help with cleaning recently spayed rabbit

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This topic has 6sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 9 months ago by celzani.

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- 08/02/2018 at 9:46 AM
  celzani
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  19 posts
  My bun was spayed almost three days ago and she came home to us from the vet with a cone (even tho vet really advised cones on rabbits, they allowed her to have one instead of the bandages covering her stitches because she seemed much more comfortable) she can eat her cecotropes with some ease but we feed her the ones she tries to eat but can’t find because of cone (she struggles a LOT when picked up so removing and putting the cone back on for cecotropes is a bit hard. the vet nurse said that she can have the cone on all day) our main problem now is how do we clean her butt when it gets dirty and how often should we check if her butt gets dirty(hates being picked up but we will if necessary) the vet nurse said she shaved around her butt so it’s easier to clean. her feet also get dirty from turning around to get her cecotropes and we aren’t sure if it’s very necessary to clean because its usually not a lot but we will clean it if it is a lot. also, is there a way to look at rabbit butt without picking her up? we use the treat and raise it so she stands and let’s us see the wound but we can’t really see her butt. we have her in a cage with her litterbox and food and water so there is usually some poop. we clean it as often as we can but just a bit difficult since she doesn’t wanna leave the cage. will her usual round poops infect her wound or is it only if there is a lot of poop? will fly strike occur when her feet are poopy or tail area is poopy (yesterday she had a poop near her tail area below the butt, not directly on butt and the vet nurse cleaned it for us). sorry for so much information?, this surgery recovery process is all so new to us so any information is helpful!!
- 08/02/2018 at 2:21 PM
  Nutmeg
  Participant
  594 posts
  I am not a big help either – as I just had my first female rabbit spayed a few weeks ago – but I can say this… mine didn’t need the cone OR the bandage…. as she didn’t try to excessively groom it or bit at it… BUT she had internal stitches and vet glue holding the other edges together.
  
  I know that isn’t always the case, and I wouldn’t suggest going against what your vet said, but if she doesn’t have external stitches, have you tried to see what she does when the cone is off and you are there to watch her? (to make sure she doensn’t go crazy licking and biting at it) Even if its just for a few hours when you can watch her like crazy… that may be enough time for her to clean herself up a bit?
  
  I’m not help with the checking of the butt part with out picking her up, as you are already using my trick for checking her incision spot.
  
  Hopefully my comment will boost your post and others will reply!
- 08/02/2018 at 3:23 PM
  Terra
  Participant
  39 posts
  Did you mean that the vet advised against cones? The sentence doesn’t parse quite right so just wondering if there was a typo.
  
  I’ve never been given a cone for a bunny after surgery and the general advice here, including from the UK’s rabbit welfare association, is that they shouldn’t have them because of the difficulties it causes them in eating and keeping themselves clean.
  
  I’ve also not had any of my buns try to lick more than a tiny bit at surgery wounds, or chew at stitches, so I agree with Nutmeg that it might be worth seeing how she it without it – unless there was a complication that you didn’t mention that is making the cone necessary?
  
  Best wishes to you both
- 08/02/2018 at 3:59 PM
  celzani
  Participant
  19 posts
  sorry!! the sentence was worded really funny! but yes, she does excessively groom and try clean her incision area. she needs a cone because when she had her surgery, she chewed the top two stitches that i’m pretty sure are held with glue and had to have them replaced with staples. they said that the staples come off in around 3-5 more days so i guess she will have the cone for 3-5 more days. the vets are usually highly against cones because rabbits tend to prefer the bandages over the cone and/or can’t eat cecotropes or clean themselves. however, because they saw how much she struggled and fumbled with bandages, they tried a cone which she ended up doing much better in.
- 08/03/2018 at 7:15 AM
  Terra
  Participant
  39 posts
  Ah, right, that makes more sense! Sorry for getting confused lol
  
  So to try and answer your questions more helpfully:
  
  I can sometimes check my rabbit’s butt when she’s lying down with her feet kicked out the back – she lets me lift her tail and I can get a reasonably good view. If she’s not letting you do that, though, there probably is no alternative to picking her up. Stress can be minimised by keeping her low to the ground when you pick her up and holding her in as supportive as position as possible – maybe with her back to your chest, one hand under her bum and another around her ribs, while someone else checks/cleans her.
  
  I’m not sure about infection of the wound itself, though if you’re cleaning her regularly there hopefully won’t be a chance for bacteria to build up. It seems like wiping it down with an iodine solution or similar once or twice a day would help prevent infection, though – is your vet able to advise on this or maybe prescribe some?
  
  Fly strike is possibly an issue with either normal poos that get stuck in her fur or with caecotrophs. It might be good to put rear guard (if that’s what it’s called where you are!) on her as a precaution, even if you can’t put it directly on the wound yet. Fly strike can happen very quickly so I think that you’d want to check for eggs and maggots at least every 12 hours. (I assume you already know that if you find any, she needs to go to the vet immediately.)
  
  Also just a thought – how big is the door to her cage, and is it at floor level? If it’s only a small opening or if there’s a ledge to get over, the cone might be putting her off coming out of the cage because she can’t judge the space right.
  
  Hope you’re both doing okay!!
- 08/03/2018 at 9:08 AM
  Nutmeg
  Participant
  594 posts
  Hey – thanks for the update that she is indeed going at the site!
  
  She shouldn’t leave her cage at all right now anyway – my vet said that she needed to be confined in her cage for 10 to 14 days as even if she is feeling better she can still do damage to her surgery area if she jumps or runs or binky’s.
  
  Just a thought… What about a baby onsie or the tube section of a sock? This was what my vet and I talked about, in case she did start to lick/chew her spay site. They use it a LOT with cats instead of the cone. It would cover the spay area, but still allow her to clean her bum/eat her cycals.
  
  Here is a video of a vet putting one on a cat…
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObE6hlwn7_U
  
  Also, here is another site that talks about using the sock or putting a tube collar around their neck… which allows them to not bend their neck enough to get to the incision area, but they still can bend to reach their bum…
  
  http://www.specialbunny.org/surgery/
  
  Hope she’s doing better
- 08/03/2018 at 9:18 PM
  celzani
  Participant
  19 posts
  thanks for all the suggestions! we can’t really find any rear guard here or anything similar to it so we are going to focus on preventing flies more and add some fly screens as well as a lot of fly deterrent diys. fortunately, we live in the southern hemisphere so there are rarely any flies here because its winter and a bit cold. we can check her butt by lifting her tail up while shes lying down too! and so far, there are no clumps of poop! we also suggested a sock collar but they said they don’t have that kind of equipment since in general, they are really against cones on rabbits except for ours. they have more dogs needing cones than rabbits!
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