Ripley is getting neutered. *Ahhh!*

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Bunnylova4eva

Bunnylova4eva

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I've finally made the decision; Ripley is getting neutered. I absolutely adore Ripley and even some of his little manorisms likes honking and licking me. Though those manorisms are cute and will be missed, other realated things that he does :bouquet: just aren't so adorable.


In 9 years of bunny owning, We've never had surgery done on one, and I'm scared out of my mind to take him but I'm trying not allow myself to worry too much. Our vet is very rabbit savvy, having treated buns for over 20 years and owned and bred them for years much before that. I know there's always a risk which anesthesia but at the vet they've said there's rarely a problem. I've definitely already put this off too long- he's nearing 2 years old now!



A few questions from a super paranoid bunny mum:

  • What type of bedding is best after sugery? Yesterday's news? Towels in the box?
  • I know you never fast before surgery, but how soon after can they have food and water? Can he have anything (within reason of coarse) directly after surgery?
  • I assume he'll need a recheck after surgery, how many days later does he need to go in again? (I'll ask the vet about this anyway of coarse)
  • How long (hoefully) after the procedure until behaviors like humping should go down in frequency?
  • How long do they normally need pain meds afterwards?
  • How long should I expect him to be mopey and quiet after surgery?
And the big question: I have heard from the different people on here who have lost bunnies due to anesthesia, but I'm curious as to who of you have lost a bunny that had bloodwork come out well before the procedure.

Monday I'm planning to take Ripley and get the pre-op blood done. I'm hoping with the extra precaution they'll catch anythign that could be amiss. Then provided all is cool on the bloodwork, he should go for the neuter this coming Friday or next. Yikes am I scared for him!
 
For bedding after the surgery you could use yeserdays news or carefresh. I tried the carefresh after my girls spays but 1 ate it and the other would not use the box with it, so I can not really recomend it. I would go with the yesterdays news or wood stove pellets.

You want them to eat as soon after surgery as you can get them to. If they will only eat treats give them treats. Pellets are one of the last things that they will eat. Make sure that you have lots of their favorite foods on hand for afterwards. The first thing that my girls ate was raisens. You are correct that you do not want to fast them before hand.

I did not take my girls in for a recheck after their spays. My vet offered a free recheck but I did not take them up on it (my vet is 1.5hrs away each way). I do not think that it is necessary unless you notice a problem.

I did not have the blood work done on my girls because my vet charges $150 per rabbit for it in addition to the spay ($400 per). My girls came through their surgery really good.
 
For bedding, for the first few days I always just use pellets, although Yesterday's News would be fine since it's paper based. I would not recommend wood stove pellets, however, as when they break down into dust from urine it can get into the incision and irritate it.

You want them eating ASAP. There should be no reason for them to ever be limited on eating. Try not to give anything too sugary or starchy since it can be a bit upsetting to their tummy, if they are being reluctant about eating. Just provide lots and lots of hay and wet veggies (Make sure they are dripping wet as this does help with water intake). Anything he's used to having, provide a lot of.

You're vet will tell you, but ours always off the recheck 5 days after. We rarely take them in now as we know what to look for, but for your first time it would be good for peace of mind.

For hormonal behaviors to die down, it depends on the buns. With some, we have noticed an almost immediate difference while others seem to take up to around a month.

For the bucks, we do 3-4 days of Metacam.

Again, this all depends on the rabbits. The bucks we have had done are usually back to themselves after a few dayy, the does are the ones that take a bit longer to get back to normal.

We have only had bloodwork done on one rabbit, our four year old doe who went in for a spay. The only reason we did it for her and not the others was because she had spent a number of years living off of dog food and weren't sure just how much damage had been done to her system. She did have a few odd things with her surgery, but she was a little older and from weird conditions. She made it through the surgery fine and has been a much happier bunny since.
 
I put his regular hay, hay cubes and some parsley in my bunny carrier (it's actually a cat carrier, the hard plastic kind) and left it with the vet. The carrier easily fit into the vet's kennel with room to spare even with the carrier door open. So my bunny was able to hide someplace that smelled familiar plus he had food there. This seemed to work really well. The vet techs told me that he was half awake and he started nibbling on the parsley LOL.

I have the grates on top of my litter pans so I used my usual woodypet as he would not be sitting directly on the litter. But something not so dusty would probably be good for post-surgery. If it's different that what you normally use, try putting in the litterpan for some time prior to surgery so he gets used to it.

My bunny was on Metcam (?) for a few days afterwards, but honestly he really only seemed subdued the next day. On day 2 he was doing laps around his temporary home (my dog's crate) so I cut back on the amount I was giving him. I thought maybe if he was a little sore he would be quieter - he wasn't LOL so he must not have been to uncomfortable. He went back into his usual cage about 7 days after the procedure.

His wound was glued, so no stitches and no follow-up needed at the vet unless he had redness or irritation or any drainage. I snuck a quick peek a few times a day and although he was licking more than normal, the wound looked good and healed up just fine.

Honestly you are going to be more upset about it than your bunny is :). They seem to bounce back pretty quickly from this very routine surgery.
 
You've gotten aLOT of good advice I just wanted to say to ease your worry a bit that a neuter is much less stressful. My male was back to himself the next day! He was up for adoption at the shelter and that's when I met him and you'd never guess he was neutered. I think with metacam (which my male didn't even get, but my female did) you won't notice much :)

My advice would just be to see if your vet will let him go home the same day which if he is rabbit savvy he should actually encourage it as buns do much better recovering at home.

Lastly, if you are doing bloodwork I would not be worried at all. Most of the sad stories you hear about spays/neuters are related to an underlying health condition and not the anesthesia itself. It's a bit of a myth that rabbits have a bigger risk going under than other animals and a rabbit savvy vet will concur. My vet, who is AWESOME, taught me that. He said if a vet claims that it's riskier than they don't know rabbits. There is the same risk for dogs, cats, rabbits.

I know it's worrisome I was stressed to the max when my female got spayed!! Hang in there and best wishes for a smooth surgery :)
 
I'd find out ahead of time how the vet closes the incision [stitches, glue or staple] & how you're to keep him from touching the area [cone or cream].
 
Everybody has already effectively answered most of your questions so I won't repeat their good advice :)

I did lose a bunny in spay surgery (just over a year ago now, R.I.P. Trillian :cry4:) but my vet didn't do any blood work before the surgery. She said the actual surgery went well, but in her recovery her heart just stopped and they couldn't get it started again. My vet was shocked since she had done so many that went well. She did mention that Trillian was a small bunny, as in not very robust. She called Faith robust so idk. It didn't stop me from getting Faith spayed about 3 weeks later because I know it's unusual and I know it's the best thing for BBB (better bunny behaviors) ;)

Btw I still get licked by Humma even though he is neutered. I think it's because the honking is a hormonal thing while licking is a grooming thing so you may still get a good licking from Ripley!

Nose bonks and hugs from Freckles, Humma, and Faith for Ripley! :hug:
 
Just keep an eye on his incision site and make sure he's not messing with it, and it's healing well.

You may want to ask your vet to look at Ripley's teeth as well, while he's under. It's a good time to get any sharp points ground down, since he will already be put under for the neuter.
 
Thank you everybody for all of your input. Any and all advice is very appriciated! I need all the encouragement I can get to not worry myself sick...

The reason I've been told that there is more risk with a bunny surgery is because rabbits are not intubated like a dog or cat. Therefore, if something is to go wrong, it makes things harder for trying to rescessitate.

I'm mostly stressed about the surgery itself. As long as nothing happends to him during the surgeyr I'm not worried.

I know I will be bringing Ripley home the day of surgery; I don't think it will be long after.

That's a good point you bring up about whether he'll be getting a cone or what he'll have. I believe the vet does not recommend a cone if possible as it can add lots of added stress and make it hard to get around. I'll be asking though what the plan is.

I believe for bunnies at our vet they use sutures, or sutures and glue. Another good thing for me to ask about.
 
Sometimes you can use no chew vet wrap instead of a cone. Cones can be really hard on a rabbit, mentally. You could pick up some of the vet wrap to have on hand, just in case.
 
All good advice. I had my three done last October. I didn´t have blood work done before, took them in around 9.30 in the morning and picked them up at 2. They were all quite lively and pleased to see me and eating when I went there to collect them. I took some food, a few of their favourite veggies and hay with me to give them after surgery. They had been given paid meds for going home but I didn´t given them anything else and they never looked uncomfortable. They were all raring to go after the 2nd day but I kept them inside about 4-5 days just to make sure they didn´t do any damage.

I checked the wound site a couple of times a day but never had any problems and I only too one back to have it checked as his swelling took longer to go down but he was fine.

Their hormones took a couple of weeks to settle but Houdini who was a little sprayer never sprayed again from the time I brought him home after surgery.

I must admit I was worried before I had them done about how they´d go but I was amazed how quickly they bounced back and it made them much happier and cleaner and I still get loads of licks and bunny kisses.

Every bunny is different but I think most males recover quickly and I´m sure Ripley will be back to normal in no time.
 
Everyone has answered your questions so I won't repeat...I will just add a few things! I had my bunny Reese's neutered a couple of months ago and he came through fine. That is not to say I wasn't worried sick and on pins and needles until I knew he was fine! I will say, bunnies usually bounce back from anesthesia (So sorry for those of you who have lost your bunny during surgery or right after...tragic and sad but it happens...we almost lost my niece when she was 2 due to an allergic reaction to one of the anesthesia drugs), neuter surgeries are far less invasive AND know that your vet should send you home with a care sheet!

I would also like to share my story...our mini lop Carrot, was my daughter's show bunny...he was the sweetest, most wonderful bunny who although he was unfixed did NOT act like an intact male...he was older when she finished showing him...and that combined with how wonderful he was, I decided not to subject him to surgery! I wish that had asked my vet or known about Rabbits online back then! Sadly, we lost Carrot last fall to testicular cancer...we will never know...but maybe if I had had him neutered, we would still have him with us! Despite the risk of anesthesia, I will never have another bunny again that is not spayed or neutered again. Good luck! Oh and one more thing, shredded paper (from a paper shredder) works great for bedding and pine pellets are safe to use for the litter box if that is what you already use.
 
mochajoe said:
Everyone has answered your questions so I won't repeat...I will just add a few things! I had my bunny Reese's neutered a couple of months ago and he came through fine. That is not to say I wasn't worried sick and on pins and needles until I knew he was fine! I will say, bunnies usually bounce back from anesthesia (So sorry for those of you who have lost your bunny during surgery or right after...tragic and sad but it happens...we almost lost my niece when she was 2 due to an allergic reaction to one of the anesthesia drugs), neuter surgeries are far less invasive AND know that your vet should send you home with a care sheet!

I would also like to share my story...our mini lop Carrot, was my daughter's show bunny...he was the sweetest, most wonderful bunny who although he was unfixed did NOT act like an intact male...he was older when she finished showing him...and that combined with how wonderful he was, I decided not to subject him to surgery! I wish that had asked my vet or known about Rabbits online back then! Sadly, we lost Carrot last fall to testicular cancer...we will never know...but maybe if I had had him neutered, we would still have him with us! Despite the risk of anesthesia, I will never have another bunny again that is not spayed or neutered again. Good luck! Oh and one more thing, shredded paper (from a paper shredder) works great for bedding and pine pellets are safe to use for the litter box if that is what you already use.
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Yes, this is just one more reason to have him fixed. I'd never forgive myself for somethign happening to him under anesthesia but on the flip side, I'd really never forgive myself for him getting cancer.
 
Ooooh I know I was such a worried mess when Harvey got neutered. But he bounced back pretty much the next day. He was back to being his pushy bossy self haha.

And I still get licks all the time, but the humping and spraying is gone. So worth it.
 
Anything that stops the humping, accidents, circling and pooping continually out of the box and makes him more lovable is totally worth it. My luck, Ripley will be the 1st in history to not stop any of those crazy behaviors ..and I'm paying a pretty penny for it lol (just kidding, sounds too good to be true, that's all!)
 
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Well here's hoping it works! Harvey was an adult when he had his done and I had to wait a few months for him to heal from his ear accident. He actually got worse in that time. But the neutered changed that completely. No more humping the cats. The cats thanked me haha. Besides it was nice to see more of his personality now that he wasn't so focused on mating.
 
Fingers Crossed! Ripley got his presurgical blood drawn today. He had terribly small veins for it but they got it. I think the results will be in tomorrow, I hope all is well with it. Turns out the doctor Ripley sees is not doing surgery this Friday so it probably will not happen until nex week.
 
So, a day has been set. Ripley's neuter is booked for Friday morning, the 22nd. The plan is to drop him off in the morning and I should be able to pick him up in the afternoon once he's up. I'm getting more and more nervous by the day, I'm SO worried something will happen to him. Ahhhk.

On a side note, I'm kinda worried because the vet doesn't do a ton of rabbit surgeries that I know of. He's definitly done bunny surgeries and sees alot of rabbits, is HRS recomended and very good with buns, but it's not a very regualar basis that he does bunny surgeries (but he does plenty of exotic surgies and things). Eeeek I'm sooo nervous. And last minute advice?! I'm stocking up on veggies and things for after surgery and giving Ripley tons of extra lov'ins.
 
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He may not do a ton of bunny surgeries, but if he's been recommended then he's good at what he does.

Neutering is a pretty simple and common surgery. More so for boy bunnies vs. girl bunnies.

Take a deep breath ... it will be okay !
 
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