Post spay question

[BACI]

Hello,
I had Delilah spayed this am and I am not sure how much she should beeating. She only ate maybe a bit of the Kale I brought to the vetoffice for her. Now she is just sitting hunched in a corner of thecage. She won't even touch the banana. I asked the vet for pain medsand she gave her a shot at 12pm, stating that would last 6hrs and thatis all she needs. She said there is no way to give a rabbit pills. Nowit is 3pm and she looks really sore to me.
SO my question is how much is enough for her to eat?

 

[naturestee]

Anything is better than nothing. At least she's eaten some. How long has she been home?

Have you tried offering her food from your hand? All three ofmy girls preferred me to hold their food for them. I choosethe best pieces of hay, their favorite veggies, lots of pumpkin,etc. They felt better from the attention.

Sometimes heat helps too. Try offering a warm towel, or filla clean sock with dry rice and microwave it till it's warm.

Mocha didn't eat much till the next morning, which scared the:censored2 out of me. I ran into town and got someNutri-cal. It's supposed to be an appetite stimulant/caloriesource. I think she hated the taste so much that she had toeat real food to wash the taste out of her mouth. But it madeher eat!

 

[BACI]

Thank you so much. She has been hom for about anhour. I dropped her off and picked her up and never got to talk to thevet, but I am suppose to call her at 5, so I wanted to check withsomeone to see if I should insist on something for pain if she wasgoing to go into stasis(sp), but I read your health info and it saidafter 24hrs so I feel better. I am going to try your suggestions andthe ones in the article. :thanks:

thanks, I was just worrying and couldn't find the link. Ok so by now ithas been 2hrs so hopefully she will take the food by hand. I hate tokeep scolding her for licking her incision. I figured if her mouth wasbusy chewing she would leave it alone.......:thanks:
edit: do you mean canned pumpkin?

 

[naturestee]

Yup! 100% pure canned pumpkin, not thepie mix stuff. My buns love it as a treat, and I keep itaround in case I need to syringe feed them or use it to hide medicine.

 

[BACI]

Ok, thanks.
She feels so much colder thanusual so I got the sock right away. I know it is more for painbut....She likes the warm sock, good idea. Of course when I put it byher she got up and left, but now she is laying on it. She is sostubborn. :sigh

 

[jordiwes]

My baby girl would only eat alfalfa hay when fed by hand after her spay. Also she needed some additional pain meds later.

Poor little girl was shivering all night. I wish we'd provided her with a warm blanket.

 

[Spring]

It's not unusual for rabbits to not eat much after their spays ( or so I've heard). But as long as she's eating something, she should be fine.

The only pain med I've ever giving Pepsi is Metacam, but I heard it decreases their appetite so I didn't want to give it to her. Does other medications to that too?

 

[BACI]

Update: the vet said to force feed her baby food (veggies) via syringe so I could swear they cant eat peas, do you guys know. The only thing the store had was mixed veggies with peas, because we needed stage one to fit thru the syringe. I am looking on other sites as well. The vet was concerned that D still feels cold... I just keep reheating the rice pak and she lays on it. She ate 2 bites of banana, so I was happy but on to the baby food escapade. oh I know what she said ... I guess she syringe fed her water at the office and hoped at home she would drink but she is not. I put out a bowl by her water bottle. She is worried about the hay. I figured that since Naturestee's rabbit did ok, I am safe with the little bit I can get in her. We will see. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Spring]

Is there any infection or anything? I wonder what the cold body temperature could be otherwise.. I'm not sure about the peas. I know pea pods are safe for bunnies.

 

[BACI]

I asked her if it was from bloodloss during the surgery and she said there was not much. I found something that said peapods without the peas. I wonder if it is ok since it is in the food with other veggies and it is only this once. I also have squash, and sweet potatos. If I cant find anything online I will just stick to the pumpkin. N said that was ok to feed.thanks

 

[naturestee]

I wouldn't force feed her yet. She'seating a little on her own, and there's no real worry until 12hours+. Force feeding her will only stress her out.

If you do need to force feed her, crush up her pellets and mix themwith water and a little pumpkin or something else she likes.It's less likely to upset her stomach because she's used to it, plusshe might be more willing to take it because it tastes familiar.

There's recipes here:

http://www.rabbit.org/care/recipies.html

They'll give you the general idea.

 

[naturestee]

Oh, and you can also add a little apple flavoredPedialyte to her water to encourage her to drink. Or vanilla,as some rabbits like that. Drinking is more important thaneating.

 

[BACI]

Thank you. Delilah was nibbling so I was notgoing to force feed her, but the vet called back around 7 and said totry anyway because she concerned she was hypoglycemic. She had noteaten since 8am. We got a little baby food in her(such a tinymouth) and she ate a little banana but no liquids. I was going to add alittle pineapple juice to her water since she won't drink out of thebottle or bowl(her usual is bottle). As far as the pellet mash goes, she eats hay and veggies. Weweaned her off pellets awhile ago. I did a lot of research and for herit works better. So, I did not want to mess up her gut again,especially since I cant get her to eat more than a bite of hay. Shestill seems happier on the warm rice pak and her body feels warmer tome.......duh she is on a hot pak. ok not real hot. Now I will justconcentrate on water. How do these people with 6rabbits do it hmmm. Atleast she is still groggy or sore so she will letme take care of her... to an extent.ps you have been awesome,thanks for thehelp./images/emoticons/big_grin.gif

 

[Pipp]

Pipp went 23 hours hunched over in the back ofher hutch, poor baby was in so much pain -- which she never handleswell.

Shehates baby food, can gether to eat pumpkin outof syringe, though.(Good idea to give her stuff she reallylikes at first via the syringe, so it's not 'the enemy').

She particularly likes her pain killer stuff, Medicam, because itsflavoured with honey. And she loves herPedialyte via the syringe, too.

Don't be afraid to mix some honey with pumpkin or whatever else you'retrying to get her to eat, my vet said to mix it with her Critical Care-- which she also hates.

Wish they would have given Delilah pain meds for home, but I guess itsa problem with Medicam, which is more of a slow-acting, long-term med,because it has to be taken with food, so you have thechicken-or-the-egg syndrome. And no asprin allowed when therehas been (or is about to be) surgery.

The other thing that worked was waving a carrot top(she hatesparsely)in her face long enough for her to get really mad andgrab it to throw across her cage -- but when she grabbed it, shedecided to eat it instead. (That works surprisingly often --I do it with hay, too).

Hope she's feeling better soon.

sas

 

[BACI]

Thank you for the advice about the liquid. Wekept looking at her and she wouldn't move and was breathing reallyshallow which oddly is not her... fast and noticable all the time.Again oddly that is what we always comment on. You know that maybe sheis scared, but that is her normal. Point being she was cold, didn'tmove for a long time and so we got the syring out and Pineapple juiceand water did the trick. She warmed up for awhile and ate. I hope itlasts a little longer this time. I am gonna try and get some sleep.Thanks again everyone. So, why is it we go to vets now?:wink:
kidding

 

[TinysMom]

BACI wrote:

So, why is it we go to vets now?:wink:
kidding

'cause they need to send their kids to college..

Just kidding...I have a couple of great vets..even if they do live a ways away from me...

I am gonna pull out a soapbox here and "preach" on a pet topic ...

EVERYONE...if you have a rabbit and it is healthy at the moment....geta syringe and some pumpkin or baby food or critical care orsomething....and give it some NOW via. the syringe. Do NOTwait until your rabbit is ill to stress it out by using a syringe forthe first time.

(That goes for you too Just Jack! I know I gave you syringesand critical care and stuff)....when you gottherabbits.

I try to syringe feed every rabbit at least once a month-yeah - I use the same syringe 'cause they're all healthy at thetime...but I want EVERYONE to get used to it so they aren't afraid ofit. I use either a bit of pedialyte or some baby food -something that they like...and I try to get them to take 2-3 syringesfull of it...so they are used to it and see the syringe as theirfriend...

Ok...backing off soapbox....sorry to hijack topic...(not really)...

Peg

 

[naturestee]

BACI, if you don't use pellets you shouldprobably ask your your vet to get you some Critical Care for thefuture. That way you'll have it when you need it. Idon't use it because I prefer mashing up their pellets.

How is she this morning?

 

[BACI]

Hello!!!! where were you last month??? I wouldjust like to say I wish I would have know to practice. The vet simplysays stick the syringe in her cheek....yeah right. She has a littlehole and a fast jerking head. However, once she tasted the pineapplejuice she sucked it down. The last time I gave it to her was this am,she still is not drinking, but will eat veggies. So should I keepgiving her pedialyte? I did not put it in her water bowl or bottle yetbecause she won't go near them.

 

[Spring]

Maybe try diluting the pineapple juice with somewater for more fluids? If she's eating vegetables, she's doing fairlywell on the fluid end of things but some pedialyte might be good justto make sure. Try dipping some of her hay in water too.. my rabbitloves when I do this.

Hows her temperature? About how mcuh is she eating?

Can't really suggest anything more then whats said but keep having the hot pack for her to lie on to help with the pain.

 

[BACI]

I was not home today so I have to go look at howmuch comes in a bag, but my husband has been giving her dark greens(premixed salad green) we usually make caesar salad for ourselves withit... they are premixed in a bag. She ate about half of the bag today.I was hoping that would be enough fluids. It is weird that she won't gonear the water bowl even if when we left it with straight pineapplejuice overnight. She usually drinks 8 oz of water a day so I have beensyringing about 10cc into her. When she turns her head away and I tryagain and she really refuses I stop. She really is doing bettertoday. I was so scared last night because you know how you put yourhand around them to pick them up and you can feel their heartbeat, Icould barely feel it.......... this am I put my hand in the same placeand I could feel the usual hard fast "oh god she's gonna pick me up"pounding. My husband called the vet today to let her know she was stillnot drinking, but no one called back. I have a back injury and havebeen out all day at the Dr. so they were closed when I got home. I amso glad they give dogs and cats pain meds after this surgery, I can'timagine dealing with that. My animals are wimps.LOL.thanks,baci