Post Spay care and rebonding

am going to bite the bullet and get our Millie spayed-she is nearly one and lives with her husband Bitsy (who has been castrated)

question is do I need to keep her in the house afterwards for a bit? should she be separate from him?

a rabbit rescue lady I spoke to suggested taking bitsy along to the vets with her so she wouldnt come back smelling of vets etc and they could then be kept together....

so confused what to do but she sooo needs doing she wont leave him him alone at the minute with her womanly urges.....

all help gratefully received xx

Hi, I've just gone through the exact same thing. I had Phoebe spayed recently as she was really frustrated and she and my neutered buck were fighting. Unfortunately, my vet wouldn't keep my boy Nermal with Phoebe the day of her spay, so I had to take him home and they are still separated a couple of weeks later (there's been some fighting) :-( If I was you I would really insist that the vets keep them together up until the op, so that you don't get one coming home smelling weird...

After the op, it all depends on the bun. Phoebe had a whole bowl of food while she was still groggy from anaesthetic, so my vet was happy for her to come home. She was very quiet all night and the next day. If your girl isn't eating by the next day she needs to go back to the vet for a gut stimulant (they give this during the op as well, just in case).

If she's an outdoor bun, she has to come inside for a few days while she's recovering as she won't be able to regulate her body temperature properly. You need to have a cage indoors or a blocked off space where she can stretch out but keep her movement resitricted so she's not running around (not that she'll want to!). She'll need something soft to lie on, maybe a hay rack so she's not lying in hay and getting it in her wound, and newspaper or similar in the litter tray, again so nothing gets stuck to the wound...

You'll need to keep her apart from your boy, but have him next to her or really close, as he might be a bit rough with her or encourage her to run or jump and hurt herself.

You'll have a check-up appointment a few days later, but it's a good idea to have a quick look at her wound just to make sure it's healing ok. I wasn't really sure what to look for, but I was assured by the vet that I'd know if something wasn't right!

Hope this helps - and good luck! Phoebe's starting to calm down now and seems a bit happier, and she's stopped peeing on me!!! Result!

thanks for the very helpful reply-will ring our vets and see if they will take Bitsy in too then take it from there

she is an outdoor bunny so guess she will have to live in the downstairs toilet for a couple of days.......

All the bunnys in our rescue stay with their partner if they are bonded for all vet visits. If they are going for surgery they go with their partner to the vets, the rabbits stay together until immediatley before their surgery. they are only separated immediatly prior to their operation and then put back together as soon as the one who has been operated on has started waking up. They are then put back together.

On return home they stay together. This is far less stressful for each other than splitting them.

so Janice following your advice (i really dont want to separate them) if I can get the vet to take them both in...or will change vet if needs be.....and keep them in a small space such as downstairs bathroom for a couple of days afterwards this will be ok? then maybe in the hutch but shut the ramp off so they have to stay upstairs or shut them in the run with no access upstairs during the day....would that work?


thanks again for the advice