Neutering Question

[BunnyHugger]

I’m thoroughly confused. I’ve called the two vets most highly recommended in my town. The first receptionist told me they send bun home after neutering with the Elizabethan collar and 1 ml Metacam for pain. The painkiller should last about 3 days for a little Lionhead.

The second receptionist told me you don’t use collars on rabbits, and the painkiller is part of the anesthetic. It apparently lasts a couple of days after surgery.

What is your experience with this?

[JackRabbit]

None of my three had collars after their spays/neuter, all three had pain during surgery, and all three came home with pain meds to start that night and continue for up to 3 days (neuter) and up to 7/10 days (spay). All three had internal dissolving stitches with external glue, and none of them bothered their stitches. No eating or drinking problems or gut upset either. Kieko was spayed by a different vet than did Marlee and Moshi’s spay/neuter.

Edit: Oops! All three had *pain meds* during surgery.

[DethronedbyQueenB]

My experience:

No collar
No meds at home

BUT if he would have seemed bothered in any way I would have gotten meds or a collar.

[BunnyHugger]

Thank you. The collar issue is up in the air for me, as I know some vets use internal dissolving stitches. The “no painkiller” bothers me, as it may be part of the archaic thinking that animals and infants don’t feel pain the same way we do. Did you know that not long ago, human babies used to be operated upon with no anesthetic, including open body cavity? Shudder.

I asked the receptionist to elaborate. She kind of stammered, then said the painkiller is “part of” the anesthetic. Well, no. Those are two separate chemicals. As is the sedative administered pre-surgery.

I asked, “Do you mean the vet gives the rabbit a long lasting painkiller injection during anesthesia? And is that effective for three days?”
I’ve had surgeries, and know you need good pain meds for at least three days. With abdominal surgeries (as rabbit castration actually is), I was a real mess for five. I was of course tapered off from a narcotic painkiller within two or three, but needed to continue with a milder analgesic for five to seven days.

She stammered again, and said she has no way of knowing what the vet actually does. Hmmmmm.

I’m being very cautious, as I know rabbits are still viewed as “less than” dogs and cats by many people, and many vets’ experience with them is limited to ones raised for meat. The standard of care for the latter are far different, in my education and experience. E.g. puppy mill dogs are classified as livestock, and what would result in a cruelty investigation in the city, is regulated as adequate care in a rural area.

[Beka27]

The long term pain injection lasts about 24 hours. Boys don’t always need pain meds after that wears off. There’s no way to know unfortunately if he’ll need it or not, so I would recommend asking for them just in case, or making sure that if they are needed, they will give them to you after.

The collars are not usually needed… BUT there are those few buns who cannot leave the incision alone. It’s not ideal bc the collar will affect their ability to eat, groom themselves, and take in cecals… But if they need it, they need it.

[kirstyol]

I was told when we picked Bramble up after his neuter that standard practice (for my vet anyway) is to send them home with no collar for all the reasons Beka described above, they would only put a collar on him if he was biting at his wound and therefore needed it. I was given painkillers to start one day post op once what they had given him wore off, for three days but Bramble ended up needing them for a bit longer.

[Cottontail]

When we got Peter neutered, the vet stated that collars were only given to rabbits if their personalities put them at high risk of pulling stitches.. and generally only did that for very nervous females or those that have already aggravated the site. They gave him a pain killer that would last several hours during/after surgery, and sent 5 doses of pre-measured metacam home for him, the first to be administered at dinner (he was neutered in the morning), then every evening following til gone. Sure enough, about half an hour before his dinner he started pressing his butt against the floor, but the pain meds made him feel like super-bunny.
I would definitely let my vet know that you’re concerned about a potential lack of pain killers, as an uncomfy bunny is more likely to not eat as he should and could present other issues.

[DethronedbyQueenB]

I felt and my thought process was like yours, BunnyHugger. I was very worried going home without pain meds but he truly didn’t seem to be suffering at all, at any time.
He was a bit groggy the first day but that was all. By the time that wore off he was the same as he was pre-op….minus a couple jewels that he doesn’t seem to realize are missing.

ETA: I’ve read that castrated men often feel no pain because the nerves are gone. Eeeewowsers.

[BunnyHugger]

Thanks for your input, everyone. I’ll go with the vet whose receptionist said a few days of Metacam is included in the neutering fee. A receptionist as badly informed as the one who thinks painkiller is part of the anesthetic doesn’t speak well to the practice. Nor would I ever deny several days of pain relief after a surgery. My question was really: is there a pain injection that lasts at least three days? My apologies, I should have been clearer.

Animals mask pain for survival reasons; the wounded animal is left behind by the pack to be consumed by predators. Bunnies being the world’s most vulnerable prey, mask pain particularly well. So I would never go by a bunny “seeming” to not be in pain. It’s clear as day that someone digging into your abdominal cavity is going to have an effect. There are neutering surgery videos available on the Internet. It’s a good idea to watch the procedure, as many people think it’s a simple “snip” of a little string of tissue, when it’s highly invasive. Particularly on a rabbit, due to the way their testes are embedded in the abdominal wall. Not sure if “embedded” is the right word, but it’s not a simple procedure.

DbyQB: castrated men certainly do feel pain. The Catholic church castrated 5000 little boys annually for hundreds of years, to create sopranos, as women were banned from performing. Many of those boys died of shock and pain; some had lifelong pain. That castration is virtually painless is something their desperately poor families were told, so they’d consent. And rabbit castration is far more invasive than human, as our species do not retain their testicles in the abdomen.

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