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Experienced bunny owners - post spay tips please

N

New bunnies

Young Bun
Hi everyone, our little mini lop Luna is going in for a sort of emergency spay tomorrow as she had a fall out with her husband on Mon as he objected to be humped all the time :roll: They are indoors and now separated but can see each other.

She’s just 6 months, he’s 7 months but was neutered before we got him at 12 weeks. She’s going to a rabbit savvy vet 30 mins away from us but i’d Love any post spay tips please. I’m especially worried about stasis as she has already :oops: had an episode after eating more of a cardboard box than she should have done one evening. Plus I am a useless wimp of a bunny parent & really struggle to pick her up even with a towel - she hates it!

Also do you think it best to wait 6 weeks post spay before try to rebond? Ginger is very sad without Luna although she seems happy enough & is chinning everything in sight!

Thanks for any tips, i’m really stressed about tomorrow...
 
Aww lots of vibes for Luna tomorrow.

As far as tips go, I’d make sure you’ve got the following covered:

Feed her as normal tomorrow morning. Bunnies don’t need to fast before an op.

When you drop her off, leave some of her favourite foods to encourage her to eat when she comes round. Although it’s likely they’ll syringe feed while she’s there.

When you pick her up, check with the vet/nursing staff when she last ate or was given a syringe feed. That will make it easier for you to work out if and when you will need to syringe feed her if she doesn’t eat for herself at home.

Following on from that, make sure to get some recovery food and syringes from the vet. Some bunnies take a few days before they start eating for themselves post spay so best to have the recovery food on hand. Also useful to get some fruit flavoured Ella’s Kitchen baby food to mix with the recovery food to make it more palatable.

Make sure the vet gives you pain relief and gut stimulants to administer at home for a few days.

Restrict her movements, i.e don’t let her jump onto anything for a few days so as to protect the wound.

Regularly check the wound site to make sure it’s clean and dry. If anything looks untoward then get in touch with the vet.

Book a post spay check up for a few days after the op to make sure it’s all healing nicely.

It’s not unusual for a bun to prefer fresh foods over dry when recovering from illness or an op. So keep offering things such as herbs, fresh forage, fresh grass etc to tempt her to eat. It may be a few days before she feels like eating hay and pellets.

I think I’ve covered most of it but someone will hopefully add anything I’ve missed out.

Good luck again for tomorrow’s spay xx


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Scrappy's Little Helper said:
Aww lots of vibes for Luna tomorrow.

As far as tips go, I’d make sure you’ve got the following covered:

Feed her as normal tomorrow morning. Bunnies don’t need to fast before an op.

When you drop her off, leave some of her favourite foods to encourage her to eat when she comes round. Although it’s likely they’ll syringe feed while she’s there.

When you pick her up, check with the vet/nursing staff when she last ate or was given a syringe feed. That will make it easier for you to work out if and when you will need to syringe feed her if she doesn’t eat for herself at home.

Following on from that, make sure to get some recovery food and syringes from the vet. Some bunnies take a few days before they start eating for themselves post spay so best to have the recovery food on hand. Also useful to get some fruit flavoured Ella’s Kitchen baby food to mix with the recovery food to make it more palatable.

Make sure the vet gives you pain relief and gut stimulants to administer at home for a few days.

Restrict her movements, i.e don’t let her jump onto anything for a few days so as to protect the wound.

Regularly check the wound site to make sure it’s clean and dry. If anything looks untoward then get in touch with the vet.

Book a post spay check up for a few days after the op to make sure it’s all healing nicely.

It’s not unusual for a bun to prefer fresh foods over dry when recovering from illness or an op. So keep offering things such as herbs, fresh forage, fresh grass etc to tempt her to eat. It may be a few days before she feels like eating hay and pellets.

I think I’ve covered most of it but someone will hopefully add anything I’ve missed out.

Good luck again for tomorrow’s spay xx


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Aah thanks there’s really good points here, she wouldn’t eat anything dry for a day after her stasis episode so that’s a good to know.
 
You were already given excellent advice. Because of her past stasis, take extra care that she gets sufficient water. Sometimes you can syringe some extra water. If not, your vet can show you how to administer fluids under the skin so she stays hydrated.
Sending you and your bunny some positive vibes for a full recovery.
 
Hope your bunny came through her spay well and is back home. Grass and Dandelion leaves are usually the first things they take an interest in after a spay or if she has a favourite herb/veg. She probably won't want her pellets until tomorrow. You won't need to wait 6 weeks before putting them back together but try them in about 10 days. Hope she recovers well.
 
tonibun said:
Hope your bunny came through her spay well and is back home. Grass and Dandelion leaves are usually the first things they take an interest in after a spay or if she has a favourite herb/veg. She probably won't want her pellets until tomorrow. You won't need to wait 6 weeks before putting them back together but try them in about 10 days. Hope she recovers well.
Click to expand...
She was ok after the spay but the vet kept her until 5:30 as she wasn’t really eating and she’s only been nibbling at herbs yesterday and the odd blade of grass when I annoyed her by waving them under her nose and wouldn’t touch kale. She did have a few sips of water from a bowl and did wee. The vets only give pain meds as standard and they want to see her again on Fri. This morning she was all hunched up and refusing to eat so after giving her her pain meds dose for the day and a shot of fibreplex, made an appointment to see vets at 11:30 today.

When I got back from dropping children at school she was moving around and nibbled some fresh parsley off the plant and some dried plantain. As this vets are 30 minutes away (ie worried about stress of carrier in car) I called and asked whether to bring her in or leave her as she seemed to have perked up, they said leave it but monitor. She did no poos last night, but five (yes i’m counting!) tiny poos this morning and a splotches of what smells like caecotrophs and then some formed, but not joined, like a bunch of grapes tiny caecotrophs. She’s doing the bunny loaf on a towel on a snuggle safe and only consenting to nibble at food occasionally.

Should I just stress her out & take her back to the vets to get gut stimulant or leave her a bit longer....
 
Just a note the vets i’m using are recommended by 4 people on Frances Harcourt Brown website - Windlesham Village Vets
 
New bunnies said:
Just a note the vets i’m using are recommended by 4 people on Frances Harcourt Brown website - Windlesham Village Vets
Click to expand...

Yes, I have family members who use this vet and would also recommend them.

If I were you I would monitor Luna for the next few hours and contact the vet again before they close if you are concerned. My doe quite quickly got back to normal eating after about 24 hours.

As tonibun said earlier, fresh grass would possibly be popular.
 
Omi said:
Yes, I have family members who use this vet and would also recommend them.

If I were you I would monitor Luna for the next few hours and contact the vet again before they close if you are concerned. My doe quite quickly got back to normal eating after about 24 hours.

As tonibun said earlier, fresh grass would possibly be popular.
Click to expand...

Thanks Omi, that’s what’s so weird though - she hardly touching fresh grass and not at all for dandelions & they used to be a favourite.

But then neither is Ginger - our neutered buck who she was living with until Mon when they had a fight as she kept humping him! Hence “emergency” spay. Think they’re both stressed by the separation and hence different living quarters..

I just feel like I’m mucking up this rabbit ownership thing big time ��
 
You’re not messing up as a rabbit owner at all.

Rabbits are generally difficult animals to look after. Nursing a rabbit through a spay is very tricky. Understandably they will feel pretty rotten after such a major operation but you have the added complication of having to keep their gut moving while simultaneously trying not to stress them out too much so they don’t make themselves even more unwell!

You really are doing a great job. It’s very encouraging that she’s passed some poos and has started to nibble on a few things for herself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Scrappy's Little Helper said:
You’re not messing up as a rabbit owner at all.

Rabbits are generally difficult animals to look after. Nursing a rabbit through a spay is very tricky. Understandably they will feel pretty rotten after such a major operation but you have the added complication of having to keep their gut moving while simultaneously trying not to stress them out too much so they don’t make themselves even more unwell!

You really are doing a great job. It’s very encouraging that she’s passed some poos and has started to nibble on a few things for herself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thank you Scrappy’s little helper, I’m one of life’s worriers anyway and this combined with young children, a busy period at work & my mum’s cancer is driving me ever so slightly mad.

Anyway she has nibbled at a few strands of hay just now (3/4 only) so that’s progress....
 
New bunnies said:
Thank you Scrappy’s little helper, I’m one of life’s worriers anyway and this combined with young children, a busy period at work & my mum’s cancer is driving me ever so slightly mad.

Anyway she has nibbled at a few strands of hay just now (3/4 only) so that’s progress....
Click to expand...
I'm so sorry about your mum. I hope she is doing as well as possible.

You certainly have a lot on your plate at the moment. I hope Luna is helping alleviate things a little by eating a bit more!

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 
Thank you so much to everyone that gave me advice & sent vibes, I’ve sat & watched Luna eat quite a bit of hay tonight & she’s moving more & grooming so hopefully on the mend!
 
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