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Spay yesterday - am I over anxious?

Nymphadora

Young Bun
Hi everyone,

My lovely little Dora-bun went in for her spay yesterday and all went well but I'm quite anxious about how little she has eaten.

So the surgery was at about 2 yesterday and we picked her up at about 4:30. She was very quiet and not herself at all (though I know that's totally normal). She spent the first 4 hours at home hiding as she settled back in and relaxed a bit, but at about 9 she did very gingerly come out and sat while we stroked her head and rubbed her nose.

We tried all of her favourite foods but we didn't get her to eat anything until about 10:30 and that was literally just a couple of dock leaves, she had another couple in the night but didn't touch her herby hay (which is normally her absolute favourite) or any pellets, and she hadn't munched on the cabbage or grass that she had in there. Over night she left us about 15 small dark poos too. This morning I got her to take about half a treat cube and another couple of dock leaves. I guess my main question is how much should she be eating at this point after surgery? Should I be worried?

I started work late and the hubs should be home in half an hour or so, so I was wondering if he should pop her to the vets this afternoon if she hasn't eaten more in the last 3 hours?

Secondary question - Dora does have metacam, so hopefully she should be fairly comfortable but the vet did say that the painkillers should only be for today, my gut feeling is that she should have it for at least a couple of days (there should be enough to cover about 3 I think), what does anyone else think about this?

Thanks in advance!
 
I think Dora bun is doing very well, she's eaten quite a few dock leaves and half a treat cube, so imo if there was anything wrong she wouldn't have eaten these. She will possibly start to get hungrier this evening :thumb:
 
did the vet say to start her metacam tonight? if so she may well pick up after her dose and eat a bit more :) its good that she has had some input/output though so i wouldn't worry too much. She should absolutely have a longer course of metacam though, usually 5-7 days. a lot of vets seem to be very "behind" when it comes to pain relief but obviously after such a major operation she is going to be in pain for longer than a day! so yes i would insist that they prescribe you more.
 
Hi everyone,

My lovely little Dora-bun went in for her spay yesterday and all went well but I'm quite anxious about how little she has eaten.

So the surgery was at about 2 yesterday and we picked her up at about 4:30. She was very quiet and not herself at all (though I know that's totally normal). She spent the first 4 hours at home hiding as she settled back in and relaxed a bit, but at about 9 she did very gingerly come out and sat while we stroked her head and rubbed her nose.

We tried all of her favourite foods but we didn't get her to eat anything until about 10:30 and that was literally just a couple of dock leaves, she had another couple in the night but didn't touch her herby hay (which is normally her absolute favourite) or any pellets, and she hadn't munched on the cabbage or grass that she had in there. Over night she left us about 15 small dark poos too. This morning I got her to take about half a treat cube and another couple of dock leaves. I guess my main question is how much should she be eating at this point after surgery? Should I be worried?

I started work late and the hubs should be home in half an hour or so, so I was wondering if he should pop her to the vets this afternoon if she hasn't eaten more in the last 3 hours?

Secondary question - Dora does have metacam, so hopefully she should be fairly comfortable but the vet did say that the painkillers should only be for today, my gut feeling is that she should have it for at least a couple of days (there should be enough to cover about 3 I think), what does anyone else think about this?

Thanks in advance!

It's fairly normal for bunnies to go quiet and off their food. Have you tried herbs such as coriander? Mine usually love that. Also Dill and parsley.

In my opinion you should have enough Metacam for about five days, until her post op check up. I should ask the vet about that.

Lastly, in my book on foraging, it says to avoid dock leaves. If I were you I should give her other forage, freshly picked grass or herbs instead to pique her appetite
 
Thank you for the replies it was really reassuring! Dora is actually recovering far better and quicker than I thoughy ahe would! Her food intake isn't back to normal yet (she is slow on the uptake of hay) but she is slowly building it up and making progress! She is starting to move around more naturally so I think that her pain is being well managed, and I'll be keeping a very close eye on her when we run out of metacam. She still doesn't want to be picked up so I'm struggling to check up on her wound, but I'm getting the odd glance when she is snoozing on her side! Fingers crossed things continue as well as they have been so far!

I've read a lot about rabbits and dock leaves and the advice larely seems to be that they are fine in moderation as long as the plant isn't in flower or seeding, Dora always eats them when she is out in the garden and we haven't had any problems but I do keep an eye out to make sure that she doesn't eat too many.

Thanks again for the reassurances!!
 
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