Resolved! Dotty looking better

[Bo B Bunny]

Awww I'm sorry about your bed! That just makes me so angry!

I'm glad Dotty is doing better! Hay Is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! Maybe she's coming around?

Sleep well!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Poor Dotty! I was hoping she'd be feeling better. How much hay did she eat? At least she's eating something! The smoothie you made sounds good, good thinking. Hopefully you have a good update in the morning...

 

[tonyshuman]

Yes, hay is good! And I think the smoothie is a good way to get some food into her--must be pretty gross smelling and looking though.

 

[dquesnel]

I just read quickly through this thread and I found a few points made that I would also agree with;

- it is possible she is feeling full from the food you are syringing her, or else she may be feeling full due to a collection of food/mucus/hair bound together in her tummy. I have most certainly encountered the former often enough. It isn't a blockage or anything, but it is a large mass that often restricts appetite thus reducing size of fecals considerably.

- she may also be relying on the syringing as someone else pointed out. Rabbits are wily, and the minute my rabbits start eating ANYTHING on their own I quit the syringe feeding. I will offer it to them in a dish however. I have seen a rabbit once (not one of mine) get 'addicted' to critical care and slurry, he loved not only the taste but the feeling of being held in his warm bunny burrito whilst being fed. It took a while to get him eating on his own properly.

How many cc's are you feeding of the slurry, and how often? 20cc 3x a day is already quite a bit- I wouldn't go beyond that especially if the rabbit is also eating some food on its own. The fecals may not be huge but as long as they are the same size and increasing I don't suspect you have a major GI issue to deal with. Sometime these things take forever!

 

[Luvr of Wabbits and Polar Bears]

I hope Dotty gets better soon. But have you tried letting Dotty eat the slurry of food from a dish? Rather than syringe feeding to her like someone else said.

 

[Flashy]

Hmm, my name arose a couple of times in this.

In terms of painmeds, I too am certain that Tramadol is not available here in that name, but it may be available under another name. I know for sure there are stronger pain meds, but I am not sure what they are, sorry. I just got back from my vets and had I seen this earlier, I could have asked

It may be a different type of painmed might work, not any in the Metacam 'family'. NSAIDs? Is that what Metacam is?

In terms of Fibreplex, I highly recommend it. It is not oily, it is very gritty (but apparently tasty). It has a high/long (?) fibre content and can help the gut keep moving, it is also the best probiotic I have found over here so far. I have not, however, ever used it in a bun in a similar situation as Dotty. I have used it with small poos, but a lively, eating bunny, and I also used it in Tilly when she wa son her Convenia and she got slightly smushy poos, and it sorted that, and also when Summer had her tape worm and got an upset tummy, and again, it sorted that. We can't get Bene-Bac over here I don't think because I've looked really hard for it. There may be something under a similar name though.

Having said all that, I did not know about the probiotics that were in there and whether or not they are present. It just worked better for me than anything else I have tried, pro-biotic wise. One to think about though, for sure.

The Zantac is used a lot over here with Metacam (rightly or wrongly) because they think it affects a bunnies gut as aspirin or ibuprofen affects our gut. They have seen times where it can ulcerate a stomach, sometimes as quickly as a few days after being on Metacam (although personally I can say I have never had any problems and Summer was on it on 6 weeks). I think they prescribe it to settle the tummy and avoid the ulceration.

To be honest, I wondered yesterday if this could be a mental issue as opposed to physical, like her wanting the attention, or being dependent on being fed, or lazy, or stubborn, or just plain full. It's great she ate some hay though That's a good start.

How is she this morning? How are you?

 

[mouse_chalk]

I'm back from the vets, but Dotty and Steve aren't.

Steve has taken her down to the hospital to have an ultrasound/possible x-ray if they can't get a good enough look with the ultrasound and fluids etc. She'll probably be there for all of today at least. :cry2

I have to wait at home because the stupid bed people are coming out this morning to see what's so broken about our new bed and hopefully give us a new frame. They didn't say what time they were coming, so I have to wait here :grumpy:

I did make a bag of veggies- lettuce, spring greens, parsley, carrot tops etc to take down, and some pellets and some fresh hay.

Since she ate the bit of hay last night she didn't eat anything else at all. She left a collection ov VERY tiny poos. Like, the size of individual cecals, but they were normal poos. Dotty, being a big bunner, normally has poos the size of marbles. I was awake most of the night just watching her, and she didn't move about much.

I'm hoping that they wont keep her overnight because I just know she'll be terrified. She hates being away from us at all...

She was getting the critical care twice a day- up to 20mls at a time. She was getting more water than anything, and pineapple juice the other day. To be honest I've lost track of what day was which now.... Maybe it was too much syringing, I don't know. But I didn't know what else to do to keep her going. Even yesterday when she didn't get any critical care etc all day until last night, she still barely touched a thing apart from a bit of grass (which she lost interest in very quickly). I feel so terrible for putting her through all of this...

 

[Flashy]

Aw, poor all of you.

If she does have to stay in, maybe take down/leave something with your smell on it so she can sleep and snuggle with your smell. Like a pillow cover, or a worn jumper, or something like that.

Thinking of you.

x

 

[Flashy]

mouse_chalk wrote:

I feel so terrible for putting her through all of this...

You did do the right thing for her. You know deep down you made the right choice to get her spayed because of the risks of leaving her. Imagine if she developed uterine cancer and needed an emergency spay, but was ill already. She wouldn't cope with going through this in an already vulnerable condition. Sometimes the right choices can go wrong, or divert off the 'right path' only to come back on later. I don't think anyone would doubt your choice to get her spayed, and right now, you're probbaly doubting it because you are terrified, and also tired too. Hopefully Dotty will soon be put to rights and you wil be able to completely believe that you did the right thing.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Steve just called me after dropping her off.

He spoke with the vet down there, who seems really good. Apparently she loved Dotty, thought she was gorgeous, and he said that he knew she was a bunny vet because she opened the carrier and stroked Dotty and spoke to her first rather than just trying to lift her out.

She's going to leave her to settle in the exotics ward for an hour or so, because she's really stressed after the journey down there (about 20-30mins in light traffic), and then she will do the ultrasound. She will also do a blood test. She did say that sometimes if bunnies have gas or something it will bounce back on the ultrasound so they might not be able to get a clear enough picture on it, but if they need to go to x-ray to see what's going on, they will call us first. She'll also be giving her lots of fluids as well....

We'll get a call around 4pm to update us. It's 10.38am here now. Loooooong wait. Then we'll find out if she can come home or not....

I should have got him to ask about the pain meds. Doh

 

[mouse_chalk]

Flashy wrote:

Hmm, my name arose a couple of times in this.

In terms of painmeds, I too am certain that Tramadol is not available here in that name, but it may be available under another name. I know for sure there are stronger pain meds, but I am not sure what they are, sorry. I just got back from my vets and had I seen this earlier, I could have asked

It may be a different type of painmed might work, not any in the Metacam 'family'. NSAIDs? Is that what Metacam is?

In terms of Fibreplex, I highly recommend it. It is not oily, it is very gritty (but apparently tasty). It has a high/long (?) fibre content and can help the gut keep moving, it is also the best probiotic I have found over here so far. I have not, however, ever used it in a bun in a similar situation as Dotty. I have used it with small poos, but a lively, eating bunny, and I also used it in Tilly when she wa son her Convenia and she got slightly smushy poos, and it sorted that, and also when Summer had her tape worm and got an upset tummy, and again, it sorted that. We can't get Bene-Bac over here I don't think because I've looked really hard for it. There may be something under a similar name though.

Having said all that, I did not know about the probiotics that were in there and whether or not they are present. It just worked better for me than anything else I have tried, pro-biotic wise. One to think about though, for sure.

I've not seen Bene-Bac over here either, and I've looked too. I know that there is another pro-biotic that's widely used available, called Bio-Lapis, also made by Protexin, I believe. We've had that before, but not had much success with it because it is added to the water and usually when our buns are sick they aren't drinking either, and they tend to avoid the bio-lapis water even more. I know that at Pets At Home you can buy something called Pro-C, which is added to the water (and makes it a lovely yucky green colour)- they give their baby bunnies it before they go to homes. I don't know if it's any good or not though at all.

 

[Flashy]

Yup, I've tried both of those other ones, and they haven't ever shown anything positive in my buns, but with Fibreplex it clearly did, especially with Tilly because when she was on it her fecals were perfect, and when she was off it, they were smushy, and we went on and off it for a while before she was able to produce good fecals without the Fibreplex.

I just think as a country we are pretty behind when it comes to rabbits, and maybe that is reflected in the products available.

 

[DeniseJP]

Hugs from across the pond and hopes that the visit to the veterinarian finds something to help Dotty...she has become my favorite bun on RO.

Denise

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Is it 4:30 yet? :cry2

 

[mouse_chalk]

Flashy wrote:

I just think as a country we are pretty behind when it comes to rabbits, and maybe that is reflected in the products available.

I know, I find it strange that we seem to be quite advanced in most things, but obviously not that much in rabbit medicine!


Thank you Tracy, so much by the way. I'm feeling a bit calmer today, partly due to your words of wisdom, and partly because I'm thinking a bit clearer I think, but you've really been a help, so thanks :hug:

 

[mouse_chalk]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

Is it 4:30 yet? :cry2

I know.... it's the slowest day ever.... :cry2

It doesn't seem right without her here. I want her home already. It's funny, she's only been with us such a short time but she's really made her mark here. I want Dotty cuddles again!

 

[Flashy]

Glad to be of service

Another option if your vets can't find anything wrong with Dotty is to maybe ask them to contact Francis Harcourt-Brown who is THE rabbit expert in our country. Worth a thought if things still remain a mystery

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I think since rabbits are so unique they are left out of the training more than other animals. They are low on the food chain (I know that's awful but true) and it's not like they are endangered...

Jen, Dotty made her mark with a lot of us too. She's a big sweetie and I can't imagine having a bedroom bunny and then having her gone at all. When Syd was ayear oldwe left for 10 days. The kids and I were in Alabama and John was working in Michigan....... I cried the first few nights! She was in a kennel just up the road and the manager is my cousin's wife who lives next door LOL! They called me with reports that she was fine..... she got extra play time and all but I was sick missing her!

 

[mouse_chalk]

We got a call! She's ok!

The ultrasound didn't show anything- her belly is full of a lot of gas, but there's no impaction, all her other organs look fine- no scary lumps or anything else suspect that they can see.

They did a blood test- and should get some of the results back tomorrow, but some others will take a little longer.

She has been given fluids and critical care, etc by the nurses. The vet thinks she's a lovely bunny!

She doesn't want to give any more metaclopromide- she says that vets seem to differ on opinions with it's effectiveness but she prefers to avoid it where possible because of the possible dangers. She wants to keep her on Zantac and Metacam, but injections rather than orally- she said that if her guts are slow/stopped, then oral meds wont be very effective. Seems to make sense to me!

Sooo, she's going to teach us how to inject :shock: Scary thought but I have watched it many times, and if I want to be a vet nurse I'll have to learn it someday anyway!


We're picking her up at 5.45pm, which is in 2.5hrs. Soonest appt the vet had to teach us.

Ummm.... She'll probably have an x-ray tomorrow if she doesn't improve. We have an appt with Clara booked already lol.

 

[Flashy]

That's really great. Lots of Infacol and belly rubs