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elderly bun question update on treatment

bunlover

Warren Veteran
chelsea is slowing down a bit in older age and seems to now walk everywhere rather than hop like she used to she is 11yrs old now. she has lots of parsley for suspected arthritus adn we have treid glucosamine... if we take her for a proper vet diagnosis... will this involve blood tests? as im worried with her age this will be painful stressful and possibly unnessacery.... she is otherwise happy and fine but i wonder if she should be on metacam for anti inflammatry reasons and if she did go onto this long term what are risks.. are there any other things ? she loves sunbathing which im sure must help and cannot be a fully indoors rabbit tho they have an extension to the house which is much warmer than outdoors which is hers to be in.she hates human company and loves rabbits instead and hates being inside for any reason she loves her garden.... we have treid her with snuggle safe variations and she stubburnly wont sit on them... mind you she is a large rabbit at around 3.5kg. any ideas? to try?
 
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Your vet would probably just manipulate her joints and watch how she moves around.

She probably would benefit from an anti-inflammatory like metacam, although not necessarily every day.

My Winston is about the same age as Chelsea and has started to shuffle rather than hop properly, although he seems happy otherwise and still runs around my feet and honks for food at breakfast time :)
 
Your vet might want to do blood tests to check her kidneys before putting her on metacam- although this may depend on how good he is at bleeding rabbits :lol: He might also advise an xray or two to see if there's any arthritis.
 
Quick question, does she flop out when she is resting or tend to sit more hunched up a lot of the time?

no she flops rather than sits hunched she is generally fine liz its jsut a case of us worrying that she might need a bit i duno extra?!but we dont know what!!!
 
Thats good I always worry if I don't see them flopping regularly, I see it as an early warning sign to more serious problems.
I personally don't think it would hurt to get a full blood profile done given her age. It would put your mind at rest if all clear and might catch something early and enable treatment if there is a problem :)
 
Thats good I always worry if I don't see them flopping regularly, I see it as an early warning sign to more serious problems.
I personally don't think it would hurt to get a full blood profile done given her age. It would put your mind at rest if all clear and might catch something early and enable treatment if there is a problem :)

but is it a stressful and painful procedure to have? as dont want her goign through any stress she doesnt need. otherwise her health is perfect(except the walking rather than hopping)
 
but is it a stressful and painful procedure to have? as dont want her goign through any stress she doesnt need. otherwise her health is perfect(except the walking rather than hopping)

Depends on the competence of the person taking the blood. It shouldn't be too bad if they are experienced :)
 
I have had plenty of bunnys blood tested and the majority have been absolutely fine with it :) My vet normally takes it from the neck area.

I guess you could always ask them to try but if she struggles not to continue :?
 
^^ what they said

If arthritis is suspected then metacam will be benificial both as an anti-inflammatory and pain relief. Talk to your vet - if you are not confident that theya re doing everything they can then see someone else for a 2nd opinion. I always worried about being "unfaithful" to my vet but I have had very good 2nd opinions recently - and so long as I let my normal vet know what I am going to do he seems fine with it.
 
hey all, been to see jason yesterday and he checked her over he has her now on a course of cartofen(starting next weke as she had her myxi this week) and has given us metacam to administer as and wehnneed it.. the cartofen is for her athritus it replaces a molecule in the bone/joint that is missing in athritic bunnys it is 1 injectio nevery week for four weeks then this lasts up to 6 months before she eneds next course apparently he said it has a better affect on rabbits than glucosamine adn its less administering. he was a little concerned at her front paw(the one with the scarring from the myxi) as there appears to be restricted movement in it and ther is extra bone growing there, but to be on safe side adn rule out a tumour or other nasty he is doing an xray and becasue she is old and very well behaved he will do it concious.(so no horrible ga's!) so all in all we wont know how the treatment is working till after the coure but fingers crossed it makes her more comfortable. xx
 
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