Hi all!
For those who don't know Malteser is my one year old English Spot cross - so called as he is white with brown spots! On 27/12/11 we found him cold on the run floor. At first I thought he was ill and my heart sank, then I opened the door and he looked up - relief! I immediately realised that was all he could do! :shock: I went in and picked him up - he felt limp, how they go when they are ill and then I felt sick. He was wet - that morning the OH dropped the waterbottle and wo we gave him and Snowdrop a bowl of water I'd seen them both drink from it before I left them and I'd returned with a new bottle.
I lay him on the floor in the lounge and tried to dry him whilst OH called the vet, it was 10:30pm so we were warned it was a flat £115 for an emergency :shock:
I thought! Matt told the vet we were on our way!
I cuddled him all the way to the vet (about 20mins away) Snowdrop went into the carrier to come to. From symptoms Malteser and Snowdrop where put on Panacure (both for 9 days) and Malteser was given fluids, a pain killer and baytril. I asked for a syringe so I could give him food & water. That night was sleepless! I fed/watered him every 1.5hrs - his eyes were so sadl all night long. No interest in anything and no poop.
Back to the vet in the morning and possibly through tiredness but mainly his sad eyes and lack of poop I thought it was time to say goodbye. OH wanted to give another 24hours, vet gave him 10% chance of pulling through.
That afternoon he discovered carrot again (I now know not to give to poorly rabbits but not due to ill effect thankfully.) That night he pooped, it was horrid to see, his entire body cramped and he strained to produce the smallest hardest poops I ever saw! I massaged his tummy for the 2 hour stint (it was 12am!!) I didn't realise it was so long or that I had become freeeezing cold I only realised when I went to bed and saw the time and started shivering!
From then he went onto hay and pellets quite quick - water the only thing I had to give him myself as he couldn't move.
He began holding himself up really well once I moved him to a fishtank... this was meant I could pad his sides (rolled up newspaper covered by a towel covered by hay to stop him eating the support - increased his food intake no end!) I could soon put him on the carpet and he could sit like that, if he fell he could right himself! We had tried and it took two of us to get him to sit like that!
He can now get to his water and is trying to walk - been trying for a few days now and getting closer to getting to his destination without falling!
Today I took him on a road trip - a grand total of 3 hours for travel there anf back and vet time! It was worth it - he travels well and now he is more stable he sat up all the way! I was a bit bothered by one of the diagnosis' I got on the second trip with Malteser, this made me loose confidence in my vet so I found a new one with the help of you lovely people!
I went to Caroline in Leigh - I would recommend her to anyone with a similar issue - Malteser isn't a stressy traveller tho I did take that into concideration when deciding to travel all that way.
He is now on a dose of Baytril 5 times what he has been on (now on 1ml daily), Panacur is the same, he is finally on Metacam (I was told he will be bouncing off the ceiling by another customer in the surgery!) and Zantac.
The vet checked his teeth (a slight issue but not bothering him at the mo - he has been grinding them but this started when he tried to walk again so maybe stress/pain - he is used to playing out 8am-11pm daily!) ears and eyes are ok (tho there was a little scare in regards to them!) No x-rays as meds have seen an improvement and it could be stressfull for no outcome.
He is still wobbly on his feet and we hope this improves - he feels pain in them and she said that along with him trying to weightbare makes her think that the brain needs to learn how to communicate again for walking, I thought this too from watching and helping him! She said she has used accupunture in similar cases with good result - she did say she doesn't know quite how it works!:lol: a good sign was when he was next to his carrier, he stood up and hopped in! He has been trying that since Friday and managed today!:lol:
He is in need of a bath and she gave advice on this too and said I'm doing well with him - she was shocked when I said I've been sifting through for his cecotrphs in the morning to feed him - thankfully his tummy sounds happy and healthy!
Now to build him up - you can feel his spine and hips I'm to give an endless supply of musli! only whilst he is sick, then back to pellets, hay and fresh (he can have them too but less as he needs some fat!)
So thanks to all who have helped so far - now we need some happy vibes that he will learn how to walk again so that one day he can be the happy bouncy little bunny he once was!
Every day I know the OH was right (I do feel guilty about the consideration to put him to sleep tho) as Malteser gives me bunny kisses! He lets me know when to stop worrying (he will eat pellets like "look mum, I'm fine, I can feed myself now, go have fun) he is adorable for affection "stroke me now mum... now stroke this side of my head... and this side.... thanks I give you kisses.... enough, now this side.... ooo I like this" that was last night before bed!
Snowdrop is missing him and loves visiting time - we have had the sweetest happy grunts in the world from him Snowdrop is having the chop this week/next so will need some extra love himself before soon too!
For those who don't know Malteser is my one year old English Spot cross - so called as he is white with brown spots! On 27/12/11 we found him cold on the run floor. At first I thought he was ill and my heart sank, then I opened the door and he looked up - relief! I immediately realised that was all he could do! :shock: I went in and picked him up - he felt limp, how they go when they are ill and then I felt sick. He was wet - that morning the OH dropped the waterbottle and wo we gave him and Snowdrop a bowl of water I'd seen them both drink from it before I left them and I'd returned with a new bottle.
I lay him on the floor in the lounge and tried to dry him whilst OH called the vet, it was 10:30pm so we were warned it was a flat £115 for an emergency :shock:
I thought! Matt told the vet we were on our way!I cuddled him all the way to the vet (about 20mins away) Snowdrop went into the carrier to come to. From symptoms Malteser and Snowdrop where put on Panacure (both for 9 days) and Malteser was given fluids, a pain killer and baytril. I asked for a syringe so I could give him food & water. That night was sleepless! I fed/watered him every 1.5hrs - his eyes were so sadl all night long. No interest in anything and no poop.
Back to the vet in the morning and possibly through tiredness but mainly his sad eyes and lack of poop I thought it was time to say goodbye. OH wanted to give another 24hours, vet gave him 10% chance of pulling through.
That afternoon he discovered carrot again (I now know not to give to poorly rabbits
but not due to ill effect thankfully.) That night he pooped, it was horrid to see, his entire body cramped and he strained to produce the smallest hardest poops I ever saw! I massaged his tummy for the 2 hour stint (it was 12am!!) I didn't realise it was so long or that I had become freeeezing cold I only realised when I went to bed and saw the time and started shivering!From then he went onto hay and pellets quite quick - water the only thing I had to give him myself as he couldn't move.
He began holding himself up really well once I moved him to a fishtank... this was meant I could pad his sides (rolled up newspaper covered by a towel covered by hay to stop him eating the support - increased his food intake no end!) I could soon put him on the carpet and he could sit like that, if he fell he could right himself! We had tried and it took two of us to get him to sit like that!
He can now get to his water and is trying to walk - been trying for a few days now and getting closer to getting to his destination without falling!
Today I took him on a road trip - a grand total of 3 hours for travel there anf back and vet time! It was worth it - he travels well and now he is more stable he sat up all the way! I was a bit bothered by one of the diagnosis' I got on the second trip with Malteser, this made me loose confidence in my vet so I found a new one with the help of you lovely people!
I went to Caroline in Leigh - I would recommend her to anyone with a similar issue - Malteser isn't a stressy traveller tho I did take that into concideration when deciding to travel all that way.
He is now on a dose of Baytril 5 times what he has been on (now on 1ml daily), Panacur is the same, he is finally on Metacam (I was told he will be bouncing off the ceiling by another customer in the surgery!) and Zantac.
The vet checked his teeth (a slight issue but not bothering him at the mo - he has been grinding them but this started when he tried to walk again so maybe stress/pain - he is used to playing out 8am-11pm daily!) ears and eyes are ok (tho there was a little scare in regards to them!) No x-rays as meds have seen an improvement and it could be stressfull for no outcome.
He is still wobbly on his feet and we hope this improves - he feels pain in them and she said that along with him trying to weightbare makes her think that the brain needs to learn how to communicate again for walking, I thought this too from watching and helping him! She said she has used accupunture in similar cases with good result - she did say she doesn't know quite how it works!:lol: a good sign was when he was next to his carrier, he stood up and hopped in! He has been trying that since Friday and managed today!:lol:
He is in need of a bath and she gave advice on this too and said I'm doing well with him - she was shocked when I said I've been sifting through for his cecotrphs in the morning to feed him - thankfully his tummy sounds happy and healthy!
Now to build him up - you can feel his spine and hips
I'm to give an endless supply of musli! only whilst he is sick, then back to pellets, hay and fresh (he can have them too but less as he needs some fat!)So thanks to all who have helped so far - now we need some happy vibes that he will learn how to walk again so that one day he can be the happy bouncy little bunny he once was!
Every day I know the OH was right (I do feel guilty about the consideration to put him to sleep tho
) as Malteser gives me bunny kisses! He lets me know when to stop worrying (he will eat pellets like "look mum, I'm fine, I can feed myself now, go have fun) he is adorable for affection "stroke me now mum... now stroke this side of my head... and this side.... thanks I give you kisses.... enough, now this side.... ooo I like this" that was last night before bed!Snowdrop is missing him and loves visiting time - we have had the sweetest happy grunts in the world from him
Snowdrop is having the chop this week/next so will need some extra love himself before soon too!
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