Send good thoughts & prayers for Sport - Ivermectin reaction

[TinysMom]

For those who may not know - Sport is our vienna-marked harlequin lionhead. She has one blue eye and one brown eye and is such a sweetie. In fact, here is her picture from when she was younger...

Anyway, she has had ivermectin in the past with no bad side effects even though she is a vienna gene carrier (carries BEW).

Well - I gave her some last night as we thought she was getting ear mites again and I was telling Robin about how she hasn't had bad effects with the paste even though she's had it before (and I gave her less than I'd give a normal rabbit).

You guessed it....she's having bad side effects today. Mind you - she's had it at least 4-6 times before (when I treat my herd as a precautionary measure)...with no problems.

Fortunately, I do know what to do from these threads:

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=5851&forum_id=1&highlight=mite

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=9394&forum_id=1&page=1

For those who are wondering - Pam once shared the symptoms and here they are:

Signs of Ivomec toxicity:


[*] Dilated pupils
[*] Depression
[*] Drooling
[*] Vomiting
[*] Tremors
[*] Disorientation
[*] Weakness
[*] Recumbency (inability to rise)
[*] Blindness
[*] Nonresponsiveness
[*] Slow heart rate
[*] Slow respiratory rate
[*] Coma or death
She is mainly depressed and lethargic. Her respiratory rate is a little slow for her - but not overly bad.

We've been giving her some chiquita banana baby food (which she LOVED) and some bubble gum pedialyte (which she also loved). After having about 25 cc of those two (total)....she perked up and groomed herself a bit.

Right now she's taking a nap with Robin and is beign kept warm (but not too warm) and she will continue to get supportive care with nutrical, critical care and other good stuff.

I imagine she'll probably pull out of it - that we caught it fairly early....but I'd still appreciate those of you who believe in prayer - praying for her.

I'll share daily updates (possibly even twice a day).

I guess I just needed to share this - 'cause I'm kicking myself over this. She didn't get any more than she's ever gotten before (in fact a bit less) and she has never had problems before. I still feel bad though...

 

[polly]

hugs and good vibes heading your way :hug:

 

[MsBinky]

Oh no Sport is my favorite of yours. I hope she will be feeling better soon...

 

[myheart]

What a beautiful baby!!!

This should remind us all that no matter how routine things are, allergic reactionsof some sort can happen at any time. Don't beat yourself up over it. You had no idea this would happen. I always do the should-of, would-of, could-of wishful thinking on occasions also, but things happen and we should keep looking forward. I am so glad she has started to perk up with your attention and loving care.

Hoping she pulls through with all my heart and prayers.

myheart

 

[luvthempigs]

What a beautiful bunny! I will be thinking of her and send my thoughts and prayers she recovers from this ray:

 

[maherwoman]

You have prayers comin' your way from us as well...ray:

:hug:

 

[juliew19673]

Good luck; at least you know what your dealing with (seems to be half the battle all the time).. Best of luck and do keep posting along w/what if anything else you do that pulls her out of this. Warm wishes and paws are crossed.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

I hope she pulls out of this very soon.

Try not to kick yourself too hard, how were you to know she'd have a reaction when she never did before? Keep us posted.

 

[pumpkinandwhiskersmom]

We sure will send lots ofray:your way. How's she doing?

 

[cheryl]

Ohh i love that little girl...she's so pretty

Lots of prayers are coming from over here

ray:

Cheryl

 

[TinysMom]

Fortunately, Sport is not as bad off as Buck Jone's "Ernestine" was in her thread I shared the link to. At least I hope she isn't.

I checked on her a few minutes ago and while she was not as alert as I might have liked...she was doing fairly well. She was snuggled up in Robin's arms again...and she looked at me as if to say, "Go away and let me be.....".

I think my biggest concern right now is she does NOT want to eat....she will drink pedialyte but she just wants to be left alone. She is obviously not herself...but her breathing is better than it was before.

I will update on her tomorrow...

 

[Maureen Las]

It seems like I was just reading about this on etherbun.

I believe that the longer they survive after the initialreaction the better the chance of a full recovery. I think that"s what I read. I'd just keep up the pedialyte

 

[Haley]

Wow how scary. I wont ever use Invermectin bc Im so scared of side effects. Although I was thinking the paste was less dangerous than the injections?

I'll be saying a prayer for Sport tonight.

 

[TinysMom]

Haley wrote:

Wow how scary. I wont ever use Invermectin bc Im so scared of side effects. Although I was thinking the paste was less dangerous than the injections?

I'll be saying a prayer for Sport tonight.

Haley,

I've used ivermectin for 3 years with over 100 rabbits....successfully. I've even used the paste before with Sport several times. Because I'm a breeder with a larger herd than many folks - I do preventitive treatment with it every few months.

Sport has never had a reaction before. I've always had good results with the paste.

However, in this case, I'm thinking maybe it was the new brand I used...and it was near the end of the tube. This is more of a gel than a paste and it is apple-flavored. The other rabbits love it- and I thought Sport had had it before....

I'm not so much worried about the ivermectin now as I am her going into stasis. She is alert - although a bit wobbly once in a while. She mainly does not want to eat or drink and I'm syringing fluids and baby food into her along with other stuff. Once she feels good enough to start eating - I'll feel much better.

I will say that when I just fed her a few minutes ago - she held it in her mouth and refused to swallow for a while and then tried to spit some of it back out at me. She also tried to bite me to let her down.

So she is feeling more alert and feisty than she was yesterday...

 

[Ivory]

Peg, keep a few things in mind. When worried about stasis, sometimes the best thing to do is to push fluids, not necessarily food. Fluids are much more important than food. When Erik had his problems last November, he didn't eat very much at all for at least three days, only minimal amounts of treats and banana. However, we were giving him about 100-150 CCs of fluids a day to kep hydrate everything. Eventually, he did start eating again.

It was the same with Bentley after his incisor removal. He didn't eat for at least a day afterwards, however, we keep him hydrated with SQ fluids and he also began eating again.

Also, sugary foods such as banana will raise their blood sugar, thus making them think they aren't hungry.

If I were you, I would back off with the food for a few hours and give some SQ fluids, then see if she wants to eat later this afternoon, around three or four or so. Sometimes, it isn't stasis, it's just the fact that they plain aren't hungry.

Leave some pellets and hay in there in case she wants to eat it. If you have any alfalfa, try leaving some of that in there. It was the first thing Erik ate, and if I remember correctly, alfalfa is a good assistant to peristaltic movement.

Best of luck to you and Sport, I love her, she is one of the most beautiful rabbits. (Apart from Miss Bea.)

 

[JadeIcing]

Oh no! How is my Sport? You know that I love that little girl.

 

[MsBinky]

How is it going now? I hope she is getting better. Could it have anything to do with whatever had been going on before this? Like maybe she was a bit weaker than usual and that's why she had a reaction?

 

[TinysMom]

I'm getting ready to leave for vacation and so I thought I'd share a quick update...

Sport is doing much better. She's still not eating as much as normal but she is more active and eating and drinking on her own....and moving around better.

For those who follow New Hope - he's putting on weight and such a little stinker. I'm gonna miss him while I'm on vacation.

Hope to be back in a couple of weeks!

Lets hope that when I get back - there aren't many new threads in this area - as in - everybun is healthy....(aw....a mod can dream - right?).

:biggrin2:

 

[pumpkinandwhiskersmom]

Have a wonderful vacation, and I second that idea....no new threads here....just good ones about our healthy, funny loveable(sp?) bunnies!

Forgot to say thanks for the update...was wondering how Sport and New Hope were doing.

 

[12354somebunny]

Sport is gorgeous!! I love her colour!! I'm really glad to hear she's getting better

this Ivermectin adverse reaction is quite worrying.. is there anything we can do to lessen such incidents? like, each time our rabbits were to be treated with ivermectin, could we ask for a minimal first dose from the vet so that we can gauge the rabbit's reaction to ivermectin? or would a minimal dosage be just as bad for a rabbit which is susceptible to ivermectin?