Rosie Rabbit
Mama Doe
In the 5 weeks or so since Rosie saw Emma Keeble at the Small Animal Hospital in Edinburgh, her lung problems unfortunately haven't improved at all. Her eye problems have got worse as well. She has variously been on Septrin, Flagyl, Metacam, Zantac, Bisolvon powder, Maxitrol eye drops, and more recently, Baytril. We have been nebulising her with F10 and Baytril, and she has been on a Ventolin inhaler recently too. In addition, she developed an alarming lump on one of her eyeballs a week ago, due possibly to changing the Maxitrol eye drops (which are steroidal) to non-steroidal ones. Emma wanted to do this as she suspected the steriods may have been affecting her ability to fight any lung infection. Apparently topical steroids in the eye are easily absorbed systemically in rabbits. After seeing Rosie's ophthalmic vet last Friday and speaking to the vets in Edinburgh, we agreed to put her back on the Maxitrol to keep her eye comfortable.
She was supposed to be going in overnight again yesterday for more X-rays and tests on her lungs, but we all agreed that she wasn't really well enough for that. As a compromise, she had a conscious scan done on her chest. Unfortunately, her lungs seem to have got worse in the 5 weeks since she was X-rayed, and one of her lungs is virtually collapsed. Emma said her chest was very solid and there's not much room in there. There is also a bit of fluid on the lung which shouldn't be there. Her breathing is very laboured when she's at rest, although you don't hear it as much when she's moving about. They still can't say conclusively whether it is a tumour or bronchopneumonia.
Her eye problems are serious too - she has been blind with cataracts for some time, and has managed well with that, but since the summer she has had uveitis in her right eye and this large inflamed lump which appeared last week. Her incisor roots are overgrown too, blocking her nasolacrimal ducts, and this is what has been causing the excessive wetness on her cheeks.
So, with very heavy hearts, we have decided that she probably doesn't have long left. I don't know quite how long (it's so hard trying to weigh everything up ) but she has 3 separate serious problems that, in conjunction, are proving very difficult to treat. If she had just one of them, we could, for example, remove her eye, or her incisors, but everything is compromised by the very poor state of her lungs.
We really feel that we don't want to put her through much more. The last 4 months have been pretty intensive, and while the drugs are keeping everything under control at the moment, and we could wait until she was really suffering and have her put to sleep then, we don't feel that's in anyone's best interest, least of all Rosie's. We're going to reconsider after the weekend and maybe have to make a very hard decision.
I always remember something I read on a forum - your bunny doesn't really care whether it lives for 5 years or 10, what is important to it is its quality of life when it is alive. And I think that's very true.
Thanks for reading, just wanted to keep you up-to-date.
She was supposed to be going in overnight again yesterday for more X-rays and tests on her lungs, but we all agreed that she wasn't really well enough for that. As a compromise, she had a conscious scan done on her chest. Unfortunately, her lungs seem to have got worse in the 5 weeks since she was X-rayed, and one of her lungs is virtually collapsed. Emma said her chest was very solid and there's not much room in there. There is also a bit of fluid on the lung which shouldn't be there. Her breathing is very laboured when she's at rest, although you don't hear it as much when she's moving about. They still can't say conclusively whether it is a tumour or bronchopneumonia.
Her eye problems are serious too - she has been blind with cataracts for some time, and has managed well with that, but since the summer she has had uveitis in her right eye and this large inflamed lump which appeared last week. Her incisor roots are overgrown too, blocking her nasolacrimal ducts, and this is what has been causing the excessive wetness on her cheeks.
So, with very heavy hearts, we have decided that she probably doesn't have long left. I don't know quite how long (it's so hard trying to weigh everything up ) but she has 3 separate serious problems that, in conjunction, are proving very difficult to treat. If she had just one of them, we could, for example, remove her eye, or her incisors, but everything is compromised by the very poor state of her lungs.
We really feel that we don't want to put her through much more. The last 4 months have been pretty intensive, and while the drugs are keeping everything under control at the moment, and we could wait until she was really suffering and have her put to sleep then, we don't feel that's in anyone's best interest, least of all Rosie's. We're going to reconsider after the weekend and maybe have to make a very hard decision.
I always remember something I read on a forum - your bunny doesn't really care whether it lives for 5 years or 10, what is important to it is its quality of life when it is alive. And I think that's very true.
Thanks for reading, just wanted to keep you up-to-date.
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