my opinion he is very steady, tho im not a vet so i dont know how much pressure he is putting on his stump (I hate that word ) But I mean we have a fleace blanket down and he moves every now and then. I'd say he was doing fine in the mobility area its just the eating.

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I would try him with some herbs/veg. It is understandable that he wont have much of an appetite after his ordeal. He should definitely be having regular pain relief and hopefully the Vet you see tomorrow will provide some for you to administer at home.

I have a tripod Bunny, Harry. He sustained a compound fracture of his femur when he was less than a year old. He is about 6 and he has coped well. There can be problems with a hind leg amputees spine in later life. So it'd be a good idea to talk to the Vet about this too. Harry has just started to get a bit of backache, so he has an anti-inflammatory medication to help him.

Sorry to hear about the accident.

Soime of my buns have liked thyme, carrot tops, kale, blackberry leaves (if there are any around) when coming round from a GA along with the other things that Jane has mentioned.

Pain relief will be very important. did they give you any recovery food to syringe feed. I always have some Oxbow critical care in my first aid box as it is smooth to syringe. Your vet may stock some if you can get it, if not you can get it on line from vetsuk, petsupermarket (or not sure if Animed).

I hope he feels better soon.

Just to update, Oreo died about an hour ago, we made the choice to have him put to sleep. I am absolutely devestated about it. Even as i'm typing it feels like i'm dreaming.

He wasnt getting better, he was eating so poorly, the vet advised us if he didnt eat during the night we would have to put him to sleep - we knew just by looking at him that would never happen. So sad, while i'm glad I gave him a chance, a big part of me feels incredibly guilty for agreeing to take his leg and putting him through so much pain and prodding.

He was a beauitful, loving friend and I will miss him every day.

I'm so sorry you lost Oreo binky free xx

How very sad

RIP Oreo xx

So sorry At least you tried X

Sorry you lost Oreo. Its so hard having to make massive decisions on their behalf.