Accidentally wasted rabbit pain meds, help!

[Mara]

Hummus (7 mos) just came home from the vet yesterday post-neuter. They gave me three syringes of meloxicam. I swear I have administered medicine to rabbits this way before, but in trying to get just a little to come out so he would be more interested in it, I squirted it everywhere! And then, I did it again with a second syringe!! I feel so bad!! He got a little out of both, but I don’t think even a full dose. The vet I took him to is very far away and I work all day. Will he be alright? I also have gabapentin left over from when Freddie had GI stasis. Could I give him some of that? Or is there another alternative? He’s sluggish but seems not to be in a ton of pain. Any insight is helpful!!

[Bam]

Maybe your vet could call in a prescription to a pharmacy not so far from you?

Otherwise I think I’d just let it be. Gabapentin seems like a bit of overkill, but it does depend on how much pain he’s in. I didn’t get a pain killer for the first boy bun I had neutered and I knew too little to ask for one.

Give him a warm water bottle or handwarmers in a towel that he can snuggle up against if he likes to. He must be able to avoid the heat source if he doesn’t want it. Try to get him to eat asap. Serve him water in a bowl if he normally has a bottle, he might not want to bother with a bottle.

[Mara]

Thanks for the advice! I feel better knowing some buns don’t get pain meds and make it through okay.I decided to give him the last remaining syringe since i figured the pain would be worst yesterday, and my roommate helped me. He’s been eating veggies pretty well, I’m a little worried about his water intake so I tried to give him some through syringe yesterday, too (he does have a water bowl).

[Bam]

Whatever he eats (within reasonable limits) s good after surgery! They often don’t drink much after surgery because they are given fluids by the vet and they often start by eating vegs, not so much hay or pellets, and they don’t need as much water when they don’t eat dry food.

Most boys bounce back very quickly after a neuter. Check his incision area for swelling and/or seepage daily. It’d be great if your room mate could help you hold him for that too. After a couple of days he can have playtime as usual if all looks well.

[Daisy Rey]

My Zeus was neutered on Tuesday…I had leftover Metacam from his “sister’s” spaying last year – but, just enough to get him through. I honestly didn’t want to buy another whole bottle (the vet charges about $55). I gave him a dose yesterday morning and about half of it went all over his face…he seemed ok though – not in too much pain and was hopping around nicely (maybe a little limp ;o)!).

He’s also not drinking much water and was actually a bit dehydrated when he went in for surgery…so, the vet gave him extra fluids. She suggested making sure his veggies were wet when we serve them so he gets a bit of extra water that way. Like Hummus (love the name), he drinks from a bowl. We also add a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar (with the mother – whatever she’s there for) to his water to help keep his GI tract healthy (this was a recommendation from the breeder). I tried giving him plain water in case the apple cider vinegar was off-putting to him…doesn’t seem to make a difference. Since you want to make sure he stays nicely hydrated, maybe rinse his veggies off right before you serve them so he gets a little extra water that way. We also give Zeus extra cucumber since it has a lot of water in it.

Like bam said, the boys bounce back pretty quickly; I’m not so sure they even really need the medication for pain (whereas our girl definitely needed it).

Hope he’s up and around soon!

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