Thanks for Everything!

Question

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The text above is a follow-up to ...
Hi. Thank-you for your concern. Well, I didn't call the vet at least not yet because after I came home from school today, Kurly was walking around in his cage and playing with his toys and everything was good. He does rest alot but I think he'll be back to himself in no time. He eats his hay and raisins and water and chews on his wood block but no pellets yet. He uses his litterbox now, which is amazing!!! But he has diarrhea. I'm not sure if this is suppose to happen because he did drink alot of water (but shouldn't he pee alot not have diarrhea?) Umm. His stitches are still reddish-purplish. But he moves alot more now.

(He likes standing up to look for his little girlfriend in her cage next door now.LOL.)



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Thank-you for replying back quickly. I asked the vet about the pain meds but they said he wouldn't need any. Last night I gave him like 5 more raisins and plenty of hay and pellets near his bed but he didn't eat any. I didn't put the water bowl near his bed because I thought he might knock it over while he was sleeping. This morning I went to check on him and he was still in his bed (ALIVE DON'T WORRY!) and his food bowl was knocked over (not sure if he ate any though) and I moved the water bowl closer and he drank like a camel! One thing that seemed odd though was that there was no poop or pee... My rabbit came back at 6:00 last night and now it's 7:25 (morning)more than twelve hours and nothing no poop or pee. Is this suppose to be normal?


I checked his stitch area and it was still reddish-purplish but no blood on the bed or anything. He didn't move much until I put a towel on his head than he began to nibble on the towel and fix the bed up by digging at it.
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HELLO! REMEMBER ME? LOL. WELL, KURLY JUST CAME BACK FROM HIS BIG OPERATION AND HE'S DOING FINE. HE'S OUTSIDE RESTING IN HIS CONDO. I WANTED HIM TO SLEEP INSIDE BUT HE GETS SCARED OF LOUD NOISES AND STUFF SO I THOUGHT OUTSIDE WOULD BE BETTER WHERE IT'S MORE CALM AND QUIET. I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO LIMIT HIS HOUSE TO ONLY ONE LEVEL BY CUTTING UP THE CABLE TIES THAT HELD THE OTHER LEVELS. SO YEAH, EVERYTHINGS SMOOTH SAILING JUST THOUGHT I MIGHT UPDATE YOU. HE DIDN'T EAT HIS NORMAL PELLETS OR HAY BUT WHEN I OFFERED HIM A RAISIN HIS EYES WENT 0_0 AND HE GULPED IT DOWN SO I GAVE HIM THREE MORE. THANK-YOU FOR EVERYTHING!

any tips on a faster or better recovery would be appreciated!
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Hi Vanessa,

how could I forget you?  You ask a lot of good questions.

I am very glad to hear your bunny boy did well through his procedure.  I am also glad that one of his favorite foods was able to get him eating again.  Don't worry, he'll start eating the hay and pellets when he gets hungry tonite or this morning.  

For recovery:  just watch carefully for unusual swelling, redness or a little blood on his bedding in case there is something that he may need to have the vet look at and possibly deal with.  Your vet should have mentioned to you about restricting his movements (no full speed running, and no big jumps or hopping onto couches, etc) for a week or so.  You can't stop him from doing it, but I'd probably limit him to his house for at least the first few days.

Make sure he's got plenty of fresh water and good amounts of hay.  Make sure nobody forgets to give him his pain meds and post-op antibiotics until both are gone.  Give them in the correct amounts.

Make sure he's warm enough, I don't know exactly where you are, but outside is very cold where I am.

Give him lots of pets and soothing talk and praise him for being a good brave boy.  Other than that, I think you should have him back to normal in no time.

Be aware, because of the pain meds, he will feel like he is 100% by day 3 or 4, but he will not be.  He'll want to run faster than he should and jump when he shouldn't be.  Try to keep him from being able to run full speed by breaking up his long runs with pillows or ottomans or yourself laying on the floor so he can't get up to full speed.

Lee
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Hi Vanesssa,

from your vet's answer, it is clear he is not a very rabbit-savvy vet.  Any rabbit vet worth their salt will give pain meds to rabbits after surgical procedures to ensure that they are not in pain because if they are in pain, they will not eat.  The fact your boy doesn't want to move much, but when you bring him water he drinks, is indication that he is in pain and doesn't want to move to eat or drink or do anything else.  

The fact he hasn't gone to the bathroom may not be a big problem as he didn't eat much or drink much (so there may not be anything to do).  However this also confirms he's in pain, in my opinion.  

I'd get on the phone (or your parents) and get on the phone to the vet and tell him his lack of movement, eating or drinking on his own, are classic indicators of a rabbit being in pain after a procedure and that you would like him to be prescribed pain meds (like metacam) for a few days.  All good rabbit vets prescribe pain meds after surgeries unless there is a specific reason for that particular rabbit.  

If your vet won't do it, never use him again and start looking for another vet right away.  I would check the House Rabbit Society web pages (www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html) for recommended rabbit vets.  These vets would understand that rabbits react differently to pain than dogs and cats and recognize that it is a big deal because it can affect their eating and turn into a big problem quickly with rabbits.

IN the meantime, keep bringing him pellets and food to him, and bringing over water to him if he feels like he can't move yet.  Do this every hour or so.  As he is not moving around normally, I'd cut his greens and fruits off for now (could cause gas problems) and if you can hold him a little, if you can do a little, gentle tummy rub on him to prevent gas buildup, that would be good.  If you have baby gas drops in your house you can give him one or two full droppers a day as a preventative step to painful gas buildup.

But I'd get back on the phone with the vet and tell him he is in pain by his behavior and that he needs pain meds in order to feel good enough to eat and move around.  If he won't get to another vet that understands rabbits require pain meds after operations in order to function normally without pain and to get them through the next few days after surgery until the pain is low or gone.

Lee

PS - It sounds like the stitches are fine and no bleeding internally, and nothing is pooling anywhere, which is good.

Answer
Hi Vanessa,

until he starts eating more hay and solids, his fecal pellets will be runnier/softer.  Having his gut not processing normally for such a long time will require a few days to get back to normal.  You could always try to give him a small amount of alfalfa hay (it does come in small bags at pet supply stores) to entice him to eat some hay, because without it, he will have a hard time getting solid fecal pellets again.  Their fecal pellets are normally about 95% hay.  So no hay, diarrhea/runny pellets.

You can also give him pieces of hay cubes too in order to get some fiber in him.

I am glad to hear he is up and about.  He sounds like he is feeling a little better.

Lee