E-collar post op spay question

[Emilykatelyn]

My one year old rabbit was recently spayed yesterday. They sent me home with an e-collar, and initially I took it off as soon as we got home because I didn’t want to cause her any extra stress. She spent the night in the back corner of her cage, not eating anything and she only drank water when I took her bowl and put it up to her face. I gave her metacam around 7:30 p.m. which then made her very groggy looking and she spent the entire night laying in her bunny bed. This morning she would only eat hay if I picked out individual pieces and hand fed them to her myself. She pooped a few times, but they were all mushy. I called the vet and asked several questions about this. They said as long as she is eating she should be fine but if her habits don’t pick up by Monday I should come back in for further examination. They also told me that her poop could be mushy as a side effect from her medicine. 

Around 12:30 she finally started becoming a little more active. She was eating little pieces of hay on her own, she was loving banana pieces I was giving her and she even had a bite of a spinach leaf I gave her. Everything started looking up at this point, and she was returning to her normal self. She started to clean herself, but kept getting closer and closer to the area where her stitches are. Then lone behold she started ripping at them with her teeth! I immediately ran over to her and pushed her head away, holding it and petting her ears to distract her. When I left go she yet again started ripping at them, like, as soon as I released. So now I have the e-collar back on her, but she honestly looks so miserable. And besides looking miserable I have NO idea how she’s going to eat with this stupid thing on her or even drink water. She looks so tortured and uncomfortable. 

Does anyone know of any make-shift type collars or “harness” type wraps I can make or even buy at a pet store so she can still function on her own? I work from home so if I have to hand feed her and everything it isn’t necessarily a problem because I am around all day. But I just think it’d be more convenient for her and less stressful if there was something else I could put on her where she could actually eat and drink on her own.

Also if anyone has any other post-operation spay tips/advice please feel free to leave any information on here. I’m only day two on this entire experience so any help is greatly appreciated. 

Thank you!

[Mikey]

For water, get a water bottle and place it in a position that she can get to without the collar being in the way. For hay, she might need a hay rack so she doesnt have to try and eat the hay off the ground. There are many ways to make a make shift hay rack; there was a post on here last week about a DIY hay rack using plastic containers. I have a make shift one made out of a tissue box and twist ties. I cant see a harness wrap being too safe for a spay since shes already so adamant about ripping the stitches

[Emilykatelyn]

Thanks for your advice! Today I went out and got a water bottle and she LOVED it. I also got her an inflatable e-collar and she’s way happier and is happily eating tons of hay and having completely normal poops. My only concern at this point is that she still isn’t eating any pellets. Any advice on what I can do about that? I went out and got special pellets that have little treats in them to try to entice her but she’s still not eating them. She will eat banana and her favorite treats thought, just no pellets

[Mikey]

I dont think not eating pellets is a bad thing as long as shes chowing down on her hay. Will she eat the pellets if you hand feed them?

[Author]

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