newbie

Question
Hi,

First of all I would like introduce myself, as I am sure I will be asking more questions in the future. I have 6 rabbits (!!!) - one mini rex, two lionheads, one holland lop, and two that I don't know what they are. They are my babies and I love them to pieces. We just got them all fixed last week, so I realize we will have to wait a while to bond them.

My questions are: how long is the recovery time for females after being spayed? My vet did not provide any info on this. I've read 3 weeks, but I was wondering if I could let them out of their cages any, or if I should keep them in their seperate cages until they are healed.

Also, one several of my rabbits love to eat paper. They love to play with it and eat it. They have plenty of toys in their cages, so I'm not sure why they do this. One of them eats the plastic off of her litter box. She also bites the bars of her cage. Should I take the litterbox out? Why does she do this? I am concerned about her stomach and don't know what to do..

Sorry, last question! I have had my holland lop for 3 weeks now, and as long as I have had him he has pooped some slighty soft, big poops. I describe them as "slug poops" because they look a bit like slugs. They are not runny. He also poops regular pellets, however. Should I be concerned and take him to a good vet?

Thank you very much for your time! I think you guys are doing a great job! :)

Hillary

Answer
Hi Hillary,

recovery times for females: your vet should have said a couple weeks.  The first week they should not be allowed to do jumping or full-out running.  The males, too.  Don't want any internal stitching (or external) to pop.  For us that meant leaving our boy in his cage for the first week.  He was stir crazy and we gave him a lot of attention to compensate for no outside the house time.

When you do lte them out, break up their normal runs where they go real fast by putting a temporary object (or 2) in the normal pathway.  That way they can't get up to full speed.

Paper: as long as it doesn't have synthetic inks on it, and they aren't eating a huge quantity of it (ie preferring it over hay), it should be okay.  It's wood pulp, and they do eat bark in the wild.  Have you tried natural wood chew toys with these guys?  Just even take a piece of untreated pine wood and put a little vegetable (corn) oil on it and see if they like that.  Some guys eat paper because they are bored.  Hopefully later on when they are all recovered he may be one that enjoys a companion bunny.  I'd go to the House Rabbit Society web site and search on "bonding" - you'll get a lot of articles you can print out and keep about bonding.

Eating litterbox rim: a hobby, bored?  Biting bars is common. Nervous energy, or perhaps expressing a desire to be out of the cage.  If you are finding plastic parts after she is done nibbling the litterpan, she's not eating them and that's okay.  Does she do this when in the box, or outside of it?  If inside, make sure she has hay around to eat when in/using the box.  If it does appear she's eating it, you can try putting a bitter coating around the rim (bitter apple, etc) and see if that works.  Or you can make temporary (disposable) litterpans out of carboard boxes (to fit the space) and after a few days replace with a different one.  See how it goes with that.

Soft fecal poops: I would probably cut his greens down a bit and up his hay.  you can also give him small pieces of hay cubes.  He may have a condition where the gi tract doesn't work fully properly and sometimes produces these soft poops.  I believe it's referred to as 'cowpile syndrome'. Either that or he's drinking fine but not eating enough fiber (hay) and soft poops are the result.  You can also give him some digestive enzymes like acidophilus and lactobacillus to help fortify his good gut bacteria.  

Anytime you are concerned about a health problem, you should take any of your guys to a vet.  Especially if you think it's a condition that could spread between rabbits.  Since prey animals like rabbits mask their illness/injuries, usually by the time you pick up that there's a problem, it's been around for awhile already and may be more serious that you would think.  Read my closing kicker paragraph for those times when you don't wait for an answer, you just go to the vet.

Lee