Consultation With Emma Keeble - U/D post 19 - She's Home!

I posted a couple of weeks ago in Health about the problems Rosie has been having recently - mainly uveitis and eye problems, along with chesty noises. Thanks to those who gave advice on my thread. ( http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=196286 )

Just wanted to update to say that we have been through in Edinburgh today and Rosie has had a consultation with Emma Keeble at the Royal D*ck Vet School. I was quite excited - a rabbit expert, at last! :lol:

She is going back in a couple of weeks to have more investigations done. The vet was quite concerned about her chest as she was quite grunty and raspy when examined - although she was a bit stressed due to the journey, etc.

She'll be seeing Brigitte Reusch then and will be having more X-rays (apparently the ones our vet did weren't very good :roll. She'll also examine her upper respiratory passages with an endoscope, take some fluid from her lung if possible, and have some more tests on her eyes, including measuring tear production to see if it is excessive. She'll be staying overnight so they can keep an eye on her.

We were in for an hour with her and she was lovely and very thorough. I seem to have forgotten most of what she said; it was a lot to take in. :? We nearly fainted when she told us how much all this will cost. But Rosie's worth every penny.

Will keep you updated. :wave:

I hope that they can find a treatment to help Rosie

Thank you Jane. It's just a case of not really knowing what's possible until some more investigations are done.

thats fantastic news. i wish i lived closer to a rabbit expert.
I imagne it will cost a fortune..but they are worth it and i hope you can find some treatment for Rosie and make her a happy bunny!

Well Rosie went back to Edinburgh yesterday for some more investigations. We'd hoped to get her home today, but she's not well enough - she is breathing quite quickly and they want to keep her in till tomorrow.

They have done more x-rays and the main problem seems to be with her lungs. She saw Emma Keeble again (Brigitte Reusch isn't there just now) and she said that her right lung has "effectively collapsed". :? But there is increased opacity in the lung which is abnormal. They did a scan over and above the x-ray and said it's not a mass, but they can't exclude neoplasia (a tumour, I presume?) So they don't know if it's an infection, inflammation or a tumour in the lung. She said they could have done a fine needle aspiration, but it risked spreading the infection/tumour and it was risky as it was too near the heart.

They tried to have a look with an endoscope at her upper respiratory passages but they were too swollen. I think she said it was because there was not enough anaesthetic given and next time they would give her more, but that seems a bit odd - I'm not sure. :?

The pressure in her right eye (the one with uveitis) is greater than it should be, and they said she might need to see an ophthalmologist for that. The tear production is normal, although they think the tears are streaming out of her eyes because of dental disease - presumably the incisor roots are interfering with the drainage.

So, she's on 2 types of antibiotics, getting nebulisation and oxygen, drugs for her GI tract and painkillers (presumably Metaclop and Metacam). We'll hopefully bring her home tomorrow and they want to see her in 2 weeks and repeat the chest x-rays in 4-6 weeks to see if there are any changes.

I have to admit though, I'm wondering if all the procedures and the stress of being away from home has made her worse. I know she had to have it done, but I'm feeling bad about it at the moment and just hope she can come home tomorrow. Neither of us is keen to submit her to repeat visits (which are a long car journey away), or repeat GAs, and add to her stress unnecessarily. I think it will be a waiting game; we'll just have to see how she is over the next couple of weeks and go from there.

Please send any spare vibes you can muster for our special girl.

Goodness poor Rosie

I hope she can come home tomorrow. I am sure she'll feel happier in familiar surroundings

xx

Poor Rosie Sorry it wasn't a better outcome after all the tests etc.

Loads of vibes for her.

V sorry to hear the news wasn't better.

I think in these sorts of circumstances you really have to trust your gut instinct as to what is best for the rabbit, since you know her best. I really hope you can get her back soon and you're bearing up OK. x

Sending loads of vibes for Rosie x

Thanks everyone.

I'm beating myself up a bit that taking her there for all these procedures has made her worse and has been hugely stressful for her. But we did need her to be seen by the experts - not least because there is an obvious lung problem which wasn't really identified by her regular vet (unless it has got markedly worse in the last couple of weeks).

Arrggh - so stressful!

Oh no, you mustn't beat yourself up over it. She's in good hands, and they are managing to get somewhere to diagnosing her problem, even if it isn't good news and she'd be more relaxed at home.

Thinking of you and Rosie. x

What a lucky bun Rosie is to be sent to special bunny experts! Try not to feel bad, hopefully the tests will help fix her and then it will all be worth it Tonnes of vibes for Rosie (and you!) :wave:

Thank you :wave:

Am feeling a bit frustrated as I phoned at 3.30pm to see how Rosie was, to be told that the vet was busy with her and would call me when they were finished. They said she wasn't eating much.

Well, 4 hours later and I still haven't heard from them. The hospital is shut now and I can't get them on their main number and have no other way of contacting them. So I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning for any news. Not really good enough!

Rosie Rabbit said:

Thank you :wave:

Am feeling a bit frustrated as I phoned at 3.30pm to see how Rosie was, to be told that the vet was busy with her and would call me when they were finished. They said she wasn't eating much.

Well, 4 hours later and I still haven't heard from them. The hospital is shut now and I can't get them on their main number and have no other way of contacting them. So I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning for any news. Not really good enough!

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I would hope that the Vet would call you this evening :?

As you say, really not good enough.

Maybe you'll still get a call. I remember my old vet calling me late once, after I'd given up all hope. I never knew whether he did those sorts of calls from home or what.

I hope they'll still call. :? Although the receptionist said the vet would call after they'd finished what they were doing (that was at 3.30pm), so I'm more inclined to think they've forgotten. :roll:

There's obviously nurses with the animals 24/7, but I don't have a direct number to get through to them - they only give you the main hospital number which is not answered after 5pm. I'm hoping no news is good news. :?

Sending tons of vibes for beautiful Rosie xx

Sending healing vibes to Rosie bunny. Get well soon wee lamb. She is in great hands and they are very caring there.

Fiona x

Thanks for your kind thoughts everyone :wave:

I managed to get the hospital on the phone this morning (after a little more hassle!) and to cut a long story short, the vet forgot to phone me back yesterday. :roll:

Anyway, I'm delighted to say that Rosie is home now. We went to pick her up earlier and it was soooo good to see her. The vet and nurse spent about 50 mins with us explaining everything before she was discharged.

They are most concerned about her lungs - she has "severe changes" (and effectively only one working lung) but they are still not sure whether it's an infection, inflammation or a tumour. The only way they'll be able to tell is if they repeat x-rays in 4-6 weeks. They want to see her in 2 weeks again, but I may ask if I can combine that visit with getting the x-rays redone as it's a long journey and the less she has to do it, the better. She'll have to have another GA for the x-rays (I asked) but it should be a much shorter procedure than this one.

I'm nervous about her having too many GAs - especially with her lung problem, but we'll just have to wait and see how she is over the next couple of weeks at home. I have this feeling that they are going to keep suggesting more and more complicated procedures but we'll just have to try and judge what is in her best interests - this whole experience has been pretty traumatic for her.

Having said that, she seems pretty much fine in herself now, though very sleepy. She's eating and pooing, grooming herself and hopping about - though mainly just chilling on her favourite rug! She does have a swollen ear which I'm a little concerned about, but I'm going to post about that in Health.

We're home with half a pharmacy though - she's to be on Septrin, Flagyl, F10 for nebulisation shock: never done that before), Zantac, Metacam and Maxitrol eye drops.

Will keep you updated with her progress.

Oh bless her......I so love little Rosie

Nose rubs for her, what a brave girly she's been