Rabbit neutering

Dilly

Hi all,

I've just booked my darling dwarf bunny in for his operation for next week. I've read as much as I can about how to handle the situation, what he might need/not need etc but I'd appreciate it if anyone had any practical advice about it...things like it's good to keep my bun warm afterwards, but would a snugglepad be too warm??

Any input would be gratefully appreciated!

Dilly

FranknFurter

A simple small cardboard box, with not much room for movement, and lots of padding wil do fine, and anyways, its only for a few days.

Shewhomustbe...

Hope all goes well with the operation and fair play for being so responsible.

The vet probably told you this but you should be a little prepared it might not as rabbits seemingly don't have a strong will to live, but I've had four go through it with no problems so if your little guy is fit and healthy he'll be fine.

Rabbits don't need to be fasted before operations so you can keep everything as normal. They'll keep him there for a good while after and all you'll need to do when he comes home is make sure he's kept warm. I put my guys in one of their trays with a towel around them and under/near a radiator. Also make sure he starts to eat/drink. None of mine ever messed with their stitches so that shouldn't be a problem.
Probably be out of sorts for about a day but they recover very quick.

Sigma Force

The most important thing to do is don't fast him, and make sure he eats asap after his op. As already said keep him in a routine until you need to move him.
Snuggle safe heat pad with the cover on would be great for keeping him warm afterwards, although the last rabbit i had done wouldn't lie on it so depends on the bunny.

Keep him warm is the main thing, vet beds are brilliant for this, Argos now sell them for half the price compared to pet shops, small one is only 9.99 large 12.99 they are brilliant!

I would ask the vet to put a buster collar on him, if he does pick his stitches he will have to have another anesthetic to have them re done and it's not worth the risk, they soon get used to eating hay and drinking out of the water bottle with it, he may need a little hand at first, feed him his favourite food, timothy hay is great for encouraging them to eat.
He will be sleep for a wee while but male rabbits recover a lot quicker than females usually, it's a shorter op so less anesthetic needed.

My little guy recovered amazingly quick, it will take the rabbit a few weeks before his hormones calm down and he's infertile.

You can smear a little essential lavender oil on the outside of his carrier before hand.

Now come on people where are all the pics of peoples rabbits, need more rabbit piccies on here there seems to be a fair few bunny fans on this board

If he doesn't sit on the snuggle safe just put it beside him, vet bed you would use over and over again even after his op..they look so comfy on it.

Best of luck with the op, there is a risk to it as you know but it is worth it.
My male and female get on brilliant since their ops and it's great to see them snuggle up together and cleaning each others ears.

Oh yeh, make sure the vet gives the rabbit a long acting pain killer, a bunny in discomfort will go off their food a bit. If you feel he is uncomfortable the next day head in for another shot of painkillers to the vets but males usually are fine after one shot of pain killers.

Starting off with pics..come on people show those adorable rabbits off!
My two








*Apologies for long post I tend to ramble after 10pm :rolleyes:

Dilly

Thanks so much to all of you for your great replies. I know that it is important to get him eating and drinking as soon as possible afterwards - would it be advisable to try syringing water? At what point should I be concerened if he isn;t eating? (sorry if I'm starting to sound a bit hysterical about it all, but he is a very special little bun and I want this to go as smoothly as possible!)

Also, GuineaPigRescue, you mentioned a "vet bed" for him. What exactly is this - would a soft cat/dog bed be suitable?

Again, thanks for taking the time to reply!

Dilly

Sigma Force

I wouldn't syringe feed him unless he stops eating and drinking altogether, he might be too tired and woozy to eat for a couple of hours he might just nibble.. leave hay at the vets for him and ask them to check if he's eaten anything.
Offer him or show him where the spout of the bottle is, some rabbits find it easier to drink for a bowl with the lampshade on their heads.
He might not have a huge appetite afterwards but as long as he's nibbling regularly and by that evening and the next morning he is starting to improve he should be fine. You'll know yourself if he's out of sorts as only a bunny parent knows
Don't worry about being paranoid, my vets are used to be getting over paranoid about stuff, better to be safe than sorry, I don't know how many times Ive bad an idiot out of myself for no reason lol.
I hung the hay up on the top of the crate for the rabbits they found it easier to reach upwards and eat the hay than down on the grounbd, but that was for spays, the male rabbit I had done was back to normal by the time I brought him home.

He'll be grand don't worry

Vet bed is like a fluffy bedding with a green backing, the origional vet bed is best not the cheap alternatives. Although rabbits love cosy soft cat beds too, the smallest size is all you need unless it's a huge bunny and they are easier to wash in the machine if needed.

The most important thing is that the vet you choose has done neutering on rabbits before and is experienced. Suitable pain killer jab before he heads home is important too.

Is he going to get a wee friend once he's over his op?

Best of luck with it, let us know how the little guy gets on, any piccies of him?

Dilly

Once again, thanks for the advice!

I don't have any good pictures of him yet (just from my phone and the quality doesn't do him justice!) because I'm having battery issues with my camera but I should have that fixed in the next day or two so I'll post them up then. Your little fellas are gorgeous (that is one cute little nose in pic no.3!!) so hopefully we can promote more bun pics on the site!

With regards to the op, I will defintely ask for a good painkilling injection afterwards - this is something I hadn't considered, so hopefully it won't be too traumatic. I checked with the vet too and they said that they perform a lot of rabbit neuterings (not as many as cats and dogs but that's to be expected) so I'm hopeful that they will take good care of my baby!

I'm hoping to get a little friend alright when everything settles down and he's fully recovered. Given he's a dwarf rabbit I'm hoping to get another dwarf - I'd hate for him to be intimidated or bullied because of his small size - although I guess if any of the rescues had a big-but-even-tempered bun then there's no reason not to see if they could be friends.

In the meantime I'll work on getting the pics up and I'll let you know how Friday goes.

Thanks,

Dilly

Sigma Force

Hadook on this board rescues rabbits she might have one or know of one looking for a home, looking forward to the bunny pics.

LegacyUser

Guineapigrescue wrote:

Now come on people where are all the pics of peoples rabbits, need more rabbit piccies on here there seems to be a fair few bunny fans on this board

Attaching a pic of the bun buns 'Kasha' .. days before he got a 6 foot run attached. Had just bought my house and the bunny got this new house too! Prior to that he was in one of the cages you buy in the shops. Was supposed to be a dwarf wabbit - me arse!

One of the neighbour's cats found a new place to perch! Then I got my own cats !! They guard the territory now.

Sigma Force

Lovely rabbit
Yeh, those rabbit cages in pet shops are no.1. robbery and no2. mini torture chambers.
I bought this one for housing guinea pigs indoors but is sold as a large rabbit cage.

Sure looks big in the picture but it's only about 3 feet long, not very wide and if I put the rabbits in there they wouldn't be able to stand up on their hind legs.
I got mine at the time for about 50 pounds but they now cost anything from 90 to 100 Euro all they are are glorified litter trays.
I rekon they shrunk that rabbit in the pic, put the hay rack in there and there's 6 inches of space gone.

I would only house guinea pigs in something like that as a temp measure or for when they are drying off after a bath, they do make good hospital cages for sick animals or if you convert the lid a home for a hamster.

But for a rabbit..an animal that is normally the size of a small cat, that can leap up to 6 feet high, that needs space to run about..well those shop bought indoor cages are just totally unsuitable.
Always works out cheaper to build your own.

I spent a fortune on cages of all shapes and sizes but if I had had the sense back then I would of just bought sheds to begin with, we have switched to large runs, indoor plywood pens and other ideas instead of the shop bought stuff.

Any handy carpenters out there I bet there's a buisness to be made in alternative housing for small animals

Posting some more bunny pics shortly.

Sigma Force

Molly after some apple.
I thought her foot looked wierd in that pic and on closer inspection realised that's her tongue :rolleyes:



New toy..only used under supervision.



Hubby will be filling in the patio gaps so no more dirt collecting in those gaps, although we had to cut the runs legs off to fit flush with the patio so hopefully when it rains it won't get flooded..we'll have to wait and see, they have their shed attached.

Dilly

Well, there's good news and bad news for my little bun. The op was very successful and he doesn't seem to be in pain from it. Unfortunately though the bucket has proved too restrictive for him and he can't feed himself. He will take food is hand fed (although he gets frustrated by this - he prefers to munch away on his own) but getting him to take water is proving most difficult of all. The best that we can do is get him to lick a soaked facecloth - he won't use the bowl or the bottle. I don't know how I'm going to survive the next two weeks, watching him desperately trying to groom himself and feed

Sigma Force

Hang in there

It is hard to watch them try to groom themselves, especially after eating something they want to give themselves a good ould wash and they can't.
You can take the bucket off their heads if you are sure you can fit it back on once they have washed but it's really not worth the risk of them picking the stitches.
They look so sad in their buckets.

Is he drinking anything at all form a bottle?
Try giving him (if not done already) a niece piece of juicy apple or carrot that you have washed under the tap and leave the water on it.
Although he will want to wash his face afterwards you can wipe his little face with a cloth to help him and then dry him with a towel. You might have to do the same for the other end in a few days as he won't be able to wash there either. But the bucket will be off soon and he will catch up on his washing.

It's 10 days from the time of the op until the stitches are out and then one more day with the bucket on just to make sure because it can be a bit itchy for a while after the stitches are out. So 11 days altogether, it will fly by. Keep an eye on his droppings.
If they are very dry and you think he's not drinking as much as he usually does you can try him on cucumber which has a lot of water in it and see if that helps.

It took some of the rabbits here about 3 days to get to grips with the bucket but when it came time to take the bucket off they were masters at eating hay etc. Try sticking the hay up high so he can put his head up to get it.
One of the rabbits here used to scoop her rabbit mix into the bucket and then eat it from the bucket.

Just noticed that was posted on the 15th so only 8 days to go at most How is he doing at the moment?

Dilly

Hey,

Thanks for checking in again!
I took the week off work to make sure that he was going to be ok and not try any of his usual kamikaze antics and end up hurting himself.
He's managing to feed himself better now - for anyone else who has difficulty with this I would recommend a recipe I found on the house rabbits society (www.rabbit.org) website which was to grind up his pellets in a coffee grinder and then mix them in with mushed up banana. He didn't like being fed but he did love the mix!
For the water issue I have been getting him to play with a syringe and getting water into him that way. feeding him with wetted vegetables works very well too.
We had some trouble at the beginning cleaning his bottom - I think that he was feeling a bit sensitive with the stitches and was afraid I might hurt him - but he's ok with it now. When I groom him he likes to lick the bucket at the same time and I know where to clean based on how he turns his head to "pretend" groom himself. His droppings have been mixed between very mushy and quite dry but he's very bright so I think it's just the change to his diet and feeding times that is causing this.
He's doing really well overall - I'm very proud of how well he is dealing with it and we are really looking forward to next Friday when he gets the stitches out!
Thanks for the support

Dilly

Dilly

Here's a (bad quality) picture of my recovering bun. Note that the bucket didn't stop him from using my dining table as his bed!

LegacyUser

Awwwww -- the poor little fella!! He's certainly a lucky bun to have such a deligent and thoughtful owner!! Fair play - he looks pretty comfortable and cosy actually - all stretched out in true bunny style!

Sigma Force

Awww well he seems pretty laid back, your doing brilliant not all rabbit owners are so committed, it's great to see someone who is bonkers about bunnies
Keep up the good work

Dilly

Thanks for all the really nice comments guys - you should see me blushing!!

To be honest, it's very difficult not to be bonkers about bunnies when you experience the entertainment and love that one tiny bunny can bring into your life! My own little fellow likes nothing better than "grooming" me non-stop for hours. This mostly consists of licking every square inch of my face and nibbling my hair. If you have guests that don't understand animals it can be a bit of a distraction but I don't care because it means I've saved a fortune at the beautician on facials

I'm definitely a bunophile by now!!