Sue&Smokes
Young Bun
Hi,
After reading a few posts regarding use of liquid paraffin and being very sceptical about it myself, am just wondering if anyone does ever use liquid paraffin in their bunnies as my own vet (who is rabbit savvy and follows Frances Harcourt-Browns textbook of rabbit medicine) does prescribe this from time to time.
My own concerns have been that administering a dose of paraffin might well do more harm than good as it might produce a vaseline like coating and prevent fluids from reaching a mass. However, I was recently given this for one of my own rabbits for a case of cecal impacation and was told it was completely safe and inert. The dose I was prescribed was actually 2ml a day for a few days and this was for a rabbit only weighing about 950g :? However, I did give my rabbit some as it had been prescribed for her and I have had no negative effects from giving it to her. I did check the dosage in FHB's manual and it does state that (on page 99) that liquid paraffin should be administered at 1-2ml/kg bid, so, I think what I was given was high, but it does state it is used to treat cecal impaction which is a difficult but not impossible problem to treat. Further medication indicated is fluids and pain medication.
Also, asked for a second opinion from a contact in america on liquid paraffin (as USA seem to be ahead of us in lots of meds, drugs that they use) and was told it was used in cases where a bun was drinking, just not pooping and in those times that it was used ( and was apparently used at much lower doses than was prescribed for my bun) that it worked very well. Reason given for this was that the person had tried fluids to try to help her own bunnies pass a mass, however, this wasn't working, so they added liquid paraffin to make it slippery which did the trick.
My own thoughts are therefore that it may be useful in cases of a suspected mass ( and maybe if you have tried everything else and it hasn't worked) and that administering liquid paraffin may indeed actually help sometimes, although, I do think fluids are of upmost importance too.
Any other thoughts on this, would be interested to hear,
Thanks,
Sue
After reading a few posts regarding use of liquid paraffin and being very sceptical about it myself, am just wondering if anyone does ever use liquid paraffin in their bunnies as my own vet (who is rabbit savvy and follows Frances Harcourt-Browns textbook of rabbit medicine) does prescribe this from time to time.
My own concerns have been that administering a dose of paraffin might well do more harm than good as it might produce a vaseline like coating and prevent fluids from reaching a mass. However, I was recently given this for one of my own rabbits for a case of cecal impacation and was told it was completely safe and inert. The dose I was prescribed was actually 2ml a day for a few days and this was for a rabbit only weighing about 950g :? However, I did give my rabbit some as it had been prescribed for her and I have had no negative effects from giving it to her. I did check the dosage in FHB's manual and it does state that (on page 99) that liquid paraffin should be administered at 1-2ml/kg bid, so, I think what I was given was high, but it does state it is used to treat cecal impaction which is a difficult but not impossible problem to treat. Further medication indicated is fluids and pain medication.
Also, asked for a second opinion from a contact in america on liquid paraffin (as USA seem to be ahead of us in lots of meds, drugs that they use) and was told it was used in cases where a bun was drinking, just not pooping and in those times that it was used ( and was apparently used at much lower doses than was prescribed for my bun) that it worked very well. Reason given for this was that the person had tried fluids to try to help her own bunnies pass a mass, however, this wasn't working, so they added liquid paraffin to make it slippery which did the trick.
My own thoughts are therefore that it may be useful in cases of a suspected mass ( and maybe if you have tried everything else and it hasn't worked) and that administering liquid paraffin may indeed actually help sometimes, although, I do think fluids are of upmost importance too.
Any other thoughts on this, would be interested to hear,
Thanks,
Sue