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Does anyone know what's wrong?

Furry

Young Bun
This is a long story, but will try to keep it short.

My Buffy is 7.5yrs old, She had EC a year ago and never seem to have shaked off the symptoms. She had lost control of her right leg, developed incontinence and recently, (about 2months ago) i noticed she has lost quite a bit of weight, she was dribbling abit at her corner of her mouth, she was eating but not as much as she used to be. Saw vet, checked her teeth, no problem. She was put back on panacur and antiboitics as the vet suspect she still have active EC.

i am not sure if the stress of the vet trip or what, a day later she stopped eating completely, went back to the vet, had her teeth looked at again. no obvious spurs. By this time she was dangerously thin, she weight 1.6kg from 2kg, she was sent home after a gut stimulant injection and pain killer injection.

No improvement was seen, i started syringe feeding her and took her back to the vet, she was put under GA and had her teeth looked at probably. The vet still said there's nothing wrong with her teeth. After this they said they can do no more for her as her condition is critical. They suggested i should had her PTS.

I refused as when i went to pick her up she was still very responsive to me and does not seem to have given up. So i took her home and nurse her round the clock for the first few days.

Now 2 months later, her dribbling seems to have stopped since her dental work, her incontinence have improved after the panacur treatment, she is still unable to lift her right leg to scratch her head though. She now can run around the house as normal, and she is slowly gaining weight.

The problem is i am still syringe feeding her twice a day as she is still not eating enough on her own. She eats a little bit of her pellets and very limited hay. She is on metacam as i think this does help her alot. as i noticed that when the medicine wears off she seems more relunctant to eat, so there is still definately something not right. But there are times i think she is perfectly ok as she chews on things that i thought it would be too hard for her if she had teeth problem. i also noticed she had some white discharge from her eyes last week, but this has cleared up on its own or her friends been cleaning her eyes out as i dont see any for the last few days. She also sneeze, once every 2-3 hours interval.

She went back to see vet last Saturday (a different vet as my usual vet were very nasty to us when we went back there a month ago requesting a re-assessment, i vow not to go back there ever even though they are very rabbit knowledgeable). i am not sure if this new vet know much about bunnies but fingers crossed i hope they are. Anyway, he said her teeth are looking quite long so need filing down. ( this is expected as she havent been eating her hay). i also requested a x-ray on her skull as i suspected she may have some teeth root problem that has caused all the problem in the first place.

what do people think she may have? Could a bunny get to a state that she is too weak to even chew her food on her own? or is it becuase i am feeding her too much so she doesnt proactively eat? But she does beg for food but not really interested in pellets when offered.

She is due in tomorrow for the operation so hope all goes well. If the x-rays does shows its her teeth root problem, what can be done? or if the x-rays does not show up anything what else can it be? Could it be EC related? is it kidney failure - she does drink vast amount of water.

Apologies for the long post, i am a very worried mum for the past 2 months.

Any advice/comments are much welcomed.
 
awww poor bunny and omg you're amazing for looking after her, I'm afraid I have no idea. But I respect you! I hope you get some answers and fingers crossed everything is ok.xx
 
I think tooth root elongation is a real possibility
A full blood profile might be helpful too to check on her kidney/liver function and to see if there are any signs of a chronic inflammatory condition going on.
Also to check for anaemia and if found to differentiate between regenerative or non-regenerative anaemia.

Without diagnostics we can only offer guesses as to what is wrong. There are so many possibilities.

I hope your Vet can help :)
 
Thanks, i think i will ask for a blood work on her internal organs too since she's going in. Safe her another distressful trip. She's not going to like me after this.
 
I see you are in Bedfordshire - and reading through your post it seems like maybe you do not have total confidence in th evets you have dealt with so far.

Another member of the forum may be able to suggest very rabbit savvy vets in your area if you feel it may help - Try posting with the title 'Rabbit Savvy Vet Bedfordshire Recommendations WANTED'
 
I see you are in Bedfordshire - and reading through your post it seems like maybe you do not have total confidence in th evets you have dealt with so far.

Another member of the forum may be able to suggest very rabbit savvy vets in your area if you feel it may help - Try posting with the title 'Rabbit Savvy Vet Bedfordshire Recommendations WANTED'

Thanks, i've already asked before, the vets recommended are quite far from where i am.
 
Update on this - I dropped Buffy off at the vet yesterday and waited nervously for the whole day.

i received a call around 3pm and guess what, the dental and x-ray has not been done because the vet said she was eating quite alot during the morning and he didnt think she needed the dental and not worth the risk going under GA considering her age and condition.

He just tells me keep giving her the metacam and monitor.

Got home last night she seems alot brighter than usual but weren't really eating much. Not sure what to do anymore.

Apart of me was relief that she didnt need to go under anethestic, but the other half of me is a bit disppointed still not knowing what is wrong with her.

we went back to the old routine of me feeding her twice daily just to make sure she gets enough in her system. This isnt the long term solution. Will monitor her for a few more days and will speak to the vet again.

Feeling despair and frustrated.
 
I am so sorry you are not getting the answers you want, it is so frustrating :(

If you look at her face on do her eyes look even, or is one slightly bulging at all :?

I know its a long shot but we had one with similar symptoms ( not the EC ones, but weight loss, dribbling, mild dental problems) and needed extra meals every day to keep her going as she was reluctant to eat without high pain relief.

We suspected tooth roots but x-rays came back clear. Although it didn't show up on x-ray and could only be confirmed when it was quite advanced our bunny had a tumour behind her eye.

It does give very similar symptoms to dental problems including dribbling, and given your bunies age I think this could be a possibility to consider.

A blood test may possibly give some indication whether there is a problem like this.
 
I am so sorry you are not getting the answers you want, it is so frustrating :(

If you look at her face on do her eyes look even, or is one slightly bulging at all :?

I know its a long shot but we had one with similar symptoms ( not the EC ones, but weight loss, dribbling, mild dental problems) and needed extra meals every day to keep her going as she was reluctant to eat without high pain relief.

We suspected tooth roots but x-rays came back clear. Although it didn't show up on x-ray and could only be confirmed when it was quite advanced our bunny had a tumour behind her eye.

It does give very similar symptoms to dental problems including dribbling, and given your bunies age I think this could be a possibility to consider.

A blood test may possibly give some indication whether there is a problem like this.


Her eyes doesnt seem to be bulging, and i can't feel any lumps or bumps on her face.
 
Thats good.

You wouldn't feel lumps or bumps on her face from a retrobulbar tumour it would just gradually start to push the eye out. It can be very hard to notice at the start. It may still be worth mentioning to your vet about the possibility :?

Really hope I am wrong though :)
 
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