Did the vet offer him any food after the surgery? My bunnies were picking at pellets and eating a little before I went to pick them up. But once they got home Samson didnt eat anything for the rest of the night. But by morning there were lots of poops and the food was gone. The meds make them a bit outta it and groggy so I am sure that it is not helping (in addition to some minor pain) with the appetite.

Im not sure if it would be a good or bad idea to feed him veggies…. Im sure someone will pipe up on here in a minute. If it was me I would probably try ANYTHING that he was fond of just so that he was eating. Maybe add his favorite treat ontop of his pellets.

OH you poor thing.    IT is normal for bunny to be off their food after a spay/neuter.   Giving vegies are ok at least that is a start.  His appetite will start slowly.

First vegies     then pellets  then last is the hay.   Their poops will slow down and perhaps be smaller and different at first.

IF he hasn’t eaten for more than is it 12 or 24 hours then a call to the vet is in order.  IF he has eaten a little bit then he should be ok.  You can try giving him his fav vegies or treats to get him started.  

Everyone of us has been scared  about this after they had their little girl and little boy surgeries.

OK, here goes. Don’t panic! I’m a slow typist.
The same thing happened to me. Did the vet say if he ate there? Mine did not eat there & this is kinda important to know for time lines.
I’m typing up what I was told & worked.

If he has eaten by tomorrow morning fine.
Mine had not. & had not eaten at the vets either.
He would not take banana, carrot or anything.
When I called in a panic the following morning they told me to go buy or come & get either a syring from them (not with a needle) or a bay medice eye dropper thing, sold in any drug store or grocery.
Buy sweet potato baby food. No meat in it.
This is very tasty to them & should stimulate his appetite.
Put some in the dropper & force feed him a wee little bit at a time. Do not trance him for this he must be in a sitting or standing position.
I gave about a tbsp or 1 of the larger dropper thing per feeding, but in wee small little mouthfuls.
He did not like this at all. He will squirm.
Again I stress upright position not on his back & wee small little squirts in his mouth.
I did this once an hour or so but offered shredded carrot & banana before each forcing.
I had to force him 3 times.
The 4th time he took the shredded carrot. 3 little pieces of those matchstick bags you buy for salad.
An hour later he took 3 more of the matchstick carrot.
By that evening he was eating pellets & hay again.

Please try to calm down amanda.
I know I was in hysterics too, which I think just stressed him even more
I’ve been through this & will help you

Eating the raisin is a good start.
It is normal for his appitite to be way down.
When you don/t feel well do you want sweets, I don’t. LOL
Try a bit of carrot, well anything he likes, don’t worry about 2 or 5 raisins right now.
The important thing is to make sure he eats by tommorow.

no problem, if there is anything you aren’t sure about, just ask

try to get some sleep
He will most likely be fine on his own by morning

I forgot to mention that the syring type of medicine doser thingy is a bit easier to use.
You can fill it up & then squirt little bits out – may only be available in drug stores.
The eye dropper type has to be just a little filled, then squirt, then little fill, & squirt. If you fill it with a lot, it just gets stuck in there because it’s thick.

Also it’s puree style baby food so it’s smooth & creamy, not chunky at all.

Just out of curiosity, do you know what medication Penny is on?  Pain relief is really essential after a neuter, so hopefully Penny is on something like Metacam.  How much does Penny weigh, and what is the dosage?

I think the best is to tempt him with things that have a strong smell.  I’ve had good luck with things like basil and banana.  It’s definitely good that he’s pooing, and his appetite will definitely be decreased in the first 24 hours.  Just keep trying to tempt him and keep him in a low stress environment for awhile. =)

The meds can effect the poop and suppress the appetite. It does sound normal. Perhaps leave some veg and pellets with him for overnight – he may go for them dduring the night. Did you get some take home meds? Hopefully he’ll be more spritely in the morning. For now, he likely needs a quiet space and some time. (((Mr Penny)))

Sorry for my delay in posting. I am a late-nighter and get to the majority of forum in late evening/early early a.m., so you are hopefully resting and blissfully sleeping right now as I write this, but it really sounds normal at the point you wrote about it. Some rabbits eat right after, and males do typically recover quicker than females but it sounded like it was just a few hours after you picked him up when he still wasn’t ready to eat. That’s completely normal. And the mushy poops – also normal for post surgery. By Saturday mid-morning, he should be at least starting to munch on a few things. If not, then just call your vet and give him/her an update on what’s going on with his eating habits.

Did you vet give any pain meds?

Hows Mr Penny doing today? I hope that hes feeling much better!!! {{{{{healing vibes for Penny}}}}}

Yes, any update? Did he eat anything else yet? *crosses fingers & toes & sends wishes*
Did you call your vet?
I reread your original post & see that his surgery was done around noon. Mine was done earlier. So If he still hasn’t eaten by noonish call the vet.
They will be able to better advise you. Mine had said I could bring him in or do the same thing at home. I opted for home rather than 2 more longish car rides for him. You may opt to let them do it as it’s pretty stressfull.
Your vet will also be able to better advise you on how often & how much to feed for his body weight. They may even have a more tempting suggestion to try to get him to eat.

Hi Amanda how is he today?   How are you today ?   

Is everything a little better with bunny?  

Oh, Goodie, I’m so glad he’s feeling better & you didn’t have to do the force feeding thing.
That was very stressfull & I was so scared.
I wasn’t trying to scare you last night but when mine wouldn’t eat, the most terrifing part for me was not knowing what to do & having to wait for the vets office to open to ask anybody. I hadn’t found any rabbit forums with any traffic yet so I had nobody to ask & I knew that the emerg vets here were not rabbit vets. I thought you would feel better knowing a bit about how to help him if it came to that, sorry if I made it worse for you.
The night & day that he wouldn’t eat after his surgery was one of the worst things I’ve ever gone through. I felt so helpless waiting to ask the vet.

Oh good! Sounds like he’s feeling back to normal. I would, however, prevent him from jumping on the bed or any furniture right now to protect his sutures from ripping. Talk to your vet about this, but most will say to prevent jumping and keep the activity level down for about a week or so.

So, if you have an xpen or a way to keep him more contained to one area where he can’t jump on things and run around too much, then that would be best.

yes it is better than nothing.  Keep trying.   I believe if he hasn’t eaten in 24 hour call the vet I think it is 24 hrs.   NO later than that.

When I saw my girl getting better I let her out to play.  She jumped and I guess she started hurting agian cuz she stopped eating agian.  So if he has been moving about jumping he may be hurting himself again.   I know that you can’t stop them from jumping if they insist on jumping but do your best there

keep us posted. 

Yeah! I’m glad to hear he’s eating. That’s a great! Sending continued healing vibes his way.