Post spaying help! With pictures

[Lissy]

Ok so I’m hoping someone can reassure me really, my female bun Luna is just under 2 years old we got her about 1 month ago and we got her spayed on Wednesday, they said they had to perform a bigger operation because she had cysts. She came home with a pet medical jacket which is like a rabbit coat, but after her anaesthetic wore off fully she kept pulling it, developed a head twitches and was seriously stressing out, even squealing so we took it off her, she calmed down right away but we were noticing her washing all over quite a bit, that was last night. This morning we got up and attempts to give her medicine (not easy) and checked her incision site, she is a pure white rabbit but the vets have put some grey stuff on her unsure exactly what it is, we are in he Netherlands so unsure of the translation, but she’s licked some of the grey off. I apologise if this is graphic but this is a pic of her wound I was just wondering if this is normal or should I be worried, going to ring the vets later but it’s so cold here I don’t want to stress her out for a wasted journey, she is eating and drinking minimal to what she normally has (Mainly hay and greens, no pellets yet) but we were told to expect that as surgery was so invasive.

P.s sorry about the picture being so close it was too large to upload.

[Bam]

The picture was probably too big to upload, so if you can’t shrink it, you can put it on an external source like Flickr or imgur or Photobucket and link to it.

I don’t know what the grey stuff is, but I very much doubt they’d put on sth that wasn’t safe for the bunny to ingest. Since she so obviously hated the jacket, you had to take it off of course, but you need to keep an eye so she doesn’t clean her wound excessively. When rabbits obsess about a wound it can be due to insufficient pain relief. Did you get any Metacam to take home? If not, you could call your vet and ask for a prescription. Sufficient pain relief often helpås the appetite.

Were you told to syringe-feed her pellet mash or Critical Care? It’s not uncommon at all for a girl bun to have a poor appetite after her spay, but it’s important she gets food in her. As you know, a bunny’s tummy must never go empty. Some buns appreciate fresh herbs like mint and cilantro, basil or dill. You can try and hand-feed individual strands of hay. Pellets are often the last thing they go back to wanting to eat.

It was great that you decided to have her spayed, particularly since cysts had formed. Adult girl buns often develop abnormalities of the reproduction tract, that’s why it’s so important to get them spayed.

[Lissy]

http://imgur.com/IQC8HVR

Here’s an image link to the picture (hope it shows up alright)

First thank you so much for your reply I’ve been scouring the internet all night looking for some kind of reassurance and help and finally found binkybunny.

She was sent home with pain medication called carprofen drops, which I assumed was the Dutch version of metacam. She has 1.2ml twice a day for the next 6 days or so the vet said it’s anti inflammatory and pain relief, she seems her usualish self except slightly less appetite I’m not so worried about the eating because as you said pellets come last and she’s nibbling hay and greens. She’s taken huge gulps of water since waking up this morning so must feel a bit better

I wasn’t really told anything about critical care, if she is eating greens and hay does she still need pellets as she is eating? Im calling the vets this morning but just needed some early morning advice this is my first female bun and the vet said “she’s unlike any other rabbit, so social and a little terror” just my luck even when she was meant to be sedated she was so awake the vets were amazed, me not so much as I’m trying to confine her o prevent injury.

She was passing blood for the past 2 weeks prior to her spay, I rushed her to the vets on day one they said she wasn’t in pain (wasn’t her bladder etc) and to book her in for a spay as soon as possible so I suspected it may have been cysts before.

She is cleaning herself more than normal, all over though and I fear also the wound.
As you can see from the picture there’s a red bit at the bottom which I’m unsure if it’s normal redness or excessive cleaning.

[kirstyol]

I wonder if the grey stuff is silver? I have never seen it like that but I am a human nurse and many of our wound dressings contain silver due to its microbial properties (it’s actually in our uniforms too!)

The wound itself looks ok to me but its not easy to see with whatever the grey stuff is. some redness is actually a good sign, it shows the wound is healing. I would definitely ask what the grey stuff is and if its safe for her to ingest it.

If she is eating lots of greens and hay I wouldn’t be too worried about pellets, they are often the last thing a bun will go back to eating, just keep offering her her usual pellets and maybe some extra greens until her appetite picks up.

I looked up carprofen – it’s a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) just like metacam, although its not actually the same drug, it works in the same way.

[Lissy]

Thank you for your reply, we’ve spoken to the vet and they’re not too worried about her as she is eating something and drinking. They didn’t say exactly what the silver stuff was, so it might be a form of actual silver it reminds me of pencil lead a bit but obviously it’s not, at first I thought it would be iodine or something to clean the site ready for surgery, however it was ontop of he wound itself so must have been painted on after, I’m assuming if they put it on a rabbit it’s safe as it would be silly to expect them to avoid the incision site, but they did say not to worry if she’s cleaning aslong as it’s not excessive, they’ve requested a picture of her wound to check it so when she gets up I’ll snap another picture just to make sure it’s still the same.

I just wish she could have kept the coat on atleast for a few days but her stress is way too high with it on.

From what I see on the forums I think metacam is probably tastier, this liquid has no smell but getting her to take it is like trying to wrestle with a lion, doesn’t help that she is so fluffy hard to find that tiny mouth.

[Bam]

I agree it’s not very worrying since she is eating some things. Metacam can have flavor or a sweetener added to it, perhaps carprofen doesn’t have that. I’m “glad” to hear your girl is fighting her meds though, that is a good sign in a rabbit

[Luna's Mom]

Luna had her spay done January 4th and it looks pretty much just like that except for the silver stuff. Our vet said to watch for swelling and make sure she didn’t try to chew it open.

[Bam]

It does look like silver and as Kirstyol says, silver is often used in wound care nowadays. It has anti-microbial effects. If you Google silver wound care veterinary you get lots of hits. Really cool, I must say.

[kirstyol]

I remember the first time we got metacam for Bramble, it said ‘for dogs’ on it which is quite normal since technically that’s what its licenced for but I didn’t even consider it might affect the flavour. Poor Bramble hated the stuff, I mean proper hated it nearly strangled himself trying to get away from it – almost terrified. A few days in I noticed it was some bizarre flavour like chicken liver or something like that to encourage dogs to take it, no wonder Bramble was terrified of it! Now we get one that just says ‘veterinary medicine’ on it and is unflavoured which he still dislikes but nowhere near as much.

[Lissy]

Oh my gosh, that sounds horrifying! I guess eucylptus isn’t so bad in comparison to meat flavour. Luna has finished her medicine now and she’s doing really well, the incision is half or what it used to be, she goes back on Saturday for stitches to be removed and general checkup. It’s been 8 days since her operation (last Wednesday) how long after a spay/neuter are bunnies allowed off bed rest, I know a neuter is a couple of days but a spay is more invasive and I’m unsure when she can be set free. my little bunbun is stir crazy and shaking the bars. I’m just worried about her jumping as she loves nothing more than leaping outta her cage full speed and launching ontop of her plastic castle for a good long towel scratching session. Her external wound is almost healed and very neat but I worry about internal damage caused by letting her out.

She’s currently doesn’t have access to our studio apartment as we only recently moved and stuff isn’t bunny proof so she has a generic temporary pet store cage for now and her x pen, so to get out of her cage there is a small leap (she refuses to walk over a wood bridge and would rather just launch herself out. Would 8 days be enough or should she stay in her cage with no x pen access till she goes to the vet on Saturday?

[Bam]

She can be let out for a little bit of exercise now, but full healing normally takes 14 days, since a spay is such an invasive procedure. A little leap to get out of the cage sounds ok to me.

[Lissy]

Thank you to all that answered to let you all know Luna is doing well. We went to the vets last Saturday and they said her stitches we open slightly at the bottom and top but not enough to warrant a restitch. So gave us some ointment which once again smells like eucylptus D: but she’s healing well, hard to see the cut with all the fluff regrowth, she’s a little scared of us fussing her at the moment as I’m sure all the picking up and forcing of euclyptus didn’t put us in her good books, but I have faith she will trust us again. Thank you again to all for your advice it really helped

[Aaron]

My Juliet was just spayed on Monday or last week, and she didn’t eat anything for a day. Her appetite came back, and she was back to normal. She took her Metacam like a champ, and even took the syringe out of my hand because she loved the taste! Her incision was fine, and that silvery stuff could just be an antiseptic.

[Author]

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