How to keep bun from chewing stitches?

[carlyquinn_]

Iris has been doing great since her spay surgery yesterday, however she is dead set on ripping out her stitches. She was sent home from the vet with a soft Elizabethan collar (or cone of shame as I like to call it), which she ripped to shreds this morning. I tried monitoring her but every time I turned around she was chewing at her tummy. She wouldn’t hold still enough for me to wrap her with bandages or any of the sort. We called the vet and she advised that we increase her daily meticam dosage, which I did. She also suggested that we put her into a premie onesie and cover the incision. We covered her wound with a band-aid patch and put her in a onesie, which took a good 40 minutes and a lot of compromising. However, as I was mid in the middle of typing this, I looked over to find that she had somehow fit her head under the onesie and chewed off the band-aid. And so, I have resorted to safety-pinning the demolished cone back together. Since she has made it evident that nothing will hold her back, does anyone know any other methods of keeping her away from her stitches? I thought maybe if I lengthened my list of options, it would buy more time, haha. Has anyone else had a stubborn bun who wouldn’t give it a rest?

[Jazlyn]

I just had the same problem about two weeks ago, my bunny would go at it as soon as he could. The only thing that stopped him was a bunny-sized e-collar, but they only had the plastic ones. He didn’t hate it but it certainly wasn’t his favourite thing. If the soft collar doesn’t work, you could try a plastic one and see how she does with it, but keep a close eye because it can make them very upset. I was always scared mine would stop eating, but fortunately, that never happened and both took it perfectly.

[Bam]

There is an ongoing thread where the bun owner made a “cone” herself for her bunny. The thread has some not-so-pleasant pictures related to the bunny’s case, but if you scroll down a bit, you’ll see the cone, made from a yoghurt cup and a wooly sock.
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/161465/Default.aspx

ETA: adequate pain relief is very important after a spay. Did you get pain meds for her? Sometimes the prescribed dosage is too low, there’s actually quite a span within the therapeutic window (the range from lowest to highest recomended dose). Bunnies metabolize Metacam quicker than dogs and cats, and sometimes a bun gets a dosage suitable for a cat, but actually needs more. Pain and discomfort can cause a bun to bite at a wound. It is of course of the utmost importance that she doesn’t manage to pull out the stitches.

[carlyquinn_]

Thanks so much! The yogurt cup collar from the thread is a great idea. And to answer your question, I was given a daily pain relief medication to give her. I have increased her dosage, and have been giving her half of a dose throughout the day whenever she appears to be uncomfortable.

[Bam]

Here’s Medirabbit’s chart of safe analgesics for rabbits. The active ingredient in Metacam is meloxicam, in case you want to look it up:
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

[tinkerbellstargirl]

You could try the onesie AND a harness? We did this for a friend of mines rabbit who was constantly trying to chew. Harness also worked with a sock on my guinea pig when he had a lipoma removed. Xxx

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