Help...advice/experience?

Hi all, I have a problem. I am in newzealand, and my rabbit Harvey has another eye infection.

He had one before I left and was signed off by the vet before I came away. I have 2 rabbits outside and a cat, so a friend is looking flat-sitting, however, he is not rabbit savvy an is now in the position of having to take Harvey to the vets and administer meds on a regular basis. I have not been able to contact the vets so far, so I don't know how bad the ulcer is this time, it was pretty bad last time. I am here for a wedding and feel terrible that my little bun is not getting the care and attention he needs but I do not know what to do! I looked at putting him into a kennel, but I don't know of anywhere I can contact who is rabbit savvy or will administer meds every 6 hours.

We have another vet appointment on Monday, hopefully that will establish weather it is healing quickly.

My flat-sitter leaves the country in a few weeks and 2 other friends are going to do a period each until I return, but they both work and neither has ever had rabbits.

I don't know how long ulcers take to get serious...it has been a week since he was signed off by the vet for the last ones....

Any advice or ideas to pass on to my flat-sitters would be greatly appreciated. I just don't know what else I can do. It was very hard to get anyone to flat-sit at all!

I have access to the net for the next few days, then it will be a week or so before I will be near a pc or phone reception.

I would take him as a foster, but I'm full unfortunately, I wonder if someone else might be able to? Or might be able to suggest a rabbit savvy boarding facility near where you live. Whereabouts in London is that?

It might also be worth posting in Rabbit Chat about this too because you might get more responses there.

thank you thank you, my time is up in the internet cafe....****.

I have posted on your other thread.

If he can be brought here, as long as when you come back you can pay boarding fees as a donation, i can administer his meds. I can also take him for check ups at my vets if you were to reimburse me on the presentation of reciepts.

StarlightsRabbitRescue said:

I have posted on your other thread.

If he can be brought here, as long as when you come back you can pay boarding fees as a donation, i can administer his meds. I can also take him for check ups at my vets if you were to reimburse me on the presentation of reciepts.

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But they are in New Zealand!! Does anyone know a rabbit rescue over there they could contact? where abouts in NZ are you? can your vet recommend anyone?

EDIT: thats what happens when your read things very quicky at midnight!! where abouts in London are you?? i might be able to help as i am just north of, if they can be got to me

VikkiVet said:

But they are in New Zealand!! Does anyone know a rabbit rescue over there they could contact? where abouts in NZ are you? can your vet recommend anyone?

EDIT: thats what happens when your read things very quicky at midnight!! where abouts in London are you?? i might be able to help as i am just north of, if they can be got to me

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I had to read twice as well!! You werent the only one!:lol:

Just to clear up the confusion, she's in New Zealand temporary, her rabbits are in London.

I have a feeling the Bun is not far from me :?

SBF if you see this PM me the Buns location.

Thank you for everyone's response, Apologies for my unclear post. Looks like I confused a few people.

I am in NZ, my animals are in London.

I was typing at speed, late for a wedding, in an internet cafe with a rubbish key bored whilst crying heavily. Plus I cant spell.

I have posted on the other thread now... This is what's going on, a message from the petsitter:

So, the verdict of the vet was that Harvey's eye has become worse. It is still quite cloudy. Tim performed a dye test test again to note that there was a white area below where he had previously noted on the previous visit. When peeling back his eyelids it is also noticeably red and Tim suggested that this must be causing him some amount of pain. He also took a swab to send off for analysis.

The medication he has provided is:

- Baytril to be admisinstered in doses of 0.5ml twice daily.
- Tiacil eye drops to be administered 1 drop three times daily.
- Metacam oral suspension for dogs to be administered in a dose of 0.7ml once daily with food.

I will try my best to administer as much of the suggested doses as possible, although I can't make any promises I should at least be able to do morning and evening.

I will be taking him back to the vet on Monday afternoon at 2.30pm for a follow up consultation. Fingers crossed there should be some improvement.

This rabbit sure is proving to be costly for you with the total for this visit being £116.22. Hopefully you have pet insurance...

As far as food goes I wouldn't say that he is eating an awful lot of hay. He is still sifting through his other food and mainly eating the museli, the rest usually end up scattered outside of the bowl. I have removed the corn cobs as Tim said that this contains a lot of energy and may explain some of his restlessness. I have also been giving him some sprouts as a treat from time to time.

He likes to run around, although when I put him in the kitchen the other night he didn't move the whole time he was in there...



What does everyone think? I have to wonder about the vet sending off samples... have my suspicions that the very enthusiastic vet may be trying to do some stuff that owners would not let them do, and me foot the bill. The vet is very good, and I do love my bun, but I don't really want unnecessary tests carried out for the sake of it! Obviously if the vet feels it is absolutely essential we'll go for whatever he recommends but there are limits. The pain relief has also got me thinking...there is an injection that is ok for buns with a shorter effect, that I think is cheaper...Do you think the vet may be experimented???

If he has an eye infection, you should take a warm cloth and dab at hi eye gently and do that for a while.

Sorry Daniel but any infection/illness in a rabbit must be seen by a vet. Rabbits are fragile and can get seriously ill very quickly. At home remedies should not be used unless you are VERY experienced (i.e. a rescue etc.) and have had the condition diagnosed by a vet.

Again, apologies for my poor English the last post. Thank you Daniel for your reply, however the prescribed eye drops are healing the eye far better than water could, and rubbing an ulcer can cause it to rupture, causing further damage. As eyes are delicate organs (and often the symptoms of eye infections are often a result of other greater problems with rabbits) it is always better to seek veterinary advice rather than home treatments.

So do people think my vet may be taking advantage of the situation and using me to subsidise a case study? This particular vet has tried before to sell sell sell, when it was not actually necessary. :? Or am I being paranoid?

smallbrownfrog said:

Again, apologies for my poor English the last post. Thank you Daniel for your reply, however the prescribed eye drops are healing the eye far better than water could, and rubbing an ulcer can cause it to rupture, causing further damage. As eyes are delicate organs (and often the symptoms of eye infections are often a result of other greater problems with rabbits) it is always better to seek veterinary advice rather than home treatments.

So do people think my vet may be taking advantage of the situation and using me to subsidise a case study? This particular vet has tried before to sell sell sell, when it was not actually necessary. :? Or am I being paranoid?

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As I said in my PM, I completey agree with the treatment the Vet has given

Thank you, Jacks-Jane, that is a relief. Do you agree with having samples sent for analysis? The eye has no discharge, and responded very quickly to the last pescribed treatments for ulcers.

Sending a sample (I'm assuming for bacterial culture and sensitivity) is definitely a wise thing to do, especially as this is a repeat eye problem and he has had antibiotics in the past. Some bacteria can be incredibly aggressive and cause 'melting ulcers' where front of the eye is progressively destroyed within the space of a few days so these should be identified and treatment adapted. Others can develop resistance to particular antibiotics, especially if courses have been used previously but some bacteria managed to persist. Without the sample there is no way to tell which bacteria is involved, how aggressive it tends to be and which antibiotics will be really effective/useless.
Unfortunately there is no option to wait for you to come back and discuss the bacteriology tests as they can't be done once antibiotics have been started (these will prevent bacteria sampled from growing on the culture plates) and it obviously wouldn't have been fair to leave him without treatment till you returned.

Thanks for the info Marie...

I spoke to the vet earlier, the eye is quite bad and the vet is suggesting there is a chance he may lose it. I can now totally agree with the treatment his recieving.

At the moment I have no option but to rely on my petsitter who is not able to administer meds as often a he should and who knows nothing about rabbits.

I have not had harvey very long, I got him "second hand" from the gumtree just before new year. So far he has has a dental, been neutered and got this eye thing...he has not yet been Vaccinated, which is going to be a problem, I think. I dont know what else to do. I don't know anyone else who has had rabbits, my family live in Yorkshire and are useless, and my mates won't help, further then the ones who are already doing a stint of petsitting.

I am currently in the middle of nowhere staying at a friend of a friend's parents so I can use the pc....but have to move on today so will not have access to the net often.

I guess the fact that the Petsiiter cant do meds is why the problem is worse
I have just replied to your last PM.

Thanks Jane, Yes I think the eye must have been getting bad inbetween me going and the appointment I booked as a check up one week later. Thank God I booked one! Otherwise who knows when the petsitter would have noticed the problem. :shock:

I have put out S.O.Ss to my friends, but so far they aren't able to help any further.

Harvey has had to miss a vet appoinment today due to canceled public transport, so when he goes to his re-schedualed appointment tomorrow hopefully we will have the result of the culture, and there will be an improvement in the eye.

The petsitter says there is an inprovment, and Harvey is still eating and had not lost any weight last time the vet weighed him (Friday) so fingers crossed.

Oh god, I know how hard it is to be far from your own bunny, and not being able to handle them directly.
I would have help you, but I am in bristol...
Couldn t someone goes directly to see the bun and give the meds...
Cross finger,
cecile