Freya is hospitalized

[Space Monkey]

She was finally spayed yesterday morning. All of her pre-op health checks were perfect. She is 4.4lbs (her breed tops out at 4.5lbs), all of her blood work is perfect, her organs are great, etc. The vet is rabbit savvy, with 6 exotic doctors specializing in different things, the only vet in the state registered for exotic animals. They see many rabbits and do many spays and neuters. This should have gone well.

Freya was slow waking up and needed to be hand fed. She completely disallowed this after the first time, and was sitting at nearly 24 hours of refusing food and water and wouldn't come out of her box on her own. In my opinion she should have never come home. Now she's hospitalized for the weekend and the vet is having trouble with her too. I'm sick to my stomach with worry. All I can do is pray she makes it. I feel so bad because one day she was in perfect health, and then I betrayed her to the people with the knife and now she's not.

 

[White Rabbit]

Im sorry to read that, your vet never should have sent home an animal not fully recovered from anesthesia, or even the "80 percent" rules where you are up and conscious just groggy and tired. Here is so good karma your way. Hope everything ends up alright Try to keep your chin up, you tried something to help your bun and give her a longer life, it's not your fault, you did nothing wrong. Don't beat yourself up over it. Just make sure the vet takes care of it and doesn't charge you for all the extra work they are doing for something they caused. I hope it all works out in the end for you and your bun friend, and one day you will hopefully be able to laugh this off. Keep your head up

 

[Space Monkey]

Im sorry to read that, your vet never should have sent home an animal not fully recovered from anesthesia, or even the "80 percent" rules where you are up and conscious just groggy and tired. Here is so good karma your way. Hope everything ends up alright Try to keep your chin up, you tried something to help your bun and give her a longer life, it's not your fault, you did nothing wrong. Don't beat yourself up over it. Just make sure the vet takes care of it and doesn't charge you for all the extra work they are doing for something they caused. I hope it all works out in the end for you and your bun friend, and one day you will hopefully be able to laugh this off. Keep your head up

Oh they're absolutely charging right now, but they're my only option and I'm not in a position to fight about it right now. They make you pay first before they do anything.

 

[Popsicles]

sometimes bunnies do better with eating and pooping at home (less stressful) so vets might send them home if they aren’t eating well in clinic, with the option to return if no improvement at home.
Realistically they should charge for any medication or care - it will be costing them, and it’s not something they caused, rather an unfortunate result of what is obviously actually major surgery.
I’m so sorry for what you are going through, it’s not easy at all especially when it is a routine procedure on a healthy animal, so we hope all will go well.
I have your Freya in my thoughts and you sound like a very caring and knowledgable bunny parent, so she’s in good hands

 

[White Rabbit]

Oh they're absolutely charging right now, but they're my only option and I'm not in a position to fight about it right now. They make you pay first before they do anything.

I understand, sadly that's how most vets are. I personally wouldn't pay them, reverse all the upstanding charges prior to the spay and if they let it ding your credit, sue them. Negligence on their part doesn't come from your pocket. If they make a mistake it's why they(the vet) are insured and you shouldn't be paying. I'm suing the vet who killed my dog because of negligence, as they claimed an ultrasound diagnosed cancer.... The hell... Not even a blood test, biopsy for a sample, nothing. Just put my dog down since her spleen was bleeding, which would have cost 12k to fix, and i was willing to pay. If only I was the one to take her in. UGH. Not a good time, wasn't on the forum for a few months because of dealing with it all. My lawyer isn't even charging me unless we win, that's how sure they are. Don't let their negligence hit you in the pocket book. Hope you get this all worked out, but more importantly hope your bun comes back feeling 100 percent no matter which route you take. I wish you and your bun the best of luck.

 

[Space Monkey]

Freya is home. She still needs a lot of care, but she's in better shape than she was.

Except one thing. Saturday night the vet called and said that Freya scratched her eye on hay and it was "a little irritated." Sunday they called again to give an update on her condition and said that her eye "may" be a little better. They said she must have scratched it on some hay. She's never done that before. I went to get her today and was horrified to see that her eye is completely glued shut with discharge. That wasn't what I expecting from "a little irritated" and "may be a little better." We were instructed to use a warm compress to open her eye up for eye drops. I did this upon arriving home and was horrified to open her eyelid to a completely white eye. They hurt my bunny bad! What in the world?!?!? I think they stabbed her in the eye with a syringe when trying to hand feed or administer medication or some assistant with long nails stabbed her in the eye while they were trying to handle her and she was struggling. We will never know otherwise. I'm scared for her eye, whether it will be permanent damage. I don't even know how to hold them accountable.

 

[Space Monkey]

My gorgeous baby was fine before getting into their "care"

 

[JBun]

That eye isn't a little irritated. It sounds like it has a corneal ulcer and is infected. That's horrible that they would send her home without properly diagnosing and treating the eye! They never should have done that. It's hard to know how the eye could have become ulcerated. It is possible they could have inadvertantly caused it, or it really could have been a piece of hay. But they certainly should never have sent her home to you with her eye in that state, without it properly being checked and treated.

Medirabbit: corneal abrasion and ulcer

I'm glad she's back home with you, but that is really bad about the eye. I ended up having to have a rabbits eye removed when she developed an infection in it while I was away, and the people giving her eye drops(and the vet treating her), didn't properly assess how bad the eye had become, even with the eye drops. The whole eye was marbled and white.

So I would strongly urge to really get on top of this right away. I would immediately phone them about her eye. Complain to the vet, to the office manager, whoever you need to. They never should have sent her home in this state, without a proper assessment of the eye. An eye that is cloudy and white, and glued shut, is much more than a little irritation. She needs to be brought back in and the eye checked correctly. The eye drops need to be antibiotic eye drops, and applied several times a day to be most effective. But at this stage, abx eye drops alone are not enough. She may need to be on systemic antibiotics as well. Something like baytril. As well as meloxicam(NSAID) if she isn't already on it. But if you've lost confidence in this vet, maybe find a different rabbit vet for a second opinion.

https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

 

[Space Monkey]

That eye isn't a little irritated. It sounds like it has a corneal ulcer and is infected. That's horrible that they would send her home without properly diagnosing and treating the eye! They never should have done that. It's hard to know how the eye could have become ulcerated. It is possible they could have inadvertantly caused it, or it really could have been a piece of hay. But they certainly should never have sent her home to you with her eye in that state, without it properly being checked and treated.

Medirabbit: corneal abrasion and ulcer

I'm glad she's back home with you, but that is really bad about the eye. I ended up having to have a rabbits eye removed when she developed an infection in it while I was away, and the people giving her eye drops(and the vet treating her), didn't properly assess how bad the eye had become, even with the eye drops. The whole eye was marbled and white.

So I would strongly urge to really get on top of this right away. I would immediately phone them about her eye. Complain to the vet, to the office manager, whoever you need to. They never should have sent her home in this state, without a proper assessment of the eye. An eye that is cloudy and white, and glued shut, is much more than a little irritation. She needs to be brought back in and the eye checked correctly. The eye drops need to be antibiotic eye drops, and applied several times a day to be most effective. But at this stage, abx eye drops alone are not enough. She may need to be on systemic antibiotics as well. Something like baytril. As well as meloxicam(NSAID) if she isn't already on it. But if you've lost confidence in this vet, maybe find a different rabbit vet for a second opinion.

https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

I have Ofloxacin Ophthalmic eye drops for her as well as Meloxicam. It sounds like they know what it is but were trying to downplay it and use language to make it seem better. I literally hate these people. It's been a nightmare from day 1. Unfortunately they're my only option in the state. I won't name drop, but they're not only the only board certified vets in the state for exotic animals, but they're recognized as one of the best in the nation and they have a residency program for people from around the world to train. They should have been my very best option. If this is good care I'd hate to see bad care. If I could go back to Thursday morning I'd take my chances keeping her intact.

 

[Moonshadow]

Have you looked to see if there’s a vet out of state that might be within reach for you? I understand if it’s not possible but if it’s an option, you might want to reconsider.

With my bun, for his emergency we actually had to drive out of state to Massachusetts to find a good rabbit vet (we live in NH). His was an emergency/regular vet place (Bulger veterinary Hospital), it was about an hour away from home but definitely worth it.

 

[bright_eyes]

What a nightmare for you and Freya I have nothing to offer but my support and best wishes that she will recover and you can both be relieved of your stress! ❤ If you have the energy, call or meet with the manager of the practice. It helps to be as polite as possible, but they need to make this right and that may take some firmness.

 

[overhear]

I'm so sorry you're going through this! Please keep us posted on how she's doing.

 

[Space Monkey]

Freya is now doing very well as far as her post-op from the spay. The area is healing/has healed nicely and she seems to be out of pain, or at least behaves like she's no longer in pain. She's active and eating like her normal self. Her poops are back to normal.

The eye, though, is still producing goo and is still cloudy white, and she's still keeping it closed. For the first time, I'm beginning to fear her. She's never growled at me or bit me, but now she's growling and has severely bitten my dad twice. This is happening when we have to handle her for her eye drops. A week of handling, being picked up, poking and prodding, being taken all around, pain pain and more pain, having things shoved in her mouth and eye, she's finally had enough. I can only imagine what's going through her mind. One day she was perfectly fine and perfectly happy with her people, and then everything got turned upside down and she doesn't know why. I'm still so angry that her eye was so severely injured in their care. I don't believe for a moment that hay is responsible. We have a follow up appointment next Thursday.

At this point it feels like I'm dealing with a shady mechanic. I went in for an oil change and came out with a bad motor that only they can fix. Hmmmmmmm.

 

[LolaE]

So sorry to hear about this. Glad her post-op recovery is going well, but that is terrible about her eye. I second Moonshadow; maybe you should try another vet, even if it's further away? I'm very sorry for your situation, and hopefully things improve and you find some solutions.

 

[JBun]

Did you get the vet to put her on a systemic antibiotic(eg baytril suspension)? I would also request a different antibiotic eye drop. Neo/poly/bac ophthalmic ointment would be good, as it stays in the eye longer than eye drops, and has 3 antibacterials so can be more effective. If you want an eye drop and not ointment(as it can be difficult to apply to the eye), maybe try gentamicin. That eye shouldn't be so bad at this point if the current abx eye drop was effective at all.

You may also need to keep her on meloxicam for the pain and reducing inflammation, as I'm sure they eye is hurting her and that's why she's growling and acting out, not just from you having to handle her. Rabbits can have unusual changes of behavior like this, when they're hurting and in pain.

I'm very glad the post surgery problems have at least gotten better, and that she's healing alright from her spay.

 

[Space Monkey]

Did you get the vet to put her on a systemic antibiotic(eg baytril suspension)? I would also request a different antibiotic eye drop. Neo/poly/bac ophthalmic ointment would be good, as it stays in the eye longer than eye drops, and has 3 antibacterials so can be more effective. If you want an eye drop and not ointment(as it can be difficult to apply to the eye), maybe try gentamicin. That eye shouldn't be so bad at this point if the current abx eye drop was effective at all.

You may also need to keep her on meloxicam for the pain and reducing inflammation, as I'm sure they eye is hurting her and that's why she's growling and acting out, not just from you having to handle her. Rabbits can have unusual changes of behavior like this, when they're hurting and in pain.

I'm very glad the post surgery problems have at least gotten better, and that she's healing alright from her spay.

Her eye has made slight improvements. It looks like some color is coming back and there's less discharge. She opens it a little more now. I asked the vet if there's anything else we can do and they said no. Doctors and vets do not like when you tell them what you want and seldom give you what you ask for as far as medications. I think it's their pride: they're the expert, and they said *this*.

 

[JBun]

Yeah, I don't go to those kind of condescending vets anymore. So frustrating to me, and I just don't have the patience(or desire) to deal with that kind of attitude anymore. Plus I've found those kind of vets may not be as knowledgeable as you think they would(or should) be. The best vets are ones that take the time to listen to you and want to work with you for the welfare of your animal. And when they don't know something, they take the time to research and find out, or refer you to a more knowledgeable vet. Wish there were more of these kind of vets.

I'm glad she's improving some. I wish you had a better rabbit vet you could go to.

 

[LolaE]

Really glad to hear she's doing better. Hopefully things continue to improve! And so sorry to hear about your frustrating vet experience.