Helping Bun With Arthritis

Hi everyone,

We've just found out our nearly 6 year old rex has got arthritis in her back - the vet has given us Metacam. She still seems very happy and is galloping round the house as ever, she still tries to jump but doesn't really have the ooomph in her back leg. Anyway, her main difficulty is sleeping, her worst leg is the side she has always chosen to sleep on (typical!) and she is having real difficulty in getting up. She obviously can get up as she's always about when we get up in the morning but it's sooooo horrible and upsetting when we've seen her struggling to get up

Anyway I think what I'm asking is does anyone have any good low bed/cushions we could get for her? She has always just slept on an offcut of carpet with a blanket/towel but now I think maybe something cushioned might be better for her. Any suggestions?

Also thanks for the thread about cleaning mucky bottoms - she can't quite always clean herself as she could before so we'll try some unscented babywipes and see how we get on.

TIA

:wave: Hiya Tia, My Brody bun had arthritis and this got progressively worse and she went to the Bridge last year . She did enjoy quality of life in her own way (if that makes sense).

The worse thing was she couldn't position herself properly to wee and poo so got soaked quite easily. I found the best litter tray regime for her was;
first layer newspaper
second layer puppy training pad
top layer hay

.. the puppy training pad seemed to soak up the wee better than megazorb.

To be honest, I don't think she could eat her cecals and was therefore not getting the nutrients from these so with hindsight, I would have tried to harvest these and get them to her. Having said that, her guesssimated age at passing was around 6 years old (she was a stray).

Brody was also on Metacam long term and I occassionally gave her probiotics to balance this. Seeing her bald, chicken legs towards the end was heartbreaking but I just could not keep her clean and dry

Good luck

Shel said:

My dog used to take glucosamine really worked well - can rabbits have that?

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My Vet advised me that glucosamine works on joints so it may be of benefit for rabbits if that's their type of arthritis (although it's not licensed for them). It would not have helped the spinal arthritis that Brody had (although that didn't stop me trying it )

Has you Vet suggested Accupuncture ?
As she is a Rex she will need careful attention paid to her hocks now that she is less mobile.

What dose of metacam and what does the rabbit weigh? I find many rabbits are on too low a dose
Goodluck

Hi,

Thanks for your replies.

I can't remember exactly how much she weighs but I think i's about 2.7kg... the Metacam she has is 0.5mg/ml and the vet said to give her 2 drops daily, making sure she had eaten something beforehand as it can lead to stomach pain. She hasn't been eating as much hay as usual and the second time we saw the vet she said it might be due to the drug. She didn't suggest acupuncture, that's very interesting, Posh did respond well when the vet massaged her so maybe that would be an option for us. I'll also ask about the glucosamine - my father takes that and he's doing alright

She is still very mobile "on the flat" it's just when she has to switch all her weight onto her back legs she has difficulties but we will be sure to pay extra attention to her hocks. I will try the puppy training pad too, at the moment we have just put a cut up flannel sheet around her tray for times she doesn't hop in there - and will cecal harvest too if necessary!

Thanks again for all your help it is much appreciated - in fact just the chance to air my worries makes me feel better.

That dose I have to say is lower than the dose i would give. Routinely I give 0.3mg/kg once daily (In fact I give higher doses than that quite safely). 6 drops of that solution gives 0.1mg. so if your rabbit is 3kg, i would give 0.9mg (54 drops!). It may be that that dose is working for you but if not I would query this.

With my bunny that had arthritis in her lower back I found that the absolute best results were from chiropractic and laser therapy. I wish I had tried them earlier. It really improved her quality of life. Previously I had used both metacam and glucosamine. The metacam was somewhat effective and I noticed no difference with the glucosamine. Hugs to you and your bunny.

Jack's-Jane said:

Has you Vet suggested Accupuncture ?.

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but how can any1 knows the location of the pressure point in a rabbit?

Happy Hopping said:

but how can any1 knows the location of the pressure point in a rabbit?

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I'll have to ask Christabel !! She gives Accupuncture to lots of dogs/cats/Wabbits

U/D

Hi everyone,

Well, during the week that I first posted, Posh lost a lot of weight and slowed down her eating so we took her back to the vet. This time we saw a different vet - who basically told us to prepare for the worst.

She suggested that it might be EC (which is what I had feared after reading various things here) and so she took her off the metacam and over the weekend we syringe fed her 'recovery' stuff and also gave her a gut relaxant and baytril. We took her back a couple of days later and the vet was very surprised at how much better she was Oh yes, she is now on panacur too.

She has put on weight and has been eating some pellets and a little hay on her own, we are still syringe feeding her and she is also taking some baby food and digestive biscuits (the vet suggested we try her with them). We have to take her to the vet again on Thursday where she will decide if she's strong enough to be sedated in order to take some blood and also check her teeth (I think she may have a problem with her mouth, she has been chewing weirdly) But we have been warned that she may not make it through the sedation.

So that's that for now. We are eternally greatful to everyone here for all the information, were it not for you she might have been dead already. Thank you.