Dawn&Leila
Warren Scout
Hi bunny mummies and daddies...:wave:
I have just taken Leila to the vet today and will have to make some decisions soon on what the next step will be or just to moniter this carefully.
I noticed a week or so ago that Leila was making a much louder noise when licking and washing but I didnt think anything much of it at first. It went on quite a while and was unusual so I decided to look in her mouth. As she flickered her tongue out I noticed a small perhaps pea-sized lump on the underside of her tongue. It's pink and white.. firm but soft, not hard or crusty. No puss, no blood, looks clean.
It seemed to coincide with her not liking the latest bag of excel junior and dwarf feed. I bought this bag and when I opened it I thought it was slightly different, maybe bigger and smelt diff but I fed it anyway. She didnt touch it so I put in some russell rabbit I happened to have as backup. She ate that fine, though selectively. I then gave her the last bit of excel pellets from the old bag which she ate eagerly. I bought a new bag of excel junior and dwarf from a different shop and she didnt touch it.. so she's back on mixed feed at the moment and only eating the bits she likes. However she's eagerly eating several types of hay and dried herb treats and fresh veggies.
Other than the sound and the lump she is totally normal. I wouldnt have even noticed if I didnt spend so much time very close to her in a quiet environment (I work from home) she's hopping, binkying, drinking, pooing (though they are always smaller when she's not eating excel) weeing, playing, giving bunny kisses, washing, humping her squishy ball toy.. haha and generally getting up to mischief...
The vet was very uncertain and couldnt even get a good look at it. She said she didnt think it looked infected, like an abcess would. She said it could be inflammatory or it could be a lump, benign or malignent. She suggested biopsy and sending to the lab. But that if it was benign it prob wouldnt grow any bigger and she could prob live with it and if it was malignant there might not be much they can do apart from remove and hope it hadnt spread. So for now we've settled on antibiotics as a long shot to see if these make a difference. She had two injections today and is going back for more on monday.
After that I need to make a decision whether to risk anaesthesia to get this lump off her tongue and get it tested or to carefully moniter it and leave it on there as long as she's happy, healthy and it's not getting bigger. It would probably be april before I could afford this anyway. Obviously if it suddenly got worse I'd find the funds somewhere though. What I'm wondering, is if it's exactly the same/smaller/gone down by april what that be indicative of it being totally benign? Would surgery then pose more of a risk than leaving it.. Afterall rabbits need to eat straight away after surgery and a tongue op would make eating v painful im guessing.
The vet said she'd never seen anything nasty/malignant in that area but also most people just wouldn't notice it.
Another option is to see another vet a more rabbit savvy one like Christabelle perhaps as she's not too far from me. To get a second opinion.
Has anyone ever in their experience seen or heard of anything on or under the tongue of a rabbit? She did look at her molars briefly but said she could only see the first set and they looked ok. She also said her tongue mobility was fine, which I know coz she's still licking away at any given opportunity!
We're very bonded and I love her an unbelievable amount so im stressing about this a lot... I want to do the right thing for her! I couldn't sleep last night coz I was so anxious
sorry im gonna stop rambling now and wait for some advise.. I think I'll also ask Dana on all experts too as she seems to be good x
I have just taken Leila to the vet today and will have to make some decisions soon on what the next step will be or just to moniter this carefully.
I noticed a week or so ago that Leila was making a much louder noise when licking and washing but I didnt think anything much of it at first. It went on quite a while and was unusual so I decided to look in her mouth. As she flickered her tongue out I noticed a small perhaps pea-sized lump on the underside of her tongue. It's pink and white.. firm but soft, not hard or crusty. No puss, no blood, looks clean.
It seemed to coincide with her not liking the latest bag of excel junior and dwarf feed. I bought this bag and when I opened it I thought it was slightly different, maybe bigger and smelt diff but I fed it anyway. She didnt touch it so I put in some russell rabbit I happened to have as backup. She ate that fine, though selectively. I then gave her the last bit of excel pellets from the old bag which she ate eagerly. I bought a new bag of excel junior and dwarf from a different shop and she didnt touch it.. so she's back on mixed feed at the moment and only eating the bits she likes. However she's eagerly eating several types of hay and dried herb treats and fresh veggies.
Other than the sound and the lump she is totally normal. I wouldnt have even noticed if I didnt spend so much time very close to her in a quiet environment (I work from home) she's hopping, binkying, drinking, pooing (though they are always smaller when she's not eating excel) weeing, playing, giving bunny kisses, washing, humping her squishy ball toy.. haha and generally getting up to mischief...
The vet was very uncertain and couldnt even get a good look at it. She said she didnt think it looked infected, like an abcess would. She said it could be inflammatory or it could be a lump, benign or malignent. She suggested biopsy and sending to the lab. But that if it was benign it prob wouldnt grow any bigger and she could prob live with it and if it was malignant there might not be much they can do apart from remove and hope it hadnt spread. So for now we've settled on antibiotics as a long shot to see if these make a difference. She had two injections today and is going back for more on monday.
After that I need to make a decision whether to risk anaesthesia to get this lump off her tongue and get it tested or to carefully moniter it and leave it on there as long as she's happy, healthy and it's not getting bigger. It would probably be april before I could afford this anyway. Obviously if it suddenly got worse I'd find the funds somewhere though. What I'm wondering, is if it's exactly the same/smaller/gone down by april what that be indicative of it being totally benign? Would surgery then pose more of a risk than leaving it.. Afterall rabbits need to eat straight away after surgery and a tongue op would make eating v painful im guessing.
The vet said she'd never seen anything nasty/malignant in that area but also most people just wouldn't notice it.
Another option is to see another vet a more rabbit savvy one like Christabelle perhaps as she's not too far from me. To get a second opinion.
Has anyone ever in their experience seen or heard of anything on or under the tongue of a rabbit? She did look at her molars briefly but said she could only see the first set and they looked ok. She also said her tongue mobility was fine, which I know coz she's still licking away at any given opportunity!
We're very bonded and I love her an unbelievable amount so im stressing about this a lot... I want to do the right thing for her! I couldn't sleep last night coz I was so anxious
sorry im gonna stop rambling now and wait for some advise.. I think I'll also ask Dana on all experts too as she seems to be good x
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