Mature bun post-spay care

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pani

Bunny servant Lotte
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Hello,

We got Delilah spayed today and she returned home around 4pm. We're not entirely sure of her age, but our vets guessed she's at least 2-3 years old, if not older, so she is older than the ideal age to be spayed.

Since returning home, she's sat very still near her litter box. She drank some water when it was placed very close to her and has nibbled on one or two pieces of hay, but otherwise isn't eating. We gave her 0.75mL of Meloxicam for pain relief around 7pm; I haven't noticed any behavioral changes since then. Since she's not eating, my partner and I are now trying to feed her Critical Care, but she's been quite contrite about taking it. She's moving her head away or nudging the syringe away, however she will eat it once it's in her mouth.

I'm worried about putting her into a bunny burrito due to her spay incision; I don't want to hurt her anymore or cause any damage to the incision. I'm also worried about feeding her too little or too much Critical Care. She's probably taken around 5-6 1mL syringes at this point.

Any tips for helping a more mature bun through post-spay care? x


Just an edit to also mention we had bloodwork done for her at the vets. They found inflammation and suspect it may be due to e.cuniculi, however we won't know for about 10 days if she's positive for the parasite. They advised us that it shouldn't cause any issue in her spay recovery and that if she comes back positive for it, she'll go on medication for it at that time.
 
Have you tried leafy greens? Parsley, cilantro, carrot tops, green leaf or romaine lettuce. These are usually the first things my rabbits would start eating after their surgery. Though with some of them it did take more time and effort to get them eating well again on their own.

You also want to make sure to keep her warm. They can have a hard time keeping their body temp up, which if they are cold will affect their eating.

Actually EC can effect a rabbits recovery from anesthesia because it can affect their lungs, heart, kidneys, and liver, and so the effect of the anesthesia on the different organs can be impacted by EC depending on what amount of damage the parasite has caused to those organs. I would just keep a really close eye on her and if she seems more lethargic or off than should be normal with a spay, I would contact the vet right away.
 
Have you tried leafy greens? Parsley, cilantro, carrot tops, green leaf or romaine lettuce. These are usually the first things my rabbits would start eating after their surgery. Though with some of them it did take more time and effort to get them eating well again on their own.
She's got a few of her favourites around her - kale, cilantro, bok choy. She had a teensy nibble on the kale but otherwise showing no interest in her greens.

Actually EC can effect a rabbits recovery from anesthesia because it can affect their lungs, heart, kidneys, and liver, and so the effect of the anesthesia on the different organs can be impacted by EC depending on what amount of damage the parasite has caused to those organs. I would just keep a really close eye on her and if she seems more lethargic or off than should be normal with a spay, I would contact the vet right away.
Thank you, I'll keep an eye on this.
 
You also want to make sure to keep her warm. They can have a hard time keeping their body temp up, which if they are cold will affect their eating.
Just saw this bit. We moved a heater to outside of the pen sectioning off her part of the house to help warm her up a little bit. When doing this curiosity got the better of her and she took some careful steps around the room to have a little peek.
 
She had her 0.75mL of Meloxicam/Metacam a few hours ago now but she seems like she's in quite a bit of pain still. Is there anything else I could do to help with pain relief?

I feel so bad, Clementine bounced back so quickly after her spay, that I feel entirely unprepared for trying to help poor Deli.
 
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I don't have a scale (?!) but I'll call the vet tomorrow and find out what she weighs, and check if her dosage can be upped. Thank you for your help, JBun.

It looks like we're going to monitor her for the night and re-assess in the morning. I've got first shift checking on her every so often while I do some uni work, and when I head to bed I'll wake up my partner to do the same.
 
2 or 3 years old is still young! The ideal age for the spay is given because some doe develop cancer very early on and the operation is a lot heavier when you have to take out tumors with the rest so even if she's a little bit older it shouldn't make it really harder for her to bounce back. E cuniculi is another problem though. I don't know about the effect it could have regarding an operation, so I can't help you. But really, a doe not eating and hiding / not moving much on the day of the spay doesn't sound that worrying to me. When Aki got spayed (at the ideal age and she was not ill), she went into hiding under the bed as soon as we came back home. I put vegetables, hay, pellets and water under the bed with her and I didn't see her at all until the next morning so I'm not sure she ate any. It took a while before she started grooming her hindquarter again or let anyone touch it. Some does take it harder than others and some of them are probably more sensitive to pain. For the first day, I would leave your doe alone as much as possible. Leave her with big piles of food and don't touch her unless it's for medication purpose. She's in pain and that's normal. The Metacam helps, but she still had a very scary experience and her lower belly got cut open for a vet to take out internal organs. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to move or eat if I were her... If she's still not eating and not well when you wake up tomorrow, it will probably be time to draw the CC. I hope she recovers quickly!
 
Hello, just wanted to post an update.

Deli returned to her normal self a couple of days post-spay. We continued to syringe feed her critical care for a little while, and she started to eat more kale and hay after that. She is happily bouncing around the house again and some of her more concerning hormonal behaviours seem to be subsiding. :)

Unfortunately, we heard back from the vet that she did test positive for e.cuniculi, so she's currently taking a 28 day course of Fenbenzadole (Panacur). Although they haven't properly interacted yet, I'll be taking Felix and Clementine to get tested for it just in case, and I assume we'll probably have to give them maintenance doses if we bond all 3 of them.
 

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