Tamsin said:
It sounds like that's general advice for all animals being neutered. They perhaps need to add a note that bunnies are different. I'll drop them an email and mention it
I already did:
"Hello there,
Firstly I would like to say what a fantastic job the RSPCA do in helping lower-income pet owners get their animals the treatment they need.
I am emailing about a piece of advice given on your website, which may be misconstrued. The website says that "All animals coming into the clinic for neutering need to be at the clinic for 9am. They must not eat after 6pm the night before and water taken up by midnight." Obviously this advice is meant for cats and dogs , but for rabbits, this could be lethal! As no doubt you already know, they need to eat and drink right up to the time of the op as they are prone to GI stasis.
Perhaps you could change the wording to read something like "All animals coming into the clinic for neutering need to be at the clinic for 9am. Cats and dogs must not eat after 6pm the night before and water taken up by midnight. Rabbits should NOT be starved at all, and should eat and drink as normal before the operation."
I'm sure the advice on your website was not intended to direct people to starve their pet rabbits before an operation, as it does not specifically say this. I was just concerned that some pet owners could become confused due to the wording being ambiguous.
Once again may I commend all RSPCA staff for the exemplary work they do.
Many thanks, and kind regards,
Liz Burden
House Rabbit owner."
AMETHYST