How common are ripped out stitches with spays?

[Kat9055]

My Holland Lop, Penelope, is finally getting spayed Thursday morning! She is a serious destructo-bunny and loves to tear, dig, and groom, so I am worried she is going to tear out her stitches. I’ll be around her (though leaving her in peace) Thursday afternoon-evening, but I work Fridays normally, so I am wondering if I need to take the day off to watch her, or just use preventative measures? I’ve heard suggestions about ace bandages around the middle, where the stitches are, and even using a baby shirt, but I think those would scare her and I want her to be comfortable. 

How common is it for female bunnies to mess with their stitches the day after surgery?

[Dface]

Many vets will close the incision using dissolvable sutures in an intradermal subcuticular method aka internal stitches. You may feel the end knot or a lump just under the skin but these do not bother most rabbits. This limits their ability to chew them, while still allowing them to groom their own wound, the method is used a lot for cats-particularly feral cats as like rabbits, they are big into grooming themselves
My boy was glue for his nueter and my female had internal stitches and glue for hers.
When he accidentally had an abdominal incision they used external stitches and I cannot fathom why anyone in the world would think it’s a good way to stitch up an animal.

I would say to avoid doing anything that draws attention to the stitches-bandages tshirts, if she struggles she’s more likely to tear them.
For the first day she probably wont feel like grooming, or eating or doing anything other than sitting there bemused.
After that keeping her quiet is really important.
You can get a cone for rabbits, or a collar(it’s like an Elizabethan collar so she cant turn her neck to get at her stitches)
Rabbits will groom themselves. The worry is over grooming the area, so ask your vet to use internal stitches to minimize it.

On the plus side they heal at an incredibly fast rate!

[Dface]

Also, I had to take the day off work for mine, but it was because he wasnt eating after anesthetic, which is something you might want to consider too if she’s never been under before
My girl was a superstar and recovered so well, my boy…disaster!

[Kat9055]

Thank you so much! I feel way better now. I will definitely talk to my vet about the stitch type. Luckily, this vet operates on rabbits frequently (they are the only vet to fix rabbits in my location). About how long did it take for your little girl to heal? Did you make a nest for her or anything? And how much should she eat the first day?

[Dface]

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html

This has some nice straightforward and non intimidating inforamtion on spaying
For me I think Yumi stayed in her cage for 7 days. Then activity was reduced for the next week after that. Essentially I just tried to keep her quiet. She didnt need to have a nest, but do make sure the room is a bit warmer than usual any animal just up from anesthetic will take a day or two to get back to thermoregulating properly
She should eat as much as she wants the first day, realistically you just need to make sure she eats something. My girl took very little persuading, my boy needed to be fed critical care and stewed pureed apple at one point to try to bribe him into eating.

[Kat9055]

Thanks!

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