Baby's first doctor appointment

[babymommy]

ok, so I'm a officially a worriedmommy. I thought I had heard Baby sneeze a couple of timesthis week, but I wasn't sure. It was confirmed lastnight. I then noticed when I was petting her, that one sideof her nose appeared to be slightly runny. Not visiblynoticable, but noticable to the touch. I also could here herbreathing like she was a little stuffy.

She's acting fine. She's eating, sleeping, playing, pottying,all that stuff is fine. In fact she's being more affectionatethan ususal and for two days when i let her out, she's right underneathme and if I stop she starts making circles around me.

I just made her an appointment for this Thursday morning @ 9:00. That's the first thing they had.

She's never made a car trip and her vet is 30-45 minutes fromhome. Any suggestions on making her car trip a comfortableone?

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Babymommy,

You're very wise to get Baby to the vet's right away. Bettersafe than sorry. I'll pray for it to be allergies or youbeing very protective, but the sooner you catch this, the better.

As for the car ride, I'd just put her toys in there and talk to heralong the way. She'll be fine, but probably a bitnervous. Some rabbits do well in cars, others hateit. Perhaps Baby will be one that does well.

You might try turning on a classical station or some music on a volume of low, to help soothe her.

Will be thinking and praying for you, Babymommy. Keep us posted.

-Carolyn

 

[babymommy]

Thank you for you encouragement. I gotup a couple of times last night just to check on her and she waslooking at me, like, What? And "Well, if you're up, why don'tyou let me out and we can play"

 

[Carolyn]

I, too, have gotten up during the night to checkon my babies if I suspect something's wrong. Try to thinkpositively. Sounds like you're catching it very early if itis a problem, but at this point, I'm going to keep thinking it's justallergies.

Chin up! It's a good to know that the little one is acting normally otherwise.

-Carolyn

 

[babymommy]

Thanks again. By the way, what's thebest type of litter for her litter box? My daughter and Iwere trying to pick one out this weekend and couldn't decide.I told her I would post it on the board, and she called me anerd. Lucky for her, she took the comment back.

 

[pamnock]

A couple little sneezes and some clear dischargeare not unusual, especially during the weather changes we've beenhaving. In many cases, it does not indicate the most serioussenerio, Pasteurella.

I agree with Carolyn that it's wise to have it checked outthough. I would recommend a blood test over the less accuratenasal swab. Unless there are gobs of snot, a nasal swabprobably won't reveal anything. Putting the rabbit on anantibiotic without positively identifying a pathogen is notrecommended, as differentpathogens require differenttreatment.



Pam

 

[babymommy]

Thank you Pamnock. I was glad to see both you and Carolyn were online this morning.

I'm hoping for allergies. I'll keep your comments in mind onThursday. I do feel good that the vet I'm taking her to is onthe Rabbit Society list.

 

[Carolyn]

I'll say some prayers for your littleone. Try not to get yourself worked up until you know what'sgoing on. As Pam said, it's not a given that your little onehas the worst case scenario going on. It's hard to controlour thinking when we're worried, but just try to keep a positive frameof mind.

I have to take my little girl into the vet's tonight and I'm a bitnervous about it, so I'm telling you something that I'm trying topractice myself at this moment.



-Carolyn

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Babymommy,

As to the litter question, you definitely don't want to use cedarshaving as when mixed with rabbit urine, the fumes can be toxic to therabbit. Cat litter, as long as the rabbit doesn't come in contact withit, (example: is in a wire-bottom cage) is fine, however, the dust thatcomes out of it when poured into the pan could cause trouble for Baby.It's recommended to pour the cat litter in the pan in a different roomfrom your rabbit so that you don't have any trouble. You also don'twant to use cat litter in litterboxes or where they would step into itbecause it can get stuck between their paws and if ingested, causesproblems.

All else seem to be fine as long as you keep the litter dry so that therabbit doesn't have to sit in soiled litter because that could causetrouble for them as well.

Personally, I use a product called WoodyPet, which is an animal beddingcomprised of wood pellets. Buck Jones told me about it and you can getit from a TSC (Tractor Supply Company store) or query their website:woodypet.com to find a place that sells it near you. I used to useYesterday's News, which I liked very much, but WoodyPet issignificantly cheaper.


-Carolyn