First ever vet appointment coming up/pre-surgery

[meow1]

So, Sunny goes to the vet for the first time on Tuesday, for a general wellness check up and pre-op bloodwork.

I had been emailing back and forth with them before deciding to go there. Below are some bits and pieces from our conversations:

“We do have a doctor on staff who is very familiar and very comfortable with
 all areas of rabbit care….she works relief
 shifts here at our practice and also in an emergency hospital; but prior to
 that she worked for 5 years in companion animal medicine and saw an average
of 3 rabbits a week, doing everything from routine care, teeth trimming,
 spay/neuter surgery and GI surgery. She does not fast any exotic and will
 not prescribe an antibiotic if it is not necessary because of the potential
 upset or damage that some classes of medication can do to the GI flora.
……she recommends bringing the
rabbit in for a well-visit and we draw the blood then beause it must be sent
off to the lab to be run instead of doing this in-house. Then we would
receive the results and schedule the surgery after the all-clear had been
given. On surgery day, you’d drop the rabbit off and bring some of it’s
food/hay with you so it can have a meal after recovery. We always discharge
patients around 3-4 in the afternoon, and there isn’t an overnight stay
involved
She doesn’t use a laser for surgery but will leave sutures in the underlying
layer and then tissue-glue on the incision. This is normal procedure. She
has never lost a patient prior to or after spaying
I hope this answers your questions and alleviates some of your concerns.
Please feel free to call or message anytime and we can arrange a wellness
exam”

 

What do you think based on this? 

Do you have any suggestions for me to make this trip easier for Sunny?

Any suggestions on anything to ask while I’m there?

[Monkeybun]

Sounds good to me

[Bumblebunny]

Sounds pretty much like my vet, who works with a local rabbit rescue, said. Ask about pain meds; mine said he used a long lasting one and called me first thing the next morning to check how bunny was doing. You will need to limit his activities for a few days. He might not want to eat right away when he gets home, we left his favorite greens near him and he started nibbling several hours after he got home.

[RabbitPam]

That all sounds excellent. I wish some of our other members had been able to receive such a reassuring message. I agree about requesting the pain meds, but otherwise Bumblbunny’s advice is right on target. Let’s hope the blood tests get back soon, so you can go ahead and get this behind you. (Behind Sunny? Sunny’s behind?)

[meow1]

Thanks everyone for your reassuring comments.

Yes, I am just ready to get this over with and done. I will have to drive probably about an hour to get to this vet. I hope Sunny does ok with the travel, and with the vet visit! Then I’ll have to do it all again when it’s time for surgery!lol…. Is jumping in the litterbox too much after surgery? Or is that ok?

[Monkeybun]

litterbox is fine, you just don’t want your bun jumping up onto things,

[meow1]

I have to say that I am very impressed with how things went today, and feel confident in the care he will be receiving with this particular vet. She asked me all about where he stays, what he eats, where I got him from, etc…They gave me a lot of rabbit care papers too.

She said something about preventing hair balls from forming by giving him pineapple juice a couple of times a week, or papaya something (maybe extract?) I will have to call to see what it was she said.

I do have a question about one thing that was stated on one of the papers. It says dog nylon chew toys, (I suppose like nylabone or something) are ok to let rabbits chew on. So, I asked the tech about Booda Bones/Bimples. She didn’t know what those were, but asked the vet and told me it should be ok. What do you guys think? I give these to my dog and she is completely fine with them. They just pass on through their system.

[meow1]

I got in touch with my veterinarian- the papaya thing is Papaya fruit plus

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