REW rabbit scanning

[Amy27]

Maureen, the urine scald issue is still kind of up in the air in my mind. The humane society took him to the vet and the vet said nothing was medically wrong with him. They prescribed baytril. But I don't understand how they found nothing wrong. I don't think they did any tests. I also don't understand why they would prescribe baytril if nothing was wrong. However, Alfred has been healing in his foster home. So we are confused on what is going on. He is going back to the shelter in less then a week and I am sure the urine scald will come back. He had some pretty nasty sores on his ankles.

Tamsin, he is neutered.

 

[Maureen Las]

Amy27 wrote:

Maureen, the urine scald issue is still kind of up in the air in my mind. The humane society took him to the vet and the vet said nothing was medically wrong with him. They prescribed baytril. But I don't understand how they found nothing wrong. I don't think they did any tests. I also don't understand why they would prescribe baytril if nothing was wrong. However, Alfred has been healing in his foster home. So we are confused on what is going on. He is going back to the shelter in less then a week and I am sure the urine scald will come back. He had some pretty nasty sores on his ankles.

Tamsin, he is neutered.

The vet really should have run a blood panel to determine kidney function; urine scald just isn't normal; is his rear end wet all the time ?

 

[tonyshuman]

It may have something to do with the angle at which you approach him--I would never come at him from the front--at the blind spot in front of his nose, but from the side. He may be able to find the grape by smell and touch. Rabbits use their other senses very well, including all those whiskers, so although his eyesight may be limited, he still has other senses to rely on.

Another possibility is that rabbits depend on eyesight a lot to see motion--not the outlines of things, but to show them where motion is in their visual field. They don't focus on things as well as humans do, so they mostly see kind of blurry stuff and will notice it more when it's moving. It's hard to explain but it's dependent on the way that the brain processes images and the shape of the eye. You notice how we have lots of white in our eyes and a tiny pupil compared to rabbits? The large pupil they have means they can't focus an image as well on the back of the eye to see sharp detail. However, they can see a larger portion of the area their eye is facing at any given time because they don't have to move the pupil as much to see stuff because it's bigger.

I feel like I'm doing a lot of hand-waving here, and it's really hard to compare eyesight in different species, but at least that's a bit of what I've learned as a neuroscientist. I do have to say that I was not the biggest fan of the vision portions of my classes but at least I think I understand what's going on here. Does that help or should I try to explain better?

 

[Amy27]

Maureen, his rearend is wet all the time and he stinks like urine. I want to push the humane society to do more. But I don't want them to shut me out from what is going on. It doesn't help that he has improved in foster care. I think they will say if it was due to a medical reason, he wouldn't improve in foster care. However, I don't think it is fair to potentially adopt out a rabbit who could have an underlying issue that could cost the new owner a lot of money and where Alfred could end up back at the humane society. He is only like a year and a half and this is his second time being at this humane society.

Claire, that was awesome and totally made sense. Thank you for explaining that.

We are hoping that instead of taking Alfred back to the humane society on Friday, they will let me foster him while Allison is on vacation. I am thinking of taking Alfred to my vet for diagnostics so we can see what is wrong. The only issue is I would be doing it behind the humane societies back. What am I going to say if they find something? Also, it will be pretty pricey. My vet is expensive and will probably be about $200. But I just really want him to have the proper exam he deserves. I am torn on what to do.

 

[slavetoabunny]

tonyshuman wrote:

It may have something to do with the angle at which you approach him--I would never come at him from the front--at the blind spot in front of his nose, but from the side. He may be able to find the grape by smell and touch. Rabbits use their other senses very well, including all those whiskers, so although his eyesight may be limited, he still has other senses to rely on.

I found it best with Snowball to approach her from in front and above her face. Now it doesn't matter, she is a sweetheart. But in the beginning, this was how I would give her my hand. She always loved nose pets, but if your hand came at her the wrong way you would bleed.

 

[suburbanfarmer]

The main causes of aggressive behavior in any animal are pain and fear issues. This rabbit seems like he has a lot of reasons to act the way he is acting. Aggressive behavior is so common when an animal comes through the Humane Society. If that rabbit has spent even a little time there, it will take him a while to get over the trauma. Rabbits do not do well in those types of enviorments. I am also with Amy on the urin issue. It soundes like he has something going on in that department that needs to be addressed. Have they clipped the area to keep it clean? That would help make him feel better and it would help to see better what is going on down there. You can rub some diaper rash cream on it to make it feel better if it is red and painful looking. Hope he does better.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Nikki, our Avatar is a REW. Never really seen her do any scanning, but she is a world class sleeper. As you can see, even at 3 months she would sleep in her hutch on her back with all her legs in the air. She is the goofiest little rabbit.

 

[golfdiva]

All of the above comments make sense. Here's one more thing to think about:

When Hershey sees me coming, he races into his bunny cottage. This is my cue to stick my hand or a toy in through one of the enterances. He will grunt, box and lunge at whatever I stick in (but he has never bitten me!). If I stop "teasing" him he will stick his head out and look around for me like he's thinking "Why did you stop playing with me?"! LOL!

Could someone have been playing with him this way? And now he doesn't realize he is taking it too far, or know his own strength, or that now it's not appreciated?

 

[AllisonC]

Everyone's suggestions have been great. Alfred is back at the shelter & his aggression has improved so much. They are keeping him in a room that is quiet & only staff are allowed to enter (although Amy & I have been sneaking in & getting him out for exercise). Maybe it was the pain & fear that caused it. He seems like a different bun. We are trying to see if the humane society will move him to a quiet room that is open for possible adopters to see him. Urine scald is gone & his tootsies are good. I'm not sure what caused it. It could be like the aggression and he was just scared & sitting in his urine?? Keep your paws crossed that they will be open to him moving to that room.