urgent advice needed

[Pamela Moses]

been to vet he said it looked bettertoday than tuesday he took the scab off and the wasno more pus he said to keep an eye on it and will see her on monday

 

[cheryl]

That's fantastic news Pamela!

 

[Pamela Moses]

:colors:finally after all these weeks thanks cheryl

 

[cheryl]

That's ok Pamela,i'm just so happy that Thumper is all healed

cheryl

 

[naturestee]

That's great news! :great:

 

[Pamela Moses]

here we go again back at vetyesterday he wasconcerned that thumper had startedagainon the area below the operation was red keep on goingwith salt water and another injection on thursday

he also mentioned that he had a word with his other vet at thatpractice and said if she keeps on with these holes as thatmeant that the antibiotic *** is not doing its job they mayhave to put her to sleep

checked her all day and then at midnight again another hole aboutthesize of 1cm round and gone through a few layers of skinhad some of the hydro gel left put her collar on and got to bed at1.30am 20mins later she was making a noise she had taken the collarmost of the way off so hubby stayed up all night watching her i tookover at 7.30 and he went to bed checked the hole it hasshrunk to1/2 of what it was any sugestions

 

[Pipp]

Poor Thumper :tears2:

Poor Pamela! :hug1

I'll check around and see what I can find out. I know other bunnies have gotten through this.

At least it's healed halfway already.



sas

PS: have they tried tranquilizing her for awhile? That mayhelp in terms of not trying to get the collar off.

 

[Pamela Moses]

have rang the vet waiting for nurse toring back i have tried to put collar on no luckwill have to wait until tom wakes or until my daughter gets home fromcollege at 2pm

 

[Pipp]

I think they're treating the symptom and not the cause. (What kind of a rabbit is she?)

She has to have an underlying pain or stress problem that's causing herto chew -- I'm not sure how common it is in bunnies, but I have a catwith food allergies that scratches herself until she bleeds.(My cat is allergic to fish and possibly to corn).

Apparently it could also be genetic.

I think she needs to be tranquilized, I see a reference to bunniesbeing dosed with diazapam or phenobarbital, so that's something to askthe vet.

It may be worth checking some holisticroutes, people have hadgood success with them (considering the drugs on the market come fromherbs and flowers, and other cultures embrace many aspects).

Here's something fromSusanat the Etherbun Yahoo Group I trust very much wrote:

It's possible that some sort of herbal or holistic remedy might help
this rabbit. I would certainly try giving him some Calms Forte or
Rescue Remedy drops (with vet approval) when he's having an episode to
see if that could at least calm him down for the moment. I would also
put RR drops in the water for an ongoing calming effect--again after
checking with a vet. I think diazepam and phenobartbitol (not
together) have been used for buns with seizure problems. Don't know
if that would be appropriate for this bun or not, though. One rabbit I
know of who was self mutiliating did stop that behavior when given
homeopathic Ars. album 30C but the bun also got pretty zonked on it
apparently. However, it's possible that a *trained* homeopathic vet
could have had better success in helping that bun; homeopathy can
require some fine tuning. Acupuncture might help, too, if that's an
option.

Has the bun in question been gone over carefully for any possible pain
sources? Pain can cause some bizarre behaviors, including self
mutilation from what I've read. Some of the other Bach Flower Essences
might help with this behavior, too, but I don't know enough about them
to recommend specifics to be tried, though Cherry Plum sounds like it
might be appropriate and Crabapple might help, as well,
[url]http://www.allourpets.com/holistic/bach-essences.shtml[/url]Drops can be
masaged into the ears for transdermal absorption.

If you find out what's going on and a way to treat it successfully,
please let us know. Poor little bun, this is a *real* "downer"

Susan

Here's another post...

Re: [EtherBun] Self-mutilation under the chin
My one experience with something like this was a few years ago. A friend of
ours had a beautiful little girl bun who kept chewing her feet. Scrapings &
tests were run, nothing was found. Her owner kept insisting that the bun's
teeth needed filed, but the vet didn't believe her. After a few months of the
chewing, the vet started regular filings of the teeth & the chewing stopped.
Apparently the rabbit's teeth had spurs that couldn't be seen, but she knew that
they hurt. Regular dental work (every 2 weeks!) helped.

It might not be your bun's teeth, but if she can't tell you directly, she might
be trying another way to show that she has some discomfort somewhere & needs
your help to find relief.

bb



And here's a note from our own Pam Nock who recounts a story about abad case of self-mutilation that was only helped by a very long stintof wearing a collar:

No one really knows what sets the behavior off in the first place:
genetic tendency, diet, stress, injury, boredom . . .

Pam

Hope this helps. It's going to take a lot of experimentation, keeping her calm and unable to chew.

Good luck. Sending lots of get well vibes. :clover:



sas

 

[Pipp]

Here's a good article on self-mutilation.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Behavior/mutilation.pdf

I'm not convinced the injections are a good thing. They maybe a bad thing. If she's prone to that behavior, wouldn't theirritation caused by the needle be a potential trigger?

I assume the vet did a culture to make sure it wasn't fungal orwhatever? No dermatitis? Had she been drooling at all?

This article also mentions psychotic drugs.



sas

 

[naturestee]

Mummybunny's Miffy also had a similarproblem. If I remember correctly,one of thetreatments was steroid injections, although I'm not sure if they helpedor not. I'ddig up the thread but I'm at work.:?

JimD's Binky also had a similar problem after a surgery to remove anabscess in her dewlap. She's fine now but I'm not sure whatworked for her...

Good research, Pipp!

 

[Pamela Moses]

no the vet did not do any tests

and no she has not been drooling

they did check her teeth while she was under for her last op

the vet said boredom but we have 7 other rabbits in the same shed and they have no problems

thumper has been bought an in door cage now so she is in our house and cant be bored there is always someone with her

we happen to be self employed so we can be at home more

 

[Pamela Moses]

as far as we now she is an english lop

 

[Pamela Moses]

do uyou know of any trainrd homeopathic vets in uk wales would be better

 

[Pipp]

Pamela Moses wrote:

do uyou know of any trainrd homeopathic vets in ukwales would be better

None on this current list in Wales, but you may want to email the Association to see if that's changed.

http://www.bahvs.com/vetmfhom.htm



sas

 

[Pamela Moses]

thanks i have found 1 i think one ther is one inbristol thats about 1hoursdrivehttp://www.naturalpetcare.co.uk/holisticvets.htm

 

[Pipp]

Good deal.

Hopefully he's at least somewhat rabbit savvy, you'll have toask. He should definitely be consulting with your currentvet, regardless.

Let us know how it goes.

sas :goodluck

 

[Pamela Moses]

thanks for the info pipp had another look it isback to the size it was last night managed to get the collar back onand she is ok with it now

rang other vet our vet must do futher tests and them be referred to him

waiting for our vet to ring

 

[Pipp]

Here's another excerpt from an Etherbun post that looks interesting...

Re: collar to stop stitch removal

--- In[email protected],"fuzzy-rabbit" <rabbit@f...> wrote:
> Fuzzy has to wear a collar as she is trying to get the stitches out.
> Trouble is she cant eat or drink with the collar on. Any
suggestions?
>
> Eloise
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Eloise you can remove the collar when you can be there to watch
her..you will need to be vigilant with one determined to chew those
sutures out..you can also cut the collar back to say the end of the
chin so she can eat and drink or try various 'jacket' designs..this
has been fairly successful with one I have that gets into periods of
self-mutilation..the one that seems to work best is the sleeve of an
old knit, cuffed shirt..cuff goes over the neck so it is snuggish not
tight and cut out holes for the forelimbs..quite fashionable
too..good news is that most who do chew the sutures stop after the
fisrt few or 4 days. The point is that she does need to have constant
access to food and water as you already pointed out..those collars
are usually too long to allow it.
Sharon M

 

[Pamela Moses]

this is a picture of thumper i will send a picture of the hole next

pam