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Bunnies with heart problems.

Sky-O

Wise Old Thumper
I'm about to get the search feature running on this, but wanted to know what owners of bunnies with heart problems think other owners with bunnies with heart problems should know?

Also, what medications your bun has/had.

Looks like my Badger doesn't have pneumonia. His chest is now significantly clearer (so we will stick with all I've been doing), but she can now hear a heart murmur. He's booked in for an x-ray on Thursday to see if that can tell us anymore.
 
if a vet isnt sure please get them to check the xrays with someone who has heart bunny experience.. pearl lost two months of treatment because the so called exotics vet missed a VERY enlarged right side to the heart in an xray :cry::cry::cry::cry:

when the new vet took over she only had to listen to the heartbeat to know its wasnt right, she said for how fast pearl was breathing the heart was too slow it just wasnt keeping up. she put her on a two week course of fortekor thinking it was possibly the valves. two weeks later pearl was like a different rabbit and she sadly confirmed her suspiscions were correct :cry::cry: she then looked at a two month old xray and showed me how the heart was so enlarged it was almost touching the chest :cry::cry:

when pearl got worse she was put onto fruso syrup a diruetic and vetmedin a different heart drug. the vet did explain what each did but it was months ago now and i forgot :oops::oops:

i tihnk one lowers the pressure giving the heart less to do and the otherone works on rhe heart itself making it work better in some way.

they are now losing thier effects as the heart is in a really bad way.. we are definately in the last stages.. but shes still battling on :love::love:

i hope its not a heart issue i really do, this illness makes me feel so helpless i cant imagine anything worse :(
 
Apparently its quite easy to get a false positive with heart problems. I was told on the forum that this was possible when Fluff's was first diagnosed

The advice I got was the fairly obvious-
minimise stress levels,
keep the temperature constant (and fairly cool- the heart works harder when its hotter- so be careful in summer)- I just turned the radiator he sits by off, but Donna has been much more thoughtful about temperature and de-humidifiers I think!

Mr Fluffs was put on something called enacard which he took fine

In September he appeared to have developed an arrythmia, and we had an ECG and a consult with a cardiologist... after being at the vets a while, and after he had settled down, it appeared that the heart murmur and arrythmia disappeared, and both normal vet and cardiologist concluded that it probably wasn't a problem. The conclusion was that it was a stress response that bought about over stimulation of the vagal nerve which caused his heart to 'skip' (or something around that idea- I may have lost the specifics!)

We took him off the meds but we're still vigilant as there is a chance that the enacard had helped his heart that much that it was that that meant they couldn't hear the murmur.

Anyway what I'm saying is don't worry too much. Although I think unfortunately Donna and Pearl had the exact opposite of our situation.

What sort of diagnostics will be done?
 
just wanted to add.. our dog has a heart murmur diagnosed a few years ago and he hasnt needed treatment.. sorry if ive worried you :oops::oops: there was never any mention of a heart murmur with pearl so her case sounds totally different to my untrained but para ear/eyes

fingers crossed for good news :D
 
Thanks everyone :) Donna, you didn't scare me at all. I know the potential consequences, and knowing the worst, I think, is always best because you can prepare (and then things can only be better).

He is showing a fair few signs that may go with a heart problem, so it may be that something is going on and that she heard something possibly related and possibly not.

I think if it was a heart problem I would actually be relieved because then we would know for sure what it was and what to do to alleviate what he is going through. I don't like the idea of a heart problem but getting a proper diagnosis is important. (and I hear your warning on that Donna, thanks).
 
how did you get a diagnosis and what symptoms made you think it was a heart problem ..they would be points to put up front too.

i now think willow must have heart probs as since the day we got her till the day she died aged 22 months old she had a habit of pointing her nose in the air to breathe..bertie had done it a few times in the heat so we didnt think anyhting of it.

now with berties recent seizure im suspicious of heart probs as it was prob an anoxic seizure...lack of oxygen caused seizure. he is breathing hard n fast even when not in the vets....sometimes it slows down for a while when hes alseep..sometimes it doesnt. bertie has always snored...so loud sometimes you cant even hear the tv:shock:

but one vet suggested an xray before bertie got pasturella diagnosis and i think he must have been right. now to get the right vet to to deal with the tests and treatments.
my phoneline will be busy!

but seriously i think it wise to lay out what alerted you to your buns heart problems and what persuaded the vet to test.

i lost one of our old three cats to a serious heart murmur with hugh blood pressure and fluid build up. all the pdsa gave him was some prednisilone and a small course of dieretics.

mums next neighbour saw a diff vet there and he gave her cat all sorts of meds and follow ups and her cats is alive today..where as my nuggy has been dead 7years.
my kitty salem aged one had his boosters and a heart murmur was found
scared me wtiless.
hes gone up a loevel of seriousness and it does affect him in playing and heat. but its not a big enough problem for meds..esp as he wont take pills..ever..not even worm pills anymore!

bigger buns have a tendency to develop heart probs more easily than smaller buns.....what ratio i wonder?
 
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