Cone bunny can’t get to cecotropes

[EarlGrey&Stella]

I just adopted 5 month old Stella from the Oregon Humane Society, and she was spayed on the 18th. A couple days later I noticed that she had apparently been chewing at her surgical glue and sutures, so I rushed her in to my bunny vet. They couldn’t stitch or glue her back up because there was already a slight infection, so they sent us home with some painkillers, antibiotics, acidophilus, antibacterial cream, and an e-collar. Stella was less than pleased. She chewed through the soft cone the vet gave us in one night, and so the vet said to get a hard one. She can eat hay and pellets and drink water fine, but she can’t get to her cecal pellets. Because I have been home for the last few days, I have been able to *ick* hand feed them to her, but she won’t touch them once they get at all cold so I have to watch her and wait for her to kinda make this certain face, and then find them and put them in front of her where she can reach them. My main concern is that she has to keep the cone on for two weeks, and with me back at school during the day, she’ll be missing a lot of nutrients (not to mention the smell in my room). Will this be really detrimental to her health? Any suggestions? Help?

[EarlGrey&Stella]

Forgot to add that I am especially worried because she is on antibiotics, so she needs all the gut bacteria she can get! Also does anyone know how antibiotics affect cecotropes? I’ve never had to have my bunnies in cones before :/

[LBJ10]

It probably won’t hurt things too much. I would just do what you can. It’s only 2 weeks.

[EarlGrey&Stella]

Okay, I was just kinda freaking out because although I only got her a few days ago my other bun and her have already seemed to start to bond, laying next to each other even though she’s in an enclosure, nuzzling and grooming etc. I just wouldn’t want anything to happen to her :/ Thank you for the reassurance though!

[Sarita]

Yeah, it’ll be alright – and most likely you can take the cone off sooner.

[Amberniksee]

I’ve heard that some buns won’t eat them when on antibiotics and things of that nature anyway, so I wouldn’t worry too much. And if you think it’s a real problem maybe you could check with your vet and feed Critical Care just to ensure??
Best of luck!

[Megabunny]

Peter Cottontail is going through this and does eat his cecals. But mine had a cone on for weeks and would not touch them and it was a mess and a half. Sure it will probably be okay for that short time but there are always probiotics if you run into problems

[Author]

Messages