Spayed rabbit

[Peter cottontail]

I took my girl to be spayed today. I picked her up at 4:30pm, it’s now midnight. She didn’t eat any of the pellets or hay I dropped off with her at 7:00-am and she still isn’t eating now. She won’t drink water either. Should I be worried? Also when I picked her up from the vet I noticed the fur by her eyes looks wet and matted? Any ideas what that could be? My vet is closed right now or I would be calling them. I’m so worried. I hope she is okay, it’s breaking my heart to see her like this.

[tobyluv]

Some rabbits may not want to eat much at all the first day, but you need to try to get her to eat something if she hasn’t eaten by this time. Does she have favorite veggies? You can wet those right before you give them to her, to get extra water in her. You could try some apple or pear or other favorite fruit too, you just don’t want too much sugar in her system, but she does need to start eating and pooping. If she won’t eat anything at all, you will probably have to syringe feed her. Do you have Critical Care? You can also give her water in syringes.

I think that the wet matted fur around her eyes is due to Vasoline that the vet applies there.

[jerseygirl]

Healing {{{vibes}}} for your girl.

Yes, they put ointment on the eyes to stop them drying out during surgery. Nothing to worry about.

It’s not unusual for a rabbit to not want to eat the first night.
I found mine didn’t even want to get up to drink. So I put bowl right next to them and they drank some.

There’s a bit on post-operative care right at the end of this article.
http://rabbit.org/faq-spaying-and-neutering/

[Peter cottontail]

Thank you for the fast replies and prayers of healing. She seems better this morning. Ate a little, she still won’t drink water though. I think it’s so shocking because I had a boy rabbit I took first and he was completely normal about two hours later and was so easy to care for post op.

[tobyluv]

It’s good that she is eating some now, but since she isn’t drinking, you should either syringe feed her a little water or make sure whatever greens you give her have been wetted down to give her extra fluids. Spaying is more complicated than neutering, since it involves internal surgery. The pain level after a spay is going to be higher than with a neuter, and it takes more of a toll on a rabbit. I assume that the vet gave her pain medication after the surgery and sent some home with you too. She will need that for a few days. I was lucky with the rabbits that I’ve had spayed. They started eating and drinking right away and recovered quickly, but I know that some rabbits have no appetite the first day and feel sluggish, so it’s normal that your rabbit isn’t eating much, but you really have to monitor the eating and pooping to make sure that all is well. I hope that she continues to improve and will be completely recovered soon.

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