Spayed girl breaks her stitches

[Sunny]

Hi!

Yesterday I got my female rabbit spayed. She’s been nibbling at some hay and veggies, and sometimes poops, but that’s not what I’m worried about. The vet told me to put her in a e-collar, but she stresses out a lot, to the point that she might hurt herself… but if I don’t put it on her, she nibbles at her stitches and breaks them (I had to take her to the emergency vet). What should I do? 

[Mikey]

She has to be coned. Try calming her and petting her as much as you can with the cone on and hopefully she will get used to it. What pain meds did they send you home with her?

[Sunny]

She won’t calm down

The gave me metacam, one dose a day.

[Mikey]

What does she do when you put it on her? Have you tried giving her treats while she has it on?

[Sunny]

She struggles with it and ends up with both her paws inside the cone, I don’t know how…it’s been three time in the last hour that we had to take it off in order to put it back right again, and it’s obviously a lot of stress for her…

[Mikey]

Sounds like it is too loose then. Is there a way you can tie it tighter? Depending on how big she is, if she is small enough, you can use a sock or loose hair scrunchy to help keep it on her without it being too tight. The cone is going to be stressful but infection, pain, and possible death make wearing the cone worth it. She wont realize that, and might give you bunny butt for a while, and you might have to help her more than normal with eating and such. But itll be worth it knowing that she is healing correctly

[LBJ10]

Did the vet do internal glue/stitches?

[Vienna Blue in France]

She probably now sees the collar as panic mode, before you’ve even tried putting it on. Give her high value treats with the collar being near her head (don’t attempt at putting it on) so she starts feeling good with it nearby. Then after 4 or 5 treat sessions try again, still with high, high value treats being shoved permanently in front of her so she doesnt realise you are sneaking a collar on….
Give her a lot of space so shes not bashing it every move she makes… And she’ll get used to it.

Which bun around here started scooping up their hay in their collar which at first they hated?…

[Mikey]

My little Badger, Vienna He started to scoop up his hay to bury himself in it while he ate (he does this without a cone), and learned that he can fling litter at my other two bunnies by scooping it with the cone and flinging it LOL He hated it at first too (he would try to kick it off, and end up rolling in the cage), but tons of treats and pets calmed him down fairly fast, and of course him learning he can still be a trouble maker with it on made him feel much better

[Vienna Blue in France]

Ah yes. Thanks Mikey (ive got a memory like Dory)…..

[Mikey]

Lol, its ok. We still keep the cone around as a toy now All three buns take turns throwing it around and trying to scoop things with it (using their teeth; its not on their heads). Its hilarious to watch

[Sunny]

Thank you for your replies
I’ve discovered that putting her inside her carrier calms her down… but the moment I open it, the moment she starts to struggle with the cone… so I’ve decided to keep her inside the carrier and only take her out when I have to give her meds.
Panic… this morning her insition was perfect, but now there’s a prominent bulge… it’s not red or pink, doesn’t seem swollen, it’s just a pretty big bulge :S honestly it looks a lot like a hernia… I’ll call my vet tomorrow morning, but what do you think it could be?

[Vienna Blue in France]

Oh dear. I really can’t advise but def take to vet to see to be sure. Mine had a big bandage on for 2 weeks so i have no idea what it looked like underneath….. She wldnt have let me see if i had wanted too….

[Sunny]

Indeed, she had a hernia because her internal stitches broke from the struggling. She had to go under surgery again, but now she’s recovering a lot better. Lets hope for her recovery!

[Vienna Blue in France]

Oh dear, poor bun.
Glad she’s on the road to recovery – looks like you’ll have to keep her in a cage. Can you get a slightly bigger one so she’s not too cramped and can turn around atleast? Maybe she was struggling because she wasn’t comfy. Of course we’ll never know.
Great to hear she’s a bit better.
((((( come on bun, keep calm and heal )))))

[Mikey]

(((((healing vibes))))) Glad she is doing better now, i hope she continues to improve

[Sunny]

Quick update: she’s finally healing fine thank you for your vibes

Yesterday I noticed that her ears are chafe because of the cone, poor thing do you know of any moisturizing cream safe for bunnies (cause she will most likely lick it off)? 

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m glad Sunny is doing better.

I remember that happening to my little guy’s ears as well. I’ve used mineral oil as a skin moisturizer but not sure if that solved the problem in his case. It was quite a while ago. You could always try a little dab on her ears.

[Irais G]

Hello there, sometimes what can help with bunnies doing this and with their surgery is using a bandage just as you would use it after abdominal surgery on humans, it could probably cover her stitches and stop her from biting them and in case she bites her bandage you can probably notice it before she goes after her stitches.
I don’t know if your vet recommends this, perhaps ask your vet and see what she/he thinks about it

[Author]

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