Giving medication after being spayed.

[Helen and Ed]

Hi everyone. My rabbit Nancy got spayed yesterday, and the vet gave us some painkillers to give to Nancy via a syringe, but I can’t get her to take it. We’ve tried pinning her down, but don’t want to be too rough and hurt her, tried putting it in food but she won’t eat it, we covered the syringe in apple source but again she won’t eat it. We called the vet and she is going back in tomorrow for a check-up, and she doesn’t seem to be in lots of pain, and she is coping alright, eatting small amounts and going the toilet. Are there any suggestions about what I can do?

[hannaroo]

If you really can’t get her to take it, don’t worry too much, the likelyhood is that if she’s putting up that much of a fight she’ll hurt herself more trying to get away. The vet can inject a painkiller into her tomorrow to help x

[Helen and Ed]

That’s what I thought, every time we tried to grab her, if she wormed to much we let her go without fuss. I can’t help worry, especially because we adopted her knowing nothing about her and the pet shop said to get her spayed, but during her operation the vet realized she’d already been spayed. Horrible thinking she’s been through it all again for no reason! I’m just all in a panic.

You’re rabbits are absolutely beautiful btw, thanks for your help! x

[NewBunnyOwner123]

If she is eating and using the bathroom ok I’d personally just wait until tomorrow. When my lop got spayed she only got the initial shot to get her over the 24-36 hour hump and she was just fine without extra pain medicine. Just let her relax and give her her favorite veggies for the time being

[bpash89]

When my little girl got spayed her pain meds were a powder but I just mixed it with like a half a teaspoon of apple juice. The first few days were tough because she usually wouldn’t finish it but she’d get a little. She definitely wouldn’t touch it while I was around though :/

But if she’s feeling good enough to put up a big fight then I wouldn’t stress about it too much.

[flemish giant]

I put peetas pain medicine on a leaf of turnip greens or green leaf lettuce and feed it to him.

[Valkyrie]

I made my husband bunny burrito Bromley and then I would quickly shoot it in the side of his mouth. Our metacam was honey flavored though so once he got the taste he didn’t fight too much.

[Helen and Ed]

She doesn’t come out from behind her chair that she likes sitting behind, shes only ate a fraction of what she normally does. I’m trying apple juice with medicine in it now, leaving it for her, as said above, she doesn’t want to eat in front of me. She doesn’t seem like shes in much pain, but I do hear the occasional teeth chattering.

Thanks for all the advice everyone 🙂

[hannaroo]

The only thing about bunny burritos is some rabbits can go into shock when they panic about being confined and held like that and it has happened where rabbits have heart failure. This is unlikely to be the case but I wouldn’t use that method unless its a last resort (Bromleys case was different as he ha problems post neuter and opened up his insisions twice).
Personally I would just wait for the vet, if she is eating and popping an has enough energy to put up a fight like that its not urgent and the vet can inject meds or help you administer them xx

[Valkyrie]

Brom is also a snuggly rabbit period and well socialized so he never panicked at all with the blanket. Plus I’m experienced so it was done and over in 5 seconds. All of the vets and rescues out here do it if the rabbit is too squirmy because it is less likely they will go into shock in those 5-10 seconds than minutes of trying to hold the rabbit still with just your hands and having the rabbit kicking out, tossing its head, and potentially falling. Since everyone else already said to see the vet I just thought I would give it as an option incase the vet insists that the medication is necessary. Since you mentioned the being held part, I guess I should go into a little more detail with how we burrito because it doesn’t involve much holding: We sit Brom on the couch, coffee table, or someones lap. One person lays the towel over him covering his body and ears (only his eyes and mouth poke out) and holds the sides of the towel down so he can’t squirm. At the same time the person with the syringe dives in to the side of his mouth, pokes the syringe through his lips and squirts it in. As soon as it’s in, we lift the towel off…but then he grabs it from us and cuddles under it again lol. It is done and over with in a few seconds.

[hannaroo]

Valkyrie – i appreciate that it is a well known and efficient method of handling a squirmy rabbit when they refuse medication however I feel it is important to know what can go wrong and let the user know so they can assess how urgent the pain meds are and whether it is nessissary for them to use this method to treat there bun. I hope I didn’t offend you and I’m not being critical of the way you handle your rabbits but some are more sensitive than others and just thought I would mention it xxx

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