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Flopsy - the story of an amputee - *SAD UPDATE*

Rykat

Mama Doe
Hi guys

This is my gorgeous Flopsy

Flopsy2.jpg


Following on from my original thread http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=151599&highlight=Rykat I thought I'd start a new one with the current situation.

Flopsy never regained any use of her back leg and on Thursday I was faced with a horrible decision to make, have her PTS then or risk an operation to amuptate her leg but with the knowledge that there was a very strong chance she wouldn't survive the op. I chose to give her the chance and she made it through the op and is still with us. As it's some good news I thought I'd start a new thread to share her story with you, not to get sympathy, but to give hope to anyone you may ever know who ever finds themselves in a similar situation and having to make such a hard choice. It's worth taking the chance, and I know it's still very early days but the early signs are fantastic and she's fighting on.

As Flopsy had no feeling in her leg she was injuring it by dragging it behind her so we had to put a baby sock on it to protect the foot.

Flopsy1.jpg


On Wednesday somehow she had managed to get the sock off and when I went to put a fresh one on I couldn't believe what I saw, she only had 2 toes left and although there was no blood anywhere, there was alot of bone exposed. I rang the emergency vet who said as it seemed clean to then to dress it and take her there in morning. I don't know what happened, there was no blood anywhere and I can only assume it was over enthusiastic grooming from her as she couldn't feel anything. I took her in Thursday morning and the vet examined her foot and as there was no skin and exposed bone she was at high risk of developing septacaemia. The vet asked for a second opinion and I was faced with a difficult situation, have her PTS or risk an op which she would most probably not survive due to her age (7.5 years) but as Flopsy has always been bright eyed, alert, eating, snuggling etc and only on 0.3ml of Metacam every other day I knew the only decision I could make was to risk the op and give her a chance. The op was scheduled for the following day (Friday).

Friday morning came and I took her out of the crate with her "husband" Benji and sat on my bed with her. I'm not ashamed to say that I cried buckets whilst cuddling her and asking her to pull through the op, she's come so far and was not a rabbit to give up easily, I was so scared that then would be the last time I would see her alive. I took her to the vets and was again told to prepare myself for the worst and to ring at 3pm unless they rang me which I hoped wouldn't happen. Anyone whose ever had a pet in for an op knows how very, very slow the time drags and it was torture waiting. The other bunnies were all cleaned, litter trays scrubbed till they sparkled, did everything I could to try and not think about it. I managed to last until 3pm and the receptionist put the vet on the phone, I held my breath but she said that she had come thorugh the op ok and was just waking up. The next few hours were critical but to ring again at 5pm. At 4.45 (!) I rang and was told that she was fully awake and doing fantastic, she was recovering very, very well. We went to get her and the vet said she coped with the anaesthetic very well and her recovery was amazing. Her would is very neat and although she's very wobbly on her back end she's still bright eyed, eating, pooing and weeing and so far is doing fantastic so soon afterwards.

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The other bunnies are in the "Bunservatory" in dog crates but for the first 48hrs I'm keeping her separated from Benji and she's in the "sickbay cage" in my bedroom. Although the cage is too small for normal use, she's on minimal exercise so it's ideal as she can manage a hop each way!

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Tomorrow I'm going to put that cage in the crate so although they can see and touch each other through the bars, Benji can't get to her until the wound has had a good chance to start healing.

I'm sorry for the length of this post, I just wanted to share one bunnies extraordinary "triumph over adversity" :love:

Thanks for reading and I'll post an update in a few days.

Bobbie
 
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Poor Flopsy, im glad shes doing well and has come through the op ok. Fingers crossed she continues to manage and recover quickly. xx
 
Best wishes and healing vibes for Flopsy xx

Remember to get her exercising as soon as possible to keep the ther leg strong, otherwise they can end up losing their mobility after a hind limb amputation.
 
my bridge bun Goofball also had her rear leg removed due to bone cancer. There was some difficulty for her to get used to hopping and running for the first 3 weeks or so. But after that,she run just as fast as any other bun.

God bless little Flopsy
 
wow,what a bun!it brought tears to my eyes.heres wishing both you and your curageous bunster all the luck for a speedy recovery and many more happy years together.xx
 
Hope everything progresses well. I had a hind limb amputee bun and after the first couple of weeks, you'd hardly have known she had a leg missing. She couldn't balance to sit up and wash her face/ears so I had to do that for her but other than that, she had no problems whatsoever.
 
Recent news - still doing well

Hello all

Many thanks for all your encouraging words and wishes for Flopsy.

I'm sorry I've not posted an update sooner, no excuses, just had alot of crappy stuff going on.

Well I'm very pleased to say that our brave girly has been doing really well. The fur has almost grown back not and she's so bright, alert and eager for treats. She's managing to get around ok on 3 legs although recently she's not been as keen to wind up the other bunsters but I'm achy in this weather so trying not to worry about it. She's only on Metacam every 2nd day but on no other meds.

The bad news is that she continues to lose weight and myself and the vets think there may be more going on than just arthritis. She has intermittent days of continence, but we just baby wipe her when needed. The vets have said it's a waiting game to see if the other leg will go the same way. but for now she's doing good and is bright eyed and happy so that's good enough for me.

Thought I'd post a recent piccy of her, not one of the best but she was in a strop when I took it as I stopped her winding the other buns up :lol:

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Will try to get some nicer pix soon :)
 
Just read her story, she's such a beautiful bun :love: really hope she improves after staying so strong through her problems.
 
So pleased to hear she is doing well. I find out whether my little Juno needs a partial forelimb amputation next month, I have my fingers crossed that she dosn't but it is reassuring to hear how well they cope with their disability. :)
 
Oh dear that bought a tear to my eye.

I'm so pleased she's doing well, she looks gorgeous. The only three legged experience I have is with my dog who had bone cancer, and that too was such a hard decision to amputate, but I think its so important to give them the chance, and its so good to see them hopping around again.

Well done you :)
 
*UPDATE* Not doing well

Hi all

Sorry I've not posted sooner.

In the past 2 weeks Flopsy has gone from doing fantastic to not being good at all :cry:

She is permanently wet with urine incontinence and had lost so much weight that she's just skin and bone. Her remaining back leg is now giving up and she hops at an angle with a twisted back. She is losing the fur on her leg and bum although no urine scald yet.

She went to the vets last Tuesday and she's on Baytril and Panacur again, but we're faced with just managing the symptoms and not looking at a cure.

I'm applying the 3 golden rules of "quality of life":

(1) Is she eating and drinking = Yes
(2) Is she respondent to affection = Yes (and comes to the front of cage for a fuss)
(3) Is she interested in her surroundings = Yes, especially for treats

I've tried putting vet bed in her cage but have gone back to loads of newspaper with puppy pads on top and then straw. He wee smells so strong and she's just weeing everywhere. I can't use nappies as without her other back leg they just keep falling off, I've tried making "braces" for them but she just nibbles them off and get worried. Her partner Benjy is still fit and healthy so I'm pretty sure it's not anyting contagious she has and all the others are fine.

We bathe her rear end daily in bunny shampoo, then towel it then dry with hairdryer but the smell doesn't go and within an hour she's just as bad.

I don't know what to do for the best. I'm realistic and taking each day as it comes, she's suddenly lost the spark that she had and looking old but she still comes up for treats/nose rub/snuggles etc and is eating fine.

Any advice for a very stressed and worried bunny mummy?

Thanks :)
 
Awww I'm sorry that she seems to have gone downhill :( With the buns that are incontintent we find that two pieces of vet bed work better than one - also a barrier cream to help the urine scald.

What about a sock for her other leg? Some bandaging underneath would help her.

That is the biggest problem with amputees - the twisting of the spine :cry:

Please give her a cuddle from me :love::love:
 
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