Need to go to vets, but now, or can it wait?

[LuvaBun]

Oh Jen, this is such a relief - what a brave little bunny Chalk is. I know you will be spending lots of time snuggling her when she gets home . I bet Steve will too - I think it's wonderful that he cares so much for Chalk too!

Jan

 

[Bo B Bunny]

:waiting:What time is it there?

If she got the infection with the abscesses on the baytril, what makes the vet think that will be enough to keep the infection from coming back?

PLEASE give her a nose rub and cheek rub and ear rub and kisses from me!

 

[mouse_chalk]

SHE'S HOME!!!!!!! :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

She's very quiet though, and has been sat in much the same place since she got into her cage. On the way home she lay down, and I took the front off the carrier and pet her, and held her still a bit when we went over bumps (I remembered coming home after my own op and the bumps being AGONY), and she seemed comforted by that, and closed her eyes as I pet her...

We've got Metacam, and yes, you guessed it, Baytril! But we're going to our vet in a day or 2 for a check up, I honestly for the life of me can't remember whether it's Thursday or Friday now... Anyway, I'm going to speak to our regular vet then about trying different antibiotics, all we saw today was the nurse. The vet who performed the op said that she can't rule out that Chalk could develop more abscesses in future, so to me that seems even more reason for stronger antibiotics! I just know that I'll feel much more comfortable discussing it with our regular vet, who listens and knows us better, if that makes sense? For now she's had Baytril injected though...

I can see her from where I'm sat on the sofa and she still seems very quiet, I'll get a couple of pictures for you guys when my battery pack has charged. I want to give her a great big cuddle but I'm scared to hurt her! :?

She's got plenty of food to choose from as well, she ate some in the hospital but no poo as yet...

I'm just so glad she's home though!!!

 

[mouse_chalk]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

:waiting:What time is it there?

If she got the infection with the abscesses on the baytril, what makes the vet think that will be enough to keep the infection from coming back?

PLEASE give her a nose rub and cheek rub and ear rub and kisses from me!

It's 7pm here! Took aaaages to get home, and then I was so dizzy from the stress I guess was made to lie down for a while...

Aww, I guess any excuse to kiss her, it will be done! :biggrin2:

And yes, I agree about the antibiotics, do you guys think I'm doing the right thing waiting til Thurs/Fri to ask about it, with my normal vet who's more understanding?

 

[Bo B Bunny]

So it's Tuesday now..... hmmmm.... I think maybe I'd call this other vet tomorrow and tell them...... then see what they think. If that vet is more rabbit savvy I would.

I understand the idea about being immune to the antibiotics but if she's on baytril alone - it might not be enough.

 

[Haley]

I dont think it would do any harm waiting a few days to speak to your vet. I wonder, can you call him and leave a voicemail or email him some information? Tell him youve been speaking with some friends in the US who have dealt with similar situations (life threatening abscesses) and they have had great success with some methods you would like to try? That might seem less threatening and give him time to look into it before your visit. Theres even info on that UK article I posted about how to get your vet to get bicillin approved for your use.

Im so glad Chalk is doing ok. Shes so lucky to have such an attentive mommy. I'll be praying her recovery.

Haley

 

[mouse_chalk]

Thanks guys!

It turns out we need to call the vets tomorrow anyway, so I'll try and speak to someone then. I've had a quick read of the articles (hard to read too much at the moment, I'm feeling SO dizzy, so I'll have a proper look later), and I'll print it out to take to the vets with me next time we go...

The reason we have to call tomorrow, is that the Metacam we've been given is 1.5mg/ml oral suspension, and on the box it says 'for dogs'. Fine so far, but the dose we've been told to give is 6kg, to measure out on the syringe which is measured in weight. Now a few weeks ago, when she was given Metacam, it was 0.5mg/ml for cats, and we were only told to give a 1.6kg dose...

Now, is it just me, or have we been told to give a larger dose of a stronger version of Metacam? I could be wrong, and it could be ok, but we'd rather check to be sure... I did query it at the time when she mentioned the dose, and the nurse looked on our notes and said that we'd been given cat metacam before which was a different strength, which sounded ok to me, but we hadn't had the box yet to see that it was the dog version, and stronger! :shock:

She isnt' due to have any until tomorrow afternoon anyway, so we can hopefully call in the morning and sort it out....

Anyone any ideas in the meantime?

 

[Bo B Bunny]

WOW I'm glad you checked that label. Looks like someone messed up big time!!!

 

[polly]

Wow just as well you saw that Jen. I can tell you we get the dog metacalm and our buns are nethies all around 1.4 kg and they get 2 drops

 

[juliew19673]

YAY!!!!!!!! I'm SO glad Chalk is home already!!!! Good catch on the Baytril.. Phew...

Give chalk some nose kissed for me!!!

 

[mouse_chalk]

Glad you guys agree... I can't work out what's wrong though, the dosage, or the box of metacam itself, or both? I saw it being taken off the shelf and is right next to the cat metacam, so maybe they just picked the wrong box, but a 6kg dose for even cat metacam, when she was getting a 1.6kg dose before sounds crazy?!

And yeah, I always double check, especially after Sas's reminder!!

Here's a groggy Chalk:

She's been sat there for about an hour and a half now, she seems to be sitting in one place for a while, then moving to another place and staying there for a while. She's pooed some (YAY!) but not eaten...

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Aww, she's even adorable when she's under the weather. Hooray for poops! I hope she starts feeling better soon and that she recovers well this time! What a long month it's been for her.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Thank you Shiloh! :hug:

I just looked over and she was eating! WOO!

It also seems like she has a giant plaster stuck to her belly, I'm assuming so she can't chew the stitches or anything- need to pick her up to get a closer look but I'm scared to hurt her so probably wont do it tonight...

 

[Haley]

Chalk is so beautiful! She looks so alert for just having surgery. I hope that means shes recovering well.

As for the Metacam, I give the dog bottle that is 1.5 mg/ml and I give .2 mL (which is the same as cc). Once when the vet gave me the .5 mg/ml bottle, they instructed me to give .6 ml a day, which makes sense since its three times less strong.

Now, whats weird to me is this, you live in the UK and the website says they dont sell the oral .5 in the UK. It says the .5 one sold in the UK is injectible only:

http://www.petplace.com/drug-library/meloxicam-metacam/page1.aspx

Are you sure the stuff they gave you last time was oral? Did it smell like honey?

What is the actual dose your vet prescribed for this new bottle thats 1.5 mg/ml? It cant be kg since thats not a liquid measurement its a weight measurement, right? Does your syringe have mLs or ccs on it?

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Is she warm? does she have a rice sock or something? She looks really good!

 

[mouse_chalk]

Haley wrote:

Chalk is so beautiful! She looks so alert for just having surgery. I hope that means shes recovering well.

As for the Metacam, I give the dog bottle that is 1.5 mg/ml and I give .2 mL (which is the same as cc). Once when the vet gave me the .5 mg/ml bottle, they instructed me to give .6 ml a day, which makes sense since its three times less strong.

Now, whats weird to me is this, you live in the UK and the website says they dont sell the oral .5 in the UK. It says the .5 one sold in the UK is injectible only:

http://www.petplace.com/drug-library/meloxicam-metacam/page1.aspx

Are you sure the stuff they gave you last time was oral? Did it smell like honey?

What is the actual dose your vet prescribed for this new bottle thats 1.5 mg/ml? It cant be kg since thats not a liquid measurement its a weight measurement, right? Does your syringe have mLs or ccs on it?

Gosh, I'm confused now!

Right, they BOTH smell like honey... is that good?

The 0.5 oral stuff we've had before orally, it's meant for cats, and not officially licensed for rabbits I don't think, when we got it last time we had to sign a consent form for it. We've not been given the dog stuff before today, it's always been the 0.5mg stuff before...

Not sure on it being injectible only, that sounds odd since we've been given it many times before! After the girls and Snowy's spays too...

The syringes are weirder still, both packs have Metacam branded syringes, so they are the correct ones for the stuff, and they have markings in kg on them, so basically you fill the syringe up to the weight of your pet, and that's supposed to be the correct amount for them. That's why I thought it was odd that we were told to give the 6kg dose! The cat Metacam has a 10kg syringe with it, and the dog Metacam has a 60kg syringe with it...

That make any sense?! :dunno

And Pennie, she doesn't have a rice sock at the moment, she hates them! I do have one ready to give her if needed though, but she feels warm enough at the moment! She's trying to pull the plaster off though, it's all stuck to her fur, poor baby....

 

[juliew19673]

Chalk is just beautiful and hope you can figure out the dosage (and please post with what you find).. Good luck Chalk - hope you start to feel comfortable soon!

 

[Haley]

Ok this makes loads of sense. Obviously that site is wrong and you have been given both dosages or oral metcam before. So, working with the bottle you have now...

I know the syringe youre talking about and its worthless for bunnies since you would only go to like the first mark or something. Do you have another smaller syringe? Anything in mls or ccs?

What I do is draw liquid into the bigger syringe that came with the Metacam, then draw .2 ccs into a smaller syringe...but thats if you have one in ml or ccs.

 

[mouse_chalk]

I have tons... I have 1ml, 1.5ml, 2ml, 3ml and 5ml syringes, and lots of! I get loads every time we need something else, it's the only thing they don't charge for What's an appropriate amount in mls for a 1.6kg (3.5lbs)? Then I can check that they tell me correctly tomorrow!

Yeah, I never thought about it before but the 10kg syringe is a pain to use, the first marker is for 2kg. We got on ok before only because the vet showed us whereabouts 1.6kg was roughly, but yeah, it was never an accurate measurement!

Grr... I'm so annoyed that they got the dose wrong.:X I love our vets, I'm kind of in 'denial' that they would get something like this wrong! I take comfort in the fact that it wasn't our regular vets, James or Liz (we do first names there for some reason), and was at the hospital not our local office so wasn't any of the nurses we know and like! I'm pretty sure our regular office will be more than a little annoyed when I call them tomorrow...

Oh, and look at this. Looks like Mouse thought that Chalk could do with a little cushion to rest herself on!

 

[juliew19673]

Awww, how nice of Mouse to sacrifice himself for her.. Now thats love!!