E-collar: Keep on or off?

[BunnyDuck]

So we collected our Daisy girl from her spay a couple of hours ago. They sent home with an e-collar on. She was looking so miserable with it on and she was stumbling everywhere,but she managed to get it off within 30 mins of being home. She looked a little bit calmer once she got it off. I put it back on and she just looked miserable again, so I took it straight off. Now she’s just laying there and not having to worry about it.

The vet tech told me to keep it on her for two weeks. I don’t think it’s a good idea, I think it will just delay her recovery. She wont be able to get to her food and water very well, wont be able to groom herself or eat her cecotropes.. I was told that she has internal sutures that are dissolvable and then glue also keeping it together. I’m thinking I’ll just put the e-collar on her if she starts to mess with the incision, what do you guys think??

[bunnyfriend]

Unless she really is licking the area a lot or biting it, ect. she should be fine. My girl didn’t wear one of those and she healed very quickly. The best thing you can do for her is make her as comfortable as possible, that will help get her starting to eat again and on her way to healing. You should keep her from jumping up on things for at least a week.

[KytKattin]

When Nova got spayed, I took the collar off when she got home. And then I just watched and watched and watched her. She didn’t ever touch her ouchie, so the cone never went back on.

Also, from the experience of having many, many animals recover from various surgeries (or just wounds), if they can lick it a little bit, just enough to keep it clean, that can actually be a good thing as far as healing goes. Obviously too much licking is going to cause problems. Just be careful about how much pain meds she gets. You want her to feel good enough to eat, nothing else. She needs to know if she is damaging something and pain is the only way she is going to avoid that.

*^good healing vibes^*

[Sam and Lady's Human]

My girl didn’t wear one either. Watch her, if she starts biting at it, put it on Otherwise you’re probably ok

[BunnyDuck]

Thanks for the reply. She nibbled on some hay when she got the e-collar off, so at least she wants to eat. At the moment shes just laying in the corner and she’s manged to get a blanket over her head, which I’m happy to leave her like if that’s what she finds comfortable. I’ve been given antibiotics and pain killers for her, so that should help her a lot with the pain. Her cage has also been single level since her accident litter in October, so I wont have to worry about her jumping onto anything either. I’ll just keep a good eye on her and also keep the heating on for the next few days to make sure she’s warm.

[BunnyDuck]

Okay. I’ll keep it off unless she really needs it. I hope she feels better soon, I felt really bad taking her to the vets today, but I know it will be a good thing.

[bunnyfriend]

Awh I hope she feels better soon too. (((((healing vibes))))) She’ll be happier and healthier for this

[BunnyDuck]

Thank you!!

Just another quick question if someone can answer. When I picked her up, they added another $55.50 to the bill because she was “in heat”. I thought they could get pregnant anytime, so they are always in heat.. I asked her, and she said no and then offered to show me the ovaries to prove it. I declined seeings as I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference anyway.. Am I wrong?

Edit: Baring in mind I only asked the receptionist..
 

[Monkeybun]

Umm… bunnies don’t go into heat. They have induced ovulation, which pretty much means when they do the deed, they ovulate. So they charged you for something that did not occur. Call them back and ask why they would do that.

[BunnyDuck]

That’s what I thought really. But they were already having issues with billing me and I had to wait 45mins before they even brought Daisy out to me. I wont be going back to that vets, they caused a little bit of a problem when my boy was neutered but I didn’t think too much of it then. When he was neutered they kept on saying the meds where included in the price over the phone and when I dropped him off. When I went to pick him up they tried to charge me for them (which I wouldn’t mind paying extra for if they had told me, but they kept on saying it was included before).. the same thing happened this time with the meds and now paying for something that I didn’t have to..

[Monkeybun]

Yeah, I would change vets definitely. They aren’t organized at all.

[KytKattin]

At the very least, write something somewhere. Be it YELP, the HRS (if that vet is on their list), etc. The fact that they told you she was in heat means they either don’t know what they are doing, or are excellent scam artists.

[Malp_15]

That is kind of sketchy… On our system we don’t even have the option of adding in an in heat charge for rabbit spays, like we do with other animals. And we never save ovaries/testicles post surgery, unless an owner has asked to see them or we find something weird/interesting.

[BunnyDuck]

Okay I will tell the HRS. It is one of the top on there list in the Sacramento area, that’s why I went to them. They probably asked if I wanted to see the ovaries expecting me to say no, they know lots of people wouldn’t have clue what they would look like either way.. I’m really annoyed with them and myself for paying..

[Roberta]

I’d still be contacting the Vet to let them know, also that you are going to put a note on the listing. If they are scammers this will make them think twice if it is simply one idiot on the payroll they may be able to resolve the matter in everyones best interest.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Yes, call them on it, and def talk to the vet and let him/her know what their staff is up to. That’s not right at all.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Yes, call them on it, and def talk to the vet and let him/her know what their staff is up to. That’s not right at all.

[Malp_15]

Call the vet and ask if they have an office manager first, if not then ask for the treating vet. If they ripped you off then it could be at many steps. In most practices the techs bill the surgeries, so it could have been there, but it wouldn’t benefit the tech. If the vet billed it and they work on commission (most multi-vet practices do) then they could be trying to get more money. If that is just how they bill for rabbit spays then it either comes from the office manager or the vet/vets who own the practice. Then you would like to ask them their reason why they bill it like that. The receptionists probably have no idea that rabbits don’t go into heat. It’s not something you get taught in that job.

I work in a 10 vet practice. 2 own it and are in semi-retirement. 8 of them are associates. The office manager is hired to deal with all the day to day stuff because it’s hard to focus on the medicine when you have to worry about staff, complaints, ordering, money, etc.

[Stickerbunny]

My vets computer system isn’t set up for rabbits specifically, but the vet tells the girl at the front to disregard certain things that pop up when he gives her the sheet with the information on it because it doesn’t apply to rabbits. Could be as simple as the vet didn’t mention it, but I would be concerned that they were so defensive / argumentative – talk to the actual vet about it and find out the problem, it might have been an error, so don’t be rude about it… but if it wasn’t an error, well, ugh. My vets receptionist thought meds were included in the price as well for a spay, but they aren’t, so that is a no big deal… giving incorrect information and charging for something that doesn’t exist in the animal however is a big deal.

[BunnyDuck]

I’m going to try and get my husband to call up. I have this weird phobia of talking to people on phones.. :/

Anyway I scanned a couple of things that I got from there (I’ve erased the name of the place off and I know it’s against the forum rules)…
This is what they got me to sign before they took Daisy in, I know I should of payed attention to the in-heat charge, but the girl at the reception was rushing me and I was worried about how Diasy would be.. But it shows that they already have it on there pricing ready for rabbit spays.. Also you can see the antibiotics and pain medication are already included which is what they kept on telling my husband over the phone and both times when I dropped them of there. But both times when I collected my boy from his neuter and girl from her spay they tried to charge me extra. It really doesn’t bother me paying extra, but as they said it was included that what annoyed me..

This is also the invoice I was given. They deducted the meds off once they finally called out to the back. But I still got charged for “in-heat’..

[Stickerbunny]

I’m the same, I hate talking to people on phones. lol

Make sure your hubby talks to the vet and ask him about the in heat thing, it really can be as simple as the vet checked the wrong box when he filled out the paperwork after surgery. The receptionists never know what they are talking about (a rare one does, but mostly none do). When I got my girl spayed, the vet forgot to write down the charge for metacam and I had to mail them a check for $12 a month later when I randomly got a bill for it. Since rabbits are lumped in with ferrets, “in heat” is probably a charge meant for them I would guess?

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