Post spay questions (no poop)

[Flopsie]

Hello everyone! I’ve been a lurker here for a while and I really Like the community. I have a question regarding post spaying a bunny. I have reviewed countless times what to expect post spay and I’ve done my best to follow the directions. I guess I’m looking for some feedback from others who have had experience. I know that every bunny is different but I was looking for confirmation or feedback

Basic info:
My bunny Flopsie was spayed on Monday August 18. Recovery was around 1 pm. Picked her up at 3. She is 1 year 1 month old

Good things:

Has been observed to groom herself
Is able to be active. Observed to hop (minor), small jump, and periscope a little
Surgical site not swollen or red
Not licking or touching surgical site
Has consumed water
Has urinated once in 36 hours as of this post. Large amount of urination but only once
Has consumed food. Mostly greens. A few strands of hay. No pellets. I’ve made sure she eats something but it’s not a lot. I talking about a handful at. Most here

Concerns:
1. Primary concern is she hasn’t pooped yet. Although she hasn’t had a lot of food to begin with
2. She urinated but only once
3. Lethargic in cage. Not moving. Cowers a bit in my presence. Outside cafe is fine.
4. Fur around eye looks “wet” on right eye only. No discharge.

It’s not 48 hours until tomorrow noon (pst) should I be concerned or is this typical?

Thanks for any help or feedback

Pat

[Roberta]

Lack of poop is a big concern… You should be seeing at least some small mishappen ones… Let her out of the cage but make sure she can’t jump onto anything. Has the vet provided pain medication ? Has she been given any gut motility drugs or antibiotics… My vet uses a slow release product that lasts 3 days which is perfect and all of my girls have done well under this regime. However from what I have read it is not common practice outside of Australia to do this and additional pain meds are required. If you don’t have poop tonight I would be heading back to the vet ASAP, in fact if you can call them today I would do so… She needs to poop… Keep up the moist greens and treats in the interim… Anything to keep the gut moving.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

You need to see some poops the first day-try asap to get  to the vet and get some pain medication;

I’d also want some critical care -which you mix up with water and force feed-you must get that tummy moving. Right now if you don’t have any and things are closed, you can get some pellets, mash them up super small (powder) and force feed them in the mean time. You could also try enticing her with pure pumpkin (not pie mix) or anything else you can do to get her eating. If you can get food in it will come out

Keep us posted!! {{Healing Vibes}} And welcome to the forum!!

[Flopsie]

Hi! Thank you both for the feedback. It was good to know. I was about to take her to the vet when I check and she pooped! Like probably 13 droppings! They were smaller in size. Also I usually notice a correlation between her eating hay and popping. Specially the minute she eats the hay it comes out the other end haha. Anyway she was not eating any Timothy or oat hay and as a last resort I bought a mini bale of alfalfa to entice her. I know she shouldn’t be eating too much alfalfa but in hoping to fade out ASAP.

So currently as of approximately 60 hours after procedure she has urinated 4 times and has pooped on 3 occasions. Is that pretty good?

I have two follow up concerns now.

One, she seems different still. She is not really eating a lot. She is eating some veggies but only about half of what she normally consumes daily and even then I have to hand feed her. If I place in her usual dish she’ll generally ignore it. She has has eating a few “strands” of Timothy hay, again when I hand feed them and maybe a handful of alfalfa at best. She drinks water when I put a small dish in her face but not from the bottle. Overall she is lethargic and not active and lying down a lot. Is this normal? I know that females are hit the hardest but I’m a bit worried. Especially about the eating patterns. I don’t want her to only eat when I put it in her face.

Second question. My showed me the site of the incision and told me that used glue. It looked like a tuft of white hair was at the site. Yesterday I noticed the hair was gone. Underneath was showing a vertical cut. It wasn’t particularly red or swollen an she definitely isn’t bleeding. I went to bed. This morning I checked again. The cut is no longer discernible but now the entry area is all red. It’s not an intense red color. Just rosy but the cut isn’t obvious. It doesn’t look infected or swollen and except for her lethargy in the cage she is fine outside. What I mean by that is if she’s in her cage she is lying down a lot but the minute I let her out she is exploring and running out as if nothing is wrong. Thoughts on this? I want to Call the vet but they don’t open for a few hours

Finally my bun is a bit fearful of me. She’ll let me pet her but the minute I pick her up ( to put back I cage or to check wound) she runs away. I understand that she probably is distrustful of me since I got her parts ripped out but have you seen this before? Is this common?

Thank you so much for your time. I can’t express how much I appreciate it!!

[Roberta]

That all sounds normal… As long as the wound is closed and not red and puffy it should be OK… Quite normal for the actual incision to look pink but not the skin around it… It’s OK for her to move around a little but you don’t want her to leap onto things or run amok… Limit her play area with an Xpen if you have one.
Another few days and she should be back to normal but right now you are the evil one that took her to the vet, a few days of cuddles and treats and all will be forgiven.
To check her wound without lifting her simply hold a treat above her nose so she periscopes. Also watch to make sure she is not constantly chewing or licking the site.

[Flopsie]

Oh that’s good advice. I’m going to try that instead. Sheesh I know spaying her is for the best but it’s caused much stress both on my myself and for her. The alternative is worse I know but what an ordeal! I think I would be much more at ease too if vets were cheaper as well

[Flopsie]

Well things turned for the worse last night and it’s probably my fault ?????

She turned things around yesterday. Finally eating hay and her veggies out of her dish instead of being hand fed. She was urinating and pooping as well. Things seemed on the up and up. I didn’t push her at all and she was also even being a bit social with me

Then all of a sudden she starts sprawling out on the floor. I didn’t take this to be a bad sign because she likes to do this. But then I went it put her in the cage and she actually let me pick her up from a lying position without fighting. Very odd. Then I gave her a treat and she ignored it. I gave her a small dish of water and she literally just froze. I went to bed and the pile of hay is literally untouched.

So now I’m beside myself. I guess I need to take her to the vet but I’m dreading this because I literally do not have any money. I get paid once a month and I barely have money for gas at the moment since i just paid for the spay. What would the vet do? Do you know how much a check up like this would cost? Does anyone know of a more reasonable priced vet in the (East) Bay Area, CA?

This morning she is still not “doing well” I know something is wrong since she ignored banana ??????????????

[Flopsie]

Double post. Oops

[Roberta]

Flopsie, Call your vet and tell them you are coming in… Explain that you need to defer payment and your concerns are fro a procedure they performed ( be nice) But it is essential you get her to a vet immediately. It sounds like something we experienced with one of our rescue buns post spay last year and two friends had similar situations in the last couple of months. I’m not a vet so I can’t give you treatment info, BB would only delete my post if I did.

[Flopsie]

Ok. I took them to the vet. Unfortunately the place I took to only does spays and neuters so I’m at a local vet hospital that has also been recommended by house bunny society

[Roberta]

Let us know how it goes Flopsie…. Sending lots of vibes to you and your bun.

[Flopsie]

Thanks for the responses Roberta. I didn’t immediately post an update because I didn’t want to jinx it. It looks like everything is finally okay now.

She’s eating, drinking and voiding close to what she was before. Also the vet gave some meds so I’ve been doing that. Initially in syringe fed them but I felt like that was too intrusive so I managed to get her to consume it off a shallow plate.

My only concern that remains is her ears are a bit warm. I know rabbits usually regulate heat through ears but they have been warm over 10 days.

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