Bucky’s Golden Years

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Bucky’s doing great, the vet is sending me an estimate for the x-rays and surgery, which will be on the same day!

He looks very handsome, the vet got all of that old molt off! He loves his new “girlfriend” LOL.
 

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Hey all!
Got an estimate for the surgery, it was actually less than I was expecting, so I’ll be calling tomorrow to set up a day for him. Beepers got his bloodwork too - all normal! 😄

I am getting nervous now that this is really happening, I worry about his age and everything that can happen. I’m going to be all over the place after I drop him off! Even just the day after the first visit, I could barely think right at work. It’s funny, my animals go right back to normal when they get home after the vet, I’m the one who goes into a funk after!

Here’s him grooming his girlfriend, who I’ve dubbed Priscilla, LOL. After the neuter, I’d like to get him a real girlfriend! I sure would love a flemmie. 😄
 

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That's good news! I would always feel really stressed post surgery, until they're back to eating and acting normally.

A few important pre and post surgical tips. Make sure your vet office isn't telling you to fast your rabbit, though your vet shouldn't as they sound to be very experienced with rabbits. But any vet office that says to fast a rabbit is an immediate red flag. Make sure you're sent home with 2-5 days worth of meloxicam(nsaid, 0.5mg/kg, twice daily) to help get that pain and inflammation under control. A rabbit in pain won't usually eat, which will affect their recovery. Make sure to limit activity(no running, jumping) for 3-7 days. How long will depend on the surgery your vet does, the vet should give instructions on how many days recovery is needed. Make sure your bun stays warm post surgery, as they commonly get chilled after anesthesia. Make sure your bun is eating semi normally by the next morning. I've had the best luck getting my buns to eat post surgery by offering lots of their usual leafy greens. If not eating well by the next morning, contact your vet as you will likely need to start syringe feeds.

And best of wishes for an easy post surgical recovery. It's a stressful thing having to do this, but you're doing it in his best interest, to provide him with better health and a better life.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Spaying_and_neutering_rabbits
https://hare.as.miami.edu/opcare.html
 
@JBun thank you so much, those articles are exactly what I was looking for! It’s funny, I was actually wondering what they did for rabbits pre-surgery because I had the same concerns about fasting. I took a screen shot of your post to bring with me to the vet. 😄

Calling later to setup the appointment, will let you guys know the date once I have it.
 
Alrighty, sorry I didn't update yesterday - it was my stepdad's birthday so I had a lot of running around to do (and with this NJ traffic... my word does it take a long time! Lol!) I've got Bucky scheduled for Tuesday! I'll be dropping him off at 8:15, and then I'll go back to work and probably do nothing but panic all day!

As long as the x-rays show it hasn't spread anywhere, he'll go in for the neuter right then. I'm nervous, REALLY nervous. I just hope we got this in time... his WBC was normal, so that's giving me some hope. He's been great, too, he actually went into the living room on his own today! I'll put the pics in a separate post since I'm on my work PC right now (shhh... don't tell anyone! 🤣) and all the pics are on my phone. My cat, Gilbert, is TERRIFIED of him! It's so funny, I guess he's never seen a rabbit before. He's probably wondering "what is WRONG with that cat????" lol! I watch them both like hawks if they're in the same room - I am super paranoid about cat scratches, especially with having my parrot. Gilbert is an amazing boy though, just a big ole lovebug.
 
itsronni said:
Alrighty, sorry I didn't update yesterday - it was my stepdad's birthday so I had a lot of running around to do (and with this NJ traffic... my word does it take a long time! Lol!) I've got Bucky scheduled for Tuesday! I'll be dropping him off at 8:15, and then I'll go back to work and probably do nothing but panic all day!

As long as the x-rays show it hasn't spread anywhere, he'll go in for the neuter right then. I'm nervous, REALLY nervous. I just hope we got this in time... his WBC was normal, so that's giving me some hope. He's been great, too, he actually went into the living room on his own today! I'll put the pics in a separate post since I'm on my work PC right now (shhh... don't tell anyone! 🤣) and all the pics are on my phone. My cat, Gilbert, is TERRIFIED of him! It's so funny, I guess he's never seen a rabbit before. He's probably wondering "what is WRONG with that cat????" lol! I watch them both like hawks if they're in the same room - I am super paranoid about cat scratches, especially with having my parrot. Gilbert is an amazing boy though, just a big ole lovebug.
Click to expand...
Fingers crossed!!!!
this is even better 🙏🙏🙏♥️💕🐇🐇👍👍
 
Here’s the pics - Bucky loved exploring today, I’m hoping I can convince him back out later so we can all watch a movie or something together. It’s nice having him out, he follows me like a little puppy, it’s adorable.

These pics aren’t the best - he was full of energy and exploring everything, there was no way he’d stay still. 😁
 

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Oh, one more thing - @JBun , about keeping him warm, what do you recommend? Are there heating pads that are good for rabbits? I'm always worried about the possibility of the pads overheating. My apartment temp is always all over the place (MIL is going through her "change", and has hot flashes galore haha), but never drops below 68. Would a snugglesafe work? Or a rice filled sock maybe?

Oh - and I ordered the Oxbow critical care (apple-banana flavor, the good stuff!) as well, although I do still need to pickup a syringe which I'll do over the weekend. I love a good excuse to go to TSC haha, especially with chick season. :D
 
@Mileybun yup, he’s never really understood any other animals besides dogs, which is a shame. I told him he’d do the same for his dog, and he countered with Bucky’s age. I then said I’d remember that when he turned 90 and he expects me and my sister to take care of him!
Some people will never get it. 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
The main thing with heating source is safety. I've used a cotton bag filled with rice and warmed in the microwave. That doesn't always work well because it has to be right next to the buns body to help warm them, and they don't always cooperate with that. I've used space heaters on the outside of the buns pen, blowing lightly on the recovery pet bed they snuggle up in, with them having no way to get access to chewing wires. I even bought a Snugglesafe rabbit heat pad, which kind of works, but still not my favorite way of warming up a bun, as it can be a little bulky to be under a bun, and they don't always like that unless you can put it under a fleece bed to cover up the lump of the heat pad.

The one I felt worked best was just a normal heating pad placed under the edge of the recovery pen fence panel, under the fleece blanket I had laid out, with the fleece pet bed on top of that, and the wire and plug running right out under the panel. So the wire was under things and mostly not in the pen to risk being chewed. Though usually right at first the bun isn't hardly moving as it is, but I still very closely monitored things to make sure it was all safe and kept an eye on the bun. Then just monitored the temp that was coming through.

I constantly monitor the bun recovering. I keep feeling ear temp to make sure they are warming up. Really cold ears means they're cold, hot reddened ears means they are likely too hot, so just going for moderate warm ears. I monitor the level of heat coming through to the bun from the heat pad. And I monitor their activity, and try and consistently encourage them to eat.

This constant monitoring is best accomplished by setting up a pen right next to me where I would be in the evening most of the time. Then they are right there for me to see exactly how they're doing and responding. But this will only work for a bun that the change of space doesn't cause too much upset.

Here are some photos of the recovery pen I set up. The last pic is the snugglesafe microwave pet heat pad. That was the one instance it did work for me, for that particular bun.

IMAG1520.jpgIMAG1532.jpgIMAG1311.jpgP1010602.JPG
 
@JBun this is fantastic, thank you so much! Your buns are adorable too!!! 😍 I'll pick up the heating pad tonight or this weekend - I might use it after Bucky's done with it. 🤣 He already has some fleece in his cage that I think would work very well with a heating pad, I'll have to do some playing around with it. I might even pick up a thermostat, if those are recommended for heating pads, although even if not I'm getting more quail chicks next month (YAY!) so I'll need one anyways. Again, thank you soooo much!!!
 
Were adorable. They've all passed to bunny heaven 🌈 ❤️ But thank you, they were sweet and spunky little buns.

I thought I should add as a safety caution, that if a wired heating pad is used, that I always very closely watched my bun to make sure there was no possibility of wires getting chewed, which would be a huge risk to their safety as well as a fire danger.

Even though I had the pad covered and the plug directly going out under the pen panel (making sure no wires are compressed or pinched as well) so my buns couldn't easily get to it, I always kept a close eye on them and the pad. Once the bun was getting more active and could risk uncovering the pad, then I immediately removed it. Though usually at that point they didn't need the extra heat anymore.
 
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