RIP: Tiny has bladder infection/sludge (thought it was seizures)

[TinysMom]

He's eating a lettuce leaf - he ate about 1/2 of one (his darling Miss Bea had the other half earlier) and now he's eating another WHOLE leaf on his own and really looks like he's enjoying it....

If it wasn't for the fact that it would scare the poops right out of him - I'd be putting on a cheerleading costume and going, "Go Tiny....Go Tiny..."

Instead, I'll cheer in my heart - and here on the forum....looks like I may need to grab another leaf in a minute too.....

Peg

 

[Hazel]

Yay!

And of course your advice to ALWAYS see the vet is good. I agree that you wouldn't want people to start self-medicating their buns from what they've seen on the forum. Of course we're all curious though because that's the way we are, haha . Or at least me, I definitely understand why you're saying what you're saying, I'm just glad Tiny's going to get better. I was sooo sad when I saw this thread the first time. I'm glad Tiny will be getting better soon!

 

[JimD]

arty0002:T arty0002:I arty0002:N arty0002:Y arty0002:

 

[TinysMom]

Well - he's feeling good enough to groom Miss Bea and be groomed by her - but he was grooming her when I first saw them together (now she's grooming the top of his head and telling him how much she missed him and how mean I am....).





Peg

 

[SOOOSKA]

Peg, I'm so glad you found out what his problem is and that he is getting treatment.

Tiny and Miss Bea make the cutest couple.

Susan

 

[Bo B Bunny]

peg, I've been up and down most of the day.... but I've poppped in for updates on Tiny. I'm so glad he's doing ok. I think we panic when it's our rabbit... and immediatley lose our sense of seeing what is not right.

How old is Tiny? I can't remember. Timothy pellets are best for the older ones I think...and I would be very careful of high calcium greens with him...... just because it's considered to be a factor in urine sludge.

I'm glad you got a good vet. I think that eventhough you disagree - it's best to allow a good vet to make those decisions about some medicines. We want them fixed! but she's trying to fix him without much worse things happen. antibiotics can cause all sorts of urinary issues..... and you don't want more of those!!!

Keep us posted and kiss that big boy for me.

 

[TinysMom]

One more update ~ he's eaten some cilantro and he is currently drinking from a water bowl (I added a hint of vanilla). I'm guessing he's had at least 2 tablespoons so far - maybe more....and he's going back again for another drink - this is the third drink (its right in front of him so it isn't like he has to move much).

I don't remember if I shared this - but he's going on bottled water from now on as we suspect that could be part of the issue.

Ok - back for a fourth drink......and this time he's really going at it.....its almost like he takes a drink - wiggles his nose while he thinks about how he's feeling - and drinks some more....

Of course - his beloved is sitting off to the side eating his cilantro and glaring at me...

Peg

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Ha! She is mad cause you took her man all day!

Glad he's drinking! so important! Bottled water sounds good too!

I bet he'll feel better just getting some water in!

 

[Haley]

I am thrilled beyond belief to hear that Tiny is ok! I'll be praying for your special boy. I hope you can relax tonight and get some sleep- you must be exhausted!

Oh and I think I remember someone saying that parsley was actually higher in calcium than some of the other green veggies (which I had never heard before) so Id stick with the cilantro and romaine lettuce just in case.

Get well soon Tiny!

 

[BEAUKEZRA]

I'm so happy that Tiny is ok! I was so worried. :great::woohoo:woohoo:woohoo:woohoo:woohoo

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Way to go, Tiny!!! What a lovely post to come home to. I'm so glad he's feeling a bit better, I really hope the Metacam kicks in and he doesn't feel too much pain! Also, hooray for eating lettuce and drinking! Are bunnies more likely to drink water if there's vanilla in it? How much do you put in?

 

[maherwoman]

So relieved to hear of continuing BIG improvements, Peg!! YAYY!!

GO TINY!!!

Oh, and to answer your question, Bo B Bunny, I looked back at things to be sure yesterday, in waiting to hear of news of Tiny, and it looks like he's just over three years of age. Is that right, Peg?

Hugs to all!!!

Rosie*

 

[PixieStixxxx]

Tinnnnnyyyyy!! I'm so glad he's improving! :bunnydance:

 

[mouse_chalk]

Awww I'm SO glad to hear that he's getting better! The beginning of this thread had me really upset yesterday, but I'm so glad that it's getting a happy ending.

I agree with what you said aswell about not wanting to post everything that you're doing- whilst there are a lot of people who will just want to know out of curiosity, I think you're right that you can't risk people trying to treat something as potentially serious asthis at home when they really need to see a vet asap!

I hope he continues to do well!

Jen xx

 

[JimD]

I turned in early last night and missed the last part of this.

I'm so glad to hear that Tiny's doing better.
And I'm sure glad he has you to go above and beyond!!

I'm sure he'll soon realize that what you "DID" to him will start making it easier for him to pee....that's got to make him like you again!!

Has anyone mentioned adding cranberry juice to his water? Might help with the UTI?

TinysMom wrote:

I don't remember if I shared this - but he's going on bottled water from now on as we suspect that could be part of the issue.

GOOD INFO!!!

I use bottled water for all of my bunnies.
We have terrible mineral content in our tap water, but I never thought of it possibly effecting the buns!!:shock:
I use it because our tap water smells and tastes funny most of the time.
Brindle stopped drinking one day and I couldn't figure out why.... until I opened her water bottle and it stunk strongly of chlorine. When I replaced it with bottled water, she immediately drank hard and long.
I've been using bottled water for all of them ever since.

Continuing to send prayers and good thoughts.ray:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





SnowyShiloh wrote:

Are bunnies more likely to drink water if there's vanilla in it? How much do you put in?

Some of my bunnies like it.

I mostly use it if a bun stops drinking.
I add a little to a water bowl...enough to just tinge the color of the water....enough that you can just barely smell it.

You can use either the real or artificial vanilla.

Some members use it for the outside bunnies in the summer to help prevent flystryke....
-(From Buck Jones) "I add approximately one teaspoon of vanilla flavoring extract, real or artificial, to one gallon of drinking water in an effort to reduce fly strike and warbles by reducing the number of flies in and about our rabbits."

 

[LuvaBun]

I cannot tell you how relieved I am to hear Tiny is doing so much better. And it's good that he is drinking - hopefully it will help flush out the problems. I agree with Jim in that adding cranberry juice may help even more.

Just give that big ol' boy a huge hug from me - and have one for yourself too

Jan

 

[ra7751]

Just a quick note on using cranberry juice...it's much like using pineapple juice....the processed"juice" you buy has too much stuff in it that might not do so well. There is no doubt that cranberries have been known to help urinary issues....I would prefer to use the cranberry extract. And I am not really thrilled with putting anything other than good water in drinking water. I have only seen it lead to contaminated water. But if you do, change the water often.

Another note for those of you that have buns with bladder sludge...the general thought is that excessive calcium causes this. I think the jury is still out on that. I have had numerous rabbits here with sludge...and Yoda was our poster child for that (he also hadEC). It seems that some rabbits are just prone to sludge and/or other calcifications such as stones no matter what the calcium level is.....same as some people are more prone to kidney stones (and I speak from personal experiences). While there is no doubt that rabbits metabolize calcium differently than other animals...it doesn't seem to have that much effect on the sludge in an otherwise healthy rabbit. But, like all other components of their diet, it's something to take into consideration. I have found that mineral content in drinking water is the prime contributor to sludge. I researched this when I just happened to notice the crud that built up in some of my aquariums looked like the sludge in Yoda's urine. We switched to a low mineral content water (not distilled as some minerals are necessary for good health) and he never had sludge again. Those of you on municipal water supplies have to consider the chemicals used in treatment too....chorine and ammonia to name a couple. And there can be all sorts of things in well waterfrom pesticides to fertilizers or just about anything else in an aquifer. And remember that most states/counties require chemical treatment of community wells. Something to think about. And also if you use bottled water....some of that is run directly from a city tap somewhere.....know where the water comes from.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Randy

 

[JadeIcing]

Questionhow much did he weigh in at?:biggrin2:

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

I am so glad when i woke up the morning after i had been reading i got on the computer immediately, my buns where looking at me all mad cause they wanted there dang food but i had to find out if he was ok. I am ssssssoooooooo glad he is doing well, hugs to both of you.

"We switched to a low mineral content water (not distilled as some minerals are necessary for good health) and he never had sludge again. Those of you on municipal water supplies have to consider the chemicals used in treatment too....chorine and ammonia to name a couple. And there can be all sorts of things in well waterfrom pesticides to fertilizers or just about anything else in an aquifer. And remember that most states/counties require chemical treatment of community wells. Something to think about. And also if you use bottled water....some of that is run directly from a city tap somewhere.....know where the water comes from.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Randy"



Randy I have a question, i remeber not too long ago there was a specific water that was on the news where they said it was basically tap water that was filtered. My question is do you have a specific name of a brand of water that is good for rabbits? I have well water and I use that on the rabbits , well until today i will be using bottled water from now on. But i dont want to get bottled water that is basically the same as what if coming from my tap water. When we buy spring water for us we just buy the store spring water , is that ok for the buns? Do i have to look for a specific thing on the bottle?

 

[TinysMom]

JadeIcing wrote:

Questionhow much did he weigh in at?:biggrin2:

Sorry for such a late update folks - but I slept in and then was dehydrated myself when I woke up. I'm still not feeling that great.

Right now he's still refusing to eat and drink - he just got a small amount of sub-q fluids (I thought he hadn't fought Art - I wasn't in the room - turns out I was wrong).

He's feeling really miserable right now and it shows in the way he acts. He's laying on the floor and Miss Bea is beside him almost all the time (unless she has to go poop, pee or chase a baby bunny out of the room since Robin has them exploring in the living room and Al found this room).

I just spoke with Randy and we both feel like it is going to be a week full of ups and downs. I'm sure there will be high moments like when he'll eat something and low moments like when the pain med is wearing off and he feels lousy. I may just go ahead (starting tomorrow) and start a thread called "Tiny's daily updates" or something for the week so y'all can find out when he starts eating/drinking, etc.

As far as his weight - he was 13 pounds and 3 ounces...but his paperwork says...

13 pounds 19 ounces

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It's going to be a very long week here - or perhaps 10 days or so. I'm not going to tell you he's "out of the woods" because the fact is - he does still have that infection going in his system. I'm going to be enticing him to eat with as many good things as I can (I almost never offer parsley - only to does I want to start birthing....I find my rabbits love cilantro more).

I need to deal with some other rabbits but I have a feeling that this afternoon will find me sitting or laying on the floor for a couple of hours just loving on my guy.

I'll update again later tonight with information about if he's eaten any more, etc.

Tiny and I will both be needing (and appreciate) your thoughts, prayers, well wishes, etc. over the next several days as we go along this road to his recovery. It really hurts me to see him just laying there sleeping - but at least he isn't breathing heavy and hard as if he was in pain.

Peg
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Edited to add: He just peed (and there was actually some liquid in it and the calcium didn't look as thick) and he dropped a couple of small poops on top of the pee too....