Well, here’s a saga and a half. At the end of September, I took Coffee into the Williamstown Bird and Exotic Animal Clinic to get his worms looked at and get his preliminary check up for desexing done. You’ll find that information in the Coffee Spreads Poops Everywhere post. The vet told me that I had to book him in 4-6 weeks after the preliminary checkup to get him desexed. Which I thought was a bit dumb at the time, because they really could do it sooner, but hey what do I know, right?

Anyway, I called them to book an appointment to get him done. I could only make the appointment after the 15th of November, because that’s when my work finishes up. Here’s the phone call transcript:

Me: “Hi, I want to book Coffee in for desex, but it has to be after the 15th of November because I can’t take time off work.”

Nurse on the phone:“Oh, OK. We usually book them in 4 weeks after the preliminary exam, so that might be a bit late.”

Me:“That’s not what I was told. The vet who saw him said it could be up to 6 weeks.”

Nurse:“No. Sorry. That’s not right.”

Me:“What do you mean?”

Nurse: “Look, I’ll ask the vet. She just finished an appointment.”

Me: “Thanks.”

3 minutes later…

Nurse:“She said it could be be 6 weeks.”

Me: *fed up* “That’s great, can we make a booking?”

Nurse: “We can book him in on the 8th.”

Me:“I can’t do the 8th, I have to work.”

Nurse:“You can drop him off the night before.”

Me: “And how is that going to help me?”

Nurse: “Then you can pick him up after his operation.”

Me:“And what does it cost for an overnight stay?”

Nurse:“$60”

Me: “Really? Can we choose another time? Maybe a weekend?”

Nurse:*sighing* “We can book him in on Saturday the 9th.”

Me:“OK, that’s fine. Being a Saturday, does that cost more?”

Nurse:“Yes. It will be another $80 on top of the price.”

Me:*frustrated* “Whatever. Book him in.”

Nurse: “I’ll book him in for another preliminary exam.”

Me:“What?!”

Nurse: “It’s 2 days over the 6 week mark, that means he will need another checkup first before we proceed.”

Me:“So you’re telling me I have to spend another $120 to get him looked at to get the OK to proceed? And because it’s a Saturday it’s another $80. Then I’ll have to pay around $600 for his desex. That’s ridiculous.”

Nurse:“Yes, that is correct.”

Me:“What?! Look, forget it, I’ll go somewhere else. This is ridiculous.”

Nurse: “I’ll see what I can do.”

Me:“Forget it. Bye.”

I was so frustrated. What is a couple of days? It’s not like Coffee is going to change weight or size in that time, he’s 6 months old, a fully grown rabbit.

So, I went back to my old haunt, Our Vet. They always seem to do a great job with rabbit desexes. I phoned the local one but they didn’t do rabbits. The girl on the end of the phone said that the Point Cook one did, and also BEAC. I scoffed at her mentioning BEAC, because that’s where the “2 days” suddenly mattered. The girl on the end of the phone got put out when I scoffed and suddenly became short and quite rude.

I phoned the Point Cook Our Vet. They were lovely. I can’t praise their customer service enough. Of course Coffee had to go in for a prelim consultation. I asked the nurse how long after the consultation will I have to wait to get him done. She said, “Oh it could be the next day if you want.”

Now, because my work arrangements suddenly changed due to the school deciding to take the Friday before the Melbourne Cup long weekend off, and also the Monday before the Cup, making it a 5 day weekend, I was able to book him in on Monday 28th October for his consultation, and his desex on the 4th November.

The vet was lovely. She checked him over and he was right to go for Monday. I dropped him off at 9:00am, and picked him up at 3:30pm.

The surgeon came out and explained the usual:

• He might get swelling, which is not unusual
• He may not eat or drink, if he doesn’t within 12 hours take him to Greencross because it’s an emergency, and because it was a Public Holiday on the Tuesday, Greencross would be the only operating vet in the area
• Give him the meds once a day
• Keep him warm because the anaesthetic makes their body temperature drop

Critical Care is progressively more difficult to get, so she gave me 3 tablespoons of it in a ziplock bag.

This was the first time I actually got the proper vial of Meloxicam, usually it’s in a replacement bottle. She gave me another syringe to use because I had to give Coffee 1.5ml of the meds a day. The syringe that came with the meds (shown in the photo) could get confusing.

She said that he took a long time to wake up after the operation, and he is still very dopey. He started to eat some of the lettuce I provided, which gave him the all clear to be able to go home with me.

I cuddled him a lot when we got home. He didn’t fully waken until about 7pm. Then he was back to his normal self. Eating, drinking (lots and lots of water), pooping… I celebrated each of his milestones. It was as if he didn’t even notice his “honkers” were gone (that’s what the vet called them in his consultation).

He was booked in to return to the vet for a checkup at 10am on Thursday 7th Nov.