Shadow diagnostics .. U/D11 Results ? liver? P21 NOT EC Final update P40

I realised last week that Shadow felt thin and he's lost a heck of a lot of weight. When he was weighed the day after I took him on (14 weeks ago) he was 3kg, his ideal weight would be about 2.5/2.6kg. He was 2kg yesterday :shock:

He had his teeth carefully examined under sedation. I was convinced he was eating well but everything has to be checked especially as he is known to have terrible teeth. Ruth confirmed his teeth are not the culprit.

He had 2 x-rays which suggests his kidneys are not the problem, no doubt ruled out a host of other suspects as well. FHB will be reviewing the x-rays next week on her return from hols. There 'might be something' on the x-rays but needs the expert's eye to check. The x-ray showed he had a full stomach, kind of confirmed he's eating well.

Bloods have been sent to the lab and I have an appointment next Thursday to find out what the results are and where we go from here.

He was eating well at the vets and polished off all the food they gave him within minutes (assisted by his loyal brother!). I am sure Shadow is getting his 50% of the food. There is possibly some motabilism problem where he isn't getting the nutrients from his food.... Could be EC. I'll update as and when there's anything to update.

I was advised to keep him a little warmer than usual last night after his sedation so he stayed in the room Elijah and Erin would usually occupy - Shadow and Binky definitely are enjoying their spell as houserabbits - the begging opportunities are grand indoors

Hope you get the answers next thursday you need to form a plan of action :wave:

I hope you get to the bottom of things for Shadow, and that it's nothingn serious. i was going to say do you think it was just that he was being overfed before you got him and now he's down to his normal weight but I see he's now under his ideal so it is a bit of a mystery isn't it. Good luck for Thursday

GrahamL said:

Hope you get the answers next thursday you need to form a plan of action :wave:

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Thank you. I'm in the lucky position of insurance having been in place about 6 weeks before this happened, I could so easily be in the same situation you are in with Ginger.

paulinejoe said:

I hope you get to the bottom of things for Shadow, and that it's nothingn serious. i was going to say do you think it was just that he was being overfed before you got him and now he's down to his normal weight but I see he's now under his ideal so it is a bit of a mystery isn't it. Good luck for Thursday

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Thanks. A lot of this crossed my mind but I wondered how rapidly he would lose the weight if it was healthy weight loss. It's hard to know as I've never had one lose weight before. I have realised that I've only fed the same amount of pellets to them as for my indoor bunnies and it probably should have been higher for outdoor bunnies in winter. His brother his a healthy weight though so that bit doesn't add up.

Shadow and Binky are really getting the hang of being house rabbits. I wish I had room for them indoors, they are just loving it. They are in the room opposite the top of the stairs and every time I get to the top of the stairs I can see Shadow racing towards me

I hope FHB can figure out what's causing the weight loss. If anyone can, it's her! Sending lots of vibes for Shadow xx

I missed this yesterday. I hope the vet can get to the bottom of it all and it's nothing serious.

Re. the pellets, I made the mistake of thinking my two needed extra over winter and you know what happened there.... Alfie ended up F.A.T.

Thanks Helen and Karen.

I'm just about to put them back outside as I have to prepare for Elijah and Erin returning

Shadow certainly seems well it's just hard to see him eat like he's starving and eat loads and lose weight. I've convinced there's a metabolism problem. We'll find out soon hopefully.

Bunny Buddy said:

I'm just about to put them back outside as I have to prepare for Elijah and Erin returning

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Yippeeeeeeee!!

I got some of Shadow's test results today. The blood results show that his kidneys are functioning well. The x-rays are a bit strange in that Frances said that she can't see Shadow's liver on the x-rays and she should be able to :? The conclusion is that his liver is likely to be abnormally small, there are several possible reasons for this but she didn't see the point in speculating until we have the other results to work on. His EC results won't be back until tomorrow. His blood also contained a high level of protein which she feels is possibly significant but not conclusive as to what without the other pieces of information.

He had another blood sample taken to test for liver related functions. He had both ears shaved and blood couldn't be gained so a nurse pinned him down whilst Frances shaved his leg and took blood from there. He was amazingly good

I get further results at the weekend and we'll know where to go from there. I will of course update.

I think he may have gained 0.1kg from weighing him yesterday

So, Jane, looks like you were spot on on the back up forum when I described his symptoms - as you said you'd suspect liver problems.

How strange about his liver. :shock: He sounds like a very good patient though, bless him.

I hope the other results combine with these ones to give FHB a much clearer picture of what's going on. :thumb:

KarenM said:

How strange about his liver. :shock: He sounds like a very good patient though, bless him.

I hope the other results combine with these ones to give FHB a much clearer picture of what's going on. :thumb:

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Thank you Karen. As soon as she said small liver I thought of Rosie Rabbit's Benji who had a very small liver and had a biopsy taken in Edinburgh. It didn't end well I can't remember his symptoms but off to have a look now.

I can't remember the details about Benji either but try to remember that it could be something completely different to Benji's problem. Even if it is the same, it doesn't mean Shadow will have the same outcome. (Because if you're like me you'll start thinking the worst )

KarenM said:

I can't remember the details about Benji either but try to remember that it could be something completely different to Benji's problem. Even if it is the same, it doesn't mean Shadow will have the same outcome. (Because if you're like me you'll start thinking the worst )

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Thanks Karen. I've got a bad feeling about it but I'll try not to be pessimistic. He certainly seems happy in himself at the moment and thankfully is very good about being handled.

It used to be a bit of a joke the way he went for his food as if he was starving but now I know why it's just heartbreaking

Hopefully the news tomorrow is not as bad as you're thinking. Will the results from the latest blood test be in by then too or is it too early?

Hope Shadow starts to gain weight soon xx

KarenM said:

Hopefully the news tomorrow is not as bad as you're thinking. Will the results from the latest blood test be in by then too or is it too early?

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His EC results will be in already probably but I have to ring on Sunday for them. I'm not sure when his results from Thursday will be in as I was on information overload, I think it will be mid-week at the earliest.

Jaysmonkey said:

Hope Shadow starts to gain weight soon xx

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Thank you.

Aaaah, I see. I misread and thought you were getting results tomorrow. Do keep us posted.

KarenM said:

Aaaah, I see. I misread and thought you were getting results tomorrow. Do keep us posted.

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My fault, I did say weekend and that would more logically mean Saturday as you'd expect them to be shut Sunday but my vets open for 1 hour on Sunday. I will of course update. I still haven't got round to working out the implications of protein in the blood sample except one thing I googled said "requires further investigation", which is of course happening.