Get bunny used to wear surgical clothing

[Alnilan]

Hello. I have not presented myself yet, I am the proud mother of Lua, a 5 months old mini rex. She is my first bunny and we are together for 2 months and half now and we already have a great bond. I have been reading BB for at least the last 3 months and have learned a lot here, thank you! Today I kindly ask for your help. Lua was spayed two days ago by an exotic vet. It was a hard surgery as he believes she is younger as it was told me, her uterus was half the size of a 5 months old rabbit. It was really hard to see her the first hours after the surgery, but she is getting better now, at least now she wants some food and water. She came with a surgical clothing she took off the first night, I can not understand how. I called the vet and he said as long as I kept an eye on her, it was fine. Today I had to take her to the vet again, as it seemed the cutting was open. It really was, it is a small and superficial open, not a big deal, but she is back to the surgical clothing and really hates it. I tried saying no when she tries to pull it off, I tried turning her head so she could not reach the clothing but nothing of this worked. As I write this I had to try a new method: spraying her with water. It is sooo sad to make this, it is the first time I try this method, but it seems it is working. How was with your bunnies, did they quickly get used to the surgical clothing (or just regular clothes)? Any tips for making her not hate it? Spraying water really makes me feel bad, it is cold here, we already have low winter temperatures, but I have to ensure she will not reach the cutting =/

I have also attached a photo of her not really happy using the surgical clothing. 

Thank you for any tip you have to ease this process! 

[Q8bunny]

I feel bad for poor dear Lua, but if worrying at her incision and surgical clothing is an ongoing issue, you may have to consider asking your vet for a small cone for her to wear temporarily until her incision has healed a bit – or at least for her to wear at night while you sleep and can’t supervise her with a water spray bottle.

[Alnilan]

Hello Q8bunny, thank you for your answer. She was in the cage, where the vet asked her to stay for 10 days, close to my bed the whole night and every time I listened or saw her trying to pull off the clothing, I went there to make her stop. It was a long night, but her safety comes first. It seems she is getting used to the clothing now and is recovering well, I’m glad to see her much happier today, enjoying the sunbeam and a carrot. If she starts to get stressed by the clothing again, I will ask the vet for a cone, thank you for the idea.

[Q8bunny]

Speedy recovery to your beautiful girl.

[Carly]

What a sweet little girl! This is the first time I’ve heard of/seen surgical clothes. I’m sure it’s pretty annoying for the rabbit, but it looks pretty cute.

I second the small cone idea; but I can *usually* get Tot to stop what he’s doing by loudly snapping my fingers, maybe clapping would work, too. I can understand how you’d feel bad spraying her.

I hope you get some rest, and Lua has a speedy recovery!

[Alnilan]

Today she seems to be back to what she used to be before, what a relief. The vet asked to keep the surgical clothing, but she was sooo nervous with the clothing that I tried yesterday to remove it to understand why. Now I realize she was that nervous because she could not clean herself as much as she wanted with the clothing, she was feeling dirty. She is not wearing it anymore and everything is fine with her, I could even get a good night of sleep. Thank you guys, at least all of that teached us not to restrict a bunny to clean himself.

[Author]

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