Thoughts on how to help Floppy please

Floppy has been struggling a bit lately with his legs, which seem to have started bothering him more quite quickly.

Since it has been a while since I posted about him, Floppy has a luxated patella on one side, and a subluxated patella on the other (or simply put, his knees are at various degrees of dislocation).

He has been a lot less active lately, but has been eating and drinking fine. Poops are a bit soft a lot of the time. His rear end is often in a mess, more from wee for some reason, I think.

I am obviously needing to change things for him, to make his life better, and would like some thoughts from others to help me decide.

His activity has always been restricted, on vet advice, and he is indoors. He is only fed a little herbs in the evening as veg will upset his tummy. His weight is 1.7kg, and pain relief is 0.4ml daily. More will tend to upset his tummy.

Any thoughts? I am going to change his food to the best for his tummy. Which would be the best?

I would consider a higher dose of meloxicam split into 2x daily doses to give a better consistent effect. Nino weighed the same as Floppy and was fine on 0.4ml 2x a day for a year up until the day he died of unrelated causes. I suspect that pain is probably a big factor and certainly implicit in the upset caecum.

Does Floppy have any pelleted feed? If so I would consider removing or reducing quantity. What hays does he have and which ones do you have access to? I find the best ones for sorting out the caecum to be Green Oat, and Oxbow Orchard and Timothy alongside the WWW staple hay we use here. Poppy is very sensitive gut wise and does not have pellets or veg but does very well on these hays. Also readigrass.

If Floppy is wetting whilst urinating is this related to being unable to assume raised hip posture due to disability or a UTI? I would want to be certain. Increased pain relief should help. Perhaps alternative NSAID's could be tried? Or maybe something different? do you have access to an exotic vet for Floppy as they may have some other analgesic ideas.

Some biolapis in his water might help as may some profibre pellets.

Poppy does very well with dried plantains, dandelions, apple and pear leaves (home harvested) and other forage. Naturals or Burns ranges. I would steer well away from anything P@H related or anything such as dried rocket/celery etc... certain dried forage can exacerbate her tummy, she does best with astringent plants.

ETA I would consider his setup also. Nino did best with constant activity at low level - so access to a good sized space but one that restricts him from too much running etc. The problem is that excessive activity will exacerbate the joint condition, but too little and too much sitting around also does. We were lucky in that Nino liked to be on the move all the time and would happily hop around the kitchen all day long doing circuits but nothing excessive. If he went out in the garden he could get too excited and overstretch himself and then suffer afterwards. Unfortunately activity is rather personality based in rabbits. I would also consider warmth for Floppy's joints. Being luxated they are likely to be susceptible to arthritic changes so warmth at rest should help prevent the joints seizing up so much. Nino had a pet heat blanket (electric on low voltage so safe) permanently plugged in and kept his room temp warm at around 20-21 degrees.

Thank you so much, Prettylupin, for your advice.

My vet is not too happy to go above 0.6ml of Metacam a day for Floppy, although if I explained I'm sure he would agree to more. He isn't an exotics vet, but anything he isn't sure about, he gets in touch with D!ck vet in Edinburgh for advice. When in stasis, Floppy had another pain relief, but it made him far too tired.

With regard to activity, Floppy is mostly sitting about in his litter tray or lying nearby. His activity level went down to this level quite rapidly. I doubt if he has a UTI, as I have his cousin, who also has joint problems, and she has the same problem with her wee, just not so bad.

Floppy has Rabbit Royale at present, but I am changing him to another pellet, just not sure whether to use the profibre pellets, Bunny Basics T, or Vetcare Plus Digestive Health Formula. He seems to need the museli or he looses weight, and now needs some twice a day, which I realise will be further upsetting his tummy, as I used to have to keep the amount restricted. Usually I would be giving him some wild foods in the evenings, but last summer was a nightmare for me and I didn't get enough foraging done. I only have enough apple leaves and rose leaves to keep if his tummy gets really bad. He doesn't seem to like the packets of things I have tried him with. Floppy seemed to be doing so well just a couple of months ago even, that I thought he would be fine.

Hay wise, his favourite just now is from Dust Free Hay Co, but I have Ings, Timothy and Rye from H4Ps, Alfalfa King Timothy Hay, Alfalfa King Wheat Oat and Barley, and Readigrass. The Readigrass doesn't go too well with him, neither does fresh grass.

I will get some Biolapsis for him. Would he be OK to have this all the time?

He had a big down after his myxo jag, and I gave him some fibreplex, which seemed to help a bit. He doesn't get that now as I didn't know if it was OK for him to have all the time.