Bunny’s getting fixed!

[Bellamay]

My baby girl Clio has just hit 6 months and is getting fixed on Friday.. I know it’s the best thing for her but my god am I so nervous! My vet is a lovely lady who specialises in rabbits and I know she is the best vet around. I already have her recovery area set up. My gut is twisting and turning thinking about her surgery and what might go wrong. How long is the recovery time? We also have a really close relationship, she sleeps with me (on my pillow) and is always giving me kisses, taking her to get surgery and putting her through so much stress I’m scared we will loose our bond.. :’(

[pachNsocks]

Our bun bun, Socks, is getting fixed on Friday too, so they’re surgery buddies! Here’s the breakdown that our vet gave us (though yours might tell you something different):
1. Bun bun goes into surgery on Friday morning and we take him back home that same day. We were told to keep his diet constant. No fasting, etc.
2. He will have a topical antibacterial ointment that we rub on his stitches. This A) keeps infection away and B) tastes nasty to prevent him from licking.
3. As far as recovery time, it depends on how quickly your bun bun heals. We were told to use the topical ointment for a week or so, until his wounds heal.

You will need to be careful around Clio when she gets home – Just be gentle with her so she doesn’t panic and break her stitches before they heal. In my experience, I’ve never had a bunny become “un-bonded” after surgery. If anything, the fixing will help your relationship by curbing the hormones that can make bun bun territorial and grumpy. Good luck – Everything will be okay!

[Luna]

Don’t worry, she might be mad only for a bit but you won’t lose your bond with her . In fact, I think Luna’s bond with me may have even increased after her spay. The recovery time depends: she will be a little groggy the first day she comes home, she won’t eat as much the first couple days but she must eat something, she will start moving around more each day but she should be constrained from running around or jumping (every hoomin is different when deciding the right time to let their bun out of “cage-recovery”), and she will be completely healed usually around 2 weeks (longer or shorter depending on the bun).

[Sirius&Luna]

The other thing for both of you to be aware of is that rabbits need pain meds after spays. Some vets still don’t send rabbits off with pain meds, but it is essential.

Hopefully if your vets are experienced then they will know this, but please make sure that your vet sends you home with oral pain meds for them – my girl had them for 5 days after her spay, and it really helps their recovery as they’re not in pain so are more willing to eat.

[Bellamay]

She’s been spayed now, 5 hours after surgery she hasn’t eaten much or anything but she is drinking. My vet gave me 5 days worth of pain meds (said to only use 3 if she is acting normal by then) and I have to give her antibiotics for the next few days as there was a bleed somewhere around her tummy. She’s going back to the vet tomorrow for a check up but at the moment I have her in her nighttime cage to keep her from running around (thankyou for the advice on that one! My vet didn’t mention keeping her confined so thankyou so much!) it’s pretty cold where I am so I’m also keeping blankets over her to make sure she’s warm and a warming pad the vet recommended. I haven’t left her side I’m just so worried. But I think she will be okay, she’s a tough little pooper. I have to clean her wound often as there is a bit of ooze
Yay spay buddies! How did your buns surgery go? And what’s the recovery like?

[Sirius&Luna]

Its’s great that she’s been drinking, keep trying to encourage her to eat. Try herbs, treats, hand feeding bits of hay. If she hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12 hours, call the vet for advice.

Feeling her ears is a good way to feel whether she’s warm enough, as their ears are the first bit you can feel get cold.

My Luna’s spay was actually incredibly straight forward – my vet keeps them overnight the first night, and doesn’t send them home until they’re eating. She was a bit slow to start eating herself, so they kept her for about 36 hours in the end, but by the time I got her back she was pretty much her usual self. When we went back for the 3 day check up they were so happy with how she had healed they discharged her, even though they normally do a 10 day check too. So it definitely can be easy, it’s just the getting them to start eating again that’s the main hurdle.

[Luna]

Glad to hear the surgery went well . Luna recovered amazingly fast. She was eating veggies and pooping the same day of the spay. Though it still did take a few days for her to eat her normal amount of hay and produce the usual amount of poops.

[Bellamay]

24 hours later and she’s eating. I ended up getting critical care from the vet, it’s this paste that you feed her through a syringe. She had a bit of that and it helped her appetite so much!!! She’s only just starting to eat her hay but has eaten up all the apple I’ve given her secrectly I think she’s loving the extra treats! It’s been a really hard 24 hours but seeing her recovering so well makes the lack of sleep and stress all worth it! She’s also starting to shred up her news paper so deffiently on the right track ? my vet has been amazing, she’s called me 3 times today to check up and has offered to check her wound and replace the bandage free of charge! She also needs another scan of some sort (or maybe a blood test?) from the small amount of internal bleeding she had but that’s simply a safety thing, thankyou for all the kind words and assuring me she would be fine! I really needed that haha

[Kaz]

Was about to say that soaking rabbit pellets in water work for me (the reason being to hydrate rabbits cause by bunny wasn’t drinking – at first few days…) BUT I just read above that your bunny is drinking normally so there’s no need for that I suppose hahaha

[LittlePuffyTail]

That’s great your girl is doing so well.

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