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Arthritis- what have you found worked for your bunny/ies?

S

Sky-O

Wise Old Thumper
I'm currently researching, and reading past threads (starting with the lovely Nino) but I'm interested to know the details of what people have persnally found useful when it comes to helping a bunny with arthritis.

My vet has never treated a bunny with arthritis before, so we are journeying through this together. We've both gone off to research the options.

So, what do you find works for your bunny?
 
Acupuncture, cant rate it highly enough.

As for medication, Metacam mainly. Dosing tailored to specific Rabbit. Most maintained on 12 hourly dosing.
 
Metacam and acupuncture here too :wave: Also read a while back that pomegranate juice has a positive effect in bunnies with arthritis but never tried it
 
Hugo's There said:
Metacam and acupuncture here too :wave: Also read a while back that pomegranate juice has a positive effect in bunnies with arthritis but never tried it
Click to expand...

Do you go to the Walnut Tree vets for accupunture Liz? Flora has become very stiff in her back end so I'm interested in trying accupuncture if it's recommended here.
 
No my vet round the corner does it, lovely lady. But I know walnut tree offer it as I ran to check a few months back :wave:
 
Thats a shame. I am not sure who does it at walnut tree. If you get stuck Sarah at our vets is lovely but she only does Tuesdays as she comes in especially
 
I wonder if acupuncture would help Dylan.

How do I find a therapist who treats animals? I know my vet doesn't do it and doesn't know of anyone as I did mention it to him once. He gave me the same sort of look he gave me when I was giving reiki to Tabitha when she was dying:shock:
 
Acupuncture, daily Metacam & Glucosamine seems to be helping my Inca. The acupuncturist (sp?) told me that Celery, Parsley and Water Cress were good foods to help lubricate the joints.
 
Thank you so much everyone. I'm so lucky that my vet does do Acupuncture so I'll have to have a chat with him about that- Not something we've used, as yet, on any of my bunnies though.

Kermit, the glucosamine you use, what form do they come in? How much do you give?
 
A few folks at my US rabbit site swear by acupuncture, but I do not have anyone who practices that here. :( So I've mostly gone the metacam route (up to 0.2 ml daily of 1.5 mg per ml concentration, either all at once or in two 12 hour doses depending) and I also watch my weather carefully. As the temp goes down and/or the humidity drops, or makes wild swings in the opposite direction, my bun is in worse shape. He is only 4 years old (an estimate since he was a rescue) but has been confirmed to be in the beginning stages of arthritis in his hips by xray. To see him just be a shuffle bum round his habitat is heartbreaking, when I recall him taking running binkies in and out of his shed/outdoor run when I first got him. And he also has issues with pottying outside his litter box because I can't find anything low sided enough for him to feel comfortable getting in and out of.

I had not heard of the pomegranate being good for this, nor the celery/parsley. (Totally doubt I could get Mimzy to swallow watercress, can't stand it myself!) I may give those a go. Any idea how much pom juice they can have or is there a powdered something that would be better?

I've also tried to get him to take myristol pellets (cetyl-myristoleate and glucosamine chondroitin formulated for bunnies) but they seem to upset his tum and so I can't seem to get them into him for more than a week at a time, which of course is no good as it takes about 6 straight weeks of therapy to see a change.

He used to have a multi-level home that I had to make into a simple ground floor residence, since I feared his legs would not get him to the second level and he would fall, possibly breaking something vital. It wasn't worth the risk to me, but he's been so sad ever since he lost his favorite ramp and sleeping shelf. :cry:

Wish I had a magic wand to reverse it all. He's entirely too young in my opinion to be feeling this creaky.
 
Sky-O said:
Kermit, the glucosamine you use, what form do they come in? How much do you give?
Click to expand...

This is the stuff that i have been using, it was recommended here in another thread

abbymarysmokey said:
I use Arthri Aid:

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/joint-supple...-4_322/arthri-aid-canine-feline-liquid-p-1685

I find it easier to take the cap off and suck up the dose into a syringe, then straight into the buns mouth. They don't seem to mind the taste, and one of my buns actually goes mad for it.

AFAIK it's very safe and long term use causes no harm
Click to expand...


http://www.vetuk.co.uk/joint-supple...-4_322/arthri-aid-canine-feline-liquid-p-1685

It comes in a liquid, so i just syringe it into Inca's mouth. On the bottle the dosage for cats or dogs is 0.5ml/kg, so i have just been giving Inca 1ml a day. It is a 250ml bottle, so will last a while :)
 
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MimzMum said:
A few folks at my US rabbit site swear by acupuncture, but I do not have anyone who practices that here. :( So I've mostly gone the metacam route (up to 0.2 ml daily of 1.5 mg per ml concentration, either all at once or in two 12 hour doses depending) and I also watch my weather carefully. As the temp goes down and/or the humidity drops, or makes wild swings in the opposite direction, my bun is in worse shape. He is only 4 years old (an estimate since he was a rescue) but has been confirmed to be in the beginning stages of arthritis in his hips by xray. To see him just be a shuffle bum round his habitat is heartbreaking, when I recall him taking running binkies in and out of his shed/outdoor run when I first got him. And he also has issues with pottying outside his litter box because I can't find anything low sided enough for him to feel comfortable getting in and out of.

I had not heard of the pomegranate being good for this, nor the celery/parsley. (Totally doubt I could get Mimzy to swallow watercress, can't stand it myself!) I may give those a go. Any idea how much pom juice they can have or is there a powdered something that would be better?

I've also tried to get him to take myristol pellets (cetyl-myristoleate and glucosamine chondroitin formulated for bunnies) but they seem to upset his tum and so I can't seem to get them into him for more than a week at a time, which of course is no good as it takes about 6 straight weeks of therapy to see a change.

He used to have a multi-level home that I had to make into a simple ground floor residence, since I feared his legs would not get him to the second level and he would fall, possibly breaking something vital. It wasn't worth the risk to me, but he's been so sad ever since he lost his favorite ramp and sleeping shelf. :cry:

Wish I had a magic wand to reverse it all. He's entirely too young in my opinion to be feeling this creaky.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry your bunny is struggling. I hope that something in thsi thread can be of benefit to you too :)
 
Sky-O said:
Awesome. thank you :)

Do you think it has made a difference?
Click to expand...

Yes, i definately do. I have been giving her it for two weeks now and she seems rather more agile :), she was even up on her back legs with her feet on the sofa the other day, ok it was only for seconds, but she has not done that for ages!

She gets acupuncture, but two weeks ago when she went to get it she wouldnt sit well for it, and she only had a couple of needles in for a short time, so i don't think that the acupuncture was any use that time. That was around the time i started with the glucosamine and i can see an improvement, so i am putting it down to that.

ETA: Mind if you order from Vet UK, stick something else in your basket as it is free delivery over £19 :)
 
Nino definitely showed improvement with glucosamine as well. Not improved pain relief, but definitley improved mobility within a week or two of using the glucosamine. We used the Synoquin Cat capsules broken open and mixed into banana and he would lick it all clean, but Kermit's liquid preparation sounds even better.

Sky-O, not that I want to put a downer on your thread, but OA in rabbits, like in humans, is a progressive condition and deterioration of the joint capsule is inevitable. As Jane says at the begining, we definitely found the best pain control was 12hrly NSAID's and noted ourselves that dosage worked best when adjusted with fluctuating temperatures seasonally. In winter Nino needed a higher dose. Because the joints in rabbits are used more vigorously than in us humans - hopping, jumping etc as a daily activity, the wear and tear and consequent inflammation of the joint capsule does tend to happen quicker than in us folk i'm afraid. :cry: However, Nino had VERY bad OA in his hips, knees and lower spine for his age, probably due to early mechanical trauma, and so I witnessed a faster progression of his disease. My vet was amazed he was moving at all let alone racing around and binkying after studying his Xrays so you know, it's amazing what they can cope with and still have very good quality of life for a long time. :D
 
Did a bit of research for you on FB a group called Disabled Rabbits.
Acupuncture,metacam,glucosamine (but not Holland and barret stuff) and a snuggle safe to sit on!!
Sorry youve got more heartache.:(
 
OMG yes the electric blanket we bought Nino!!! Worked amazingly for him :)

This is it:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAFE-Petnap...EVZW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311761195&sr=8-1

It's important that if you source one elsewhere you get a 12v not a 240v (mains current). 12v is safe if chewed through and will only give a tingle if that. However, the reachable part of the cable is armoured in steel anyway so unless bun is an avid chewer you are fine - they might chew the plastic covering of the mat itself. Nino or Poppy never touched it... in fact we often had to prod Madam's bum off it so Nino could fit on - the warmth helped his joints loads in winter and I mean LOADS. Made him so much more mobile after periods of rest which is when the joints will seize up a little.
You must keep them away from the portion of cable AFTER the mains adaptor though as this is mains voltage. :wave:

ETA the picture shows the flex in black - this is because there is plastic coating over the steel armour. On one occasion only one bun had a frustrated moment and chewed some of the black plastic off - but it was shiny steel armour underneath! :D Like I said, even if it wasn't 12v is not enough to do any harm at all. The clever thing is that it is a constant warm, never hot :D
Also, with some help from my OH Lilbun on here managed to rig up an outdoor version using external mains or as my OH suggested you could use a car battery and an adaptor kit from Maplins - for outside buns! If you need help Tracy just PM me :wave:
 
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Thank you very much.

This is for my ost wonderful friend Sky. I have known for a long time he wasn't right, kept going back, kept going back. Nothing found. So I've been watching very closely. Just a slight difference in his back left leg- the slightest of all slight differences. My vet was so surprised when he examined him and in fact found some very early arthritis on his back left leg. So surprised- all picked up by me watching Sky stretch his back left leg out, and then take some quick breaths.

This is not a new problem and may even has been around as far back as three years ago when he was struggling with jumping down off stuff and would 'oof' on landing.

Very early stages, just a small bit in one joint.

But still, my immortal bunny has suddenly become mortal.
 
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