Bladder Sludge (Resolved)

[Amy27]

I agree with Flashy, I would take her to the emergency vet.

 

[pla725]

I concur.

Where are you located? Perhaps someone in your area can direct you to an emergency clinic.

 

[Maureen Las]

If you post your location we can give you our list of vets for your area/

What's going on there? How is she?

 

[tazzychan]

Hey all

I didnt take her to the emergency vet, because I think a trip to the doctor really stresses her out. She seems a little bit better. She is eatting a bit of hay and veg and she drinks water when I give it to her, but her poos are very tiny and few.She keeps lying down, so I think maybe her feet or something is still giving her pain. We have an appointment with the vet again tommorrow, but I am worried about the trip there, I think going to see the vet really stresses her out and she might get a lot worse.

 

[Maureen Las]

Is their any way that you can get her to the vet today. She may not be eating well and/or having GI problems because she is in pain.

Possibly you can just pick up pain meds from your vet today if you cannot take her in.
Right now make sure that she is getting additional fluids if possible . You could place a little juice in her water to make it tastier. maybe even syringe her somepedialyte (electrolyte drink for infants and children)or water.
In 24 hours her GI system may already be shut down

 

[tonyshuman]

Another thing you can syringe is pellets soaked in water (let them soak at least 10 min). This is a bit like Critical Care. Baby food can also be syringed to them, but it has a lot of sugar which is bad for proper GI function.

She may need more pain meds, although you mentioned anti-inflammatories before, which I would guess is Metacam (meloxicam), which is somewhat like advil for bunnies. She may need something stronger, like buprenorphine or tramadol. It is possible that she could have bladder stones in addition to sludge and passing a stone is very painful for her. Of course, more water and pedialyte should help.

 

[tazzychan]

Hey All

I think she is doing better today. She is eatting all the vegetables I give herandoccasionally she will graze at the hay. She is not grinding her teeth as severly now, the past two daysshe would grind her teeth very loud throughout the day, but today she does it once in a while and looks more relaxed sitting on the floor and will ocassionally get up to groom herself.Her peed todaydoesn't look bloody but a yellow colour and more liquid. I dont think she has a bladder stone because the doctor did two x-rays and didntmenstion anything about a bladder stone. I think her main pain is from gas from not eatting when she was in the animal hospital becuase she was really stressed out when she was there and didnt eat anything.

Hopefully she will continue to improve slowly.

 

[tazzychan]

Hey all

Tazzy just came back from the vet and we got a change in her medication. The doctor gave her sub-q fluids again, and she got her pain medication, Metacam, but he switched the antibiotics to Novotrimel. Has anyone have any experience with this antibiotic, is it better than baytril???

 

[tonyshuman]

Antibiotics are able to kill a very specific set of bacteria. There are some that kill many different kinds (broad-spectrum antibiotics) and some that only kill a few specific kinds. Frequently, broad-spectrum antibiotics are used if the prescriber doesn't know what the bacteria is or what it is sensitive to. A more specific antibiotic is going to kill the bacteria more rapidly and there is less likelihood that the bacteria will develop resistance to it, usually. So there really isn't a single antibiotic that is better than another in all cases.

Novo-trimel is a sulfonamide antibiotic. This is one of the oldest classes of antibiotics, and I would call it a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Many bacteria have evolved resistance to the majority of sulfonamide drugs.

Baytril is a fluoroquinolone, which is newer but still a broad-spectrum antibiotic. It is frequently given as a catch-all drug for animals when the exact bacterium causing the infection isn't known.

I don't have first-hand knowledge of these antibiotics, and what is best for what type of infection, but I know that the vet can do a culture and sensitivity test if you cannot find an antibiotic that seems to work. In this kind of test, they take urine and attempt to grow the bacteria present in it on a petri dish. They then try to kill the bacteria with several different kinds of antibiotics. This way they will know best which antibiotic is the best one to use. For rabbits, who have a limited number of antibiotics that can be taken orally (penicillins and amoxicillin can be given only as injections), a culture and sensitivity test is a lot more common. I would ask for it the next time you go to the vet. It is possible that novo-trimel will work, and you won't have to go back. If it doesn't work, or you go back because of other problems, ask for a culture and sensitivity test.

 

[tazzychan]

They did a culture and sensitivity test and nothing grew, mainly because they couldnt get a large enough urine sample from her. I think I am just going to leave her on the baytril since she has already been on it for a week now. They decided to switch it to Novotrimel because they thought that the Baytrilmight beupsetting her stomach, but the past two days she has been eatting a bit more so I think she just needs time and developed alot of gas from being in the hospital when she didn;t eat at all.

Thanks forthe info it really helped.

 

[tazzychan]

Hi everyone

My bunny Tazzy is actually doing a lot better now, she is finally eatting a lot on her own and is pooing nice big fat poos. However, we have now run into another problem. Since her stomach is starting to feel better and she is moving around a bit more I noticed that she is limping on her left foot mainly not wanting to put that much pressure on one of her hind legs. I didnt notice it when we first got home because all she ever did was lie down. I looked at the bottom of her feet and on one of her feet the hair is really thin and it looks very pink. So I am guessing that she has now developed sore hocks. We are going back to the vet tommorrow to get that checked out. I think she developed it when she was in the hospital because she peed so much from the fluids they were giving her and I am guessing that they didnt really clean the cages very often and she sat in the wet litter for a long periods of time because when we bought her back from the hospital her bum and feet were all wet. I hope she bounces back from this aliment too because she is such a trooper and looks so much better then the first day I bought her back from the hospital.

 

[tonyshuman]

I am worried to hear that she has a hind leg immobility problem. Bladder issues combined with hind leg mobility issues can be a sign of encephalitozoon cuniculi. http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=14471&forum_id=10 This is a very serious problem, but it can be treated. Ask your vet if he has heard of it.

 

[tazzychan]

Hi

She only has a problem withher left foot and I do see like a sore on the bottom of that foot, the fur is missing and it is really pink. I feel like she had a bladder sludge issue and then developed sore hock while at the hospital because before we went into the hospital she had bladder problems but her hopping and mobility was great. She seems to only have problems when she puts too much pressure on that foot and not a balance issue.

 

[Maureen Las]

You can treat the sore hock by putting a small amount of bag balm (which is sold at drugstores, farm stores and misc. other places ) on the sore daily and rubbing it in

 

[tazzychan]

What type of litter should I use for her litter tray?? I usually used recycled newspaper but that proves to be too painful for her to stand in. I then went out and bought the Care Fresh litter which is softer, but she loves eatting it which isnt good.

Can you use bag balm and then after that I apply the New SKin oitment over that?

I feel like such a terrible mother because I can't get her to hold still when I am adding the otiment, after I add it she stands up which I am afraid would just cause it to be wiped onto the carpet.

How does the sore hock heal??? Does the callouse get tougher and doesnt hurt when she puts pressure on it or does it heal when her fur on the bottom of the feet grows back?

 

[Maureen Las]

I have to think about the litter; I had rabbits that ate carefresh too so I had to change it...

carefresh would have been the softest

It would heal when the callused area was no longer red and inflamed. Eventually the fur would grow back although I have a rabbit that occasionally gets sore hocks and calluses remain but are only sore when they are pink or red

it's possible that you could bandage it
take a look at this link and see if anything in here helps you

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11953&forum_id=10

If notI know we have an old thread on Bo bunny making an effective kind of wrap on her rabbits foot
I would have to look for the thread.
I'm sorry that your bunny is having so many problems

 

[Maureen Las]

I forgot to mention thatI did not know that you planned on using New Skin.
Read the directions asI don't think anything should go under it.
Who suggested it? ;I don't know if I've heard of it being used for that condition before :expressionless

 

[tonyshuman]

I don't think New Skin would work well. Most of the Bag Balm gets absorbed pretty quickly. I've put it on and then let them run around immediately and it helps. Good to hear you think it's just a sore hock, however my guys have never shown that a sore hock causes them to alter their gait.

 

[tazzychan]

Another question, so when your bunnies got sore hock it never caused them to limp?? You never saw them not want to put pressure on the foot with sore hock?

I think I am only going to use the Bag Balm and not New Skin. I really dont know what else to do about her. I took her to the vet three times already and they keep telling me that she is ok and I am over reacting.

All she does it lye down all day, I learned thatdoesn't have urinary incontinence because she will only pee now in her litter but she doesnt like to go in there anymore because the litter hurts her foot.

 

[tonyshuman]

No, actually they haven't shown a desire not to put pressure on it. However, the ones that got it had it on both heels, and they generally scuttle around so fast it's hard to tell if they're limping. It didn't bother them when I touched the sore hocks, but they weren't bleeding either--I've seen pics of much worse sore hock.

Care Fresh would be the best litter for sore feet, especially Care Fresh Ultra (white). However, like you said, eating it is not good. I don't know what you can do for that because the way I deal with bunnies who eat litter is to put a grate in the litter pan, which wouldn't work with the sore hock. Perhaps putting a nice layer of hay over the recycled newspaper bedding will make it softer, or putting a layer of CareFresh on top of the recycled newspaper bedding?