Outdoor rabbit spay - what to expect

Silverfish

My female outdoor rabbit is going in to be spayed tomorrow. She sleeps outside in a large hutch, and she has the run of most of the garden (supervised due to cats) for most of the day. She's not used to being handled, and I've never really picked her up, if she needs to go anywhere she hops into her carrier and I bring her in that.

I'm not sure what age she is as she was a stray, but I'm just wondering if anyone here has any experience with the aftercare of spayed rabbits, and what to expect? Obviously I'll chat to the vet as well, but I'm very nervous about the whole thing. The floor of her hutch is lino adhesive strips with hay, and upstairs in her sleeping area I use hay and Petlife Safebed paper wool.

She'll be home hopefully Wednesday, so I want to be prepared and be ready for anything she needs!

Once she's spayed I'm hoping to get a neutered boy bun and try bonding them, she's been unsuccessful in other attempts to bond, she doesn't seem to like other rabbits very much.

LisaO

Hi Silverfish

We have spayed all our rabbits - 2 male & 1 female. After effects seem to vary: 1 male was quite "down" for a couple of days, other male was sleepy & quiet that evening but back to normal next day. Female was pretty OK as well, as far as I can remember. Main thing is to make sure they are eating & drinking OK. Our vet also said it was important to keep them warm post op, so we kept ours in for a few days as well - would you have any way to do that? Keeping them in also makes it easier to monitor their food & water intake and keep an eye on the stitches - you may need a buster collar for her so ask for one (if vet doesn't offer one when you collect her), as better to have one handy if you do need it. Good luck

Sigma Force

You have to keep the bun indoors when you bring her home, a dog good sized crate (the metal kind) is ideal for housing a recovering bun. Do Not put her outside the same day she comes back just in case the vet says you can, it's impossible to supervise her outside and she will have to have a cone on her head, most buns will pick their stitches out so she will have to be kept indoors under supervision until the stitches are out. Keep her in a cooler room in the house if she's used to the outdoors but tbh at this time of year it's best to start putting the hutch into a shed or bring the bun into the house as the first frosts are already here.

She has to eat before and after the op which will be a bit awkward at first but this is another reason why you need to keep her indoors during this time, she might need to be hand fed hay and veggies at first for the first day or two until she gets the hang of it and guided to her bottle as well. After a day or two they usuallly get the hang of it and you need to be careful the cone doesn't get caught anywhere and the outdoor hutch might not have a large enough hole in the door to accomodate the cone.

Keep her warm and well fed, a little gentle excercise and some toys to keep her busy, no jumping up on furniture or leaping about, that's why the dog crate is so handy to have. Vet bed or thick towels or thick layers of newspaper is better and just have the hay in a corner or in a hay rack because you don't want her lying on too much hay in case it irritates although make sure hay is freely available.

Females can be pretty narky so once she is spayed she should calm down a lot, it takes a wee while for the hormones to calm down but by the time she is healed and well again she'll be ready for a new buddy. There's lots of rabbits looking for homes so if you go through a good rescue they can maybe work with you and find a rabbit that suits (introduce on neutral territory if using her hutch/run you'll need to clean it out and make it unfamiliar to her) if the first bun doesn't work out then a rescue might be accommodating and try with various other buns until you find the right one to suit.

Silverfish

Dropped her off this morning, she seems to be in good enough health but had some tooth problems as well, seems she wasn't eating the right kind of food earlier in life.
They're going to keep her in for two nights to make sure she's recovered before letting her come home, and then she'll be going back for checkups shortly afterwards.

I think I have a handle on what to do and what to expect now, thanks guys!

Just have to wait and see how the op goes now.