Bunny shaking post spay

[oreoswithmilk]

Hi guys,
I need a bit of advice. Two of my buns were spayed today and they have eaten and are pooping and peeing. However one of my buns has not stopped shaking and chattering her teeth post op. I am pretty sure she’s distressed. Could it be that she is cold? I do have a hot water bottle in their cage wrapped round a towel and I just puts a scarf on top of her to keep her warm in case she was cold however she has still not stopped chattering or shaking! It’s not necessarily violent shaking it is just the fact that it is constant and the teeth chattering is very vocal. The vet said that they themselves had injected her with enough painkillers and it has been 5 hours since her arrival (I was expecting it to go away by now). I am quite worried and I can’t get to sleep. I would really appreciate some advice or tips or maybe if other people had suffered this sort of reaction with their buns. I also forgot to mention that they are healthy young (8 month) buns.

[Dee]

First, I would feel her ears. If they are cold, she is probably in pain and possibly going into shock. In that case, she should be seen by a vet ASAP. If you absolutely cannot get her to the vet and her ears are cold, I would warm her up by putting her in your lap wrapped in a blanket or big towel. A heating pad on low on your lap covered by a towel, with bunny on top, works well. If her ears are OK, I would check her over carefully to be sure she’s not bleeding from her incision. That would be obvious, no need to flip her over and inspect her since she’s sore already. Did the vet give you any pain meds like Metacam? I think some vets underestimate the need for pain relief in rabbits. If it were my rabbit and he was obviously in pain, I would give him a dose of Metacam even if the vet said they got pain meds that should last 24 hours. But that is not something I can advise anyone else to do.

I really hope that your bunny is better soon! I would definitely take her to emergency care if you can’t get her to stop shaking and chattering with warming and/or a dose of pain meds. Anytime a bunny is in distress and can’t be helped by home care is a vet situation, but especially after recent surgery. Good luck and keep us posted! There will probably be more experienced bunny people chiming in to help too!

[oreoswithmilk]

Thanks so much for the message. I wasn’t given any medicine from my vets however I read up a bit on baby aspirin because she seemed like she was in pain and I only gave her a really small dose because I didn’t know how she would react and since then she is not displaying as many signs of shaking and I am very happy to say I haven’t heard her chatter yet. Her incision looks fine no signs of inflammation etc. She is looking okay at the moment and her ears aren’t necessarily cold. I put her on a hot water bottle like you said and she also has my blanket to keep her warm. I will check on her again in a few hours as I am very tired and it’s really late here in london. I hope to keep you updated. Thank you so much for your help xx

[oreoswithmilk]

Also I wanted to add that their dry poo is really sticky and I want to know what is causing it and what I can do about it x

[Bam]

It’s normal for a newly spayed bun to have weird poop. Sticky poop or misshapen poop. It has to do with the GI tract slowing down due to the anesthesia. It can take up to 2 weeks before the poop is normalized.

The best thing for sticky poop is hay. Hay, hay and more hay. You can give a probiotic to help the good bacteria in the gut. In the U.K. there are several variants available. Protexin is a quality U.K. brand.

[Author]

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