After Spay Care

[Kassandra]

My little bun sushi is a 8 month mini holland lop and is getting spayed within the next few weeks. I have no idea how to prepare myself or my space in order to accommodate her. Is there any tips I should know or any must haves? Thanks in advance! 

[Sirius&Luna]

Sushi is such a cute name!

Here’s a list I’ve given a couple of people recently! (copied from another post and including Wick’s advice!):

– Make sure she eats before and right up to the surgery
– Make sure you’re sent home with painkillers for her after the surgery
– Stock up on her favourite veg and treats. Lots of bunnies don’t want to eat after spays, but the quicker they start eating the better. They must eat within 8 hours of the spay, so make sure you have critical care in case she doesn’t voluntarily eat
– Give her the option of soft blankets to lie on
– Clean the hutch and litter trays extra regularly so the wound doesn’t get infected
– Watch out that she isn’t biting or playing with the wound
– Rearrange her free-roam area to be more limited, and take out or modify obstacles so she is not tempted to do a lot of jumping or climbing. This can tear/strain the incision site, delaying healing and potentially injuring it. Even if she feels like she is OK to jump and run, her incision site may think otherwise.
– Do what you can to encourage hay eating. The sooner she begins eating hay again, the better. Each rabbit has its own recovery time, but if swapping through fresh hay more frequently seems to do the trick, do that for a couple days.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

These are all great tips!

Most Dutch vets advise to give hay tea to a recovering bunny, especially if they’re not eager to drink. It contains some nutrients from the hay and has a pleasant sweet smell. Put it in a bowl so that they won’t have to stretch out to reach a water bottle.
Appearantly many people outside of NL have never heard of the stuff, so here’s the recipe:

Take a handful of hay and cut it into short pieces with some scissors. Put the pieces into a mug and pour boiling water over it. Let it steep for about 15 minutes and pass it through a sieve or a filter to remove the hay. It should smell really sweet, many rabbits are definitely interested in it. Let the tea cool down to room temperature and serve in a small bowl.
Hay tea is very nutricious but that also means that it’ll spoil quicker. Change the bowl every couple of hours, especially in warm weather. You can store hay tea in the fridge for 24 hours.

Wishing Sushi a safe and easy spay!

[Kassandra]

Thank you so much for the reply! It took me a while to get back simply because I am a student and taking a course this summer >.< Today is Sushi's first full day at home after the spay and I am keeping a watchful eye on her, she is eating but very sparingly. I few nibbles here and there and some sips of water. She still will not take her favorite treat (bananas) and it breaks my heart! But she does seem better and more lively than when I brought her home yesterday and the vet did give me painkillers. I just hope to get her eating a good amount, she hates the syringe so trying to force feed her critical care will be something else!

[Kassandra]

Oh wow I have not heard of this but thank you very much! I will be sure to to this with little sushi! And thank you for the best wishes, she is doing better and I can only hope she gets better from here! 

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