Before spaying do or don’t

[Coco]

I am having my rabbit spayed near her first birthday. The vet I want to use has never spayed a bunny before. I do trust her, I know she is a good vet, but that is one issue.
My main issue, outside of that, is, I was told no food after midnight. But a web sight I looked at tonight said that rabbits cannot vomit & to not feed a rabbit might be bad.
Her surgery will be early October, so I could really use any advice you could give me before then!

[jerseygirl]

Was it the vet that told you this, or receptionist at the clinic?
Rabbits absolutely should not have food withdrawn. They need to have food in the tract at all time.
If you do go ahead and have the surgery done through this clinic, please bring up this misinformation with them, so they don’t give it out to other rabbit owners.

Personally, I don’t think it is worth the risk having spay surgery done by a vet who is not experience with it in rabbits. The spay is more invasive then a castration. Being told to fast the rabbit is a bit of a red flag.

[Bunny House]

I agree with Jerseygirl. A vet who hasn’t done a spay on a bunny doesn’t know the proper anesthesia protocol and probably doesn’t know what pain meds to give before the surgery so they don’t wake up in shock from the surgery. Buns need to be waken up slowly so they don’t have a heart attack from the pain.

I really suggest looking into rabbit savvy vets around you. This website and house rabbit society have a page of rabbit savvy vets that you can search near your area. And if not, maybe one of the leaders can better help you find one if you can’t.

Also, she might not know “where” the uterus is. That’s how my first bun was, the vet wasn’t very experienced and went in and said she didn’t have anything. Then 2 years later I find a bun savvy vet and they go in and do an actual spay. It pays to shop around!

[Coco]

Thanks so much! I do have my vet from years back when I had my last rabbit. I will call her. I do like this vet, but have reservations. My bun is to precious to chance a vets first, I would like for her to get into bunnies, but not mine. I hope my older vet still will. It’s been so many years back! I am not in a big rabbit care area so I can only hope & pray.

[jerseygirl]

Oh wow Bunny House! Glad the 2nd vet was able perform the spay.
Good point too. The rabbit uterus is unusally in that it is “double-horned”. So a vet needs to be familiar. Searching around is going to cause bruising and complicate recovery time. A vet experienced with rabbit spay can also do thing to help minimise post-surgery adhesions.

Another thing we’ve heard of on here is that a rabbit was “spayed” by just removing the ovaries. While this prevent pregnancy, leaving the uterus leave the rabbit at risk of developing uterine tumours, which they have high susceptibility for.

[jerseygirl]

Posted By Coco on 9/15/2018 1:26 AM

Thanks so much! I do have my vet from years back when I had my last rabbit. I will call her. I do like this vet, but have reservations. My bun is to precious to chance a vets first, I would like for her to get into bunnies, but not mine. I hope my older vet still will. It’s been so many years back! I am not in a big rabbit care area so I can only hope & pray.

It’s still good to have a local vet you like and get along well with. They are valuable for when you need treat more minor things or need vet care asap. I hope you have success with your former vet.  Also ask if they have visiting vets come into the area occasionally. One of those might be more experienced.  The other option is to take a road trip with your bun to a clinic/hospital you know to have vet exp with rabbit spay. 

[Coco]

Thanks to all who replied. I might just go drill her a bit, but after these answers, I won’t let her spay my bun!!!

[jerseygirl]

Haha, be gentle.
I suppose every vet has to have a 1st time doing the procedure, but you’d hope that was when training and under guidance of experienced instructor. Rabbit spay was not overly common but it is more so now. It’s come a long way.

ETA: Here is the House Rabbit Society’s information about Spay/Neuter

http://rabbit.org/faq-spaying-and-neutering/

And some additional information about anaesthesia: http://rabbit.org/anesthesia-protocols-for-rabbits/ 

Especially note: “Attention to analgesia is critical and especially important in the post-operative period. Fasting for more than 1 hour is unnecessary and should be avoided. Never hesitate to postpone or cancel anesthesia when it’s in the patient’s best interest.”

[Coco]

I found a new vet to spay my bunny. He sounds like he has done many. But he does say to feed normally, but remove at bedtime. And remove water in the morning.

[sarahthegemini]

If he is advising you to remove food the night before and remove water that morning, he is NOT knowledgeable in rabbit care and should not be spaying a rabbit. Please continue searching.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Agree with sarah. Any vet who knows anything about bunnies should know that.

[Coco]

I did take her to him early this morning. He agreed that the rabbit should have food in the belly, but to take it away before I went to bed. So I stayed up until midnight & left he about 1/8 th of a cup of food & her hay. We got up at 6 am to head to the vet. Arrived at 7:30. She was ready to go at 11:00.
She is in her pen, resting off and on since we got home at almost noon.

[Coco]

She seems to okay, not bouncy, but staying calm & quite in her hidey house. Caught her nibble a tiny bit of parsley & maybe a raisin or 2.

[sarahthegemini]

That doesn’t make sense? He said she should have food in her tummy but also that you needed to remove it before you went to bed?

I’m glad your bunny is okay but that vet should not be spaying rabbits.

[Bunny House]

I agree. That is too much of a risk to the bunny’s health. Vets don’t learn about bunnies in school, it’s all about cats and dogs so they wouldn’t know a thing unless they specialized in exotics for 2 years after vet school. I suggest to keep searching for a vet that has their license in exotics only. As you know, bunnies are a whole different beast that dogs and cats are. I’m glad she’s okay but many buns wouldn’t have been so lucky. Make sure she is eating within 8 hours of getting home or you will need to force feed her since her gi tract already slowed down/stopped before going into surgery so you’ll need to jump start it for her.

[Coco]

I did leave her some food out, I didn’t take it away entirely, just less of it. She ate very little yesterday, but she did eat. Today she has eaten a lot more. She loves kudzoo most of all it seems, so I cut some & she was happy to eat it! I encouraged her to drink some water, because she wasn’t coming out for it. She drank a good amount & just now she came out to eat pellets! Never before would I have given thanks to kudzoo!!!
And the vet called today to check up on her! He said he used some type of adhesive for stitches, or over the stitches & that by Friday it might cause her to itch, so to watch for her trying to get at it. Suggested a cone if she does.

[Coco]

I am so glad that I scheduled her spay for during my vacation! Would hate not being here to see what she eats and how she is doing!

[Bunny House]

I’m glad she’s doing better

[Coco]

Posted By Bunny House on 10/24/2018 4:33 PM
I’m glad she’s doing better

Thanks! She is letting me love on her tonight, so that has me feeling better too!

[Coco]

Does anyone have more info on the yogurt cup cone? I saw the link, but can not figure out how to use the 2 socks. I have a feeling that I will need a cone soon, as she is grooming close to her surgery tonight.

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