Housing after spaying?

[Irina]

Hello! My girl Shadow is being spayed next Tuesday, and I have some questions about preparing her pen when she comes home. She has a 4ftx8ft pen to herself, and inside there has a Cottontail Cottage and a wooden hay feeder. She likes to jump onto both of these, as well as jumping into her large cat litter box. I know she should not be jumping when she first comes home, so the cottage has to go. What I am wondering about, is should I replace the litter box with one that has one low side, and take the hay feeder out for a few days and just leave hay in the litter box for now? Also, do I have to make the pen smaller so she does not run around too much?

May seem like simple stuff, but am a little paranoid because her brother Butterscotch became quite sick after his neuter- (He is great now!)!

[Stickerbunny]

I would take down anything that encourages her to jump, but leave in the litter box. If it’s a normal sized one that small hop shouldn’t pull out stitches. It’s the jumping on top of things/jumping down and the whole leg stretch they do when they do that which is risky. If she has enough room to run around and binky, I would probably make it a bit smaller. My girl tried to do binkies on day 3, well before her incision was healed up, since she started feeling better.

Don’t be alarmed if she comes home and doesn’t want to eat, or move and just lays looking miserable for the first day or so. Even with pain meds, my girl sat right next to her hay and water and didn’t budge until the 2nd night, she was miserable. To get her to eat, I had to hand feed her greens, since she didn’t want to move to get to food. Pellets are often not eaten until they start to heal up, so lots of hay and lots of greens. Make sure you wash everything down with vinegar while she’s at the vets, that way she has a nice clean area. And if they are using external stitches, be really careful she doesn’t pick them out (some vets send you home with a cone). Internal ones have less of a risk of that, but you still want to make sure she’s not chewing at the area, so check it daily. If she’ll stand up, you can get her to stand up for a treat to look without bugging her too much. For my girl, she was all kicked out with her tummy bulging out to the side or loafing, so I just waited until she stretched out and took a peak while she was on her side.

Hope her spay goes well. My boy actually was way worse than the girl, he stopped drinking water and pouted/moped around for a week about how much he was hurting and the girl was all “I wanna run and play!” after only 3 days.

[Irina]

Thanks SB! I figured I would have to take those things out- wasn’t sure about the litter box! I am very nervous about taking her in. Butterscotch would not eat or drink after his neuter and became very dehydrated, had renal failure and seizures! It was awful!!! I have asked the vet to give Shadow fluids during surgery to minimize the risk of dehydration, and also have her booked to be done first thing in the morning so she is not waiting around in a stressful environment for too long. That is about all I can do. Fingers crossed! Thanks for the well wishes!

[bpash89]

I was very paranoid about my little one jumping in her litter box after her spay because I have one that has really high sides so she can’t pee over the side. I actually switched to puppy pads for the first few days after she came home (didn’t matter at all because the first thing she did when we got home was sprint up the stairs so I’m sure her box would have been no problem). That worked well for me because she’s always been good about using her box and its always been in the same spot so even with no box she was good at going on the pads. I also liked it because it was really easy to monitor her output for those first few crucial days. That being said, they are so stressed and uncomfortable anyway that you only want to do what’s absolutely necessary so that they feel comfortable and at ease in their home and can focus on healing rather than “omg who effed up my house while I was gone?” So you just gotta decide what works best for your bunny and your particular situation.

[Irina]

Bpash89- I understand your point. I was wondering if it would be worse for her to come home to everything being different. She LOVES her cottontail cottage- so that being gone will be hard for her. My litterbox has sides about 6-8″ high (it slopes down to one end). I do have a couple of little log ramps that she can use to go up slowly. I think I will ask my vet.

However it would be easier to monitor her urine output/bowel movements with the pads….

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By Irina on 10/11/2013 03:11 PM

Bpash89- I understand your point. I was wondering if it would be worse for her to come home to everything being different. She LOVES her cottontail cottage- so that being gone will be hard for her. My litterbox has sides about 6-8″ high (it slopes down to one end). I do have a couple of little log ramps that she can use to go up slowly. I think I will ask my vet.

However it would be easier to monitor her urine output/bowel movements with the pads….

Some people use carefresh litter for that, since you can see everything in the white paper as opposed to other litters.

And that sounds awful! We got a water dropper for Powder for his neuter, since he wouldn’t drink our vet told us to get some water in him that way to keep him hydrated. I’m sorry your boy had to go through all that. Hopefully Shadow will bounce right back with her pain killers to help her along. 

[Irina]

I will look for care fresh litter- I don’t think I have seen it at the pet store. Will it be a problem to change the litter for her? I mean, are bunnies picky about that? I have always used Yesterdays News- so have never tried changing to anything else…

[Stickerbunny]

Mine haven’t been picky about it, unless the litter has a scent to it. But, some can be annoyed with changes. Carefresh is carried in most pet stores, it’s just paper, but it’s more absorbent like toilet paper than pelleted like Yesterdays News. More likely to be in the “small pet” section than the cat section though. If yours has Yesterdays News, they probably carry carefresh as well. You can also just put a small layer of paper over the yesterdays news to catch urine and droppings visibly if you really want to see what her waste looks like while she heals up. When I run out of litter, I use plain paper and my two don’t seem to mind.

[Irina]

Do you mean paper towel or writing paper? That may be my only choice as I live in a rural area and the ONE pet store in my area does not carry care fresh. I have a litterbox grate from BB so I can put paper under the grate so Shadow cannot eat it , but I can still see what she has produced.

[Stickerbunny]

Either/or. Honestly, whatever paper I have in the house that I don’t mind being trashed is what I throw in their boxes when I run out. I’ve used paper towels, toilet paper, newspaper, phone books. lol It’s about an hour and a lot of gas to get to the store for litter, so I improvise. So long as it’s not one with chemicals on it, it’s fine.

[Irina]

Good to know. I think I will do it that way for when she gets home so I can actually see if she produces urine and keep track of her bowel movements. Thank you! Much appreciated!
And if anyone remembers, positive vibes for Shadow on Tuesday would be great!

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