GUY: Partial Windpipe Blockage Very Likely

[jcl_24]

EDIT:-

Have just heard from the vet that Guy is awake and fine after his sedation. No blockage was seen when the checks were made. Due to the way the noise could beheard depending on which way Guy's head was turned (?!?) it's been deemed that Guy has some irritation in hisupper respiritory tractwhich probably has been caused by an infection. That will be treated with anti-biotics. The most immediate concern now is to get him eating again as rabbit's digestive systems can stop working after anesthesia.

Hi all,

Right now Guy is at the vets and I'm at home waiting for them tophone me. Guy was taken up there this morning because a noise he was making was identified by the vet yesterday to be an indicator of breathing troubles. This noisehad not lessened any today (he was rather lethargic too I thought). He was left withthe vets this morning and the plan of action was going to be X-Ray's first, then most likely he would be sedated with aneasthetic so his windpipe could be looked at as closely his small rabbit size can allow.

I'd be very grateful for any good thoughts/wishes or prayers for him. I don't want to lose my little Guy.


To give a little background info:-
On Friday me and my family members noticed Guy was makinggrunting noises very frequently. I heard it as the noise he usually makes when pulling poop out to eat it, but he was doing it as he went about his general bunny activities. On Saturday my Dad spoke to a vet who said the noise was most likely a result of Guy being excitied by the female bunny pheremones in the air (he and Ebony are in separate locations in the house currently). Given those comments, I didn't worry very much after that. On Sunday night he was out as usual.

On Monday I was up early getting ready for a job interview I had in London. I was out all day but when I got in, my Bro told me our Dad had taken Guy to the vet earlier in the day. I requested details from my Dad who had mentioned nothing to me (because he didn't want me to worry probably). He told me that in the early afternoon Guy had not been eating and was drinking very little, so he took him to the vets surgery. The vet listened to Guy's breathing and said the noise indicated a partial blockage of Guy's windpipe. An infection was deemedunlikely to be the cause as there was no acompanying runny nose. He was given an antibiotic injection as a precaution/safgeguard but X-Rays and the very likeynecessity of checking his windpipe was mentioned then.The final advice was ifthere was no improvement this morning, he should be brought back in, which is what was done.

Jo xx

 

[Maureen Las]

Geez that sounds awful

Ihope that he will be Ok
I'm glad that they are going to put him on an antibiotics

Ihad a rabbit who had what was called an upper respiratory infection. When she would become sick she would sounds as if it was difficult to breath.; her breathing would become labored and she would make a sound at each breath.She would become lethagic , stop eating and be overall very sick.

When her lungs were x-rayed nothing would show up it so it was determined to be an infection possibly in her trachea. The vet wanted to do a tracheal wash under anesthesia but when she was sickI did not want her put under anesthesia.

She needed substantial meds for a long time to clear it up.
She did not have any discharge from her nose or mouth


I hope Guy does OK
Is he a dwarf breed?

 

[jcl_24]

Thankou you for your "get well" wishes to Guy. Yes he is a dwarf breed-a Mini Lop who is at the smaller end of the breed's weight scale. In American terms he might be considereda Holland Lop?

He is still resting quite a lot, working the anesthetic out of his system but he has eaten some dried foodmix and I watched him eat hay earlier so that's good .

That infection must havebeen hard for you and your rabbit to go through. Did the vet try different antibiotics to see which helped the most?

A week's worth of anti-biotics have been prescribed by the vet so of course I hope they work well. His breathing is still noisy currently. I have Asthma so although it's not the same that's what I'm reminded of and Ifeel sorry for my gorgeous boy.

Jo xx

 

[Bo B Bunny]

ray: Poor thing!

 

[Maureen Las]

jcl_24 wrote:

Thankou you for your "get well" wishes to Guy. Yes he is a dwarf breed-a Mini Lop who is at the smaller end of the breed's weight scale. In American terms he might be considereda Holland Lop?

He is still resting quite a lot, working the anesthetic out of his system but he has eaten some dried foodmix and I watched him eat hay earlier so that's good .

That infection must havebeen hard for you and your rabbit to go through. Did the vet try different antibiotics to see which helped the most?

A week's worth of anti-biotics have been prescribed by the vet so of course I hope they work well. His breathing is still noisy currently. I have Asthma so although it's not the same that's what I'm reminded of and Ifeel sorry for my gorgeous boy.

Jo xx

A weeks' worth of antibioitcs isusually not long enough

but it's possible that your vet wants to see Guy again and reassess him before prescribing more or something else

 

[tonyshuman]

I agree, one week of antibiotics may be enough to clear up a human's URI but bunnies have such strong bacteria that I would think 2 weeks at the least is good. You probably want to give him a probiotic as well to keep his GI tract ok (especially after the anesthesia). A good one is Bene-Bac--I think the important bacterium for it to have is lactobacilis casei? Anyone know if this is right off the top of their head?

Start with some wet fiber like pumpkin puree or pellet slurry as he's probably not really up to swallowing a lot. Parsley, dandelion greens, and romaine are my favorite gentle veggies.

good luck!!

 

[jcl_24]

Guy has been doing well. There's much less noise with his breathing now and he's got plenty of spirit back

As long as we are not snowed in, he will be taken to the vets tomorrow morningforhis check-up appointment. We will also get to see the x-rays that were taken last week.

The medication course was finished on Saturday night. If the vet prescribes a 2nd course, Guy will have it so we can clear this up.

Jo xx