Slow Recovery After Neuter

[Cotton's Mama]

First, my questions.  Then, my rabbit’s history and full description of the situation.

   QUESTIONS: What is the best way to syringe feed a rabbit?  How long can I feed him by syringe before it is absolutely necessary to take him to the vet?  Any other advice?

 

I rescued a rabbit from a neglectful household almost 1 month ago.  His name is Cotton, he’s about 15 months old, he is very skittish, and he’s our only pet.  He was not handled much, was kept in his 3×1.5 ft cage most of the the time, and had a poor diet of only pellets with unhealthy add-ins.  I have been working on changing his diet slowly, he now has a 12×12 ft room to roam at his leisure (plus his original cage to retreat to), and I’ve been trying to bond at his pace.

 

I took him to a local low-cost spay/neuter program on Monday and he was neutered.  (I thought he was a “she” and was planning to have her spayed to prevent cancer.)  He seemed to be recovering normally, but by 24 hours hadn’t begun eating and drinking.  I took him back in on Tuesday, and they gave him a shot of pain medication and antibiotic.  I coaxed him into eating 6-8 strands of hay that day and a tiny bit of water.  Since then, he hasn’t been eating on his own.  I am leery of taking him to a full-service vet as he seems to get very stressed by being handled to put him in a crate, the travel, and the strangers handling him (exacerbated by his neglectful history).  I’m afraid taking him to the vet AGAIN will only cause undue stress, though I know it’s a necessity if he continues to refuse to eat.  Since Tuesday evening, I let him get out of his cage and he chose to roam the room and he seems to have a fair amount of energy and acts pretty normal.  Wednesday evening, since he still wasn’t eating I dissolved some of his timothy hay pellets in water and fed him a little bit through a syringe 3 different times.  Today (Thursday), he is still not eating on his own.  I am continuing to syringe feed him every 2-3 hours.  He only takes a few pellets worth of food with water at a time, and doesn’t love it but does seem to tolerate it.  Again, his behavior is fairly normal and active.  He doesn’t show signs of distress, and his suture site looks good.  He just won’t eat!  What should I do?

[JackRabbit]

It’s good that you’re able to get pellet mush into him, but he really should be eating on his own, and eating hay by now. If it were my bunny, I’d take him to the vet.

[kirstyol]

Is he peeing and pooping normally? Bramble wasn’t very good for about a week after his neuter, he barely ate anything at all in the first 48 hours the vet told me to do whatever I had to do to get him eating, even if that was giving him loads of treats for a day or two. As she said eating too much sugar for a day or two was way better than eating nothing, so Bramble pretty much lived on apple and banana for the first few days. He did start taking more of his regular veg around day four and I was syringe feeding him fiberplex for about a week. It might be worth a trip to the vet, I was taking Bramble every day for the first week because I was so concerned about his lack of eating and drinking, the vet was quite concerned too but it all worked out well in the end and he was back to his old self within a few weeks of his op.

[Flopsie]

try to get them to eat anything. Usually I’ve read they eat hay and pellets last so if you have nice veggies that they like try to feed them those. Also, wet them so they can get some moisture in them as well.

[kirstyol]

That was definitely the case for Bramble, he was totally uninterested in his pellets for about a week after his op and it took a few days before I seen him eat anything more than a few strands of hay.

[Cotton's Mama]

Thank you all for your advice. I went ahead and took Cotton to the vet yesterday afternoon. It was very stressful for him, but I think it was worth it. He got a shot to stimulate his GI tract and Oxbow Critical Care formula to syringe feed him for a couple of days. I syringe fed him twice last night and once so far today. I’ve seen him drink once on his own today and eat a few nibbles of food! I think he’s on the right track to recovery.

[kirstyol]

I am glad he seems to be doing better, it was horrible for us when Bramble went though it so I know just how you feel. I celebrated the first time I saw Bramble drink like I had won the lottery lol

[Cotton's Mama]

In case anyone in the future looks at this post for similar problems, I wanted to give an update. Cotton has been one tough/stubborn bunny! Just when I thought he was doing better, he went on a food & water strike again. I ended up having to syringe feed him several more times. Finally, 7 days after his surgery he is beginning to eat & drink normally. I had no idea a “simple neuter” could be so dramatic for a bunny (or his mama)!

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