WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NEUTERING / SPAYING RABBITS IN THE PHILIPPINES (22)

I've decided to share some of my experiences as rabbit owner (with 2 neuters & 3 spays).  It's not a lot, but probably one of the most you'll get from a non-vet.   Plus, I've supplemented my experience with a lot of reading and exchanging thoughts in international rabbit owner forums.

My objective here is to arm you, as rabbit owner, so that you know what to look for, what to expect and how to prepare when it comes to rabbit neutering / spaying in the Philippine setting.  This is not meant to be vet advice.  It is meant to arm you with the questions you need to ask.

1. Finding / engaging the vet

Easily one of the most challenging parts, there are not a lot of known rabbit vets in the Philippines.  Unless your vet is an experienced rabbit surgeon, don't have him perform the operation.

Once you've found a rabbit vet, have a discussion with him on what will happen, what drugs will be used, success rate, tests, among other things.  Discuss with him the contents of the succeeding numbers.  It will help you determine whether you will be comfortable with him doing the surgery.

For example, if his success rate is in the low 90s, you should have second thoughts.  For example, if he prescribes amoxicilin, you should have second thoughts. For example, if he doesn't display empathy to your rabbit, you shoud have second thoughts.  Clear enough?   Great.

2. Blood Test

Personally, I find this as a very telling step.  If the rabbit vet can't handle your rabbit well enough to extract blood efficiently, think again.

If he attempts to lift your rabbit by the ears, the scruff or some other disturbing way, find another vet.

Granted, extracting blood is not easy.  But if it takes 4-5 attempts, I woud just leave.

The blood test would generally check platelets, liver and kidney, among others.  The results should be available within an hour.

The blood test can cost you up to P3K

3. Pre-Operation Prep

Personally the first step for me is to bond with your rabbit.  Tell him that you love him and that he needs to be brave and strong.

Make sure your rabbit eats a lot before your vet trip.  If your vet tells you that your rabbit's tummy needs to be empty before a surgery, that's a red flag.  Rabbits should never fast.  In fact, before a surgery, I feed really good hay, lots and lots of pellets and bowls of veggies.  You'll see why in the post-op section.

In BSF, there are three injections given before the surgery: one that minimizes surgery side effects, and two that effectively knocks out your rabbit for the duration of the surgery.  Unfortunately, I don't have the names and dosages of those drugs.

Alternatively, your rabbit may get very minimal injected anesthetic but will be gassed during the surgery.

If your vet's plan is to gas the rabbit to sleep from the start, I personally won't be as comfortable since it takes time to work.

Once your rabbit is asleep, your vet will shave the fur around the surgery area.

4. Surgery

Neutering takes about 15-25 minutes.  Spaying takes about 30-40 minutes.

5. Post-Operation Care

Make sure you can be with your rabbit after the surgery.  There's usually a small recovery area with other pets.  Expect your rabbit to wake up as fast as 10 minutes after surgery.  Macky, however, took over an hour to wake up.  For about 1-2 hours after waking up, your rabbit will be extremely groggy.  He'll fall down, lie down in the most uncomfotable poses, and will keep trying and failing.

My rabbits are just in their carrier while recovering.  I make sure to put in a towel to cover the ears as these will be cold after a surgery. Just make sure they don't cover the face since your rabbit is still unable to move properly.

After about two hours, you should be able to go home.  There are a couple of drugs that you should expect to be prescribed after the surgery:

a) Oral Liquid Antibiotics -- Doxycycline and Baytril are okay.  Amoxicilin is not.  Could be for 7-14 days, twice a day.

b) Oral Liquid Pain Killers - Meloxicam for at least 5 days.  For a 2-kilo rabbit, expect something like 0.4-0.7 ml (1.5 ml / mg strength) twice a day.  Vets in the Philippines typically under dose so be wary about this.  Remember, a rabbit in pain won't eat.

c) Topical Antibiotics - This could be Hibiclens (chlorhexidine).  Better if sprayed rather than rubbed.  This is probably for 14 days

d) e-collar - I alway get prescribed, but I personally don't use.  There are rabbits that may tend to fiddle with their stitches.  That is extremely bad.  That's why the e-collars are recommended.  In my case, I just watch my rabbits non-stop and guide their face away from the surgery spot when they groom.

e) Benebac (probiotics) - I find this rarely prescribed, but it's a given that you should have this everytime you use antibiotics on your rabbits.

All in, with the blood test, medicine, and surgery a neuter might cost you P5K-P7K and a spay might cost your P8K-P10K.  However, this largely depends on which clinic you use.  I'm giving you the high-end estimate.

Once you get home, place your rabbit in his cage.  In my case, I remove completely cover the flooring with mats. I even remove the litter tray.  You want stuff soft to prevent your rabbit from hurting himself.  Keep the room quiet since your rabbit will be feeling awful.

You probably won't see your rabbit eat for many, many hours -- long enough that you'll get worried it's GI.  A female will react worse than a male.   In most cases, your rabbit will just be catatonic for hours in a chicken pose or likewise look uncomfortable.  Make sure he doesn't groom the surgery area by covering the part with your hard when he tries to groom and then gently turning his head away.

For the next couple of hours (next 24-48), you should also regularly try to feed him all his favorites.  In my case, I try kang kong, kamote leaves, basil, dill, oregano, mint, banana, pineapple and Oxbow Critical Care.   In the past surgeries, my rabbits have eaten almost exclusively dill on the first few days.  That's why for Macky & Violet's surgeries, I spent a month heavily watering my dill plants to make sure I have enough when surgery day came.

If you're like me, you may suck at giving medication too.  Instead of syringe feeding the medicine, I just place the medicine over dill in a bowl (yes, the dose won't be super precise, but at least you got your rabbit to drink).  Obviously the hardest will be the first 3 doses since your rabbit will probably not eat even veggies.  The only solution there is to keep trying (yes, I also try syringe medication -- sometimes it works).  This is also why for the first 2 days, I have heavy doses of pain killers.

Time the probiotics about 5-8 hours after the last antibiotic dose.

By the third day, you should see a dramatic improvement -- eating, flopping, etc.    Throughout the recovery period though, your pimary concern is that your rabbit eats and drinks.  In my case, it's about 95% veggies on day 1, 95% veggies on day 2, 60% veggies, 20% pellets, 20% hay on day 3 -- so on and so forth until your rabbit's diet normalizes.

Spraying the stitches on a daily basis is also a challenge.  For me, this is a two-man job.  You will keep your rabbit caged the entire week (yes, he will get so bored).  But to spray Hibiclens, I get him out on a tray.  I lift the tray and then my bunny's forelegs.  My wife will then spray generously.  To make sure you rabbit doesn't lick the medicine, I feed two bowls of veggies and a ton of pellets right after spaying to keep him preoccupied.  So you many want to time your feeding with the spray.

6. Post Operation Check-Up

After a week, you bring back your bunny to the vet so he can check the stitches and will give you continuing advice (I.e. continue or discontinue medication).

That's it! Hopefully this little piece helped you.  Just keep in mind, this is for your rabbit's health and love life (can't bond without fixing).

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RABBIT CARE IN THE PHILIPPINES: WHY SELF STUDY IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT (21)

A couple of days ago, our smores girl, Elin, hit me up saying that Mochi had an incident and showed me a picture of his wounded paw.

In an ideal scenario, here's what should have happened.  Give first aid by applying a weak betadine solution and then put Neosporin after the wound has been cleaned.  Depending on the time, you may or may not be able to find a rabbit vet.   In this particular case, the first aid should have been enough in the meantime.  Once in the vet, you should expect them to clean the wound and then apply topical antibiotics (like Neosporin).  If it looks worse, the vet might prescribe an oral anti biotic.  Finally, if it looks like the wound will become an abscess, expect instructions for daily flushing with saline solution.

What did happen is that the first vet just scraped the wound and asked her to continue applying betadine.  A day or two late, there was some discharge from the wound already.  She went to another vet, who then prescribed antibiotics and probiotics. To me, that was the more appropriate treatment.

So here's the main point of this article.  We know that there are just a handful of rabbit vets in the Philippines.  This makes it extremely important for us owners to read up constantly on various parts of rabbit care (diet, medication, first aid, etc).  For any scenario, it's important that we have some clue on how to administer first aid and secondly, what to expect from the vet.  By arming ourselves with a lot of knowledge, we will be able to ask better questions when we're getting our kids checked.  We would intuitively know if the vet is carrying the bunny wrong, or is not checking all the angles, or is prescribing the wrong medicine.

I'm not assuming that we'll ever be as knowledgeable as the vets but it's extremey important to have some fighting knowledge.  In Elin's case, it could've have saved her time and money if she had gotten the correct care that she needed on the first vet visit.

I've been meaning to write about this topic for a while now.  Elin's case just helped present it.  Hopefully this encourages us all to read up more (and watch videos).  It could literally be life and death knowledge.

Rabbit First Aid Kit
https://m.facebook.com/SaveRabbitsPH/posts/429342937446940

RABBIT FIRST AID IN THE PHILIPPINES: HELP MY RABBIT SURVIVE GI STASIS THROUGH THE NIGHT (19)

GI Stasis is one of the most common rabbit killers -- perhaps only next to baby rabbit diarrhea.

Has your rabbit been lethargic, ignoring hay, veggies, pellets and water?  Has been hunched in a corner?  Has had very few, small and deformed poop? Has been behaving very differently from what you're used to?

These are telltale signs of GI stasis.  You should make plans to bring your rabbit the moment the rabbit vet clinic opens.  Keep in mind that a rabbit is not like a human that can survive weeks of poor appetite.    You're not counting weeks; you're counting hours.

In the meantime, here is the first aid I do for my bunnies:

1) I check if the tummy is bloated (feels like a balloon).

2) Do tummy massages throughout the night.  I tend to do 30 minutes at a time and then let my bunny rest.  Watch Youtube videos on how this is done.

3) Give simethicone at 1 ML / hour for 3 hours via syringe (available in Mercury at about P100 / 10 ML)

4) If tummy is NOT bloated (or has subsided from #2 and #3), hydrate your bunny by force feeding Pedialyte and / or dextrose water.   In my case, it's been easier said than done so I can't really place a limit.  I only give as much as my rabbit lets me.  But just keep in mind that a rabbit can roughly finish a 200 ML drinking bottle in a day (give or take a few depending on the bunny).  Hydration is an urgent concern. 

5) If  tummy is NOT bloated, offer a variety of veggies almost constantly.  Different rabbits will respond to different veggies.  But more often than not, the fragrant ones win the day for me (cilantro, basil, and dill).   Simply putting a bowl in the cage or room is not enough.  Put the veggies in front of your bunny's face.

5.1) Mix the veggies with some Critical Care.  I've had zero luck feeding CC by itself, but good enough chance when I lace the veggies with CC.

6) Keep your rabbit warm.  I usually put a blanket.

7) Give gut motility drugs (metoclopramide & ranitidine).  I use the dosage prescribed by my vet beforehand.

8) Give pain killer (meloxicam).    I use the dosage prescribed by my vet beforehand.   Pain management is extremely important for GI stasis (i.e. they won't eat while in pain).

9) Give probiotics (benebac. NEVER dairy probiotics).  GI comes with a bacterial imbalance that needs to be corrected.

Once you get to the vet, I now always ask for a 100 cc hydration.  Without hydration, the poop in the tummy can harden, causing a blockage which will complicate matters even more.  Even simpler, dehydration can also kill your bunny really fast.   Aside from hydration, your vet can further assess the concern (i.e. is there excessive bacteria in the gut (for antibiotics), are dental issues causing the GI stasis).

Please don't make the mistake of NOT going to the vet.  You are risking you rabbit's life by doing that.  In fact, you may need to bring back your rabbit repeatedly, especially for hydration.

Disclaimer:  I'm not a vet.  I'm not an owner with 200 years of experience.  But I have faced GI stasis so many times this year and I've researched the first aid over and over.  And there's nothing I wouldn't do for my bunnies.    Please do your own research.   I'm merely telling you what has worked for me.

Good luck dear bunny owner!

Related:

First Aid Kit

Rabbit Vets in the Philippines

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RABBIT CARE IN THE PHILIPPINES 11 - RABBIT GI STASIS

GI Stasis is one of the common rabbit sicknesses and is also a very potent killer.  As a rabbit owner, you have to do all you can to prevent it (with a good diet!)  and then do all you can in first aid if your bunny does get it.  GI Stasis can kill in a matter of hours so you need to make sure that either you or someone you trust must be looking after your bunnies at all times.

Over the past three weeks, I've had 4-5 rabbit owners (mostly new) ask about it.  They usually don't know the name.  They just know the symptoms:

1) My bunny doesn't eat (hindi kumakain ang rabbit ko)
2) My bunny has small misshapen and soft poop (malambot ang pupu ng rabbit ko, walang pupu ang rabbit ko)
3) My bunny looks weak (matamlay ang rabbit ko)
4) My rabbit is in pain (parang nasasaktan ang rabbit ko)

Apart from those consultations, I am also part of several worldwide rabbit owners (not breeders!) groups and everyday someone will share that his bunny died because of GI Stasis.  It's really sad.

If you love your rabbit, you absolutely must invest in the first aid, especially for GI stasis: Pedialyte, Glucose Monohydrate, Simethicone, Gut Motility, and Pain Killer among others.   Even more important, be responsible enough to bring your rabbit to a rabbit savvy vet ASAP.  Read my post on Daisy's 4th GI Stasis attack.  It may help you in the future when you experience the same thing.

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RABBIT CARE IN THE PHILIPPINES 10 - RABBIT MEDICATION (PHILIPPINE SETTING)

I tried to consolidate the various rabbit medicine that I've collected over the years.  Hopefully it will provide you with an insight on how much you need to prepare (and spend) in order to keep your rabbits in great shape.  It's still best to go to the vet whenever your rabbits look sick.  Rabbits tend to hide their sicknesses well so you need to be observant.  Any deviation in behavior can mean that your rabbit is sick.

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SO YOU WANT TO GET A RABBIT 3 - Rabbit Medication

I don't promote self-medication at all.  In all the local rabbit FB groups, I keep seeing questions about what to give their rabbits if there's some condition or ailment.  I always reply, take your rabbit to a competent rabbit vet.

Most of the time, I see all sorts of recommendations and herbs and poultry medicine.  It's shocking how much tribal knowledge is going around.   My post though for the day is to just give you an idea as to what ailments rabbits may have when you get them (or may develop) so you'll have a better appreciation of bringing them to the vet right away and the costs that come with it.

I got Dexter as a healthy little boy (two years later the vet corrected that she's a girl).  At some point after her first year, she started losing her and developing crusts on her nose and then feet.  Poor girl.  Once we brought her to the vet, I found out she had mites (pretty close to full blown).  And so she was given a rabbit dose of Revolution.  The medicine, I understand from my readings was not really designed for bunnies, but works just as well.  However, it is commensurate to the weight of the rabbit so you can't just indiscriminately apply it.

I had to give her multiple doses over the past months, the succeeding ones to kill the eggs.  Since that time, I've given her quarterly doses for maintenance.  Since I also get my other bunnies treated, I haven't had another episode of mites in the past 1 1/2 years.  It's cool since it's also a de-worming agent.   And so far, I've had 0 side effects.  Rabbits are very prone to mites so make sure you bring your bunnies to a rabbit vet for check-up and application.  This is about P1-2K per quarter depending on the severity.

I got Lily as a scrawny little 2-month old runt.  After her first week, it became apparent that she couldn't balance herself because she had head tilt.  So small and so sickly.  I think partially because one eye was always near the ground, she also developed tearing of the eye.  It may be snuffles.  I still am not sure today.  She had lots of near death moments and I had to bring her to the vet over and over.  Ultimately she was treated and I have eye drops for her.  She still has a partial tilt up to today but since she's much fatter, she's able to carry the weight of her head without losing balance. I have eye drops.  I have glucose drops. I have critical care medicine.  That episode must have been worth P4K in a month.

I got Daisy as a year-old (allegedly) past mother.  She was also scrawny and looked terrible (matting all over the body).  Bioresearch definitely did not take care of her.  In fact, that's why we got her.  What we did find out after a few months (and we suspect it's from her) is that my bunnies had some fungus on their nails. (yep learned that from a vet too).  And so now we're applying fungus medicine regularly but it does take a while to remedy since bunnies aren't exactly cooperative when you fiddle with their nails.   To date, I'm still looking for an herbal solution.   That must be worth about P1K.

Just a few days ago (or has it been a week), we also got Ethan from Bioresearch for the same reason.  He looked forlorn and neglected.  I will stop passing by that place.   From his first trip to the vet, I found out that he had lice!  OMG.  So here we go again.  I needed a revolution round for all my rabbits (the maintenance dose will not do).   This will be another P3K by the time we're done.

I hope I've made my case to always bring your new bunnies to the vet for an initial check-up and regularly for follow-ups.  Make sure it's a rabbit competent one.  There are not a lot in the PH so please do your research.  We owe it to our bunnies.

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