Discharge after spay

[moonbunny]

Hi everyone,

My Nibbles (almost 5-years-old) had a spay to remove uterine tumours last December. Afterwards, I noticed some discharge/spotting on the blanket that I place underneath her pen. I brought the blanket in to my vet (and took some urine samples) and she said that there was nothing to be concerned about.

However, it’s been almost two months since her spay and I still sometimes wake up to find discharge on her blanket (she always seems to leave it at night and I’ve been unable to observe her leaving the discharge). This morning I awoke to find about a dozen spots on the blanket (some small but some the size of a small golf ball). When she pees outside the litter box, the pee sometimes dries to leave a similar albeit lighter colour. 

Other than the discharge, Nibby has no symptoms of illness. She eats and poops well and is very energetic. Has anyone had similar issues with their buns after a spay?

Thanks,

Laura

P.S: One of the spots had something stuck to it, which I took off and put in a bag. I’m not sure if it’s part of the discharge or if it’s just poop (there was another spot that she pooped on).

[jerseygirl]

Hi Laura

What colour is the discharge? Some of my rabbits leave a brown stain which I call “cecal juice”.

some small but some the size of a small golf ball)

Do you mean a flat spot/stain, about diameter of a gold ball? Or there is a gold ball sized lump of some sort of matter?

[moonbunny]

Posted By jerseygirl on 2/17/2018 2:27 AM

Hi Laura

What colour is the discharge? Some of my rabbits leave a brown stain which I call “cecal juice”.

some small but some the size of a small golf ball)

Do you mean a flat spot/stain, about diameter of a gold ball? Or there is a gold ball sized lump of some sort of matter?

Hi jerseygirl,
The discharge is brownish. Also, gosh, sorry! I meant the flat spot is the same diameter as a small golf ball. There was one spot with a little bit of matter which I collected in a bag, though. Nibby never use to spot at all and it’s been two months so I’m terribly worried that something’s wrong  
P.S: Sorry about the weird formatting, but for some reason it keeps making my response a quote.

[jerseygirl]

No worries.

I wonder if it’s from when she is eating her cecals? Seeing as it is usually in the morning you are finding it and rabbits typically produce cecals overnight.
Could it be she is not as mobile at reaching down for them as she was prior to the spay?

Some rabbits also can lose a bit of continence after spay due to the changes in hormones, so maybe that is factoring in??

Thank goodness the tumours were discovered and she was able to be spayed. It reminded me of on old post we had on here from a vet. We don’t have vets post often but his comment stuck with me. He said he’s yet to spay a rabbit over the age of 5 that hadn’t had some stage of uterine cancer.

[moonbunny]

I did find two poops on one of the spots, so it’s possible that it’s fecal matter. Nibby doesn’t seem to have any problems reaching/eating her caecotrophs, though. I see her reaching for them often during the day. 

I’m going to call my vet when she opens on Monday to ask. When I first saw the discharge in December, I panicked thinking it was dried blood but was told it’s normal after a spay. However, I thought it would clear up by now.

I’m very grateful to our vet for saving Nibby’s life. We took her in because she was overly hungry and was peeing on her tail. When I first got her I was told that she only needed to be spayed if she lived with a buck, and now I make sure to tell everyone I know with bunnies that spaying is in fact a life-saving surgery. No one should ever have to find out the hard way

[LBJ10]

I was thinking the same thing Jersey. It isn’t unusual for incontinence issues to occur after a spay, particularly if it was complicated (tumors, etc.).

[moonbunny]

Nibby doesn’t have great litter box habits. She pees/poops in the box a lot, but she also consistently pees in two or three other corners and poops all over.
I’ve tried training her several times but nothing seems to help. How can I tell if she’s incontinent? She pees right next to the litter box and it looks deliberate.

[Author]

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