Desexing-care before & after

[BerrySoda]

My bunny, Gimli is booked in to be desexed this Thursday. I was just wondering (Since this is my first bunny) if there’s anything that you should do or that would help the rabbit to feel more comfortable and everything before and after the procedure. The lady at the vet just told me to bring in a lunch box for her with her food and drop her off in the morning. So far I was thinking it’s probably a good idea to take out the ramp in her hutch so she wouldnt be jumping up and down and potentially hurting herself/causing problems with stitches etc.

Any suggestions/advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[manic_muncher]

If they haven’t already made a point to tell you, just a reminder, do NOT withhold food prior to surgery. If they told you otherwise, it is likely just because receptionists and technicians work with a lot of dog and cats and that is normal protocol for those animals. With rabbits, withholding food is bad, so you want to make sure that you continue with normal feedings.

I’ve heard people using warm water bottles wrapped with something soft for buns to snuggle with once coming home. My ramp angle isn’t very steep, so I didn’t need to make any changes to Bumpy’s habitat, who is also male, so not quite as invasive as a spay.

I’m sure many other BBers will chime in here with much more experience than I have!

[BerrySoda]

Thanks

[Beka27]

Yeah, I would remove the ramp if you can, and maybe give a soft blankie or towel that she can lay on if she wants. She should be restricted from jumping around for about a week, but depending on how she is acting, you might be able to let her out in a small area for short exercise times after a few days.

Make sure you get pain meds to take home for the first few days. This isn’t always necessary with males, but females need additional meds since their surgery is invasive.

I would also ask the vet what their hours are on Friday (and Saturday if they are open), and ask who you should contact at night/over the weekend in case of emergency.

[RetroSquid]

We’ve just taken our bun Daisy to be spayed, will be picking her up after work tomorrow.

Pre spay care that we normally engage in, is minimal… We just give them their usual greens and hay as normal.

It’s when they get home the care starts, really…

If you use anything like woodshavings or any similar liner for the cage, remove it and give the bun quarters a full disinfecting.

We then line the cage with good quality cotton hand towels.
This stops any of the usual bedding from getting stuck in the new wound.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Here’s a great link to Pre- and Post-operative care:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html 

[BerrySoda]

Thank you, but it says link not found.

[Sarita]

See if this works:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html

[LittlePuffyTail]

Sorry, not sure why mine didn’t work

[BerrySoda]

That article is awesome, thank you!

[Beka27]

Dana Krempels is considered the “go-to” for rabbit health topics. She’s got many good articles on her site, worth a read.

[Author]

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