Spaying? ‘s

[Vivicloud]

So Luna will be getting spayed this Friday. What must have items should I get to make her comfortable? She currently resides in a 4×4 playpen is that size ok for her while sh3 recovers or should I make it smaller. I will get a wash tub that she can walk in to eat and do her business in. If there is anything else I need let me know. Thanks

[DanaNM]

A 4 x 4 pen sounds fine for recovering. She will likely want a quiet, warm, and dimly lit place to recover in. You can stock up on favorite herbs and greens to entice her to eat when she gets home. Be prepared to syringe feed if she’s not eating by dinner time the day of her spay. And be sure the vet sends you home with some pain meds for her.

You’ll want to make sure she can’t jump up on anything in her pen. At the same time, buns like to have a hide, so some people have made triangle shaped hides so they have a spot to hide but can’t jump on top of it.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[LBJ10]

How is Luna? I agree with Dana. The size of the pen is fine. Just make sure to take away or block off things/areas that would tempt her to jump.

[Vivicloud]

@DanaNM Thanks, I will be sure to do that.

@LBJ10 I took her in Friday, they got busy with 2 emergencies so she had to wait. They called to ask if I wanted it still done and I said yes. She spent the nite at the vet but is home now resting. She’s drinking her water and I’ve seen her nibble a peice of hay. I gave her one of her favorite treats and she ate that. Also gave her pain meds which I had no problem getting her to lick from a syringe. Took me abit to figure out how to get the right dosage. Atm she’s laying in her bed. I’ve been sitting in the room with her and occasionally going her pen to pet her. Ahe gave me a few licks. All in all I think she’s doing ok atm. I took off all next week to keep an eye on her. I’ll keep you all updated as the days go by.

[LBJ10]

Sounds like she is doing well so far. Eating is always good.

[Vivicloud]

Checked on her this morning and she had a few odd ball poops but another cecotropes that hasn’t eaten. One was the size of a whopper. She also smeared it on her bed and looks like it’s on her tail as well as one of her back legs. Her insicons look good no dark red or swelling. Doesn’t look like she’s eaten her food or hay. Going to get some more veggies for her and a banana. She’s cleaning her tail off. She dropped another big cecotrope. Tried one of her favorite treats she didn’t seem to want it. Is it time to pull out the CC?

[Wick & Fable]

If she hasn’t eaten anything substantial in several hours, feeding CC would be wise so she has something nutritious in her to continue her recovery.

Also, don’t hesitate to call the vet to consult if there are concerns!

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Vivicloud]

I mixed up some CC but she won’t eat it, i tr8ed putt8ng s9me on a spoon. She did eat 2 peices of banana and nibbled alittle on her will cube/sticks and a wood toy. Called the vet there closed and called 2 emergency vets they had no one on hand for exotics. Any idea why she was producing big cecotropes? Should I force feed her the CC?

[LBJ10]

It isn’t unusual for them to have weird poop after surgery. Sometimes they will have small, hard poops. Sometimes they will have excess cecotropes. Have you tried giving her veggies? Sometimes they will go for fragrant herbs when not feeling well. Willow leaves are also something good to try.

Is she getting enough pain meds?

[Vivicloud]

Ok, I’ve never seen her cecotropes that big before. Yes I feed her veggies last nite and she ate what I hand feed her. Tried giving her some CC from a spoon, she didnt want it. Tried feeding her some alfalfa hay she ate 2 pieces. I’m giving her .24cc of pain med per day. I ha ent given it too since I gave it to her around 6 last nite. Should I just go ahead and give her it now.

[Vivicloud]

I gave her meds a little early as another friend told me If she’s grinding her teeth that meant she was in pain. Tried giving her CC she took a little but she kept backing away or wiggled when being held. She is eating veggies so I’ll just make sure she has them if she wants them.  The vet opens at 8 tomorrow ill call them and see what they suggest. Hopefully she’s in better shape tomorrow.

[LBJ10]

Is this Meloxicam/Meloxidyl? How much does she weigh? I wonder if she was given too low of a dosage.

Eating anything is good. If she will eat greens, then give her greens.

[Vivicloud]

They gave me Metacam and I’ve been giving her .25cc. Shes doing alot better now. Shes eatting some hay right now. Also shes started cleaning herself off. Also a good sign. Her appetite is slowly coming back. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for her.

[Vivicloud]

How much she weighs, she definitely over 3lbs. Not sure, she still has a month n half of growing to go.

[Vivicloud]

She’s doing a lot better. She’s starting to eat normal and be her usual self again. She definitely wants out of her playpen but I don’t want her mess up the healing process. Think I’ll keep her in there for a few more days and then finally let her out to roam again.

[DanaNM]

Glad she keeps improving!

And yes it’s so hard to keep them confined as they start to feel better, but with spaying it’s especially important because it takes time to heal internally.

“boredom buster” toys that are meant to be destroyed can be good during this time, and you can rotate them throughout the day. Phone books, grass mats, willow baskets to eat, pellets hidden within crumpled up paper, etc. can all be good to help her not get too frustrated!

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Vivicloud]

Now that she’s spayed I work on her litter training and then slowly open the space back up too her. I torn as to how I want to setup her litter box. Do I add carefresh then put hay on top. The person I got her from suggested using a grid so her feet don’t touch the litter. Rite now her litter box is half carefrsh and half hay. But I’m finding that she’s peeing on her hay some. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[DanaNM]

Peeing on the hay is normal. They will pick through and find good pieces. I usually offer hay in a rack as well as in the box to make sure they always have some clean hay available.

I do a layer of bedding (either carefresh or pine pellets), and then a layer of hay on top. When I used carefresh I didn’t full cover all the litter with hay, I would pile it up at the “kitchen end”, but now I just put hay everywhere when I clean the box and then top up their hay rack daily. As they pull hay out of the rack more falls into the box so I’ll kind of fluff that around as well.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Vivicloud]

I think Luna is either angry at me or she’s just going the bathroom there and giving me the yeah I’m being a brat look.

[Vivicloud]

So i gave Luna her salad around 5pm which she happily started eating. I also gave her half a treat which she came running for. Now she’s producing small poops and didn’t want to eat half of a treat when I offered it too her. Haven’t seen her eat pellets today and when I offered her some she didn’t want them. She just finished her salad. Her litter box is clean cept for the few small poops I put in there. If there aren’t any new poops by tomorrow I’m guessing I’ll have to call the vet cause there closed on Sunday. She was eating normally yesterday im wondering what changed.

[Bam]

How is Luna doing today?

[Vivicloud]

Wed she was doing good, she started eating her pellets, taking treats and veggies. I switched back to her old litter box as the new one she was peeing and pooping in her pellets. I used a new fresh bowl and gave her fresh pellets. Friday she ate her veggies but not her pellets so her poops got small again. I feed her some more veggies before i went to bed, before i gave her veggies i tried a treat and alfalfa hay and she didnt want any but did eat the veggies. So today i called the vet and ran her up there. Before i left i got her to eat some Alfalfa hay and half a treat. The vet checked her and she’s fine she just atm refuesing to eat her pellets. Going to make her another salad and try sprinkling some pellets on there and maybe later a banana with some pellets mashed in. If anyone has suggestions on how to get her to start eating her pellets i’d greatly appricate the suggestions or ideas. The also gave me a med which atm i dont know the name of.

@Bam Thanks for asking how she’s doing.  Other then that i think she’s doing ok. She making me worry alot. lol

Edit: While at the vet they said she was healing nicely and hair was starting to grow back.

 

 

[Bam]

I’m glad the vet was pleased with her! It is amazing how some buns just grow back the hair around the incision, whereas others are “bald” for 6 months! It took around 10 days for my girl.

As others have said, pellets can be the last food item rabbits go back to post surgery of any kind or “just” a bad bout of stasis.  Hay is by far more important, so it isnt super-worrisome that she still doesn’t want pellets. I dont know how to make them more appealing except scattering them so she happens to find them around her area (it mimics the way rabbits normally forage for their food), or perhaps, although not very likely to be a success, to soak them in water, add mashed banana or mashed berries, and maybe she’ll find the mix appealing. (If you do make soaked pellet-mix, start with a small amount. Chances are she’ll be like “uuh, gross!!” 🤣, although some rabbit really appreciate mush like that).

If yiu’re worried she doesnt get enough nutrients, you could sorinkle a small amount of rolled oats on her hay. I find it a good way to get a bun back to eating. Oats are easy on the tummy, and while they shouldn’t be a part of a healthy bun’s daily diet, they can really help a poorly bun, or a recuperating bun, or a really old bun that has trouble keeping weight on.

[Vivicloud]

@Bam Thanks, I tried mushing a few slices of banana with her pellets which she definitely went for. I also tried adding her favorite topper mix to her pellets. She’s a smart bunny and immediately started sifting threw her pellets for the topper bits. Lol

As for her eating hay she really doesn’t touch her orchard grass hay, I do have some alfalfa hay which she definitely eats. I’ve tried mixing the alfalfa hay with the orchard grass but again she just picks out the alfalfa and leaves the rest.

I’ve been giving her veggies everyday which has been helping in keeping her eating and her gut moving. Hopefully soon she will go back to her pellets.

I’m at a lost on how to get her to nibble on her hay. I think once she finally reaches adult hood I’ll start slowly limiting the amount she gets. And hopefully the hay transition will go smoothly aswell.

I’m going threw the phase of finding a litter box that she likes and will enjoy munching on her hay and doing her business. I’ve watched so many videos on how other people setup there litter boxes. The person I got her from suggest using a grid for her to stand on. I’ll find the right combo soon.

[LBJ10]

I’m sure she will go back to her pellets soon. Alfalfa hay is OK for now, but she really needs to eat more grass hay (in general). You can try different varieties. Some bunnies like oat hay, for example.

As Bam said, plain rolled oats are OK to give when a bunny is recovering from something or if they are elderly and having trouble maintaining their weight.

I’m glad she seems to be doing better otherwise.

[Author]

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