New vet visit

[Riya]

Well, a new-old vet.  She’s an old friend of mine, but I didn’t realize she worked on bunnies. So we went for a checkup today (after losing the surprise litter last week) and she’s contradicting nearly everything the other vet said.  Says Sasha is a Rex and no more than 1-2 years old.

She has put on almost 1/2 pound since the other visit, but is still too underweight to spay right now.  We’re going to bump up the pellets a little more and check her again in a month.  The other vet was wanting to spay her immediately, to the tune of $480.  This one says $159.  That’s do-able.  Hubby about gave birth at the other cost.

I appreciated that she didn’t want to rush the spay.  It definitely needs to happen, but she’s more concerned about the total welfare of the animal, rather than trying to make money now.  Such a relief.

And I got to see pictures of her new Irish Wolfhound puppy, and will probably get to see the new baby next month!

[ThorBunny]

Good news! I’m glad you know Sasha is in better hands with the new vet. It is so interesting the vast differences between care, even in practices that claim to be rabbit savvy. Hope the spay goes well and she continues to improve! She is lucky to have found such a great home

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

That sounds a lot better, 480 is not a normal price. To put it kindly: it doesn’t sound like that other vet had Sasha’s best interest in mind.
Rabbit knowledge is scarce among vets, so please make sure to educate yourself about rabbit medical issues as well. One of the main causes of problems around surgery on rabbits is wrong advice about fasting a rabbit. If you meet a vet who advises you to fast a rabbit before surgery: take your bun and run!

Dogs, cats and humans all need to go under on an empty stomach, because we can vomit and this is dangerous during sedation. Rabbits physically can’t vomit, so they don’t need to be fasted. In fact: if you fast a rabbit, you’re more likely to end up with potentially lethal stasis right after surgery. Many rabbits have a very sensitive digestive system and may stop eating when in pain or when extremely stressed. Combine this with an intestine which needs to keep moving to work, and it’s a medical emergency waiting to happen. Not what anyone needs, especially not right after a surgery. So best feed them their normally on the day of the surgery, because they’re going to need all the energy to recover.

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