Shya-she does what she wants

[JBun]

I was just about to joke with you about barely getting home and off to the vet you go... Then you throw that out about Franklin. Geez. Now I'm all worried about the little guy. Never heard of liver torsion. I'm going to have to look it up now.

I'm hoping for the best and he makes it to tomorrow and the vet can sort him out. Really hoping he's going to be ok.

 

[JBun]

Kaley, how did your vet manage to catch it? Most vets will see a loss of appetite and immediately jump to the conclusion of stasis, palpate the abdomen a little, and just treat that without finding the cause of the stasis, and without doing additional diagnostics that would catch something like this. A lot of vets would have just sent you home with critical care, pain meds, gut stimulant, and maybe an antibiotic, and left you to treat a 'typical' stasis episode.

Is Franklin doing ok?

 

[kmaben]

Right?! Of course I get home and everyone falls apart!

The vet the rabbits and the bird go to here is kind of expensive and one of those upscale, vets go to school extra years and teach CE's to other vets kind of clinic.
I brought in his mushy poo. It stunk so horribly bad and that's what really concerned her. He also had some runny eye going on so she was going to do some regular labs on top of an EC lab. Once his CBC and x-ray came back, all the pieces started to come together. She was also curious so she did a quick ultrasound probe (which she didnt charge me for) and found a little fluid in his abdomen. She wasnt concerned until she conferred with another vet specialist. She tapped the fluid and found it to be blood. (She didnt charge me for that either)

I guess if I had just thought myself it was a stasis and moved on nothing else would have been done. I'm glad in this instance the "over the top" diagnostics were offered and that I ran with them.

On top of all of that she found an abnormality in his right hip. She asked if he had, had any previous injury as there was some new bone growth going on. That's what made her think possible cancer and a tumor causing the anemia.

Every 30 minutes we get him to at least hop a little. He's quiet and you can tell he's a little uncomfortable but the vet gave him a great pain medication. (Just drank some water!) He still puddles when you pet him and nudges your for more if you stop. Hubby and I will take turns with him tonight.

He's on four different medications, Shya is on an eye drop twice a day, and the dog is getting rimadyl and tramadol for sprained toes. Dont ask about the sprain have no clue how it happened.

I also didnt really want to say anything until I was further along but apparently my hubster has great swimmers as I'm also pregnant. (Found that out a couple days ago) I figured I was pregnant on the fact alone that all I want to do is cry. At everything. It's my least used emotion and it's trying to break free on full blast. Starving children commercials. The Budweiser clydsdales commercials. I really let loose at the vets. They were so good to us there.

Franklin is my PTSD bun. He can calm me down when nothing else works. Before Franklin came to live with us I would have to drive around the block at my worst for hours before I was even remotely calm enough to walk through the door. When we were in Germany I would shovel snow to calm down. The neighbors loved it as I would sometimes have the whole parking lot cleared before I'd come in the house. 8 seconds with Franklin and I'm a sane person. When I would come home angry everything would run like hell to get away from me. The hubster would just hand me Franklin and I was good to go. I can't afford to lose him. He's still needed here so God is just going to have to wait.

 

[kmaben]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21529241/

nice article on liver torsion

 

[JBun]

Well thank goodness your vet had the sense and knowledge to know there was something more going on and investigated it. That's a great vet you have, even if they are a bit pricey.

When I think of your cuddle bun being sick, all I want to do is cry(I'm not a big crier), and I know for sure I'm not pregnant. That's wonderful news though. Congratulations! I'm so happy for you and your hubby I imagine the parents must be pretty thrilled too.

I'm feeling so worried about your Franklin. I know how much you rely on him for stress relief, and he's just such a sweetheart... well to people anyways . So, you're right, he just simply has no choice but to stick around. I'm thinking about you both and hoping for everything to go really well tomorrow.

 

[PaGal]

I am so,so sorry to hear Franklin is having issues. I am really pulling for him to recover. Although, I don't suffer from PTSD I do know how much Thumper does to help me feel better when I am upset or depressed so I can only imagine how you feel.

Congratulations on being pregnant! Now the fun begins. Ha!

 

[Chrisdoc]

I bet you're so glad to be home with them. So sorry about Franklin, he's such a gentle soul. Hope that the home treatment goes well, where is that darn lottery win when I need it Give him a massive smoosh from me

 

[Chrisdoc]

OMG how the heck did I miss that last page...pregnant and I missed it. Flipping eck as we say in Yorkshire haha. I too will have to read about liver torsion but really lucky she picked it up. I feel like crying most of the time but mines hormonal menopause...I tell you anything sets me off now. Tell Franklin we're all sending good vibes and as many hugs as he needs :thumbup:

 

[Anaira]

I was NOT happy to see this in my fb feed. Thinking of you and Franklin!

And congrats to you and family, on the pregnancy!

 

[Aubrisita]

Keeping my fingers crossed for Franklin....feel better soon! Congrats to you and your hubby on your little bundle.

 

[JBun]

How's Franklin doing today?

 

[kmaben]

Between Omar and I we stayed up with Franklin all night. Every 30-60 minutes we'd get Franklin to hop a bit. He was really up and then down. It was a bit scary as he would he some and seem completely normal then be so placid we would freak and check to make sure he was still breathing. He was kind of like this all day with slowly decreasing poops. I felt like he was heading towards the down hill and getting pretty depressed. We went to the vet at 3pm and we saw a different doc. Doc Fronfield is the owner and senior vet there. He had said Franklin wasnt a good candidate for surgery in his current state. We opted for the more conservative medical route as it was really our only option (to us) Doc Fronfield said he would have done the same if it were his animal. I felt atleast reassured I was doing SOMETHING for Franklin. Franklin had a bout of fluids today and came home and ate a regular sized meal of some lettuce/parsley and nibbled some pellets. (Huzzah!) He'll go in tomorrow for 12 hour fluid therapy and we'll see how he does. Doc had said the first 72 hours are the most critical. If Franklin continues to be stable we can start to get optimistic. I'm all ready ridiculously optimistic and thinking this is a miracle cure for him. Doc Fronfield repeatedly told me not to get my hopes up that his chances arent really all that great to begin with. There is practically no research and damn few documented cases of liver torsion. Lots of vets find it as a secondary finding in necropsy's but not as the primary cause of death. And damn few come in with a treatable liver torsion.

Somehow I just feel less hysterical today. We'll stay up with him again tonight and keep him hydrated. As we were standing in the exam room Franklin kept asking for pets. He hadn't done that all day and it made me feel just so serene. Dr Fronfield kept calling him a sweet pea and was so pleased with how well he was behaving. I feel good. Probably shouldnt but I can't help it. I hope he keeps it up.

 

[JBun]

It's such a relief to hear he is hanging in there. I know it's touchy, but that's one more day he's made it through. Franklin, the poor guy was probably so tired from being prodded by you two all night, just needed a rest Yay buddy, keep on eating!

I found this account of a bun in the UK that survived it. The bun did have surgery, but still it's a survivor story, so it can happen. The vet that treated was at Bristol University. I don't know if maybe your vet can confer with them at all to get additional info.
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?243564-Sora-amp-Liver-Lobe-Torsion-(Update)
So is there only bleeding at this point and no necrosis?

 

[kmaben]

Most of the stuff I've seen and read seems to come out of Britain. Not sure on the bleeding vs. Necrosis. I'm pretty sure the vet doesnt know either since they would probably have to open him up to check. Will ask that tomorrow. I guess it depends too on partial torsion vs. full torsion. If it's a partial he can recover. If it's a full he's done for.

I've also read in most cases the rabbits are lops of some kind. Research can't say difinitivley but Frenchies and Dwarf lops seem to be per-disposed for it.

This is insane. If nothing else these vets are learning so they can maybe increase positive prognosis on other rabbits. Still I'm kind of tired of being a person for "firsts"

 

[kmaben]

Another good night with Franklin. He ate ALOT of vegetables. We just kept letting him eat when he wanted. He peed a big puddle and a couple of poops but nothing promising on that end. So we shall see. Dropped him off early at the vets. We'll pick him up just as they close today. He'll have close to 12 hours worth of a slow drip.

I'm positive.

 

[JBun]

Yay!!! That's two days down. I swear my stomach drops when I see you've updated, before I read the good news.

He's probably loving all this extra attention, and veggies

 

[Chrisdoc]

He certainly is a fighter and I think the best you can do is be positive for him. Every day is a battle won. One of the most important things is that he has you and you´re going to do everything you can to help his recovery. Been reading a bit about it, complicated but interesting.

 

[PaGal]

We are hoping, and praying, crossing our fingers and everything else we can think of. I am really hoping that your optimism is a sign that he will pull through, that something is letting you know he will recover.

Hubby packed up the 'puter and took it to school with him this morning. I couldn't check up here until we got home from Pa. I was not happy since you and Franklin have so been on my mind.

 

[kmaben]

Franklin had a good visit at the vets today. He peed a lot but no poop. His temperature was up to normal, his blood pressure was stable, and he ate a lot of vegetables as well. His pak cell count is in the same elevated state but it's stable where it's at. The vet said he was "cautiously optimistic." Of course in my brain that translates to oh yeah everything is going to be just fine!! I'm trying to keep that negative note in the back of my mind so I'm not totally destroyed should anything happen. His prognosis was never great to begin with. The vet wants to focus on eating hays and grasses to get his poop moving. We've been hiding hay in lettuce leaves to trick him into eating it. He's caught on but been good for the most part about eating it. He's a lot more perkier today. He still seems kind of confused though. The vet assured me nothing neurological was going on so I think it's just his pain medication. Must be REALLY great stuff. We'll take turns staying up with him again. I feel like if I dont spend every hour with him he'll slip away. Like if I dont "do the time" I dont get the prize of a happy, healthy, Franklin rabbit. We shall see what tomorrow brings. I'm positive.

On a lighter note. I bought this little orthopedic bed for Kai at Petco. I noticed he would pull hay out of the hay rack and build a kind of nest to lay on. So I put it in for him and of course he loved it. I say loved because along came Shya. She had been out and I wasnt able to put her up. Kai was always laying loafed up on his little bed. When I finally did catch Shya she promptly peed on it, sat in the middle of it, and refused to budge. Kai would try to lay on a corner of it and she would growl at him. So I bought him another one. Shya of course peed on that one as well and spends her days hopping between the two trying to keep Kai off of both of them. I do have some pictures I'll post here shortly. They are the oddest couple and never cease to amuse me.

One last thing
Who the heck only has one blanket in their house?!?! My mom only has one couch blanket in the whole freaking house and it just drives me insane. Of course she sits with the damn thing and I'm just about insane looking for one of great grandmas old quilts. And when found I get fussed at because the only two she has are in desperate need of repairing. Mom's excuse: Well I'm the only one who uses a blanket so why do I need more than one?
I'm going to wal-mart and buying my own blanket tomorrow.

 

[JBun]

Kaley, you had me cracking up! Well, Shya's antics did. What a little snot Poor Kai, does he get nothing to himself. I can totally picture her guarding 'her' beds and Kai trying to sneak in there, and getting his butt kicked for it.

Hey, another day under the belt, and he's still hanging in there. What a trooper. I'm so glad to read good updates for him. What pain med is he on? I know that some can really make them drowsy, but also some slow down the digestion as well, so could account in part, for the lack of poop. I think torbugesic is supposed to not do this as much, but not absolutely certain.

This definitely isn't a one blanket house. We pretty much have a throw on every couch and chair. I freeze my butt off all winter, so I like to keep them handy