Post op care suggestions?

[Deleted User]

First I would ask that everyone keep little Ophelia in their thoughts as she goes for her spay tomorrow. I am a natural worry wart and very anxious for her. I might not be so anxious if I wasn’t being forced to work an overnight shift on Saturday. I asked to be home because I have my bun to care for and my boss just simply stated that “it” (my bun) would be fine because cats and dogs do it all the time and it’s not a big deal… she clearly doesn’t understand that complications with buns go beyond the actual surgery… I’m very upset I have to work because that means that the day after she is home I will not be there to check on her for 12 hours… so I wondered if anyone had suggestions of what I could do for her since I will be gone. Should I just go ahead and wrap her in an ace bandage so she doesn’t chew at stitches while I’m gone? I’ve read that people leave warm water bottles for bun so they don’t get cold, but t won’t stay warm for 12 hours so what could I do to make sure she is kept warm? I have a little fleece blanket in her cage. I took the ledge out of the cage because I don’t want her to try jumping on top of it and hurting herself, but should I leave it in there so she has a place to lay under? Also the vet she is going to they said that it is up to the physician if she needs to have pain meds for home or not… but this vet is 45 minutes from me and my husband and I share a car so I wouldn’t be able to make it out there in a timely manner for pain meds; should I tell the vet this in hopes that they will send me home with some? If she’s not doing well Saturday I will refuse to go to work…. because I have already expressed my concerns and I’m sorry but I am not leaving bun in a poor state when I repeatedly asked that they find someone else to work this shift.

[Bam]

Is there any possibility that you could reschedule to a day when you don’t have to work the day after? Leaving her completely alone for 12 hours wouldn’t be good. Or is your hubby at home so he can keep an eye?

You should definitely ask the vet for pain meds. A spayed girl should have pain meds for 5 days to a week. Risk of self multilation (chewing stiches) is way lower with pain meds. They do lower the body temp though, so for her first night home she should have a hot water bottle. Cage rest. A cone when you can’t watch her. Dont go to sleep until she has eaten something. Get some of her favorite greens, especially fragrant herbs + Critical Care and a feeding syringe. If you can’t get CC, pellet mush will do (pellets soaked in water).

The day after the spay she should be over the risk of hypothermia, provided she’s started to eat and poop and move around. If she hasn’t started to eat by then, at least something, (she most likely wont be back to full appetite), and produce at least some poop, she should go back to the vet.

[Luna]

I would go back to your boss and tell her you need the night off for medical reasons so that way she’d be more likely to give you the night off, plus she can’t ask you to explain medical reasons. I would also demand take-home pain meds from the vet. If her incision starts to feel quite painful, there is a chance that she will chew at her stitches or even the abdomen itself.

It sounds like you’re well prepared: blanket, hot water bottle, cage mods (I took out Luna’s ledge too so that she wouldn’t jump on it). Luna’s stitches were subcutaneous and luckily I was able to get a couple days off work to watch her, so I’m not sure what the best way is to stop her from getting at her stitches. Definitely grab some of her favorite veggies to entice her to eat for when she comes home.

Luna sends safe spay vibes ((((Ophelia))))

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the advice! The problem with rescheduling is that both of us have already taken off tomorrow to bring her/pick her up. Since we only have the one car and I am really close to work, my husband is the only driver insured on the car because it is cheaper that way. We just got married about two months ago and had taken a week off for that, and we are taking two days off in July for a concert we are going to so we have been asking for a lot of time off lately. We would both have to take another day off to do this and I have a voucher for the spay that I got through a local rabbit rescue that expires in 30 days. So rescheduling at this point is not that feasible… my husband will be home that night but I just feel more comfortable checking on her myself. He doesn’t know as much about rabbits that I have learned from researching and talking with others. He can check on her but like I said I am an extreme worry wart and I really would feel so much better checking on her myself we drop her off at 7:30am tomorrow and pick her up at 5pm after work (I still have to work a half day because we are very short staffed, another reason rescheduling is difficult). I work at 6pm on Saturday so I will be with her a full 24 hours before I work this overnight shift. I’m considering just asking if I can leave at 10pm to check on her and again at 2am so I am checking her every 4 hours. Hopefully she is doing better by Saturday evening. I’ve seen that people wrap buns in an ace bandage to prevent from chewing stitches but will that make her overheat?

[Deleted User]

Thanks Luna!! We are very short staffed which is the reason that I am having to work this shift. I just was told about it 2 days ago and I have had this appointment for 3 weeks. When they initially asked me to work it I said no because of that. They kept insisting that she would be fine and that I can work and that isn’t a valid reason not to. I’m basically being forced to work it. I’ve asked other people if they can cover it and of course everyone says no. Like I said, if she’s not doing better by 6pm Saturday (24 hours after surg) then I have no problem calling work and saying she’s not well and has to go back to the vet. I will not put her at risk if she’s not feeling better. My husband will be home but like I said, I just feel better checking on her myself.

[sarahthegemini]

Hmm tough one. Could you have her stay at the vets for the night so they have someone to keep an eye on her? And treat her/syringe feed if needed?

[Deleted User]

Good question Sarah! Thing is since her procedure is Friday and it’s Saturday that I work she would have to stay 2 nights, because I would not have the car on Saturday to bring her. I am entitled to one 30 minute break so I can run home and check on her at least once, and I think that the doctor would be fine with me going twice because I live very close and it would not take me more than 20 minutes to just run home and check on her quickly. I will ask the vet though if staying is an option. They also have a vet on call 24/7 so if anything is wrong I can give them a ring. Do you think it would be ok if I checked on her every 4 hours during the shift or is that too long to leave her alone? I’m so upset at my job right now, I can’t believe that they could care less when I specifically said I needed to be home.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By BunNoob<3 on 6/22/2017 11:19 AM
Good question Sarah! Thing is since her procedure is Friday and it’s Saturday that I work she would have to stay 2 nights, because I would not have the car on Saturday to bring her. I am entitled to one 30 minute break so I can run home and check on her at least once, and I think that the doctor would be fine with me going twice because I live very close and it would not take me more than 20 minutes to just run home and check on her quickly. I will ask the vet though if staying is an option. They also have a vet on call 24/7 so if anything is wrong I can give them a ring. Do you think it would be ok if I checked on her every 4 hours during the shift or is that too long to leave her alone? I’m so upset at my job right now, I can’t believe that they could care less when I specifically said I needed to be home.

I should think checking on her every 4 hours would be okay Check she’s warm/reheat heating pad, possibly syringe feed her each time you check on her? That way you’d know she has something in her tummy.

[Deleted User]

Ok, I would feel much better checking on her personally so I will just tell my job that that’s what I have to do! They can like it or lump it in my opinion….

[Bam]

I remember that Vienna Blue In France’s bun Zou got some kind of body stocking to wear after her spay. She had a bit of a complicated spay due to enlarged uterine horns or sth. I doubt it’d make her overheat, but it might annoy her. Plus bunny teeth are really sharp and if a bun sets her mind to it, she can chew through almost anything. That’s why I suggested a cone, even if they do tend to really hate a cone they can’t reach to hurt themselves.

If you could get to go check on her every fourth hour I think that’d be ok, seeing that it’s the day after the spay. She should’ve started to eat and poop by then, it’s as a rule the first night that’s critical. But she’d still be rather out of it and not be very active.

[Deleted User]

I debated getting a cone and then read that it tends to stress them out. I live in the middle of a college town, 2 miles from a large hospital and there is a LOT of noise daily. I thought that this may already stress her out. While she tolerates it now and does not seem stressed by it, I don’t know if the noise would be something that might cause her stress during her recovery so I didn’t want to further stress her out by sticking her in a cone. She has never been confined only to her cage, and she will be for the few days after the surgery so I don’t know how she will handle that. She has a large cage but the leap into the cage is just too high for my comfort so I don’t want to leave the door open cause she may hurt her tummy trying to leap out. Should I go with the cone anyway? I just don’t want to stress her so much that she doesn’t want to eat.

[Bam]

It’s a judgement call. If she chews her stitches and opens up her wound, the consequences could be dire. If your vet gives her Metacam (painkiller), the risk that she chews her stitches is way less than if she gets no pain meds. I don’t think I’d dare risk leaving her for 4 hours without a cone, but that is of course just me. Maybe you could get one of those soft cones that aren’t really cones, but rather a donut-shaped collar?

You could ask your vet.

[sarahthegemini]

My vet used stitches that dissolve on the inside and glue on the outer flesh if I remember correctly. Would that be an option? Or would she still have ‘something’ to chew?

[Deleted User]

So when I spoke to them they said that it just depends. She said they could use the internal dissolvable stitches and glue or they will use external stitches if they “feel they need to” (which her saying made me anxious but she said not to be concerned). The place I’m bringing her does specialize in exotics and was recommended by the local rabbit rescue, but still I felt bothered by them saying that. Maybe I am just worrying too much. I just want to make sure I am prepared to make this as easy as possible for her, and I’m going to really push for take home pain meds for home because of not only the stitches but also I can’t have her not eating because she’s in pain and then be stuck without a way to make the drive and get them so she will eat. I read somewhere that spraying no sugar added apple juice on hay can encourage them to eat, has anyone tried that before and/or is this safe to try getting her to eat before resorting to syringe feeding CC?

[Deleted User]

Thanks to everyone who replied! I’m feeling much better now. Apparently, the girl I spoke with on the phone was just a clerk and didn’t know what she was talking about. They used internal dissolvable sutures and glue for the skin. So she can’t chew stitches and that’s a relief. And they also said they always send home pain meds. So after getting to talk to the ACTUAL vet, (not the clerk who knew nothing), I’m feeling better about post op care for bun. She is in recovery at the vet for a few more hours and then I will pick her up to bring home. I hope she’s not upset with me lol.

[Luna]

That’s good news . I’ve heard of sugar-free apple juice being mixed with water to entice buns to drink, but I haven’t heard of it being used on hay before. I know others on this site have used critical care mixed with canned pumpkin(?) to entice their buns to eat.

[Deleted User]

I will keep that in mind as well, hopefully she’s comfortable enough to eat! I cleaned her cage out completely last night and set a soft fleece blanket in there and she has a bowl for water or she can use her bottle that she’s used to. And when we get her home I’m gonna set a warm water bottle under her blanket so hopefully if we can get her comfy we can get her eating!

[sarahthegemini]

Is she home yet? Fingers crossed she isn’t too uncomfortable, I have heard of the apple juice spritz on hay thingy, I can’t remember who from tho! But it might be worth a try if she’s hesitant to eat. Come on Ophelia! Lovely name btw, I didn’t mention before!

[sarahthegemini]

Is she home yet? Fingers crossed she isn’t too uncomfortable, I have heard of the apple juice spritz on hay thingy, I can’t remember who from tho! But it might be worth a try if she’s hesitant to eat. Come on Ophelia! Lovely name btw, I didn’t mention before!

[Deleted User]

Oh thank you, her “full name” is Duchess Ophelia ?? I pick her up in about an hour, I will let you guys know how she is doing! I sent yummy parsley with her to the vet so hopefully they have offered her that! I know she can’t resist some yummy parsley!

[Bam]

(((((Ophelia)))))

We’ll love to hear how she’s doing!

[Deleted User]

Hi guys,

So she is home now and settled into her cage. She is more alert than I thought she may be and has been hopping around the cage. I am a little pissed off because the vet tech couldn’t tell me if she had eaten anything yet, and she’s already 6 hours past her surgery. I got her to nibble a few pieces of parsley and a small slice of banana. But after a few bites she no longer wants anything I’m trying to give her. I put some hay down in her cage and she’s been over sniffing at it but I don’t think she’s eaten any yet. She’s probably confused why she is in the cage because she’s normally free range. Overall, I think she’s doing ok and we just need to get her eating! The clerk said she was given a 24 hour pain shot but that she can have 5cc of pain meds at 8pm. I’m going to call the vet and see if that’s accurate, since they said she got a 24 hour pain relief

[Deleted User]

Hi guys,

So she is home now and settled into her cage. She is more alert than I thought she may be and has been hopping around the cage. I am a little pissed off because the vet tech couldn’t tell me if she had eaten anything yet, and she’s already 6 hours past her surgery. I got her to nibble a few pieces of parsley and a small slice of banana. But after a few bites she no longer wants anything I’m trying to give her. I put some hay down in her cage and she’s been over sniffing at it but I don’t think she’s eaten any yet. She’s probably confused why she is in the cage because she’s normally free range. Overall, I think she’s doing ok and we just need to get her eating! The clerk said she was given a 24 hour pain shot but that she can have 5cc of pain meds at 8pm. I’m going to call the vet and see if that’s accurate, since they said she got a 24 hour pain relief

[Luna]

That’s great that she ate something . Feel free to keep giving her parsley if it gets her to eat.

[Author]

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