Accidents after spay?

[Auburnie]

Harlow was in her cage for a week before her spay. if took three days for her to be litter trained. She’d even go back into her litter box when she was playing just to go potty. 

She got spayed tuesday, and for the past 4 days, that training has gone down the drain. She had her very first pee accident ever. Since day one she’s always peed in her litter box. And her poops are everywhere. 

is this just because it’s only been 4 days after surgery? She goes in her litter box all the time. So she still uses it, but she’s so much worse than even her first day of litter training.

i’m just unsure if the two are related. People say that spaying helps. So far it seems that it has only made it worse. 

[BinkyBunny]

Yes, recovery from a spay takes longer than a neuter. She is sore and once she is healed, things should get better. It may be too painful for her to jump into the litter box. Also hormones don’t die down right away — it can take a few months. However, if she has zero control, and is just urinating everywhere and losing her strength in her back legs, be sure to call a vet asap. I doubt that is what is happening, but I just had to add that in to let you know things that are not normal after spay.

Otherwise — give it a little time – since she is pooping that is a good sign that at least her digestive system is bouncing back. She may be doing this to reestablish her territory after returning from the vet with strange sights and smells.

Besides peeing and pooing outside of her box, how is she doing?

[Auburnie]

Her back legs seem fine. She is getting into her litter box fine from what I can tell, but then again im not my bunny so what do I know haha.

Her poop sizes are fluctuating and she’s still not eating on her own. we took her in thursday and she was put on critical care. We’ve been syringe feeding her water and food just to make sure she’s getting what she needs. She’s only really eating things that are hand fed. She was eating hay on her own the other day but i haven’t noticed since. Really really worried but i’m doing everything i can to get her what she needs. i really hope she gets better

[BinkyBunny]

Did the vet ever give her pain meds? She may need that if she’s not eating. It’s rougher on females than males due to it being more invasive.
Here are some articles that include good post op tips (not to wade through to get to details about SPAY post op as there are some differences between the recovery of spay vs neuter.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html
http://rabbit.org/faq-spaying-and-neutering/

Keep us updated!

[Auburnie]

I have caught Harlow eating pellets out of the dish multiple times last night and this morning! She has also been muching on hay all night long!

She even seems to prefer her new water dish over her water bottle which makes me very happy! And it’s easier to clean too!

I’m hoping these are all good signs. I might have a critical-care-free bunny on my hands!

Unfortunately she keeps having pee accidents outside her litter box so I’m pulling her fleece out tonight and replacing it completely instead of spot cleaning. She did so well the first night I put the new fleece in, maybe it will have that same effect. Besides, it’s been a week anyways. That fleece needs to be cleaned. 

[Bam]

Yay!!! Great news!

Some buns just prefer a water-bowl over a bottle. My Bam used a bottle for about 3 years. I could hear it ringing in the night when he drank from it. He had a bowl too but never drank from it. Then suddenly he just stopped using the bottle and didn’t go back to it.

The pee accidents could be due to swelling of the tissues in her lower abdomen. There is also probably a hormonal component. Her body has quite a lot of adjusting to do now. As BB says, as long as she’s full use of her legs and and doesn’t just drizzle pee all over (That would indicate injury to the nerves exiting the spinal canal), this is sth that will have to improve with time and healing.

The first year I had Bam, he’d only pee on fabric. So I had to line his litter-boxes with pieces of torn up old bed-sheets, or he wouldn’t go in the box. The do tend to like to pee on soft stuff.

[Auburnie]

i have both water dish and water bottle in her cage.
I really hope these accidents do stop. No dribbles from what I can tell. Just big pee spots. By the time I notice them they’re dry. :/ it’s hard to tell with her fleece, the lighting in here is awful.

But since i’ve been up Harlow has made a race track out of her cage. She’s running circles. So my guess would be that her back legs are doing just fine

[Bam]

Yay for good back legs and running =) I think pee spots is better than a dribble, because it makes it more likely that it’s hormonal, an urge to pee-mark.The hormonal surge after a spay/neuter will taper off, but it takes longer with girls than with boys.

[Auburnie]

Oh goodness. Harlow is lucky she has a very patient mom who bought a lot of fleece to prepare for a situation like this!! haha

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