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Bea's spay *update she's gone*

JessBun

Mama Doe
Bea went in for her spay this morning. Had the OP early afternoon and I was asked to collect her 4.30pm (which seemed a bit quick to me). She has been utterly miserable since she got home (I can understand) but has eaten zero.

Vet told me they didn't know if she had eaten any of the food I brought for her. She did a pee pretty shortly after getting home, moved around a bit, but now is not moving so much and just huddled. She felt slightly cold on the ears (she is an English lop, this is relevant) so has huge ears that increase heat loss. I was not given any information to watch her temp from vet (perhaps they assumed it was common sense)? She does have a snugglesafe but isn't bothering with it.

I gave her the gut stimulant they prescribed and we have 5 dark, formed, but soft poohs. Which is a relief. But she still just doesn't look well poor thing. No more painkillers 'till the morning on vets orders as she has them after surgery. Was told she had a tiny uterus that the vet struggled to find! So the op took a bit longer than usual but that she came round quicker and better than another bun they had in today for surgery. I dread to think how that ones feeling :(

I am so worried, and I had nightmares about this spay last night. :(
 
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Please don't worry, very normal they hardly eat if at all for the first 24 hours or so. It's very different with boys they recover quickly but then the operation is less invasive. Girls definitely suffer more but within a week they are usually back to normal. First few days are very stressful waiting for them to recover.
 
Thank you Barn Yard Bunnies. Everything I had read on here, and other sources seemed to concur.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter now because Bea passed away an hour ago. She squealed twice, and that was it.

I can't do this anymore. I tried to do everything folk recommend, and it killed her. Never, EVER again.
 
I am so angry. Mainly at myself. I nearly cancelled her spay this morning. I was so close. I'm angry I didn't. I'm angry I took to her vets4pets because it helped in a puny way with costs. I'm angry because there were better vets around. But vets4pets assured me they do spays all the time. I warned them about temp loss due to the large ears. When I stroked her before she passed, her ears felt cold. She's a specialised breed, and they hadn't seen one before. I should have known then to send her elsewhere.

I'm angry at the vets, I'm angry at myself. I'm angry we struggled to pay £120 to kill her. I'm angry I had nightmares about this and didn't listen to it. I KNEW something was going to happen, I just knew it. I love her and miss her and she was fine before this. I have been wailing for an hour straight. I feel sick. I need answers, and cannot even afford a post mortem to get them.

I looked for years to source an English Lop. I had her travelled up here from miles away as I was lucky to find her at all. I'll be very lucky to get the chance to have another, and it won't be Bea anyway. I'm distraught. I really, really, really can't do this anymore.
 
Less than 9 hours after getting her home she's gone? Just like that? I don't understand.

Do the vets have a duty to provide me any answers? Does anybody have experience with this?
 
I should probably go to bed instead of posting, but it's helping, even if no one see's. There's no way I could sleep anyway.

I want to rewind. Rewind back to this morning and cancel the spay. I just want her back. This has to be a bad dream :cry:
 
OMG how utterly devastating.:(

ELs can have congenital heart problems. To me it sounds as though her heart was just not strong enough to cope with the procedure. You could not have known this. It has happened to one of my Rabbits some yeas ago, I completely empathise with the shock, despair and wretchedness you must be feeling.

Immediately after the loss I vowed that I would NEVER put ANY Doe through a spay again. But then my friend and Vet spent hours telling me that the risks are so small compared to the risks of not spaying and the Doe developing Uterine Adenocarcinoma. My Vet has seen this silent killer in Does under 4 years of age. Eventually I did go on to have other Does spayed, but I wont pretend that I dont feel utter terror every time.

I realise that whatever I type the words will seem hollow and meaningless to you right now. I remember that feeling all too well. Having Bea spayed was done because you wanted to do the best for her longterm health. What has happened is beyond tragic. I am so, so sorry :cry:
 
Less than 9 hours after getting her home she's gone? Just like that? I don't understand.

Do the vets have a duty to provide me any answers? Does anybody have experience with this?

It is so tragic to lose an otherwise healthy bunny under these circumstances. Your vet owes you a discussion of possible causes for Bea's passing and information on the post surgery care she received by them.

It pains me that you blame yourself. You wanted Bea to have a long healthy life. Your selecting a less expensive practice did not change their professional obligation for care.

Hugs. Sometimes there are not enough tears.
 
I should probably go to bed instead of posting, but it's helping, even if no one see's. There's no way I could sleep anyway.

I want to rewind. Rewind back to this morning and cancel the spay. I just want her back. This has to be a bad dream :cry:

It will be hard to sleep, so perhaps draft a tribute to your lovely girl to celebrate her life.
 
I am so very very sorry for you. We were only saying yesterday that this has to be one of the worst ways in which we can lose a Rabbit. I have had lots of Rabbits neutered but it still upsets me when I think of Barney whose heart stopped while under GA. I had a lovely Doe waiting to live with him and a playhouse etc, he had come from a poor home, but he didn't get to enjoy his life here. :cry:
 
I'm so sorry.

We lost our English Lop a couple of years ago and it truly broke my heart. We did everything that we could do at the time but he just couldn't keep going.

I too lost faith in our vets for a time, it was only in seeing their hurt at loosing him as well that helped.

Sent from my SM-A705FN using Tapatalk
 
This is just tragic, I am so so sorry. Please try to remember that you were trying to do your best, to give her a long and healthy life by spaying. As for the vets - if they didn't have the relevant experience, then they should have turned you away.
My heart is with you, it is a sickening feeling to lose an animal when you feel you could have done it differently - but it most likely would not have made the difference if there was an underlying cause. I just wish we had a way of knowing this beforehand.
Please be kind to yourself, it is not your fault.
 
I am so, so sorry. I know it's easy to say but try to be gentle with yourself. You did what we are advised to do to keep Bea as healthy as possible. If you hadn't had her spayed and she developed uterine cancer you would have blamed yourself for that. Bunnies can be such fragile beings.

Binky free Bea xxx
 
Thank you for all the kind words.

It helps that you all understand how huge this loss feels, most people won't understand but I know RU certainly does. After Autumn passed I didn't think I could do this again, but I did, and I love Bea so very much. I am still absolutely kicking myself for basically paying to have her killed. I am waiting for a callback from the vet. After I told the receptionist what happened and that I'd like to speak to the vet, she actually asked me 'and what is it you'd like to talk to them about...' then trailed off and thought better of it it seems.

I am still a mess and completely distraught. I have an awful migraine from the crying, and I haven't fully accepted she's gone yet. I keep hearing normal rabbit noise from Oscar, and look over thinking it's Bea as she's the more noisy one.

I know that GA and surgery always carries a risk of course, but I'm genuinely questioning whether the blanket advice of spay is always the right thing. I don't think I can put a doe through it again, it's too severe. It may give them a long healthy life but not if it kills them at 6 months old, it's not fair on them.

Which leaves me at a loss, because Oscar needs a companion, that's why he's here, he was to be a companion for Bea. All this can wait of course until I've calmed down, it needant be thought about now.

When will this horrible sick feeling in my gut go away? I know 'it's just a rabbit' to non-bunny folks, but I genuinely feel like I can't move, can't really do anything. This hurts so bad. I feel like I have this horrible, gaping empty hole in my gut and chest.
 
I have a suspicion now this was another case of GI stasis, of course I can't know for sure. The squealing in pain doesn't seem as if her heart was just giving up. But I'm no vet.

After feeling her body after she passed, her left side felt quite hard (not rigor mortis, I mean right after she died).

If so, this will be the 2nd rabbit loss I've had to this. I don't know how anyone seems to have time to get them to the vet. Unless I'm a complete moron missing the signs, it takes them so unbelievably quickly.

The fact she was poo'ing reassured me, as the vet said to only worry if she hadn't poo'd or eating by today lunchtime.
 
JessBun, when you are ready to look for a companion for Oscar, maybe look at getting a rescued friend who has already been spayed, so that you don't have to take the risk again yourself? I know it is too early to suggest this really, but it might help a little in your worries about Oscar and the fear of further loss if you were to get him a young companion.
 
JessBun, when you are ready to look for a companion for Oscar, maybe look at getting a rescued friend who has already been spayed, so that you don't have to take the risk again yourself? I know it is too early to suggest this really, but it might help a little in your worries about Oscar and the fear of further loss if you were to get him a young companion.

Thanks Dollyanna. Oscar is a rescue. Whilst I get what you're saying that it would mean I don't have to put myself through the worry of a spay, if I were to get another bun it would be an English Lop. I'm perfectly comfortable with my decision to buy a breed I want, and comfortable with the breeder. It doesn't mean they should be dying after a spay. (I know this is not what you are saying).

But honestly, I don't think I can again. I know I've said it before, when I lost Autumn, but to have lost a second doe, it's too much.
 
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