Pipp
Well-Known Member
The title sounds bad but I'm not too worried. I thought I'd better detail it all for the benefit of Belle, Spank and any other bunnies with related issues. Pipp's spurs are now almost always controllable by diet. Ditto with her GI tract issues.
She's a bunny who won't eat hay or grass and doesn't drink water, so it's a bit of a challenge.
BACKGROUND:
Pipp, a Netherland Dwarf, was first diagnosed with spurs three years ago when she was just over a year old. The first couple were six months apart, but they became more frequent at every two months (or less).
With Pipp, it was always sudden -- one day she'd stop eating and head for her 'I don't feel well' spot, even though the spurs were barely detectable (if at all) to the vet. (ED: It took x-rays and even then he thought they were too small to be the cause of her problem, but they were).
I did learn to read early signs like eating more slowly, leaving behind certain food, not grooming me for as long as usual and making small mouth movements. Sometimes she'd have a wet mouth and/or a watery eye.
My vet charged around $45 for the exam and $80 for the surgery. After the first visit, it was surgery only, no exam fee. The last time she needed surgery, however, the surgery fee had gone up to $125.
The first surgery had a loooog recovery time because it appeared her mouth muscles were so sore, but I asked the tech not to open it as wide with the brace, and she didn't have the same issue again after that.
The vet used Domitor (medetomidine hydrochloride), which is an injected sedative that put her to sleep for 30 minutes or so before using another drug to wake her up. (It's a newer drug, and it appears to be one of the better ones for dental surgery, if not the best).
At the start of a long weekend, she stopped eating with obvious spur symptoms. I couldn't get an appointment for three or four days, she was obviously uncomfortable so I gave her some Metacam.
The next day she was straining to pee and I panicked thinking it was a UTI, but after I syringed water into her, she perked right up. I realized that she had been dehydrated and Metacam restricts blood flow to the kidneys and should never be given to a dehydrated bunny.
I had been trying to get her to eat, but it wasn't until she got the Metacam and the water that she showed any interest. I convinced her to eat her plate of veggies piece by piece. She eventually started eating almost normally. I stopped the Metacam, she continued to eat. Somewhere along the line, the spur had broken off and she no longer needed surgery.
From then on I made a point of trying to control them with diet. She's only had one surgery in the past year and a half.
Pipp gets a mega-salad every night with as much variety as I can muster. I give her at least one or two stemmy veggies like carrot tops, parsley, cilatro, dill, etc (although she usually leaves the stems :X), a broad softer green like lettuce, spinach or beet greens; a hard chewy leaf like kale (which is the best of the lot although I don't give it to her constantly), chard or cabbage; and broccoli stems and carrot. When she gets apple, she gets as much peel as possible.
I also try and give her a few seeds, a variety of different-shaped pellets (even though she only gets thimble-fulls of the stuff) and a variety of grasses and hays (which she still ignores, but I can still hope).
This has been a successful regiment every time. Once it progressed too far and needed the Metacam again, and once when I think I was sick and skipped her salad and scrimped on another one, she ended up with spurs and dental surgery.
CURRENT:
She stopped finishing her salad a few days ago, leaving progressively more behind, but I realized that she's had little bitty poops for almost two weeks now. (I thought they were just dry when I was seeing them, it took awhile to realize they were microscopic when fresh as well). She may or may not have spurs, but I think she does.
I think with spurs she can still be eating but not get the proper nutrition and/or fiber.
Everybody has been getting canned pumpkin the last couple of weeks, a standby here for all molting bunnies, although Pipp hasn't been molting much, she's been reaping the benefits of me dishing it out for everybody else. So maybe that allowed her spurs to grow.
I've been giving her peach-juice flavored water, which is a huge hit, she's sucking it back. And as usual, whenever she gets a lot of water, she perks right up and digs and binkies up a storm. (Odd that she doesn't drink any on her own).
She didn't finish her salad the previous day, but she finished last nights by her usual time -- noon today -- and I withheld her pellets, so I'm getting the starving bunny protests. Unfortunately no change with her microscopic poops, so she still has issues.
I'll keep everybody up-to-date.
sasray:
She's a bunny who won't eat hay or grass and doesn't drink water, so it's a bit of a challenge.
BACKGROUND:
Pipp, a Netherland Dwarf, was first diagnosed with spurs three years ago when she was just over a year old. The first couple were six months apart, but they became more frequent at every two months (or less).
With Pipp, it was always sudden -- one day she'd stop eating and head for her 'I don't feel well' spot, even though the spurs were barely detectable (if at all) to the vet. (ED: It took x-rays and even then he thought they were too small to be the cause of her problem, but they were).
I did learn to read early signs like eating more slowly, leaving behind certain food, not grooming me for as long as usual and making small mouth movements. Sometimes she'd have a wet mouth and/or a watery eye.
My vet charged around $45 for the exam and $80 for the surgery. After the first visit, it was surgery only, no exam fee. The last time she needed surgery, however, the surgery fee had gone up to $125.
The first surgery had a loooog recovery time because it appeared her mouth muscles were so sore, but I asked the tech not to open it as wide with the brace, and she didn't have the same issue again after that.
The vet used Domitor (medetomidine hydrochloride), which is an injected sedative that put her to sleep for 30 minutes or so before using another drug to wake her up. (It's a newer drug, and it appears to be one of the better ones for dental surgery, if not the best).
At the start of a long weekend, she stopped eating with obvious spur symptoms. I couldn't get an appointment for three or four days, she was obviously uncomfortable so I gave her some Metacam.
The next day she was straining to pee and I panicked thinking it was a UTI, but after I syringed water into her, she perked right up. I realized that she had been dehydrated and Metacam restricts blood flow to the kidneys and should never be given to a dehydrated bunny.
I had been trying to get her to eat, but it wasn't until she got the Metacam and the water that she showed any interest. I convinced her to eat her plate of veggies piece by piece. She eventually started eating almost normally. I stopped the Metacam, she continued to eat. Somewhere along the line, the spur had broken off and she no longer needed surgery.
From then on I made a point of trying to control them with diet. She's only had one surgery in the past year and a half.
Pipp gets a mega-salad every night with as much variety as I can muster. I give her at least one or two stemmy veggies like carrot tops, parsley, cilatro, dill, etc (although she usually leaves the stems :X), a broad softer green like lettuce, spinach or beet greens; a hard chewy leaf like kale (which is the best of the lot although I don't give it to her constantly), chard or cabbage; and broccoli stems and carrot. When she gets apple, she gets as much peel as possible.
I also try and give her a few seeds, a variety of different-shaped pellets (even though she only gets thimble-fulls of the stuff) and a variety of grasses and hays (which she still ignores, but I can still hope).
This has been a successful regiment every time. Once it progressed too far and needed the Metacam again, and once when I think I was sick and skipped her salad and scrimped on another one, she ended up with spurs and dental surgery.
CURRENT:
She stopped finishing her salad a few days ago, leaving progressively more behind, but I realized that she's had little bitty poops for almost two weeks now. (I thought they were just dry when I was seeing them, it took awhile to realize they were microscopic when fresh as well). She may or may not have spurs, but I think she does.
I think with spurs she can still be eating but not get the proper nutrition and/or fiber.
Everybody has been getting canned pumpkin the last couple of weeks, a standby here for all molting bunnies, although Pipp hasn't been molting much, she's been reaping the benefits of me dishing it out for everybody else. So maybe that allowed her spurs to grow.
I've been giving her peach-juice flavored water, which is a huge hit, she's sucking it back. And as usual, whenever she gets a lot of water, she perks right up and digs and binkies up a storm. (Odd that she doesn't drink any on her own).
She didn't finish her salad the previous day, but she finished last nights by her usual time -- noon today -- and I withheld her pellets, so I'm getting the starving bunny protests. Unfortunately no change with her microscopic poops, so she still has issues.
I'll keep everybody up-to-date.
sas
ray:
