Post-Op care?

[Samicles]

Okay so Nimmy had his surgery yesterday, I talked to the vet on the phone and it went well, though Nimmy will probably never have full use of his arm after this, because it was such a bad break and in such a bad location, at least he’ll be able to walk and stuff. Thanks to his size they couldn’t fit a piece they wanted to use so the bill was about $300 less than the estimate. Which is AMAZING! I tried applying for care credit three times, and had my mom try to apply too but was rejected each time. And ended up having to start a fundraiser to get save money for the second surgery. The past couple days have been very stressful for me and Nimmy both. 

The vet ended up keeping Nimmy overnight to ensure he was eating and healthy before he could go home. We picked him up this morning and he’s so happy to be home! I’ve got two different kinds of medicine to give him (And he’s more than happy to eat it ). My only problem right now is the nurse lady that I talked to when I picked up Nimmy wasn’t informative at all. They were really distracted because the receptionist accidently gave me the wrong change. The actual vet that preformed the surgery wasn’t there and nobody really told me anything! I know about the medicine but that’s it. I called the place when I got home and they said they’d call me back with the info but they never did. And now they’re closed until Monday!

Anybody whose had their bun break a leg or something similar have any advice?? I know NOTHING. Am I supposed to keep him in the cage, and for how long? Vet appointments to follow up his health? Any further medicine I’ll need to give him in the future? Am I supposed to be on watch for infection/other problems and what do I look for?? 

I’m really mad that they didn’t call me back or even talk to me in the first place. This is a very serious surgery for a young rabbit, and for any creature really. Since the vet said he most likely won’t regain full use of his elbow I want to try my best to help him heal correctly. He’s so young, I don’t want him to be crippled at all. 

Thanks in advance.

[Stickerbunny]

I would keep him confined until you can talk to the vet. With any surgery, you want to keep an eye out for infection, but don’t remove bandages if they put them on him until you can speak to the vet.

I’ve never dealt with a rabbit with a broken leg, but other animals I know the advice was to try to keep it immobile as best as possible while healing.

[Samicles]

He actually has a cast on him, so I couldn’t really remove it even if I wanted to. And what bothers me with the whole immobile thing is that he’s moving around and he’s behaving almost completely normally. Though he doesn’t care to come out of his cage much, he did want to come out earlier, spent around 10-15 minutes hopping around then went back into the cage to relax. At the time I figured since Nimmy knew what hurts and what doesn’t that he’d be able to do his own thing, as long as I supervise of course. But I’ll keep him inside until Monday when I can talk to the vet about it.

Edit: OH! And toys! Any ideas on how to keep him entertained (Safely of course)? I feel terrible for having him stuck in his cage all day, I give him plenty of attention but I’m not going to be able to sit with him all the time. I’ve got a salt lick and one chew stick in his cage for him. What else can I do? I’ll probably get him one of those chew sticks that attach to the bars of the cage, he loves those. But what else can I do?

[Stickerbunny]

Shredding toys, chewing toys, things that will encourage him to chew. My two love willow chews. Give him some foraging too, hide craisins or some other favored treat inside something and put some hay in it.

If he has a cast on, he could probably come out a little as long as he’s not running around and is doing more flopping/loafing… you know how he is outside the cage better than I do. You just don’t want him being too active on that leg, humans know to use crutches, animals tend to try to adjust as best they can (and it can cause further injury when we’re trying to correct broken things).

[LongEaredLions]

Definitely try him out with some willow, it should keep him busy for at least a few minutes. Homemade toys are great for shredding too.
When my bunny hurt her foot, I let her out for a few minutes a day, but only under supervision.
(((Vibes)))

[Samicles]

Okay I’m going to head to petsmart in an hour or two. Do they have willow there or are you talking about straight up wood?

Oh! He keeps chewing on his cast! I was up almost all night last night because I was so worried he’d eat it off completely. Since I can’t deter him 24/7 I need good chew toys for him. I actually grabbed celery, broke it into small pieces then put them all over his cage so he’d be distracted for a while.

And I think the edge of his cast is rubbing up against his shoulder and the friction is causing him to have a cut. It was bleeding a little last night so I put styptic powder on it then wrapped a bandage around it to help the bleeding stop

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