Spaying Tips/Advice

Hunny is now 6 months, and of course, this is the time to get her spayed. I've looked up a ton of things, but I wanted opinions and advice from other bunny owners.

Absolutely anything you wish you were told before spaying your own bun, please comment. Any advice, tips, concerns, what to look out for, etc.

Please. I'm super nervous about it already, and I want to make sure I do everything right and my bun has a healthy and thick recovery.

This article is great information:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html

This is more good info and a list of questions to ask a vet:
https://rabbit.org/health/spay.html

I wish I had scheduled an appointment with several different vets and asked them some probing questions about their surgery protocol (do they intubate, how do they keep the rabbit warm, what pain management, etc). It would have been worth the money, as it turned out the vet I went to did not have as much experience as he led me to believe. For instance, when I picked her up, he said he'd had trouble finding her uterus, and when my bunny didn't eat or drink for 24 hours afterward, he said not to worry about it as they can go 48 hours without eating (wrong).

The most crucial thing in my experience is warmth during and after surgery to maintain body temperature (especially for smaller or skinnier buns), and pain meds (usually meloxicam). Take a Snugglesafe or heating pad with when you pick her up to keep her warm on the way home, or some fleece to wrap her in. I gave mine a heating pad at home and she spent hours on it. A warm, quiet room is good.

Being incapacitated by surgery can be stressful on a prey animal because they feel they can't run away or defend themselves, so it's also good if you can be nearby so she can feel safe.

By the way, I tried to tempt her to eat with tons of foods, and finally got her to start eating with a piece of orange! The only bunny I ever had that liked oranges. Alfalfa hay works for a lot of bunnies.

I also found out later that meloxicam was likely to cause this particular bunny to stop eating, so be aware that not eating can be because of the surgery or because of pain med's effects on the stomach. I always give it with food so that it is less likely to upset their tummy.

The anesthesia makes them a bit nauseous, causing them to eat less for the first 24h. Metacam/meloxicam is usually not given until after the 24h mark because your bunny should get a painkiller shot at the vet that lasts 24 hours. The metacam/meloxicam shouldn't be given on an empty stomach, so make sure your bunny has eaten something by then. It's a good idea to have some critical care or sherwood forest recovery food on hand, or be prepared to make your own pellet slurry (just put some pellets in the bottom of a cup or small bowl, put in water to a little bit above the pellets and microwave for about a minute. Add an ice cube or two as needed to both make it thin enough to syringe and cool it down). You will almost certainly want to syringe-feed a bit in the first day to make sure she's getting enough to eat.

Like a sick kid, a recovering rabbit will be most readily tempted by junk food like fruit... and it's ok to give a little bit extra (maybe 2-3x the normal ration at the most) just this once (advice I got straight from my rabbit-savvy vet - "let them eat whatever they're willing to for today"). After that, they start coming around to leafy greens and hay; pellets are normally the last thing they resume eating.

If you're worried about cord-chewing with a heating pad and don't have a pet-safe one, you can also put uncooked rice in a sock, tie it off and microwave it until it's heated. Place on your inner arm and let it rest there for 30 seconds or so to make sure it isn't too hot, then offer it to your bunny. Re-warm as needed. Keep bunny away from drafts and don't have the AC cranked too cool, etc. (upper 70s is fine).

Oh, and giving a probiotic like BeneBac or Probios is a good idea, too. Probiotics are quite helpful when animals (or humans) are taking antibiotics or undergoing excessive stress (surgery, travel, being re-homed, anything like that).

First of all, we had to fight our vet to take our bunny home instead of leaving her over-night. They just keep them there without supervision all night, which from what’s I understand isn’t best practice for rabbit spays? I’d ask your vet about what they do.
We had her in her normal cage w/ the second level blocked off so she wouldn’t jump, I think being at home in her own cage was what led to her drinking by the day after surgery.
We “force feed” her for about a week or two, we used oxbow critical care that the vet gave us. (The vet also was the one who gave us instructions on amount and duration to force feed.)