HELP – Female bunny after spaying – HELP

[CookieBunBun]

I went to the domestic exotic vet, and they informed me to fast Cookie 12 hours before hit surgery, which that’s how stupid I was, my poor Cookie was fasting for 12 hours and later on I realised that she was not required to do so …. the nurse had fed her some fresh grass before the surgery, but now here are the issues:

1. She is not eating much as all, the whole day (well the surgery was done around 11am yesterday which was more than 24 hours ago) she just had few pieces of fresh hay and just little bit of her treat

2. She is not pooping well, same the whole day just fe droppings and they were all those soft poops

3. The vet didn’t give me any pain relief medicine, as they said the injection will last 24hours, I took Cookie to the local emergency in the afternoon and asked them to do a pain relief rejection, she seemed feeling better after that … she had few more pieces of hay, but that’s all she had for today, but she drinks lots of water and her urine was normally … the emergency staff said she was suspected to have gastric stasis which was not sure … and her kidney seemed bit bigger than usual ..

She is rarely moving around and maybe just when she needs to pee, pretty much the whole day she was lying down, I searched online, when rabbit lying down on her stomach which means she had gastric pain or stomach pain, and I can hear she is doing teeth grinding but not loud or often, maybe just once or twice

Is this normal after the spaying for a female rabbit and What should I do… I feel really sorry for Cookie that she has to suffer all of this pain … seeking for advice and help please

[Luna]

Sorry, I don’t know anything about spaying . The fact that she is drinking lots of water is good. The laying down on her stomach could be due to the spay, but I don’t know. Was the doctor who performed Cookie’s spay her usual vet? If they misinformed you on pre-op procedures, I would take her to a different vet for post-op advice. Is there a different exotic vet in your area that you could call? If you explain the situation to them, they will probably let you come in right away instead of having to make an appointment and wait. ((((Cookie))))

[Mikey]

Shes likely in stasis and is going to need a gut mover medication. Whatever she is eating, keep feeding her. If she is only eating greens, offer her hay and greens to encourage her to keep eating

(((Good luck vibes)))

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hi Cookiebun,

That a female is not moving 24hrs after her spay is not alarming, it’s a pretty invasive surgery so she’ll just want to be calm and quiet (like us!)

The fact that the emergency vet said she is prob in GI stasis and didn’t give mover meds is more alarming (or did they? this is not the same as pain meds).

If she is eating hay and treats then give her those, no problem. The rules for treats go out the window for 24 hrs, to get her eating again offer anything (within reason!! lol).

Her temp will have dropped probably so it is vital she is kept warm (hot water bottle, hand warmer wrapped around tshirt or something, fleece over her) make sure she can get away from the warmth if she wants to.
Hand feed her treats so she is interested in it.

It is important that she poops and wees. Her poops may be squishy and funny shaped for a while (couple of weeks), but as long as she is eating and pooping, she’ll be fine.
If she is still NOT eating – you will have to syringe feed her Critical Care, or mash up some pellets or pellet dust so it goes through the syringe ‘hole’.

I’m sure you absolutely know the importance of a bunny eating. If he/she doesn’t, he/she is at high risk of dying because the digestion process slows down and stops.

A rabbit savvy vet would never advise to fast a bunny for 12 hours – for whatever reason.

If in doubt, go back to the vets. Better to be safe than sorry.

[Bam]

She does need to eat, if she won’t eat you’ll have to soak pellets in water and feed the mush to her with a feeding-syringe. If she eats when you hand-feed her hay or greens or anything at all, really, then keep that up. Poop will be weird for some time, that’s normal after a spay.

As Vienna says, you need to keep her warm. Both the surgery and the pain meds lower the body temp in a rabbit, and that’s dangerous. Not eating also prevents the body from keeping itself warm. If you give her a heat-source, (hot water bottle, hand warmers), make sure she has space enough to move away from it if it gets too hot for her liking.

It’s great that she’s drinking and peeing. All poop is good, even if it’s squishy and malformed.

If you can’t get food in her very soon, you need to take her back in.

[CookieBunBun]

Yes, the doctor was her regular vet and they called me this morning for a follow up call, she said she won’t worry about her gastric issue, she said its normal for a bunny to recover for few days… she started being naughty aging this morning digging the carpet and knocking down her drinking bottle .. she started having pellets even it was small amount, hays and fresh veggie as well, pooing was still in a very small amount and weired shape, which can tell its after medicine, the only concern vet had was the pain, she told me if Cookie still not feeling well and seemed in pain, I will have to visit the vet and get some pain relief meds for her … but I worry about her gastric issue … should I ask for the gut moving meds as well? Or it’s just because she didn’t eat much ….

She is definitely eating and pooing more than yesterday, drinking lots of water and peeing a lot as well, I watched her overnight, changed hot water bottle for few times, she seemed enjoying that, should I feed her the critical care by tonight or just let her eating by herself …

THANK YOU VERU MUCH EVERYONE FOR YOUR KIND HELP… hopefully Cookie will get better soon …

[Bam]

Great to hear she’s being naughty again! That is a sign of recovery! If she eats an ok amount of food you don’t have to give her more Critical Care. It sounds to me like she’s on the mend, but you of course need to monitor her appetite continuously.

Poop can look strange for two weeks after a spay, that’s normal. 2 weeks is also the time it takes for her wounds to heal.

[LBJ10]

If she’s eating on her own, then she is likely OK and on the mend as Bam says. I agree, monitor her food intake and keep things comfortable for her. I’m sure she will be back to her normal self in no time.

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