Update: Sherry has a mass/ abscess near her heart ??

[cmh9023]

Sherry has always had one back leg that is a little crooked and has arthritis. The vet thinks it was probably a fracture that wasn't treated (before I had her). It's never seemed to bother her or slow her down.

Well, over the past week I've been noticing that both her backlegs have become very crooked. Theylook kind of like frog legs. Kind of tilted inward but then slipping out from underneath her. Not really like splayed legs though. I don't know if that makes sense. She is still hopping around just fine and jumps up and down from her shelf and hidey house with no problem. She's eating normally, is energetic and doesn't look like she is in pain. Her eyes are bright.Her poops are smaller than usual though.

I've felt down her spine and around her legs to see if anything seems obviously wrong/broken. It doesn't bother her at all when I feel her spine, which is good. It bothers her a bit when I push her legs to be more underneath her. Not a ton, but she does try to hop away at that point. She's also very thin but she has been for a while now. I've been feeding her extra pellets and Nutrical so that may explain the small poop (?). She's 8 yrs old.

She has a vet appt on Thursday, but I'm wondering if I should take her to the emergency vet to have x-rays sooner. I have to be out of town tomorrow and my vet didn't have openings on Wednesday which is why it's not until Thursday.

They seem to be getting more crooked by the day. Should I take her to the emergency vet or wait since it doesn't seem to be bothering her?

 

[Maureen Las]

At first I was looking for some clue that this leg problem could be a symptom of something else ..but it doesn't sound like ec.

It sounds like possibly she has an arthritic problem and maybe also a spinal problem which is affecting her back legs. it sounds like an old bunny problems.

if you she feel that she can maneuver around well enough while you're away I don't see why you would have to go to an emergency vet before your trip.
Maybe some of these articles in geriatric buns may be of help..
some alternative therapies may also be helpful after you get a firm diagnosis

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=15580&forum_id=10

how is the Vivienne Violet princess??

 

[cmh9023]

Thanks for replying to me, Maureen! I've been thinking maybe this is related to age. I've never had a bun that got to 8 yrs old so I really don't have anything to compare this too. I think she'll be ok until Thursday. Her eyes are so bright and alert and she's very energetic so I have to think she is not in any pain. I'm not sure about the tiny poop though. I'm going to read the information about geriatric bunnies. Thanks!

Vivienne is doing great! She's such a character. I usually read or watch TV in bed for a while before going to sleep. She likes to hop up on my bed and sit on the pillow next to me. She still won't let me touch her and she always seems to be giving me a dirty look or grunting at me, but I think she secretly likes me I'm so glad you didn't let her be PTS at your shelter!!!

Thanks again for the reply!

 

[Maureen Las]

I think that Vivienne Violet has autism

Sherry probably has the symptoms of an older girl with arthritis ; the smaller poops could be a concern if it continued but not enough to go to the ER

have a nice trip

 

[TreasuredFriend]

{{ Little Rock Star Sherry! }}

cmh, i will send prayers across the county that rock star sherry will be fine until her normal vets Dr. B or Dr. K can look at her Thursday. Please give Sherry Girl lotsa cuddles. I'm so glad she wasn't put to sleep at HAWS. Please keep us posted.
Parker Martin and Karla and all ::send love::

 

[dquesnel]

Hi, smaller poops could be due to a slowdown in mobility for Sherry- the gut slows down a bit when the rabbits begins to exercise less. I was wondering if she sounds like a good candidate for a rabbit cart, especially if she has good use of her front paws?

Have you heard of the disabled rabbits group on yahoo? http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/disabledrabbits/ They have some great ideas and suggestions for rabbits like yours.

 

[cmh9023]

dquesnel wrote:

Hi, smaller poops could be due to a slowdown in mobility for Sherry- the gut slows down a bit when the rabbits begins to exercise less. I was wondering if she sounds like a good candidate for a rabbit cart, especially if she has good use of her front paws?

Have you heard of the disabled rabbits group on yahoo? http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/disabledrabbits/ They have some great ideas and suggestions for rabbits like yours.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely check out that web site. One leg looks quite a bit worse tonight so I'm going to see if there's any way she can get in tomorrow.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

cmh, sherry girl?

 

[cmh9023]

Sherry's back from the vet. She is down to 1.7 lbs from being 2.5 lbs in August. That's not good, especially sinceI've been feeding her extra pellets so she would gain some weight. She's just skin and bones, butshe actually eats a lot.

As far as her legs...She still has arthritis in her knees which has gotten a bit worse since her last x-rays. However, the main problem is that she's lost nearly all the muscle mass in her back legs. That's why her legs are sticking out to the side. She tooka blood panel and will have the results in the morning. She will prescribe meds once she sees those and I can pick them up tomorrow. We also talked about physical therapy and possibly some alternative treatment like accupuncture. The x-rays also showed that she's lost a lot of bone density (kind of like when people get osteoporosis).

The other bad thing thex-ray showed is that there is some kind of mass near her heart. She said it is not very dense and could be an abscess of some sort.

I'm sure the vet will prescribe Metacam for the anti-inflammatory/pain (if her kidneys are ok, etc.). Will that be strong enough? I haven't looked back to the old posts but I think I read that is a weak medicine. Has anyone had experience where a bunny was able to re-gain muscle in their legs? Anyone do physical therapy with their bun? Or alternative treatments like chiropractic or accupuncture?

 

[TreasuredFriend]

OMG. This is so scarey for your little rock star. She was kept on corn cob bedding for the first 3 years of her life, and fed apple bits. I can pull the notes from her original surrender time. I think we presumed her legs didn't benefit from being in a small fish tank/glass aquarium on corn cob bedding with her sister (who had eye icky) and basically paid little attention to.

Karla and Tamm get physical therapy daily/weekly. I can recommend a chiropractor near Oconomowoc if you wish. Karla is a patient. Karla and Tamm rec'd acupuncture treatment once. Tamm okay, Karla not so good with her frail hind-end structure. The book WHEN YOUR RABBIT NEEDS SPECIAL CARE talks about acupuncture helping some rabbits; not benefitting everybun that has it according to their owner's opinion. After observing the look in Karla's eyes when she underwent treatment, I decided not to continue.

Oh no, the mass near her heart. :h no::

Karla won't regain 100% reuse of her back legs (according to the 2 DVM's that treat her) b/c of muscle wasting yet the wheelcart and PT will benefit. Karla's been on Metacam since fall of '05, now switched to a different NSAID. I believe Randy mentioned that meloxicam is a tylenol type of treatment. Hope these comments will help.

praying for your petite lil' darlin'ray: YOU've been such a caring mom to Sherry for all these years. please give her all the love you can,

 

[Maureen Las]

Sorry to hear about Sherry

I think Treasured Friend has a lot of experience with this.

The book that she mentioned by Kathy Smith..do you have it? If not it explores alternative therapies for long term care buns in addition to many other useful things
Metacam is similar to motrin , advil , ASA, ..unlike Tylenol it does have anti-inflammatory properties but is not really strong.
Please keep us posted, Cara

 

[TreasuredFriend]

We talked about demure sweetheart Sherry over the weekend. angieluv, your help is extremely appreciated. Sending RO thoughts to tiny Sherry, :hug:

Tramadol, per suggestion/advice from naturestee and Randy, ... wanna add that in... is something else suggested for Karla's pain relief.

 

[cmh9023]

Well...It turns out that this "mass" near Sherry's lung may turn out to be more serious than the leg situation. The doctor saw it when she took the x-rays of her legs. It could be cancerous, but she said it's not very dense so it also could be an abscess. I had never heard of an internal abscess. She had one on her jaw over the summer and that turned into a golf ball-sized thing that broke open and was horribly gross. I haven't read up on internal ones yet so hopefully that isn't what happens inside. She is on Baytril and PenG.

Her leg issues aren't related to arthritis after all. She already had arthritis in her knees which we already knew. This is actually a huge loss of muscle mass and she can't hold herself up with her back legs. I don't really understand what caused this, why it happened so quickly,or if she can regain some muscle. I have to talk to my regular vet tomorrow. I'm doing physical therapy exercises with her twice/day. She's eating like a little piggy, drinking water, normal poops, etc. The vet said she doesn't have pain because it's a muscle issue, but I'm not convinced. My regular vet will prescribe Metacam, but I'm going to ask about Tramadol instead. She doesn't seem to be in pain. The exercises don't bother her. She just has a hard time getting around. She can really scoot when she want to though....i.e. if there is a treat in front of her.

Here are some pictures showing how much they stick out. Looking at them, what do you think about the pain situation? If they come out huge I apologize. I have as Small in Photobucket but they look really large in the Preview.

View from above

From the front

Close up

Charlie has been taking good care of her

 

[Maureen Las]

I'm really sorry about Sherry's 'mass" ..Cara.

Is the vet going to explore any other diagnosis or just see if the meds shrink it?

Was she on penG and baytril last summer. ? Did that combo work OK?

The pics of her legs are sad
I would ask for tramadol for her

please keep us up-dated on her :hug:

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Oh no, I'm so sorry, Cara. I hope it can be helped, I've dealt with cancer as well, a tumour in my last female. It turned out to be Mammory. It was sucessfully removed..

I wish you both the best of luck with this horrible disease.

Keep us posted, hon.:hug:

 

[TreasuredFriend]

Do Sherry's eyes portray a pain response? You can tell normal happy appearance vs. a stressed and painful expression. That's going on my experience with Karla... Rabbits will also conceal or disguise a painful malady. Physical therapy improves stiffened limbs and joints.

Couple notes on Karla on Tramadol: It will alter the size of Karla's poos. And Tamm's poos. I give 'em Tram' with a wee bit of greens too. I think you may want to ask your rabbit-savvy vet that, or be prepared for Sherry's poo's to get tinier.

Disabled rabbits can handle their handicap much better than people do. You will know, Cara, and be able to tell what's best for her. Better to have pain management than tough it out and be miserable, risk more misery and complications. * Such a trooper she has been! *sigh* She's too sweet and cute for words.

Her legs look like wheelcart stabilizers and Charlie cat (photo) looking after Sherry is priceless. Please keep us posted as much as you can. ray:

Sherry has one fabulous mom to ask questions and seek help for her. I have this huge lump in my throat reading about the mass. I don't understand about not having pain in a muscle, ... or it's a muscle issue (as opposed to bone joint?). Curious on that.
:hug: , :hug:,:hearts:> Button, Cara, Sherry. Sherry looks like she'd fit in the palm of one's hand!!

 

[tonyshuman]

Oh no. Hoping for the best. Thinking of sweet Sherry and you--