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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 8sd replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 6 months ago by Koton.

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- 11/02/2015 at 9:48 PM
  Koton
  Participant
  32 posts
  Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time user. Wanted to say hi to everyone and introduce myself. Also got a quick question or two.
  
  My name is Chris, me and my girl had our 1 year old rex bunny for about month now. We absolutely love this little furry. And as a new rabbit owner I’ve done a ton of research online about bunnies in general.
  
  Today I had to take our little Koton to a vet to get his nails trimmed. Honestly I was probably more nervous than the bunny himself, I don’t know why, maybe cause I’m already emotionally attached to him. Anyway the doc comes in and takes my carrier and tilts it on the floor like 70 degrees vertical trying to get the poor thing out of the carrier. My first impression “dafak dude”. But him being the only one that handles exotics there and being the owner of the whole vet joint I kept my mouth shut. So he put a towel on him, lifted him up, had a nurse put him in a nearly trance position, grabbed his hinds and clipped all paws.
  
  The guy was knowledge no doubt, but it seemed a little rough with my bunny. Is that normal handling at the vet or are they supposed to be more gentle?
  
  I also asked him what’s the best way to pick him up he said by the towel like he did cause his movement is then restrained and to make sure to grab his hind legs to obviously avoid injury. I asked him about picking up by the scruff he said no its better to pick up by ears if anything. Seriously??? I read all over Internet not to pick up rabbits by ears to avoid ear injury and trauma and so forth, but this was a vet who handles rabbits telling me that, saying that nature made theor ears strong enough for that. Obviously with butt support added.
  
  So, guys, thoughts?
  
  He told me to get him neutered in about a month but I’m a bit skeptical about going there, last thing I want him to do is butcher the poor thing. Hence why I decided to reach out to you guys.
- 11/02/2015 at 9:53 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17242 posts
  Moving this to Q&A.
- 11/02/2015 at 10:00 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17242 posts
  Towel = good
  Ears = bad
  
  Using a towel to do a bunny burrito is perfectly acceptable. My vet doesn’t use a towel, but she will get a firm gripe on said wiggly bunny. I wouldn’t call it being rough, she just secures them so they can’t struggle and hurt themselves. A lot of people do use towels to do bunny burritos though and it works well for keeping the bunny from potentially hurting themselves.
  
  The ears thing though. Um, no. Picking them up by the ears is painful and can cause injury to the ear or cartilage. Picking them up by the scruff of the neck isn’t a good idea either, especially when they are adults. They are just too heavy and picking them up like that can cause injury. The best method is to scoop them up with one hand on their chest and the other on their rear. I always turn mine once I have them picked up so they have their feet on my chest.
- 11/02/2015 at 10:20 PM
  BB & Tiny
  Participant
  637 posts
  Geez…
  
  I know what you mean about nervous. I take mine to be trimmed at the vets because they are so tiny I can’t see them AND they are black nails !
  
  However it seems like your vet is a bit rough. My vet taught me how to even take said bunny out and return it to the carrier to avoid injury. She puts a towel on the table but I hold them and I used to flinch at each clip because the bunnies do. Then I hold the babies back to my chest and under the bum with feet pointed out so she can do the back feet.
  
  She doesn’t just ” handle ” bunnies though, she has one at home. Perhaps that makes a difference !
- 11/02/2015 at 11:46 PM
  manic_muncher
  Participant
  1061 posts
  I know what BunLuv means by someone who “handles” buns vs. someone who actually owns one.
  
  If I were in your shoes, and had an alternative exotic vet to possibly go to, I would call them up and see about interviewing them.
- 11/03/2015 at 7:28 AM
  Eepster
  Participant
  1236 posts
  Both scruff and ears are bad. I’m not totally sure on which one is less bad, so you may be right about ears being less bad. If it is the less bad method, I don’t see suggesting the less bad, instead of emphasizing a good one, alternative as useful advice.
  
  That would be like if you asked you doctor if taking arsenic was good for your health, and he said “no avoid arsenic, food is best, but cyanide isn’t as bad for you as arsenic.”
- 11/03/2015 at 9:30 AM
  Koton
  Participant
  32 posts
  Yeah judging by the way the vet flipped the carrier nearly vertical to almost “pour” my koton out of there tells me he probably doesn’t own one.
  
  In a way I like this guy because of how knowledgeable he is but in the same time I’m skeptical as hell about going to him in December to get him neutered.
  
  The problem is I live kind of in the country almost, there are stores around and stuff so it’s not like bumbo f nowhere but it’s not the city either. So my vet access is limited. I’ve done the search but they all got pretty nasty reviews except this one I went to yesterday.
  
  Do you guys think I should go to him to get koton neutered? Can things go wrong during the procedure?
- 11/03/2015 at 12:56 PM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  I would be leery about this vet too. You definitely want to be comfortable with your vet.
  
  If you give us your general area, we may be able to help you find a rabbit savvy vet near you.
- 11/03/2015 at 1:31 PM
  Koton
  Participant
  32 posts
  I’m in round lake Illinois. The name of the vet I went to is Dr hazeem who treats exotics and is an owner of round lake animal hospital.
  
  Just had lunch with my dad and he said that the surgery itself is pretty quick and simple and that they had to do that for their dog and that I have nothing to worry about. Then why am I worrying halp
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