I'm new and hada question. Unfortunately, I may have found this site a little too late. My new bride of 8 months brought with her a 9 year old rabbit named Johnzo. I had never owned a rabbit before. She also brought along 2 dogs and a cat.
We just lost the lhasa apso this past Monday. She was well over 20 years old, my wife having bought her as a puppy when she was 12. A couple of days after that, we noticed Johnzo had developed an abcess near his rear jaw about golfball sized. There were really two distinct abcesses next two each other. It developed rapidly, as my wife holds Johnzo on a daily basis. As soon as the abcess was noticed, we made an appointment to see the exotic pet veterinary here. This was the only vet that specialized in rabbits in our town. Surgery was performed, consisting of basically cutting open the larger abcess, draining it, and prescribing three types of medicine, which I do not have the names handy as I'm writing this. The surgery was performed last Thursday and we were instructed on cleaning the wound, applying the medicine, and adminisering the oral meds, which we did all weekend and Monday. Johnzo was scheduled to go back to the vet this morning to check Johnzo's progress.
I went to work while my wife carried Johnzo to the vet. The vet said he wanted to cut open the second abcess which was about the size of a dime. My wife said okay, and left for work herself.
She received a call shortly thereafter saying that Johnzo had died during this second surgery. I was shocked that they would even attempt to cut the second abcess so soon after the first, but I am neither a vet nor a rabbit expert. I have heard that stress levels are very keen in rabbit health.
I will say that ALL WEEKEND, Johnzo behaved normally. We put fresh hay in his cage and allowed him to walk around the house. He ate as normal, and behaved as though he was feeling normal. He loved being held and would stick his paws straight up in the air as if saying "don't shoot!".
I don't know yet (have not picked up Johnzo's body for burial yet) whether he died during the surgery or just immediately upon being put under for surgery. There's likely no possible way to tell why he died or whether the vet was even at fault. I know that rabbits are much more fragile pets and that this was probably a strong liklihood.That said,we paid in excess of $400 for the initial surgery and medications just last Thursday, and the vet is wanting to charge us yet another $100 for today's unsuccessful surgery which ended his life. I feel this is a little egregious. Should I pay? Was the vet wrong in performing a second surgery on a much smaller secondary abcess that had not grown at all over the weekend? My wife is beside herself at the loss of two pets in such a short amount of time, and I have the duty of going and picking up Johnzo shortly and dealing with the vet.
Based on my extremely shallow knowledge of rabbits or veterinary of any sort, it still seems amazing that the vet would choose to cut on Johnzo so soon after the first surgery, which, for a rabbit, would have to be considered major. I'm going to miss Johnzo, but I'm also a little angry at this point. I was not nearly as attached to the rabbit as my wife, and he seemed to be doing so well just this morning before the trip to the vet.
We just lost the lhasa apso this past Monday. She was well over 20 years old, my wife having bought her as a puppy when she was 12. A couple of days after that, we noticed Johnzo had developed an abcess near his rear jaw about golfball sized. There were really two distinct abcesses next two each other. It developed rapidly, as my wife holds Johnzo on a daily basis. As soon as the abcess was noticed, we made an appointment to see the exotic pet veterinary here. This was the only vet that specialized in rabbits in our town. Surgery was performed, consisting of basically cutting open the larger abcess, draining it, and prescribing three types of medicine, which I do not have the names handy as I'm writing this. The surgery was performed last Thursday and we were instructed on cleaning the wound, applying the medicine, and adminisering the oral meds, which we did all weekend and Monday. Johnzo was scheduled to go back to the vet this morning to check Johnzo's progress.
I went to work while my wife carried Johnzo to the vet. The vet said he wanted to cut open the second abcess which was about the size of a dime. My wife said okay, and left for work herself.
She received a call shortly thereafter saying that Johnzo had died during this second surgery. I was shocked that they would even attempt to cut the second abcess so soon after the first, but I am neither a vet nor a rabbit expert. I have heard that stress levels are very keen in rabbit health.
I will say that ALL WEEKEND, Johnzo behaved normally. We put fresh hay in his cage and allowed him to walk around the house. He ate as normal, and behaved as though he was feeling normal. He loved being held and would stick his paws straight up in the air as if saying "don't shoot!".
I don't know yet (have not picked up Johnzo's body for burial yet) whether he died during the surgery or just immediately upon being put under for surgery. There's likely no possible way to tell why he died or whether the vet was even at fault. I know that rabbits are much more fragile pets and that this was probably a strong liklihood.That said,we paid in excess of $400 for the initial surgery and medications just last Thursday, and the vet is wanting to charge us yet another $100 for today's unsuccessful surgery which ended his life. I feel this is a little egregious. Should I pay? Was the vet wrong in performing a second surgery on a much smaller secondary abcess that had not grown at all over the weekend? My wife is beside herself at the loss of two pets in such a short amount of time, and I have the duty of going and picking up Johnzo shortly and dealing with the vet.
Based on my extremely shallow knowledge of rabbits or veterinary of any sort, it still seems amazing that the vet would choose to cut on Johnzo so soon after the first surgery, which, for a rabbit, would have to be considered major. I'm going to miss Johnzo, but I'm also a little angry at this point. I was not nearly as attached to the rabbit as my wife, and he seemed to be doing so well just this morning before the trip to the vet.
