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Just a quick update for anyone interested: Pete went to his vet and got neutered and nail trimmed yesterday morning. Although he managed to scratch his vet, he did very well with the anesthesia and was munching away on salad within 5-10 minutes of waking up. He weighed in at a whopping 2.2lbs, up from 1.7lbs 2 months ago.
Since he’s been home he has been a hyper little vacuum. ![]()
I was concerned at first that his little poops were very small compared to normal, but throughout the night they seem to have pretty much returned to normal size. He’s been good about getting most of the poops in his litter, though the occasional pellet appears here and there.. I had to laugh when he first came home and tried to go to the litter box because he seemed a little off-balance and carefully stood on the edge of the box (which he hasn’t done before), hung his butt out of the box, and missed completely. He looked utterly confused when he was finished. After about 10 minutes of being home he was trying desperately to convince me it was time for the bunny 500.
The vet gave him metacam to give him once a day with dinner. Last night I saw he was starting to press his bottom to the floor a bit in the evening, but after he sucked down his medicine he seemed to go into hyper happy kissy mode. Apparently his medicine is good stuff.
So far so good with his incisions.
Glad his neuter went well and he is recovering nicely! He sounds so spunky! ![]()
This is the first time I’ve read a post-neuter post and had to laugh! Congrats on a successful neuter and wonderful surgery rebound!
The small poos are normal and should return to normal, which it sounds like they have. I agree, your description is hilarious! Poor Pete just didn’t know what was going on.
So far so good; he’s mending well and eating like a horse.
Peter has decided that he should be in charge of the happy juice.
While giving him his dinner tonight it was time for his medicine, aka the hyper happy juice, and he became very excited; so much so that he decided that there must be more in the dropper and I must be holding out on him. He sucked as hard as he could and then stole the dropper. Once it was safely recovered he discovered that there was also cilantro, which called for pigging out, followed by noise-making in the blinds.
Other than being overjoyed by med-time, he seems to be in toddler mode; playing and doing little binkies to his hearts content, and then realizing that he has worn himself out and it is indeed nap time. He loves to nap under furniture or in his caves, but actually loafed down in the middle of the room for a a little while today before deciding he needed to check the bowls again.
It’s wonderful to see him happy and feeling invincible.
I’ve had to chase down a few medicine droppers myself. It’s amazing how fast a bunny with a “prize” can be! I swear I think your bun’s is the easiest neuter I’ve heard of!
Day 3 and I think we’re in the clear of anything really happening at this point. Still looks good, no swelling, no excess heat, etc.. just a little bottom pressing right before medicine time.
Looks like he got snipped just in time; went to clean out the litter this morning and discovered it had developed a bit of a pungent oniony smell. Other than that his system seems to have leveled back out nicely. His poops are actually a little bigger than they were previous to the neuter, but they’re consistent and on his normal schedule. I think I may chalk that up to the fact that he’s still in a bit of a growth spurt and he’s eating like a horse.
He did have a bit of a bunny-tantrum early today; He used to be able to fit between his cage and the wall, but considering that was months ago and he’s tripled in size since then it’s a little difficult for him. He was determined he could still fit and when I pointed out he couldn’t he went from trying to push the cage to digging as hard as he could at the carpet next to it. This is completely new as he has never dug or had any interest, but then again it did seem more like a tantrum. I told him no a couple times and he flinched, paused, and dug harder. I finally distracted him with an alfalfa cube and then he could care less about not fitting behind his cage. No digging since.. such a little drama-queen. ![]()
Ah, bunny tantrums. Leopold is infamous for this bunny tantrums.
This behavior is normal post-neuter. All bunnies get a case of the crazies to some degree. I guess it’s true for cottontails too.
Oh I’m so happy Pete made it through so well! I was worried about his anesthesia! 2.2 pounds? It would take 5-6 Peters to make one Gus ha ha! Doesn’t sound like you need to update his baby pic, he can’t look much bigger. LOVE the stories. I’m going to make sure, now that I’ve fixed my ability to get responses from BB, that I click any updates on this. You and Peter make for really good stories,
Megabunny’s right. I’m getting a kick out of your stories!
Keep ’em coming, Cotton!! Also meant to add that I’m jealous of you people who have buns who like metacam. Gus hates it and needs 1.1 cc, so I have to give it to him in .5 and .6 doses, letting go of him in between and having to catch him again. Baytril was marshmallow flavored and he loved it the first dose and after that…forget it. Eventually he learned the sound of the bottle shaking and ran for cover when he heard it.
I think I’m skipping the final dose or two of metacam today. Gus suddenly seemed LOADS better at 4 a.m. when I got up w/ him this morning. He actually hops over to me again, CHOWED on his willow wreath and eats out of the pellet bowl without me holding the pellets!
Would love to see pic/video of that little peanut Peter some day!
Day 4 Update:
Pete has had a full spectrum of moods yesterday.
Generally he doesn’t like weekends as well because they are not as predictable as weekdays. He apparently thought we tricked him yesterday, by getting up and going through the normal breakfast (for everyone) and getting dressed. During the week this is usually followed by the hubby going to work, and Peter playing for the next few hours before nap time. He was happy until he realized that instead of just “daddy” leaving for the day, I was going too. I got a pitiful meerkat stare as we left for a full day of errands.
When we came back late in the afternoon I found that he had decided to ration his greens from breakfast (because obviously we were never coming back). Zoey however was doing her usual oscar winning performance of a starvation victim: collapsing on the floor, dragging herself along the carpet on her side by only her front paws and making pitiful sounds as if she is wasting away and we are her only hope. When I popped the can for Zoeys food I instantly had two perky, furry beggars at the entrance to the kitchen. Pete may know that there’s nothing edible in those cans, but it means he’ll be getting fed too.
Pete ran over to his still part-full plate excitedly, but turned his ears back and gave me the stink eye when I told him he hadn’t finished breakfast: Cue glaring and voracious eating. Once he finished I put some fresh in his bowl and only then was I allowed to pet him. After he had eaten his fill it was time for the final dose of happy juice. He sucked it up happily and took off with the dropper like a dog bone. After some binkies and beating up the blinds he settled in to his TV-watching position under the edge of the couch. ![]()
Today, he is a happy bunny. The schedule is normal, he’s got fresh carrot tops in his salad, and he’s even allowed back in the computer room. (It’s been closed off to him since his snip because it’s his favorite room to go vertical and has the most potential for him to get past the bunny proofing.) He’s already worn Zoey out this morning, and I suppose it’s my turn. He keeps nudging my ankle as I type and running around the room.
I love my silly little Pete.
