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Spayed yesterday - worried

Alied14

Alied14

New Kit
Our female house bunny was spayed yesterday afternoon and we bought her home. She's got a blue cone tied on to stop her biting at her stitches.

Problem is this seems to be getting in the way of her eating, she won't touch her rabbit nuggets at all, eats and drinks if we feed her and give her water bottle by hand.

Also, where she had something attached to her ear during surgery its left her ear all bloody, what should we use to clean this?

First spayed female owned and am probably worrying over nothing but its our first female pet and are very protective over her.
 
Hi, you will have to hand feed her unfortunately. She really will struggle eating from a bowl.

I'm not sure why the ear would have something attached to it? You may want to contact the vets and find out. Try washing it with warm water.

It's normal to worry, just remember you're doing the right thing :)
 
Barney had to wear a cone.



There are things you can do to make life easier for buns with cones. As you can see in the picture I tied a hay rack up which made it much easier for Barney to eat hay rather than eating it directly off the floor. I also put his water bottle quite high up, this made it easier for him to position his cone around the spout and therefore drink independently. I offered him food and water every few hours and monitored him pretty much constantly throughout the day.

It is also a good idea to offer your bun her caecotrophs.
 
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Hi

Cones are used if a vet leaves stitches in accessible places rather than one of the other more usual methods nowadays. It does cause them a lot of distress and there are alternative types of soft cone that can be used and you should ask your vet about this (they are used for rabbits particularly).

She will still be in pain from the neutering op - were you given painkillers to give to her orally? (syringed liquid metacam or such). If not you will need to contact the vet for this. Do not believe the vet if they say rabbits dont need this as they do not feel pain. A good rabbit vet will give onward painkillers.

the ear will have been a drip of some kind - again they should have cleaned it properly before handing her back. You can use lukewarm water with a cotton pad and complain to them.

Continue to hand feed and give water.
 
Thankyou for all your advice.

Bunny seems alot better today, although couple more concerns....sorry.

Firstly, her stitches all seem clean and ooze free - no redness either. Noticed this morning that she had some urine around the area, should this be cleaned off or is in inevitable they'll do this?

Secondly, she's desperate to get out her hutch, whenever we open up the doors to see her she tries to get out, she's a very loving rabbit and is desperate for affection.

What do you suggest?

 
It is very worrying isn't it, I had one of my girls spayed 2months ago so I know how your feeling.
What a shame the vet did the type of stitches which mean your bunny has to wear a collar, that must cause extra stress for her. Did the vet give you some painkiller?
I think it's important to restrict movement initially while the anesthetic wears off to prevent the bunny hurting themselves, but after 24 hours I didn't confine my bun to her hutch, but did restrict her space to an area approx 3'x6', she is a giant though. The main thing is to stop her jumping. Could you section off a little area near to where you are so she has a bit more company? And I think it's important for their recovery to be happy, and to move around a little.
I would try to gently clean the urine off, as she won't be able to clean herself properly with the collar on.
I hope she is feeling better soon :wave:
 
She was given painkillers which we give her twice a day, honey flavoured. She loves it and definitely relaxes her as soon as its given, lol.

We've got a portable playpen so was thinking about putting her in that for her to have a bit more space.

Have got to take her to vets on Saturday so hoping they might let her take collar off as initially they said it has to stay on 10 days! seems very unfair.
She's still eating well and everything else is fine.

Got to take our little boy Blade to vets saturday too for his vaccinations and then to probably book him in for neutering too, not fun!

x
 
10 days does seem like a long time to keep it on. It all depends on how the wound is healing, your vet will know what's for the best. Hopefully she won't have to keep it on for the full week & a half.

Blade will probably have the cone on too but his wound shouldn't take as long to heal.

It's such a relief once they are both done & healed!
 
Looking forward to it as we bought Blade to be Brie's companion so as soon as they're healed an hormone free then we can begin the bonding.

He's about 9 weeks now so not sure how soon they can be done.
x
 
It's 4 months so not this year unfortunately. I actually bonded Chloe (spayed) with Barney before he was neutered . This was because I have giants and was advised not to neuter them until they were 10-12 months but at 6 months Barney was getting big & I wanted him to go and live in the shed as he was too big for a hutch. Things were OK, he was a bit of a pest and obviously it wasn't ideal. As soon as he was 10 months I took him to be neutered and their relationship then greatly improved. :)
 
Brie is 6 months and Blade currently about 9-10 weeks.
We're not sure whether to bond before his operation or wait until afterwards?

What do people think?
 
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