Finally Getting My Rabbit Spayed

[Lemons and Lies]

I’m finally getting my rabbit spayed tomorrow after putting it off for a long time. She’s around a year old and is bonded to my neutered male. We’ll be going to the vet that the local rabbit community here uses- he’s also the one that neutered my male. Obviously spaying is a lot more invasive than neutering and I’m a bit nervous about that, and that’s why I have a few questions.

Should I bring along the male to the clinic for moral support or leave him at home?

How long is a typical spay operation?

When I get her back, they’ll probably have her in a cone and I expect her to 100% hate it. She also has a really small head and with my other rabbit we had trouble keeping the cone on him and eventually left it off. Thankfully he didn’t pick at the wound. Assuming that she does, however, and that I can’t keep the cone on, what alrernative would you suggest?

Also, should I let the male have physical access to her while she’s recovering or should I keep them separated but still able to see each other through the bars?

Thabks for the help in advance.

[sarahthegemini]

It’s good that you are getting her spayed. But I understand how nerve wrecking it can be, it’s scary! So long as your vet is experienced tho, you should have no issues.

I’m not sure how long it takes but I dropped my doe off at roughly 8:30am and picked her up at around 5pm. Her surgery was finished by lunch time tho.

I don’t know about taking your boy for moral support, I’ll let others advise on that. However, I will advise that you keep them separate afterwards, at least til she’s fully recovered. This is because all pairs occasionally have disagreements but any kind of altercation directly after something so invasive could have very serious consequences. Plus, your female might be less tolerant and grumpier. Speaking of, sometimes females go through a post spay hormonal craze. This can also cause her to lash out, especially if she’s a little uncomfortable. So I would keep them apart til she’s healed and then use your own judgement from there.

I’ve never had to deal with bunnies wearing cones but a few members have and I believe some used some kind of sock covering over the wound if it was too stressful for bun to wear a cone so that might be worth looking into.

Also, PAIN RELIEF! Make sure you get pain relief for her. She’ll need it.

[Lemons and Lies]

Thanks for the advice Sarah. I ended up lurking through old BB posts and I saw people use elastic bandaged and I think that’s a good idea. When you say pain relief do you mean I should ask for painkillers or are there things I can also do to make her more comfortable?

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Lemons and Lies on 12/14/2017 5:46 AM

Thanks for the advice Sarah. I ended up lurking through old BB posts and I saw people use elastic bandaged and I think that’s a good idea. When you say pain relief do you mean I should ask for painkillers or are there things I can also do to make her more comfortable?

Ask for pain relief. Metacam is a common oral pain killer. Sometimes vets prefer not to immediately prescribe it – my own vet wasn’t going to give it to me right away and instead said I could come back and get some if I thought she needed it. I explained that I’d rather have some on hand so I can give it to her as soon as possible rather than waste time travelling back and forth whilst she’s in pain. If I recall, I gave it daily for 5 days and she was absolutely fine

[Lemons and Lies]

Update: the operation went smoothly. They gave her a really tiny cone but of course the moment the sedative wore off she rubs it off anyway *eyeroll*. Right now she’s just resting and I’d rather not stress her and put it back on. Depending on how things go I’ll see if I need to do something or if she’ll leave it alone.

[sarahthegemini]

Glad it all went well Such a relief! Is she eating anything?

[Lemons and Lies]

It’s been 7 hours since she got home and she’s still just sitting doing nothing, unfortunately. When I touch her she grunts like usual though so she’s spunky at least, and earlier I was syringe-feeding her the pain meds and she was lapping it up pretty decently. If she doesn’t eat my tomorrow I’ll go and get some greens.

[sarahthegemini]

No, you can’t wait till tomorrow. She really must eat ASAP. Could you feed her pellet mash (pellets soaked in water)?

[Lemons and Lies]

I managed to get her to eat some but it was less mash and more green little bits of pellet in water. She’s really good about syringe-feeding and I’ll feed her again before I go to bed. Is there a trick to getting the pellets more broken down? Or maybe I need a bigger syringe to pass thru the chunks?

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Lemons and Lies on 12/15/2017 6:52 AM

I managed to get her to eat some but it was less mash and more green little bits of pellet in water. She’s really good about syringe-feeding and I’ll feed her again before I go to bed. Is there a trick to getting the pellets more broken down? Or maybe I need a bigger syringe to pass thru the chunks?

I’ve not used pellet mash before so I wouldn’t know, hopefully someone with experience on that will chime in! It’s really good that you’ve managed to get a little something into her. Will she accept treats at all? At this time, anything goes. All that ‘treats in moderation’ doesn’t apply when nursing a bun back to full health so if she’ll accept anything, give it. Herbs are usually good as they smell quite strong and appetising. I remember the next 24 hours after Buttercup was spayed she had little interest in hay and no interest whatsoever in pellets. She did however eat romaine lettuce and dried sunflower petals and some dandelion as well as teensy bits of cucumber. 

[Luna]

I haven’t used the pellet mash either, but I’d imagine that using really hot water would help break them down to mush. You would just have to wait for them to cool down before feeding them to her . You could also cut the tip of the syringe more to see if that would increase the size of the opening. How are her ears feeling? Warm enough? Metacam can have the affect of slightly lowering body temp.

[Lemons and Lies]

I just woke up and gave her some more pellet mash and pain meds. Fortunately she’s not resisting syringe feeding at all. I’ll go to the store later today and try to pick up some mint or coriander leaves and see if those will work. Also her ears feel fine.

[Lemons and Lies]

I got her to eat some mint leaves so that’s good and she’s started lying down instead of sitting in an uncomfortable loaf which is promising.

[sarahthegemini]

That sounds really good Has she pooped at all?

[Lemons and Lies]

Yup. I let her run around her pen today and there were some poops around. She’s also eating hay as I type this so I think I’m past the worrying phase . All that’s left is a vet visit next week to get her stitches out.

[Luna]

Poops, eating, and movement are all great signs!

[sarahthegemini]

That’s all great news!

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