Not long left I don't think :(

Poppy isn't eating anything..
At all. And I have tried everything I can think of
We have to feed her with a syringe, but it's not enough because her tummy is constantly rumbling..
The vet has said she should be home now until the date my mom has agreed for her 'put down' date and it breaks my heart. Whenever I think about it, I just start crying. Her teeth are as good as they are going to get now but her jaw just isn't. It's been nearly 5 weeks of antibiotics and there is nothing more the vet can do. I keep telling myself I have come to terms with it because then she won't be struggling and hungry all the time But with my own selfishness, I want her to be okay She was my first pet, and my mom is being so heartless.. She made me cry when we got back from the vets, then told me to grow up... I've never had an animal die before, and only 3 years ago my grandad died. I'd NEVER been to a funeral before and it was horrible.. I'm also the most emotional person ever so it's obvious the rabbit that was supposed to be for everyone but ended up with me all the time, I'm going to be incredibly sad... :x

Next week though, she'll be with me indoors at my bf's where I'll try and feed her more. But really, she seems so weak.. Lost so much weight. I don't even think she'll make it to the vets. But they won't do anything but put her down My mom tell me to 'be realistic' whereas my bf just starts crying because I'm crying :shock: He's a puff lol...
But my mom also said that the dog crate I bought for Poppy "would be wasted because she won't need to be spayed now because she'll be dead.. But it's okay because we can use it for Donny when he gets neutered. You should have a look for a rabbit to adopt from p@h" ..... seriously?

I had to write this down to tell someone because I just end up crying at my bf and a load of noise comes out. And like I said, he starts crying too, the big woman.. :roll:

I know its horrible I was in a similar situation with one of my rabbits a few years back. She caught flystrike and unfortunately the maggots made their way inside her and there was nothing the vet could do. I battled on with antibiotics, vet visits and sryinge feeding and she was in pain the whole time. I feel so bad about it now because it was selfish of me to prolong her suffering. If I could go back and do it again I would have had her put to sleep as soon as the vet told me there was nothing more to do. I couldn't beleive it and refused to give up but at what cost to my poor little baby

Its hard to do the right thing sometimes but its better in the long run. I live with the guilt every day

I'm unsure of her story, but could you post on here exactly everything that has gone on, treatments, diagnoses, diagnostics run, etc, to see if someone can suggest something to at least help?

Thank you I just want her to be happy right now and not hungry and in pain all the time. I just keep feeling there is something else I can do but I don't think there is. And I know it sounds selfish but there is no way I can afford the nearly £10 a day of food sachets, as she needs 2. But I can barely get 2 syringes down her It's almost like she's giving up The antibiotics might help but she won't eat And I don't know about the painkillers, I hope they stop the pain for her
I just don't know

She's had her teeth burred and the sharp bits are gone now, but her teeth are still bad. Her jaw is lumpy which the vet said if the antibiotics don't work then there isn't really anything they can do. And they found her jaw even worse when she was under anesthetic for her teeth. They have put her on stronger antibiotics for this week, as well and the painkillers. She's only had her teeth done but had about 5 checkups in the past month.

What pain relief is she on and how much? What anti biotics is she on?

Has she had a skull x-ray?

Is this a vet good with rabbits?

How many mls of food are you getting into her? Have you tried a pellet slurry? Or making a 'pesto' of her favourite fresh foods? Are you still keeping offering her foods alongside that?

Sky-O said:

What pain relief is she on and how much? What anti biotics is she on?

Has she had a skull x-ray?

Is this a vet good with rabbits?

How many mls of food are you getting into her? Have you tried a pellet slurry? Or making a 'pesto' of her favourite fresh foods? Are you still keeping offering her foods alongside that?

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0.8mls of marbocyl a day. Then she has as much of the supreme science recovery satchel I can get down her, and then 0.2mls of metacam painkiller.

I do a slurry of her food every night that she ignores. She has soft veg and fruits which she ignores apart from the odd lick or nibble. She does try and eat the things we give her like clover but no matter how small we chop it up it still falls of out her mouth.

She tries to eat the rabbit popcorn and did up until a few days ago. She does try bless her

The vet is a small animal professional and is really good with her and my other rabbit. She hasn't had an x-ray but you can feel the lumps.

I think marbocyl is a very similar antibiotic to baytril, so probably not much use for jaw problems tbh. You need a rabbit-safe penicillin administered by sub-cutaneous injection really. And the pain meds probably need to be upped as well.

Does she have an active abscess? i.e. is it squishy and filled with pus? Or is it just hard bony growths from tooth root overgrowth? The former will require very aggressive treatment, whereas the latter is much easier to manage.

I would suggest consulting another Vet for a second opinion.

Firstly 0.2ml of Metacam is highly unlikely to touch Dental pain. What is Poppy's weight and is it the Cat or Dog Metacam you are giving

Whilst Marbocyl is a good broad spectrum antibiotic it is unlikely to be effective on it's own if osteomyelitis (infection in the bone) is involved.

A different abx protocol such as Depocillin INJECTIONS and oral Metronidazole may be more beneficial.

In the first instance I think getting her pain under control is essential. This could mean a significant increase in the dose of metacam and possibly giving an opiate analgesic such as Vetergesic too.

Is the abscess open ?

abbymarysmokey said:

I think marbocyl is a very similar antibiotic to baytril, so probably not much use for jaw problems tbh. You need a rabbit-safe penicillin administered by sub-cutaneous injection really. And the pain meds probably need to be upped as well.

Does she have an active abscess? i.e. is it squishy and filled with pus? Or is it just hard bony growths from tooth root overgrowth? The former will require very aggressive treatment, whereas the latter is much easier to manage.

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The vet said it is more than likely abscesses that have gone hard I think. It's not open. She doesn't seem to be in pain as she's running around and sleeping okay, but you can never tell with animals that don't make noises.

I think it's kg they are weighed in? She weighed just under 3kg to start with, when she first stopped eating. Then it went down to 1.94kg :shock: You can feel her spine now Which makes me feel terrible..

It's the cat metacam

When did she have her teeth burred down? Some buns need them doing as much as every fortnight, so the not-eating could just mean that she needs another dental?

abbymarysmokey said:

When did she have her teeth burred down? Some buns need them doing as much as every fortnight, so the not-eating could just mean that she needs another dental?

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The last time was 3 weeks ago, and we asked last week at her checkup but the vet said they are as short as they can get them :? She does really try to eat so I don't know why she can't keep the things in her mouth

Aly&Poppy<3 said:

The vet said it is more than likely abscesses that have gone hard I think. It's not open. She doesn't seem to be in pain as she's running around and sleeping okay, but you can never tell with animals that don't make noises.

I think it's kg they are weighed in? She weighed just under 3kg to start with, when she first stopped eating. Then it went down to 1.94kg :shock: You can feel her spine now Which makes me feel terrible..

It's the cat metacam

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Metacam wise, I would think she would need a MUCH higher dosage for cat Metacam. I give more than that with dog metacam (for a bunny weighing less), and dog metacam is three times the strength.

I think you need to go back and see about different pain relief.

With effective pain relief on board maybe she will be able to eat for herself like she clearly wants to.

Other have already covered the subject of treating with injectable Depocillin and broadening the spectrum with metronidozole (Flaygl), protocols I used for several years with an abscess prone rabbit.

Very recently our 18 month old male had a dental to remove spurs and would not eat anything outside of the Critical Care I was syringe feeding. He was on what I thought was too low a dose of Metacam so I spoke to our vet who immediately agreed to increase the dose. I did not want to go too high quickly so had him on 0.4mgs/kg of dog Metacam (1.5mgs/ml) each 24 hours. It made a huge difference and within a day he started eating by himself with only one supplementary feed of Critical Care.

This link is what I printed out and took to the vet who was very pleased to receive the information and after reading said that he would use this data for any new patients as he felt he had been under prescribing.

Scroll down about half way to the heading "Administration".

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/s/00Chem/ChComplex/Meloxicam.htm

If Poppy wants to fight and you want to fight with her please don't be talked into putting her to sleep without trying alternatives. Sometimes the results of changing treatments are nothing short of amazing.

Lobo said:

Other have already covered the subject of treating with injectable Depocillin and broadening the spectrum with metronidozole (Flaygl), protocols I used for several years with an abscess prone rabbit.

Very recently our 18 month old male had a dental to remove spurs and would not eat anything outside of the Critical Care I was syringe feeding. He was on what I thought was too low a dose of Metacam so I spoke to our vet who immediately agreed to increase the dose. I did not want to go too high quickly so had him on 0.4mgs/kg of dog Metacam (1.5mgs/ml) each 24 hours. It made a huge difference and within a day he started eating by himself with only one supplementary feed of Critical Care.

This link is what I printed out and took to the vet who was very pleased to receive the information and after reading said that he would use this data for any new patients as he felt he had been under prescribing.

Scroll down about half way to the heading "Administration".

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/s/00Chem/ChComplex/Meloxicam.htm

If Poppy wants to fight and you want to fight with her please don't be talked into putting her to sleep without trying alternatives. Sometimes the results of changing treatments are nothing short of amazing.

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Thank you That really helped!

Thank you everyone who posted. That's why I LOVE this forum

Im asking here, as its health related.

You didnt answer Jane's question about skull xrays.

Has she had them, to determine if its tooth root based?

Also, the amount of metacam i would say was much too low, same as others.

It doesn't necessarily sound like she's ready to give up yet.

GrahamL said:

Im asking here, as its health related.

You didnt answer Jane's question about skull xrays.

Has she had them, to determine if its tooth root based?

Also, the amount of metacam i would say was much too low, same as others.

It doesn't necessarily sound like she's ready to give up yet.

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She had one when she had her teeth done and it is the root. All of her teeth will eventually fall out according to the vet but the actual infections and things have happened so fast that although the first lot of antibiotics cleared the infection, the root had already like.. screwed up the jaw and some of the lumps are from that. The vet said they were getting smaller when we took her back the week after but the other ones have been there for a while and have decided now they wanted to get worse. I hope the 'put to sleep' date is just a checkup because the antibiotics have decided to work :?
She has the dog metacam now, we picked up 3 days ago, which is probably why she is so happy in herself again I know she's not giving up yet, nor am I. But my mom is.. So my bf is helping me feed her 'cause there is no way I could do it on my own :? She's very strong willed lol..

~We have a rabbit whose teeth are falling out one by one BUT with metacam at a suitable dose (yours is WAY too low), and appropriate antibiotics (not Baytril or similar in cases of jaw infection or abcsess) this can be controlled and made comfortable as they adjust.

In the meantime try buying a good baby food in sachets such as Ellas (pure carrots and banana goes down a treat with ours) and adding to it soaked and mushed up normal pellets (or if you can afford it a junior pellet just for now). That should help put weight on and save money on the recovery food.