Hello bunny people, I seek your wisdom.
My bun just got spayed this week, and it’s now been 72 hrs since her operation.
I still have some meds left to give her, but it’s honestly been stressful for us both even at the easiest of times. I’ve tried mixing the meds with other treats for a less invasive approach but she would only eat some of it then snub the rest. When I bun-rito her, I can get it down but she struggles a lot and it clearly stresses and exhausts her and she then slows down on eating and moving around.
Despite this, I’ve managed to medicate her the past couple days fairly successfully.
Now she’s been feeling better, her attempts to escape yesterday won her a bit more space (from fear she’d injure herself worse trying to get out). She’s been moving around, eating, flopping and binkying more since yesterday.
Her appetite is mostly back to normal, and she’s pooping/peeing. Maybe not as much as normal but increasing daily.
Her incision site is clean, dry and has no signs of infection. She did nibble away her stitches but the vet did surgical glue too so it’s well sealed.
So my question is:
Did you administer all the meds to your bun as prescribed, or did you make a judgement call at some point to stop giving the meds and monitor whether they continue to improve?
Given how my bun is acting, I’m leaning towards stopping all remaining meds now. The stress of it seems to affect her more than her apparent need for pain killers.
by NPC-Operator
9 Comments
this is a question for your vet
I administered until the surgical wound was healed cleanly. Mine stopped critical care maybe 3 days after she got home and went back to normal fill appetite by day 7.
If she’s increasing in consumption then she’s okay. Is she drinking plenty of water?
I stopped a bit early, I guess because I don’t remember giving her meds after day one. She was so groggy it scared me and I took her back to the vet. But she started waking up after that and ate some hay and I was “alright she’s fine”. The only thing I was really serious about was making sure she was locked in a small box area so she couldn’t hop right after or move a lot. About three days i started letting her move around more normally. By a week she seemed totally fine.
Edit: agreed about asking the vet. I gave her critical care for at least two full days after, maybe three.
Keep giving her them, if they are painkillers they’re probably why shes acting relatively normal. Try malte paste(if they sell it in your country, it can sometimes be called maltz paste). When i guve my girl any meds i put the malte paste at the tip of and around the mouth of the syringe and while she’s licking it i tried to push out the medication as fast as possible without any spills. This worked amazingly when first introducing my girl to medication and now she loves medication and starts biting the syring if im not quick enough😅😅.
A little dark for sure but again, went back to normal quick
Our vet says: give painkillers for 5 days. If the bunny let’s you. If they get too feisty, it’s good news. Most owners manage 3 days.
My girl bun was a trooper, her temp didn’t drop, she didn’t need critical care since she ate 1 hour after her operation and kept on eating. She’s a quick healer so yeah, we managed 3 days 😓
One of my girls was particularly horrible with this. She struggled to a point where I was worried about her busting her stitches open, so she only got a couple of days worth. I hated that I couldn’t give it to her, but it just wasn’t worth the risk.
My bunny was very similar. Handling her did not help and it only stood to hurt her. Since she had appetite I did not give critical care. I did give her meds spread through veggies and fruits. The antibiotics should be given for the full course, that’s one thing you don’t want to mess around with. Now the pain ones are a little better easier because it’s more about how she’s feeling, though I’m assuming it’s Meloxicam and it will help with inflammation from the surgery.
Honestly the answer is no. Do not stop it early. Do continue trying to mix it in with her veggies. If where you live you have access to fresh cut grass/hay that’s a great option. Do little sprinkles throughout the treats so she doesn’t notice it as much. So a couple of dops on a parsley another couple drops on a leafy green; the meloxicam specifically should be very easy to spread out. The antibiotic will likely be more difficult. I had luck putting it inside of a banana. I will carved a relatively large chunk to be honest, and I created a little boat with the banana and then put the medication inside and sometimes I would try to cover that hole with the piece of banana that I curved out. She would not eat the whole treat right away so yes there was a little bit of a lag in the administration, but by the end of the day she took all the medication that was she was supposed to take.
I would say that it’s better to have inconsistent administration than no administration at all you don’t want to have a infection of the incision site and you don’t want her to be in so much pain that she stops eating or tries to nibble on the incisions. Trust me when I say that I know how you’re feeling because I also have a fighting bunny. However I had to learn the hard way that we must put our emotions aside and think critically about their care. Since she has a decision try finding workarounds so that you don’t risk ripping her open, but don’t keep medication from her because doing so can actually harm her in the long term.
So just a general update in case anyone is curious…
I did cut down on the pain meds for a bit because the struggle was intense and she was already flying around the space she has. She seemed alright with this (or at least grateful to not be manhandled anymore) and continued to eat and potty and beg us for treats and affection.
Once I got hold of some ‘nanas and mushed them up (with a blueberry!), this made the ultimate med mix for the little bit of anti inflammatories she still should be on. She doesn’t seem to need them based on her overall behavior, but now that it’s easy I’m offering them up on the dot.
Did contact the vet with an update (as this was always part of the plan), and also explained my thinking. Got the all clear and was told she’s looking great.
Little girl is back to her usual self, licking my knee as I type this.