Need some advise on my bunny please

Hiya I'm new to forum but need some advise urgently.

I have a 7 year old rabbit who i love dearly and don't want to cause him any pain or suffering. He has had poor teeth but 2 weeks ago was not eating and was dribbling, took him to vet immediatley who advised abcess&infection in a molar tooth. Gave him antibiotics, gut stimulation and vit jab. I was in the vets 4 times in a week for all of these everytime. I was told the infecion was clearing up and we could not look at getting his teeth done until his strength had built up. I don't really want to put him through that again..i think :?

Within this period he'd lost fur and had sores under his chin from dribbling. I put him out in his run, saw flies by him so popped him in an enclosed area where he could run around without fear of flies. The next day i found very newly hatched maggots which i pulled out of fur(not on skin thankfully). He was brought indoors and nursed, checking continually for more maggots, thankfully no more!! His skin is healing nicely,

I am reluctant to put him through that again as he stresses and I don't want to lose him under anthesetic either....He then had clear jelly like poo which is now gone and he has started pooing again but they're little round ones.

He is now being syringed pureed pumpkin (i read somewhere else that good for fibre) and have done his pellet food pured too. He has never eaten hay(i've put some in but he's wont eat it full stop), i've put cabbages and branches in but nothing. I put him out in his outside hutch in day so he could move around more and i caught him eating on a cabbage leaf but hasn't touched anything since then.

I'm going back to the vets tomorrow but just needed to know at what point to you say enough is enough? Please be gentle with me as this rabbit has been with me for 7 years and is part of my family. I have been devasted this last 2 weeks and don't want to give up on him but also dont want him to suffer.

Thank you for reading

Hi Kerpug, I'm so sorry this is happening to you, you poor thing and your poor bunny. I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to older rabbits or dentals, but there will be a few people who will look at this forum soon who'll be able to help you. It looks like you have done everything you can for him (re: teeth, maggots etc) inbetween his last vet appointment and the one tomorrow, and it seems he has definitely improved (poos have gone back to normal, maggots have been taken out of his bottom.)

It seems like there is more of a problem here than just teeth though - and maybe if you can sort out that problem too, he might get better. It will be down to the other people on this forum and the vet to help you find out what that is though.

Does your bunny have daily pellets? Has he eaten any of these?

Has he had any pain relief ?
A Rabbit in pain wont eat much, if at all.

Yeah i believe he's had pain relief but its all abit of a blurr now as he has had a few things together everytime he's gone. He has access to the pellets but isnt eating them. Thanks for replying

Kerpug said:

Yeah i believe he's had pain relief but its all abit of a blurr now as he has had a few things together everytime he's gone. He has access to the pellets but isnt eating them. Thanks for replying

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Can you call the Vet to check what pain relief he has had. He should be receiving regular (every 24 hours at least) doses.

No then i don't think so as he hasn't been going to the vets every so many days and i've not been given anything to take home to give to him. When i think back to when he had his teeth done they gave me pain relief to give to him through a syringe.

Would they of given pain relief to me to take home? The last 2 vets i saw didn't even check in his mouth just gave gut stimulator and vit, i had to ask for them to check his mouth!!

I'm off tomorrow to vets so will ask to come away with some pain relief to give him then he might at least eat on his own. I'm so upset, frustrated and annoyed at the moment...especially as i was thinking of putting him to sleep.

Can you tell me wat the name of the pain relief would be? Thank you so much

Hey hun, many of us have struggled to get our bunnies to eat hay, but they must have it, it's essential for their teeth and digestion, and may be why he has problems with his teeth. What hays have you tried him with? Beau point blank refused loads of different types, but then we got one of these:
https://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/Hay...Pack.6.html?osCsid=mrqsp3q26ksnbpsrmuuu12jnv7

from the hay experts, and found he will eat Burns Green Oat hay or similar. It was such a relief to finally find a hay he likes, and his poos are so much bigger and healthier now!

Kerpug said:

No then i don't think so as he hasn't been going to the vets every so many days and i've not been given anything to take home to give to him. When i think back to when he had his teeth done they gave me pain relief to give to him through a syringe.

Would they of given pain relief to me to take home? The last 2 vets i saw didn't even check in his mouth just gave gut stimulator and vit, i had to ask for them to check his mouth!!

I'm off tomorrow to vets so will ask to come away with some pain relief to give him then he might at least eat on his own. I'm so upset, frustrated and annoyed at the moment...especially as i was thinking of putting him to sleep.

Can you tell me wat the name of the pain relief would be? Thank you so much

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Metacam (generic name Meloxicam) is the anti-inflammatory analgesic most Vets use.

It sounds as though your Bun has a tooth root abscess. These require aggressive treatment from the outset.
Surgical removal of the abscess is usually necessary along with a culture taken from the abscess wall to identify the exact bacteria involved and thus the most suitable antibiotic to use. Skull radiographs should be taken to see the extent of the infection and if it has actually already penetrated bone (osteomyelitis)
Sometimes the site of the abscess is left open after surgery and the cavity has to be flushed out several times a day. The cavity may then be packed with an antibiotic gel or Manuka Honey. Sytemic antibiotics based on the culture results may need to be given for several weeks, or even months.
Daily pain relief is ESSENTIAL

I am wondering if maybe your Vet is not very experienced in treating Rabbits ?

pain relief is a must. he should be having this everyday.

is your vet a rabbit vet? if not i would find one and see them. they will obv know much more and get him on the right meds asap and hopefully on the road to recovery.

keep us updated. :wave:

Thank you for that link as i've tried hay bought from different companies that sell within pet shops and i have been told to use the hay i have for my horse.

Jack's-jane - No they didn't do anything like that just gave injections after injections. I have always been cynical of people that you are supposed to trust, i've seen enough with my horse but i always end up putting my trust in them so this is upsetting knowing this wasn't mentioned. But then i did have to ask for them to look into his mouth!

Thank you for that link as i've tried hay bought from different companies that sell within pet shops and i have been told to use the hay i have for my horse.

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If your rabbit ate it that would be fine but since he doesnt then I'd keep trying til you find something that he does. Hay is so important. Mine turns his nose up at pet shop hay but happily tucks into timothy hay and thinks the Burns green oat hay is a 'treat'.

Maybe if you could say whereabouts you are, someone on here could recommend a more experienced rabbit vet for you? From what everyone says here, yours seems treatable with the right care.

Well at lot has happened over last couple of days but unfortunatley my gorgeous Mali passed away in my arms this morning.

I booked into another vets and I went on Friday and she was able to remove some teeth that were long and loose. She was able to show me inside his mouth where the infection was and the state of the teeth. On the other 4 occasions i had gone to previous vets, they never said they were that bad...also previous vets said they could not open his mouth and would have to be under anesetic. Well new vets said that wasn't the case as she was showing...

I brought him home with daily pain relief, recovery feed(never had that from other vets either!!) and a happier bunny. He was building muscle up on back legs so was hopping aroung, eating his food through a syringe but was starting to eat on his own. He was eating a cabbage leaf off me yesterday so was perking up.

I think he was too weak, he'd dropped down to 1.7 in weight. I let him have a run round this morning, fed him from syringe which he looked like he was enjoying as was munching away.

I then stroked him and he let out a little cry, went limb, gave out a soft cry then was gone...so so quick there was nothing i could do. The reason i describe this is because i want to know whether this could possibly of been some sort of heart failure?? Could it be something else that i could of done differently?? And he looked like he was getting better aswell and wonder if i had gone to this vet iniatially would he of pulled through as they would of picked up on this alot quicker and he wouldn't of lost so much weight and had to suffer!

Thanks for reading

Hi, your thread is utterly heartbreaking, I'm so sorry you lost your little one, and that you had to suffer so long worrying about him and acting under advice from a poor vet.

I know that very severe tooth abcesses can spread to the brain and I wonder if this is what happened. If so, then there is nothing that you can do, but I would very much have expected the first vet to pick up on it.

If you can bring yourself to do it, it might be worth a post-mortem. Maybe then you will be able to rest in the knowledge that it was completely not your fault. If the vets could not help him then you must realise that there would be nothing you could do. It's such a shame that you could not rely on them and feel confident in their judgement.

The first vet should have done their job properly and dealt with it quickly, even if it did mean putting him under anaesthetic.

Once again, I am really sorry for your loss. Binky free little man.
xxx

I am so very sorry for your loss. I know how difficult it is to have a bunny that does not eat hay and has dental problems (which can lead to bouts of sticky bum). You sound like you have done everything possible.

We do rely on vets to advise us and about 6 years ago I had a very similar experience due to the lack of knowledge of some vets.

Thinking of you.

i am so sorry for your loss. binky free at the bridge mali. x

I have just read your post and I am so sorry to hear that you lost your lovely boy after a long battle.
RIP little Mali xx

:wave: I am really sorry to read this, you did all you could do and age 7 isn't bad in the scheme of things, I'm sure reading your posts you gave your bun a safe and happy long life and you were there at the end. No more pain now just binky heaven, your bun will always be in your heart, it might be worth writing to the previous vet to advise them of the outcome and the treatment you rec'd at the new vet, I maintain that whilst not all vets are 'rabbit savvy' most do have the best interests of the animals at heart and thats why they followed that career choice. Sadly as in any profession there will always be exceptions to that however, for those that lack experience it's only through learning and seeing different things that they learn.

Thank you so much it made me cry to read these replies. I look out the window expecting to see him and can't bear to clean his hutch out...I've told my oh i won't be parting with any of it, just doesn't help that his main hutch is over 5ft long, about 2ft wide and stands 3ft high...can't put it anywhere out of sight as its too big but i'm sure in time i wont get upset everytime i see it. I also called him after my favorite drink Malibu so know will be raising a drink to him everytime i have one.

I spent last night looking for photos of him from over the years and found the receipt from when i bought him.

How old are rabbits when you buy them in the shop approx ? I bought him on 2nd June 2002 and he died 2nd November 2009 which made him 7 and 5 months at least so not a bad age i suppose just wish we could all live forever.

Sorry for your loss.

:wave: I think they are supposed to be at least 6 weeks old, I think it should be the same as dogs 12-16 weeks minimum. I think they are very much at the mercy of the person who has them sadly chances are he was 6-8 weeks if he was a baby either way he was an old man. I would clean it all out with white vinegar and leave it for a couple of weeks and they maybe rescue 2 ???? Lots of little buns needing safe and loving homes and his legacy is that you fell in love with him so for his kind you can do that again, it will never replace him as they are all different but, you will certainly love them for their own little quirks Time does make it easier and in your case you can take comfort that he lived a long life x