Adhesions after Spaying - advice please

Hope was spayed in mid-December. Within 24 hours she was back at the vets as she was not eating. She was given pain relief and meds to help her gut, and was syring fed. She started eating / pooing within a couple of days.
However, on Christmas day she refused her supper, and hasn't eaten since other than syringe feeding.
Shes back on the meds.
The vet said it was adhesions - scar tissue from her spay wound, which has attached to her gut and is causing pain. I have been told she may not make it.
Does anyone here have experience of caring for rabbits with adhesions?
She is currently with Mike & Maysie at Tuckerbunnies, who are trying to help her. However, I have not had this in spayed rabbits before, and wondered if anyone here had experience of it, and any advice to offer?
Jan

I'm afraid I don't have any useful advice for you, but I didn't want to read and run

I so hope the Tucker Bunnies magic will work and she will be ok.

I'll be thinking of you guys x

I have no advice I'm afraid, but I know just how fabulous Mike and Maysie are and they wont give up without a fight.

Have you always used this vet to do spays? I was wondering if it was to do with their technique or ability to suture etc

X

No it is a new vet - only the 3rd spay I have had done there. And 2 castrations. The other 2 girls were fine. The 2 boys (neutered on same day as Hope) were fine after 24 hours.
Hopes' spay wound seemed bigger than I expected - about 2 inches - but has healed nicely.

Dotdot wrote:I have no advice I'm afraid, but I know just how fabulous Mike and Maysie are and they wont give up without a fight.

Have you always used this vet to do spays? I was wondering if it was to do with their technique or ability to suture etc X

It's probably more to do with the make up of the rabbit sadly, some are more susceptible to adhesions than others, though there is a drug (verapamil) that rabbits can be given to minimise the risk of adhesions forming.

The little I know/understand about adhesions is that it can be caused by any abdominal surgery and if a rabbit suffers from it each time you do further surgery it is likely to compound it. I've been told Artie has surgical adhesions after his kidney surgery in June and July. I don't know how the vets know (I keep meaning to ask), it's either from x-ray or when they opened him up in July they saw the adhesions created in June.

I was told he had them, after ringing vets concerned, when he had abdominal pain after eating a big pile of grass the day after he came home after having the kidney removed - and was told he was probably in pain because the adhesions were causing restriction to his gut. Apparently adhesions can carry on forming of just form a little and then not get any worse, there's no way of knowing. I *think* if they are really bad surgery can be performed (I'm guessing like cutting rubber bands or something but that's just how my mind plays it) but if you do surgery again then you risk making it worse. Apparently a drug, verapamil can be given during any abdominal surgery to make adhesions less likely to happen but this drug is contraindicated when doing kidney surgery, so Artie wouldn't have been given it.... however, I suppose that makes the prognosis reasonable for *maybe* releasing bad adhesions if it's known to be just one area causing the problem.

I've no idea if Artie's adhesions have stopped forming but he's had two bouts of stasis since July, one was put down to recurrent bladder problems, the other was gut problems but adhesions weren't mentioned as a possible trigger.

Poor Hope, I hope she manages to recover.


I pinched the link below from a discussion elsewhere, goes over my head but might be of interest.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2296179

Big Ears wrote:I pinched the link below from a discussion elsewhere, goes over my head but might be of interest.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2296179

That link was very interesting. I saw the drug name Verapamil and my ears perked up. That is a drug we would give patients with high blood pressure and angina. It is also used sometimes for cluster headaches, migraines and several other things.

I know how it works in humans...but on the surface has no connection to how it works in rabbits. In humans it can be used as part of a chemotherapy treatment that helps the cell's membrane resist an influx of calcium ions thereby slowing of tumor growth. Adhesions are not tumors per se, but are similar in that they are both abnormal, usually fast growing tissue.

Does what I said make sense? Hubby just looked at me and said "What?"

I hope your little one gets better soon. It is so kind of Mike and Maysie to take care of Hope until she is better.

Hugs for you and very gentle butterfly nose rubs for Hope.