Concern about vets work and my huge bill!

Hi, I have a large continental rabbit, Rocket. She's 6 months old. I took her for neutering last week as I felt it best for her health after researching. she's a house rabbit. After neutering she came home and seemed ok. No collar offered or anything. After a few days, she began to scratch her stitch area. It was infected. I have been hit with a £600 bill and this time, she came home in a body vest. She seems well now which is the main thing of course.
I just can't help feeling angry that she wasn't given anything the first time to stop her scratching and how do I know they did the stitches correctly the first time and their error wasn't my expense, as she went to a different vet this time and didn't scratch once. It could just be one of those things I'm aware, but should I ask to see the vet notes from the first operation? I didn't have rabbit insurance, as I thought neutering would be straight forward, I do now though! Thankyou for your time reading.

Sadly infection at the wound site is a potential risk with any surgery. Personally I do not agree with using collars on Rabbits and IME a vest is seldom necessary either. As you went to a different Vet to rectify the wound problem the fees cannot be blamed on the Vet who did the spay in the first place. You should have been given a quote for the remedial surgery before signing the consent form. If this was not done you could question the fees with the second Vet.
I am glad that your Rabbit has now recovered

As Jane said, infection is always a risk after surgery. Usually, there is a post-op check up after about 2 days. This is to check the wound site is healing properly and that there is no sign of infection. Antibiotics would be provided if there was an infection of the wound site. Sometimes stitches are removed by the rabbit as well, so that needs checking.

Collars are not routinely used for rabbits as it makes it more difficult for them to eat normally, and to ingest their caecotropes. Rabbits need to eat continuously to keep their guts healthy, and caecotropes are an essential part of the process.

Insurance wouldn't cover the cost of a routine spay. I'm not sure about whether it would have covered the subsequent treatment - someone else may be able to advise on this.

Rabbits really don't like things that interfere with their normal routine, and as prey animals, can go into gut stasis quite easily. If she has continued to eat normally and the wound has now healed, you have done a good job. You have also significantly improved her quality and length of life by spaying her - there is a very high chance (80%?) of uterine cancers in entire female rabbits by the age of about 4 years, plus she will be more settled as she's not be hormonally driven in her behaviours, and could be bonded with another neutered rabbit in future.

I hope she has fully recovered now.

I never had a collar after a spay. Is there a reason you did not go back to the first vet? If it was out of hours vet, some have very high fees.

Thankyou for your replies. To clarify, it was the same chain of vets but a different practice as the usual was busy when I needed to take her back. I thought £600 was extremely expensive for the wound infection to be treated, but perhaps not! She's pooing but not as much as she usually does so they have given me a supplement but she won't take it :/

Sorry to hear your bunny has been having a tough time. I had my girl spayed last week, and my vet wouldn't ever offer a collar for a rabbit, due to them being able to eat easily and also access their night time poops. However I did come away with some loxicom (painkiller) to administer, which I believe helped enormously. I agree that £600 is alot to have an infection treated, but if it was an out of hours appointment unfortunately that could mostly likely be the reason why.

Glad she seems to be feeling a bit better, is the supplement fibreplex? maybe try putting a bit on a favourite treat or tasty piece of apple or pear.

Hope she continues to improve, such a worry, but getting her spayed was the right thing to do. x

You could always query the bill - ask them to itemise it (if it's not already), and talk you through it as you are concerned that it is such a big bill. The Head Nurse has done that with one of mine before.

You mention a chain of vets - sometimes they are really independent vets run by different people but under the same banner as part of the franchise (eg Vets4Pets). I'm not sure how joined up the services are between different branches of these outlets.

I think it's just unfortunate that this happened
Mine was never given a collar- I don't think I've heard of this for bunnies?
Not sure about the payment. What was the £600 made up of?

I hope she continues to improve. I cannot imagine a rabbit being given a collar or bodysuit after a spay as it would prevent them eating properly and (I would think) cause extra stress, leading to other problems
I am just wondering about the £600 bill for the wound infection. Have they itemised that? What did they charge for the actual spay?

So sorry to hear your bunny has had a difficult time after her spay.

The vet bill does sound high and I agree you should ask them to explain what all the costs were for.

The main thing though is that your girl is now recovering and you got her the vet care when she needed it.

If she continues to show little interest in food then you may need to syringe feed her as it is so important that she eats to keep her gut moving. But see how she goes first as the less stress she has to deal with the better.

Good luck with caring for your bun and getting her back to normal and hope the vets can give you answers.

Sending vibes for your bunny x

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