Spay Recooperation?

[Ana]

How long do I need to keep a close eye on her after her spay?  How often do I need to be watching her?  The vet is only open weekdays, and I work.  I can come back on my lunch break to check up on her. 

Can anyone tell me a little about spay recooperation?

[Balefulregards]

I am by far an expert, and I probably spent too much time watching Coco post spay (plus both my husband and I work mainly from home ).

But the best advice ( I think markus gave it) was to cage her for the first couple of days post spay. In my guilt and attempt to make her feel happy ( as if you could feel happy after a major surgery) I let her have regular free roam. And she hid under the bed. Which made me panicked. And she picked at her sutures. Which made me panicked.

After I caged her, she stayed quiet and still for a good two and a half days. I watched her eating closely – and monitored her droppings. She had a bit of a poopy butt the first night home, so I had to clean her as to make sure her suture area was kept fairly clean. Oh, and apparently the vet puts some thing on her eye to keep them moist during surgery,but it made her look like death warmed over for a couple of days….

By day three, she started to return to her “normal” like self – but was still sore. I regret not asking for pain meds.

She also took a few extra days to warm back up to me. I was persona non grata in her eyes, and got lots of the bunny backside. Coco was also “older” – as she was a couple of years old when we adopted her – so a young bun may bounce back quicker?

[Beka27]

def. ask for pain meds. i would take a look at her before going to work, if you can come back for your lunch, great, but if not, make sure to check her again when you get home. two days of that should be fine. after that just check her stitches once int eh morning and once at night. i agree that she should be caged up for at 3 days after teh surgery. it’s not cruel to keep her caged during that time, b/c she has to heal. you would not let a small child play outside the day after a major surgery, and that’s what this is, it is a major surgery. she very well may not even “be herself” for 2 days, maybe up to a week, anyways. at the vet, i would ask for info about an ER vet that is open nights and weekends, just in case.

[Ana]

I just read about females picking out their sutures. How do you prevent that?  Thanks for the advice guys.

[Balefulregards]

Coco actually picked hers all out – when we went to the vet, she had removed them all herself. BUT – this was after she was somewhat healed, so there was no damage.

I had a collar for her if I caught her picking at them…but I never caught her ( aside from the first time) so I never collared her.

My vet was really good with calling and reassuring me – they would call back and make sure she was eating, etc.

[Beka27]

some vets use glue instead of actual stitches, i think that’s preferable for preventing the bun’s chewing it them.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

You want to ensure she’s caged up-don’t worry she’ll be groggy from the pain meds You’re going to make sure you get/bring home…So she won’t want to run around anyways. Once the pain meds are done she’ll come around to herself.

You want to check the incision about twice a day. Look for liquid/blood seeping out of it, inflamation or discoloration (colors like yellow or green-pink is OK). If anything looks out of the ordinary contact your vet.

Make sure you have good food, like parsley and carrots and romaine to entice her to eat. No dieting after surgery!! Don’t worry about calories for those first few days, she can have extra veggies/pellets if it gets her to eat. Just give her her favorite food (but ok, not a cup of rainsins though )

[skunklionshow]

CAge rest is VERY important.  I had to adjust her cage levels to only single.  Keep her litterbox very clean and possibly use carefresh as your preferred litter.  Jessica spent the first 48 hrs sleeping in her litterbox.  Monitor food intake and output.  Keep favs on hand as well as baby food and/or critical care.  Stitch types are dependent on your vet, so ask what they prefer/use.  Leo had the liquid adhesive stitches and he split those apart—my vet said that he’d never seen a rabbit/ neuter do that.  I just wanted to let you know that one isn’t necessarily fool proof over another.

Jessica was spayed on a Friday, so I had the weekend to watch her recover.  My vet is open 7 days a week.  She did have to return on Sat b/c she wasn’t back to eating.  That’s going to be the biggest issue to watch for is the food & water intake.  Some bounce right back to eating and others need encouragement. 

I think you will be ok w/ being at work/school and checking in the am/pm as well as a lunchtime visit.  Just keep careful track of what goes in and back out.  Good Luck!

[Ana]

Thanks guys! She’s such a little piggie I think I’ll flip out if she doesn’t eat. The spay date is made. Appreciate the help.

[BunnyMuffin]

My bunny started ferociously trying to remove her stitches the second I got her home – so I was of course very panicked. I called the vet and he recommended that I wrap something around her abdomen to block access, so she spent a fun couple of weeks wrapped up in all sorts of things. First I cut the toe off a big fluffy slipper sock, but she started to unravel the raw edge, so then she got to wear a black leg warmer and I called her “stealth bunny” because it made her look so skinny and she slinked about – but that was too tight and she picked at it a lot – so she spent the last bit bundled up in one of those elastic bandages. It was quite the sight! I tried to remove them – but every time I unwrapped her she would immediately start yarding at the stitches – so back bundled she went.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn42/saker0118/Noelle/Post%20Op/IMG_1823.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn42/saker0118/Noelle/Post%20Op/663.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn42/saker0118/Noelle/Post%20Op/IMG_1827.jpg

Noelle also didn’t have any painkillers, although she started trying to hop about right away, so she seemed to be doing okay. (I did keep her penned up in her exercise pen for a few days and slept next to her on an airbed for a few nights to make sure she didn’t get herself into any trouble – perhaps a bit over protective but it made me feel better!)

[Beka27]

along thoise lines, i know someone has put their bunny into dog clothes while she was healing, i don’t remember who… nothing like that should be necessary, hopefully she’ll leave the stitches alone.

[electro-weezle]

heheheh that sounds so cute! hope shes ok!

[skunklionshow]

BunnyMuffin:  I’m sure now you laugh about it all…I sure did…but at the time that must have been terrible.

[BunnyMuffin]

Yes, I do find it all very amusing now – but at the time I was just worried I was going to wake up to a bunny with a split open middle!  It’s just too bad I don’t have any pictures of her in the elastic bandage getup…

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