Fern’s spay!

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Fern is getting spayed on tuesday and I am nerveous! What should I do to prepare, should I bring her litter box to the vet? should I bring a toy for her to the vet? I want to be prepared and make her comfortable after her spay. I am bringing food for her to eat afterwards. I just want everything to go smoothly. What should I do to prepare?

[bunnytowne]

Hmm spay season.  I think you are the 4th or 5th to spay these past 2 weeks.   It is nervewracking but we get through it.  Bring a soft big towel to put in her carrier to rest on when she goes home. She won’t eat right off the bat. It will take a day or so for her appetite to get back to normal.

Be prepared to let her stay in her house for a few days to recuperate.  The next day Ruby did a binky so I put her in her house to keep her from jumping around and hurting herself or busting stitches. Start off with her fav vegies or even a piece of her fav fruit to entice her to eat. She will go from vegies to hay to pellets over a few days time.

If they do her surgery right off the bat she won’t need a litterbox. If she has to sit there for a while I would think she would have to go wee. I dont’ know about bringing the litterbox maybe someone else has done this. 

She will be groggy and go in and out of sleep. Ask for pain meds some vets won’t give them just a shot after surgery.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

OK I will keep that in mind, The vet just told me to bring food because he said that they will give it to her right after the op. to entice her to eat. She will NOT be happy to be kept in her cage (just the lower level) for a couple of days, I will be facing a lot of bunny butt,(I just got some bunny butt for cleaning her cage today). I will offer her veggies right away, because she loves her romaine. She will be staying with the vet for the majority of the day because everyone will be away from the house most of the day, and not able to pick her up. I want to see her as soon as she is done but I already missed enough school when I went to a yucky running race that was all the way in long Island, about 8 hours away! I think the vet gives pain meds, I will have to ask. He is on the recommended list on Rabbit.org and he seems really knowledgeable and kind, so I think she will be taken good care of while she is there.

That’s funny that Ruby did a binky the next day, she must have been very happy! It’s good she was still happy after her op. but she should have expressed her happiness in another way.

[Deleted User]

We just got spayed too!!!
I brought hay and food cuz Boston is picky and I didn’t want her to not eat just cuz it wasn’t hers. I wouldn’t worry about a litter box. But if she has a fave toy or blankie, go ahead and bring that.
Make sure you feed your bun right up until the spay. Just feed like normal–don’t fast the bun. Also ask if they will be taking out the ovaries and uterus–they should take it all.

Good luck and don’t stress!!!!

[Beka27]

you don’t need to take anything except a soft towel for the ride home and some food like BT said. chances are good that she won’t eat but have it on hand just in case. definitely get pain meds! this is very important, esp. for females since a spay is more invasive.

you’ll need to check the spay incision twice a day, and keep her somewhat confined for about a week. for the first couple days i’d leave her in her cage, after that, based on how she’s recovering, she might be able to play out of the cage for a short time with supervision.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Bring her favorite greens-that will encourage eating, and some hay and pellets. I bring them all in a baggie so they can just give them to the bunny and everything is there. Bring a blankie or towel and your buns fave stuffed toy if she has one.

Purchase some critical care at the vets office before you come home and MAKE SURE you get pain meds when you leave. If the vet says you don’t generally need them, insist and get some to take home. True you may not need them, but it really makes the difference for a quick easy recovery and it’s not expensive or hard to give. You may want to pick up some pedialyte and baby food if you really want to be prepared, but if you have all night pharmacies or grocery stores where you live you need to buy that ahead of time you can wait and buyit if you need it.

[KatnipCrzy]

When I had my bunny spayed I took some pellets, about 2 handfuls of hay, a small handful of greens and a papaya tablet.  And of course she did not eat on of it there- but I at least was able to offer it.   I also took a blanket that was hers (clean- but not freshly laundered so it was familiar to her) and I took a stuffed toy with my scent on it too.  Yeah- complete and total overkill considering that I work at the vet clinic.  She had surgery in the morning and pretty much just wanted to be left alone at the clinic and when I took her home that afternoon.  I set her up in her cage- everything within reach on her fleece bed. 

I did not take a litter or litterbox as the vet clinic has boxes (that are small) and they should have Yesterdays News or similiar that they use for post-surgical cat declaws.  After surgery they are put into a small cage and need a relatively small litterbox- and most clinics probably have heavy duty grates the pets are on.  That way if they pee when they are recovering from anesthesia, it can pass thru onto the newspaper underneath.  They usually put them in cages that would not be suitable to house a rabbit in, but are perfect for surgery as rabbits feel more secure in a small confined area (den-like), They might be more likely to freak out if they woke up in a large cage.  Plus Cotton really did not want to move after her spay- she just wanted to chill out.

I agree with everyone else- be sure to ask about pain meds to take home- Metacam is the most commonly prescribed post-op pain drug for bunnies. 

[jerseygirl]

Hello Moonlight Wolf
How did Little Fern go? Hope all went well!

[Beka27]

update please!

[MooBunnay]

I hope that all went well! I think you got the best advice from everyone else already. Don’t be too concerned if she does not start eating right away – spays are harder on females usually than neuters are on males. If she is not eating, try breaking the cilantro or parsley stems in half so she gets a good whiff, it helped a lot with the female bunnies that I have taken care of after spays.

And don’t worry about getting the bunny butt – its better a bunny butt than a return trip to the vet!

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Sorry, I would have answered sooner, but I was too busy worrying about Fern.

Here is the story, we take her in in the morning as planned, but the vet changed his time he was doing the surgery on her, he did it at around 2:00 and was originally going to do it at 11:00, this meant that Fern stayed at the vet for almost 12 hours. We dropped her off at 7:00 and picked her up at 6:00, that was the time the vet told us to pick her up, because he wanted to watch her before sending her home.

When she came home she was so tired from the anesthesia that, in our futile attempts to feed her she just kept falling asleep. She would wake up, look around like she was wondering where she was, then after a few seconds, go into a half sleep daze, she would sleep for a minute and then wake up again and so on.

My mother and I were scared that she would not eat anything so we kept bugging her by putting lettuce in front of her nose and trying to stick hay in her mouth, all that seemed to be happening was Fern was getting a little annoyed at out attempts.

After many tries we gave up for 20 minutes and then I went and tried to feed her a thumbnail size piece of lettuce, I tickled her nose and mouth with it and I think she got annoyed so she finally ate it! My mother and I were never so happy to see a bunny eat in our lives. Now we kept going back and feeding or trying to feed her, she was only eating a little bit of lettuce but at least she was eating. Me and my mother both got up at 4:00 and 5:00 to feed fern and now I feel like a zombie from lack of sleep.

The next morning we were still worried because she only ate when we were putting the food near her nose, and I had to go to school and my mom had to go to work, my mom even got ready to take a one day vacation off work for Fern, but luckily she ate some hay and then she started eating even more hay, my mom was happy now she was eating on her own, but I was still worried that she was not pooping.

I waited untill the bus was almost here and then 5 minutes before the school bus came she pooped 4 poops! I was so happy! So everyone went to school and work normally today, and my mom came home at her lunch break to check on Fern and make sure she was eating and feed her some more.

Fern is now eating pretty well, she has eaten a fair amount of hay and lettuce, but still no pellets. Her poops are still dark and hard or dark and squishy, but it is poop. The squishy ones look line Cecotropes, do you think she is not eating her Cecotropes due to not feeling too good?

Overall I am happy she is looking good and I don’t have to worry about her pulling out her stitches because she has her incision glued. As a plus the vet also clipped her nails!

Fern is recovering well and I hope she still progresses well, the only worries now is hoping she will not rip her incision open and making sure she keeps eating properly. I also hate that I have to give her metacan each evening, she hated her first dose. I hope it does not make her loose her apatite. that I hate giving her metacan, I got three doses to last me three days.

[Beka27]

keep giving her the pain meds. if they’re in pain, they can stop eating also, so it’s important you give it for the full 3 days.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Yes, thanks, I will, I just feel kind of sorry for her becuse I know that it probably tastes bad She ate all of it and I was surprised that I did not end up squirting any onto the floor.

[Cassi&Charlie]

Sounds like she’s doing well. As Beka said, as much as you haet giving her the metacam, it’ll make her feel soo much better!

[KatnipCrzy]

Metacam is artificially sweetened so it should taste sweet to her.  You could try to trick her into trying it.  If she is used to banana, maybe put a small piece of banana on the end of the syringe and see if you can get her to eat the banana off it and then look to the syringe for more “sweet treat”.  My bunny has to be the worlds pickiest bun, she won’t even eat banana or anything else new unless it has been offered at least 3 days in a row, I offered the syringe with a bit on the end, casually like a treat and without restraining her- and she practically sucked it out of the syringe as I dispensed it.

I think sometimes owners can be nervous and convey that to their bunnies- they think “Mom is so tense and unhappy, this must be bad!”.  So I always recommend trying to trick the pet first and if that does not work- then do some bunny wrangling.  Of course it very well may be that Fern hates Metacam. 

Even though she does not have outside sutures you still need to watch the incision carefully- in fact an external layer of surgical glue while durable for healing purposes in no match for a determined bunny.  And since her eating pattern was disrupted from the spay it is normal to see a change in her pooping behavior/results.  As long as things are continually improving and getting back to normal routine/quantity and “quality”- then Fern is on the right path!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Great news that she came through and is eating now!

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Fern Is doing great now! She is almost completely normal now! SHe is still a little off, but mostly she is back to normal.

I made her a new cage as kind of a get well from spay/thanksgiving/Christmas gift. It is awesome! I am so exited to let her go in it! It has five stories and it four cubes high and three cubes wide and two cubes deep. I made changes so it is more stable and it is easier to clean with its one big front door that is one cube wide and goes all the way down. I will post pictures sometime… When the pictures get loaded into our computer.

I have not let Fern in it yet because I am not sure when I can let her resume normal activity.

How long do I have to wait to let her resume normal activity? I am not going to a recheck appointment because the vet used glue, not stitches, she is perfectly fine, and my mom does not want to.

What do you think? I just want to see her happy in her nice new cage!

[Cassi&Charlie]

That’s not a cage, it’s a mansion! I really want to see pictures, sounds great! I bet she’ll be thrilled and wont want to come out for a while

[Beka27]

moonlight, i responded in that other thread where you asked the same questions, LittlePuffyTail’s condo thread…

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