Spaying My Rabbit

[lindseyj10]

I am taking my rabbit to be spayed on August 5th because I want to be able to bond her with another rabbit and obviously be able to live a longer life, but the reason I have waited so long to spay her is because I am so nervous about putting her under anesthesia. I have been seeing this exotic vet for over a month now that I have been bringing my reptiles to and I am planning on having her spay my bunny, but I am very nervous about it. I think I am mostly nervous because when I went to the shelter to talk to the lady about bonding my rabbit she scared me about all these vets who don’t know what they are doing and warned me to be very careful. So I have a few questions. 

1. her surgery is at 9:30 in the morning and she told me to drop her off between 8 and 9, but to make sure to take away her food and hay away at 7 that morning, but she can have water. Is this normal?

2. She is not doing any blood work before the surgery (My bunny is 22 months), but she did mention she was planning on taking a fecal sample. 

[Tessie]

It’s natural to be nervous, but if your vet is an exotic vet and you trust them, try not to worry.

Rabbits mustn’t have food or water or hay restricted ever, so ignore that advice.
Did a receptionist tell you that? Often they don’t know, so don’t worry about it if it was just a receptionist.

I would have thought if you like you can request blood work be done too, but it might not be necessary. If your bun is young it’s unlikely there would be any problems.

[tanlover14]

Absolutely do not fast your bunnies – bunnies should be kept eating and drinking right up until surgery time!

Blood work is typically not done unless it’s suspected bun is sick or elderly. Although, I don’t know why she would be taking a fecal sample.. Do you know how experienced she is in exotics? A vets death rate with rabbits should be less than 1%. If your vet has more than this, I would not take your bunny there to be spayed, in my opinion.

[LBJ10]

If it was the receptionist that said that, then I wouldn’t be too concerned. A lot of times the receptionist doesn’t know and will give the fasting talk to clients when they make the appointment. Although it is a little strange that they said 7am when the drop off time is between 8am and 9am. For dogs/cats, it is the night before.

Blood work isn’t always done, especially if the rabbit is young and appears to be healthy. It is recommended for older or possibly sick animals. So no doing blood work is not a red flag in my opinion.

[lindseyj10]

It was the vet who told me to take the food and hay away at 7 am. She said the reasoning was so that she could get the greens out of her mouth before surgery. She works at 3 different facilities and I was told by one of her facilities she has spayed many rabbits and has been a veterinarian for over 30 years.

[Roberta]

Mine always have snack packs to take along with a little container of salad, one of pellets and a carrier full of hay so that they can have something immediately after surgery. They are dropped off at about 7.30 and the surgery is normally done toward midday. If the vet is planning to operate in the morning that may be why.

[Author]

Messages