Can bunnies eat baby food?

[LillyBear]

Lilly is getting spayed on the 12th… I know she isn’t going to want to eat anything due to the moving and chomping.. I am going to feed her water through an eyedropper to keep her hydrated.. would it be safe to maybe get some Gerber baby mashed carrots or somthing to let Lilly lick off of me?

[dmh426]

You’d be surprised all resilient rabbits are. I don’t think that you’re going to have to give Lilly water from an eye dropper. When Sophie was spayed, my wonderful vet called about 15 minutes after her spaying to say that she was up and playing in a cardboard box that they put her in. Playing! Her eating habits didn’t change at all and she still downed water like normal. You could try some Pedialyte in her water bottle to keep her hydrated. They make a fruit flavored one. As for baby food, be careful with the sugar content! ‘ve never had to give Soph baby food and am interested what other people think. Just lay hay and some of Lilly’s favorite treats right in front of her in her house. She’ll eat. It doesn’t matter how much treats she has at this time, as long as she’s eating! Papaya, bananas, and any other bunny fruit is a good idea.

Make sure to ask your vet for some of that liquid “Bunny Ibuprofen”- it’s Metacam and .08 ML daily should be given for pain/discomfort.

[osprey]

I would also suggest stocking up on her favorite greens and offer her all she wants right after the surgery.  Some bunnies go into stasis after anesthesia, so the extra fluid in the greens and the extra food intake will help her to heal.  Dandelion greens, parsley, dill, whatever she really enjoys.  And please be sure to monitor her poops really closely for the first 48 hours or so to make sure that she is producing fecals.  Good Luck!

[LillyBear]

wow dmh i can’t believe sophie was playing!!! I guess I will just try leaving food by her and see how she deals with it.. I thought she was not going to be moving! lol. Well, I hope Lilly takes it just like Sophie!

[dmh426]

YEA. My bunny is CRAZY. The vet laughed because there I sat at work, worrying my head off, and there Sophie was, in a large cardboard box in Dr. Lin’s office trying to escape and get pet by everyone who came into the doctor’s office. That’s my baby. Naughty, naughty, naughty!!! She’ll definitely be a little crabby and sleepy, but she won’t need an iv of food or water or anything. By the next day, Soph was hoping out of her house and playing around her x-pen (her house opens up to her x-pen).

[Lucy]

Lillybear- I know you’re from Chicago.. what vet are you using?

Oh, and Fujoe was up and running around once I got him home, and he ate everything. If you notice that Lilly isn’t drinking anything at all you can put just a little bit of apple juice in the water and she’ll gobble it down. I usally then dump out the water once I see that Fujoe drank and then filled it up with pure water again.

[MooBunnay]

I see that most people have had good experiences with their bunnies recovering after a spay, and I think that is usually how it happens, however, my boyfriend and I did have an experience with a difficult recovery a few weeks ago.

We had a litle bunny named Franky spayed, and after 2 days she still was not eating or drinking any water, so we had to use the eye dropper.  To keep the bunny still, we backed her into a corner of the cage, and I kept one hand over her shoulder area to keep her from escaping (we were also recommended to "straddle"her, its important to keep her upright for the feedinng, not tipped over on their back).  For the water, I would squirt it into the side of her mouth, usually even if it just got on her lip she would lick it up.  For food we mixed 1 part pellets with 2 parts water, its kinda tough to suck up in an eye dropper, but we would get a litle clump on the end of the eye dropper and get it into her mouth.  Make sure to go very slowly with the process!

To get her to eat real food again, we found that cilantro worked very well, we were also recommended to use radish tops.  She was not interested in the cilantro until my boyfriend broke the stems and she could smell it even better (then it got TOO tempting I guess!) Also, we were recommended to keep her water in a big crock, instead of the bottle that hangs on the side of the cage, because sometimes girlies have trouble lifting ther head to that bottle the first few days.

It was a bit stressful for us, but don’t panic if she doesn’t eat right away…Franky did not eat on her own for almost 2 aand 1/2 days…and she is doing quite well now!

[LillyBear]

Fujoe – we are using Dr. Scott Gallatin at Bremen Animal Hospital in Tinley Park

Bremen Animal Hopsital
7613 W. 159th St.
Tinley Park, IL 60477
(708) 532-5577

I was recommended there by Crestwood Animal Hospital and he is also on the HRS list (although I am aware that could mean nothing). He seems to know what he is doing (we already took Lilly for a check-up), but I am just nervous because this is the first bun I have ever had and I am nervous that maybe he isn’t a good doctor at all! I don’t want her to die : (.

Fujoe, if you know anything about this vet please let me know! I don’t personally know anyone except my aunt that has a bunny and her vet is very far from my house so it is unreasonable for me to travel there. This vet (the one in Tinley) is about 1 hour from where I live (downtown) so I am still making a trip!
***

Moo thanks for the tips if Lilly isn’t taking it very well.. : )

[LillyBear]

also guys, how long does the operation last?? I am dropping her off at around 8-9am… what time would I expect a phone call from my vet?

[Gravehearted]

I think much like people – bunnies all recuperate differently.  It’s not uncommon for a bunny to be kinda out of it for a day or two post spay. you’ll want to make sure to have something very soft for her to lay on – faux sheepskin is a good choice.

I’d be inclined to ask the vet’s office for a package of critical care by oxbow and a large syringe. It’s always a good idea to have critical care in the house – in case of a bout of stasis or unless she doesn’t seem to be eating well post-spay. Critical care delivers long strands of hay nutrients – which helps the tummy start and keep moving, which is why it’s such a good choice when bunnies aren’t eating.

http://www.oxbowhay.com/link.sp?page=CriticalCare

Many vets offices won’t let a bunny leave post spay until they’re pooping, so it’s likely she’ll be there most of the day. I’m not sure exactly how long the actual surgery lasts – it likely depends on the complexity.

I would also second the recommendation of asking in the pre-op appointment if they’ll send you home with medi-cam or other pain relief meds.

[dmh426]

I am not sure how long the spay lasts, but my vet is AMAZING and Soph was her first appt. of the day. I got the call around 11:30 that she was playing in the vet’s office and licking her baby blanket after waking up from the anesthesia. Oh! That’s a good idea for Lilly by the way. Do you have a tshirt or a blanket or anything like that that you can bunny burrito her in and hold her for a few minutes for a few days before the surgery? My vet reccommended it to me. It smells like “home” and “mom”. It’s comforting for them to have when they get out of surgery, I also brought my own hay and a bag of food for her to the vet. I wanted to go see her at lunch time but my vet said that she would just be confused to see me and then have me leave her there. Drop her off, cry your tears (I did anyway) and pick her up after work. AND Try to keep yourself busy at work that day.

[Lucy]

lillybear-
So, you’re in the loop? I’m in lakeview/boystown and I went to Blum Animal Hospital and met with Dr. Kramer. Blum is at the corner of Clark and Belmont. So if you really are in the loop- then this is a lot better.

anyway.. Dr. Kramer is really awesome and the only bunny doctor there. They were really good with Fujoe. The thing is that you should have an inital appt. BEFORE the operation with the doctor for them to check up on the bunny. If they haven’t, then that’s a bad sign (or I think so). That way you can meet the doctor and make sure you like the doctor. You should be in the exam room with the rabbit at all times. That’s what i did.. the Doctor also asked me question to make sure I was feeding Fujoe everything I was supposed to.. not to have him in a cage with a wire bottom.. she asked me a lot of questions which I thought was really nice. She gave me lots of info (since Fujoe was esp. tempermental). It seemed like she really cared.

It’s a little pricy.. it was $50something for the first check up and then like $300something for the operation. I don’t know how much the operation costs at the place that you’re going to.

So I dropped Fujoe off in the morning… like 9 I thnk.. and I THINK ( I can’t remember) I picked him up around 3 or something (I was out and they offered to keep him until later that night if I needed it. I kept busy by going thrift store shopping). They also wanted to watch him for a while since he was aggressive.. they didn’t want him to be going after his wound or anything. But I’m pretty sure that they called me once I could pick him up.

so ya..

[LillyBear]

dmh: that is a good idea about leaving a tshirt of mine for Lilly, I will definitley do this! And I most certainly will cry.. I know it. I will try to keep myself busy while she is there.. but I am no good at hiding my worries, I will probably be going crazy!!

fujoe: I am in South Loop area… a little west of that around Roosevelt and Halsted. I have alreade met with Dr. Gallatin as he did a prelim check-up to make sure she was in good enough shape to handle the operation(this was last month). We went and he suggested I wait another month, since she was a little small, before the spaying so we rescheduled it to next friday which will be one month. He will check her up in the morning and after determining she is all right he will do the surgery. He asked us a lot of questions and brought out a “Rabbit manual” and went through it with us and gave us a copy (most of what he said was redundant since I had researched soooooo much about her already!). The check up cost 44$ and the spaying is 145$. Part of the reason we set out to find a good doctor in the suburbs was because I don’t have enough money in my bank account to cover city vets (currently I have about 200$ in my account.. I have had a looot of bills to pay for recently : ( !! That sounds like I am a bad mommy.. but I think its just the area a lot of times that sets price not the skill of the doctor (north Chicago tends to be EXPENSIVE!).. south suburbs are definitley cheaper than Chicago or the North suburbs, and thats why I tried to find a vet there.

[dmh426]

Amanda- lucky you with the spaying costing $145. Here it was over $250. You’re going to cry, I cried. It’s because they are our babies! You should have seen me two weeks ago when Sophie lost 10 oz. of her body weight and had that UTI and bladder infection. Just walking in the door to the Emergency Vet was horrifyingly scary. I cried for what seems like two day straight. I used my last of my PTO time for the year by taking off the two days before Christmas because I couldn’t leave her. That’s cause they are our babies!

[Lucy]

it’s good that you found a cheap vet that you like. I can’t believe it’s that cheap… I don’t have a car so I was at the mercy of friends, and actually had to walk with Fujoe to the vet on the day of his surgry to drop him off…good luck with everything

[BinkyBunny]

You’ve gotten great advice.  I just wanted to ditto about the critical care.   That’s always good to have anyway for the future.   You’ll need a syringe for feeding.   If they don’t offer critical care, then you can do what others suggested, mushing up the pellets and mixing with water.

Here is a a link that covers some pre and post op stuff. http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/spay-neuter.html#pre-post-care

[Anita Stark]

I think I’ve read somewhere that canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin not the pie filling) can be fed if soft food is required.  Has anyone fed this to their bunnies or can you confirm that it’s appropriate?

Thanks

[Gravehearted]

Pumpkin actually can work as well – one of my vets had us make a slurry of alfalfa powder, pumpkin and water. You can also make slurries with pellets and water in the blender.

Critical care is still my first choice though – since it’s grass hay based and actually helps re-jump start sluggish gi tracts.

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