Heart failure? bloat? help!?!

Hello there

I apologise if this is a long note so I will try and make it concise. My rabbit Bonnie is 12 years old and we dont know whats wrong with her.

Jan 12 - making sniffly noises with nose. Not eating pellets or hay but will eat veggies. Started baytril 10 days.
Jan 23 - last day of baytril - develops stasis and stops eating. Sniffy noises are gone. Syringe fed critical care.
Jan 25 - back to normal eating veggies but still not eating pellets or hay.

Feb 5 - Found her lying on the floor - didnt have strength to get up - little legs were going but couldnt get up. Put her back on her feet and seemed ok hopping around. Note she has weak legs anyway which the vet said could be arthritis and has been on metacam for it since October. (we did panacur at that time because they thought it also could be EC)
Feb 8 - found her collapsed again. Weighed her - has lost 3/4 lb since dec 31.
Feb 9 - vet visit - has got tooth spurs. Restarted baytril because balance issues may be ear infection. (note she also has a chronic ear infection for two years which we cultured and treated numerous times but never quite goes away)
feb 14 - making odd slurpy noises when eating. Wont eat on own - need to hold food for her and only eats a little at a time. Started daily syringe feeding critical care and probiotics. Having yellow mucus stool with occasional small misshapen poops.

Feb 19 - is eating small amounts veggies without encouragement. collapsed twice and couldnt get up.
Feb 23 - back to vet. Seeing laboured breathing. Could be cancer or UTI. Has lost more weight. We decide to treat as UTI
Feb 24 - starts open mouth breathing. Wont eat without being offered and food held in hand. Still giving critical care.
Feb 25 - doubled the baytril. moved her into bathroom with humidifier. Seeing pus/mucus from nose - looks like a UTI?

Feb 25th - started 48hour bicillin/penG protocol. Some teeth grinding at times and nose squeaks.
feb 27th - stops open mouth breathing! yay!. Still laboured breathing though. More energy and attitude but still mucus stool (now white)
March 1 - feisty. Eating veggies on own.
March 2 - more active and alert. Noticed stomach seems swollen. Nose is runny. Tried simethicone for 2 days. No effect.
March 3- March 9 - mucus stools went away, poops gradually have gone from very small and misshapen to normal interspersed with runny. More active and alert. Started eating pellets on her own for first time in months. Healthy appetite for veggies on her own. Still some laboured breathing but nowhere near as bad.No more runnyness. On March 7th started nebulising with mucomyst and gentamicin.

Ok so you can see she is making progress. But the swollen belly is still there. It is soft and seems to go up and down. Spoke to the vet on the phone since we dont want to take her in - its an hour away and the last time we went in was the day before she deteriorated to open mouth breathing.

Vet thinks the belly could be related to prior GI issues. Since she is eating and active he doesnt think its bloat. However I wonder if this is all an interelated heart problem caused by, or making worse a UTI? Vet isnt convinced.

Thoughts? Feel free to ask questions as I know this is a lot to take in!!!

It is totally impossible to say for certain without diagnostics- Full blood profile, chest Xrays, abdominal ultrasound

At a guess I'd say CCF (congestive cardiac failure) secondary to chronic respiratory tract infection. Her kidney and liver function are likely to be compromised too.

GI tract issues are probably secondary too, not the primary disease process. I really think you do need to get her back to the Vet as she sounds to be very poorly still

Also, if she is not spayed then Uterine Adenocarcinoma is a real possibility

Poor Bunny

Poor Bonnie Whereabouts are you? There may be a rabbit specialist nearby that someone can recommend. Sending lots of vibes for Bonnie xx

Captain Helen said:

Poor Bonnie Whereabouts are you? There may be a rabbit specialist nearby that someone can recommend. Sending lots of vibes for Bonnie xx

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At a guess I'd say the OP is in the US. Bicillin is not a legal Veterinary Drug in the UK.

As Jane says, she needs further tests. Some vets can do abdomonal x-rays conscious (depending on bun) and bloods may provide some answers in the first instance before she has to have any GA.

I hope Bonnie improves and you can get to the bottom of what is causing this.

Bonnie

I am in Toronto Canada. My vet is a rabbit specialist and is recommended on the rabbit forums and so on.

She has been spayed.

He said her breathing isn't good enough to do X-rays since he doesn't think she would do well under anaesthetic. However he hasn't seen her for a week and she is doing a lot better (at least from a GI tract perspective) than the last time he saw her.

Are there other ways to diagnose heart issues? He said her heart sounded strong when he saw her last time.

gm_thomson said:

I am in Toronto Canada. My vet is a rabbit specialist and is recommended on the rabbit forums and so on.

She has been spayed.

He said her breathing isn't good enough to do X-rays since he doesn't think she would do well under anaesthetic. However he hasn't seen her for a week and she is doing a lot better (at least from a GI tract perspective) than the last time he saw her.

Are there other ways to diagnose heart issues? He said her heart sounded strong when he saw her last time.

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An ECG, Echocardiography, bloods to asses renal function

gm_thomson said:

He said her breathing isn't good enough to do X-rays since he doesn't think she would do well under anaesthetic. However he hasn't seen her for a week and she is doing a lot better (at least from a GI tract perspective) than the last time he saw her.

Click to expand...

Could you ask your vet whether they could do a conscious x-ray? I've had this done for two of my buns who've had respiratory infections to check whether there was anything else more sinister going on. The buns were put in a cardboard box or a metal-free carrier for the x-ray. It's a bit harder for the vet to get a good focussed view but it is possible to get something clear enough to rule certain conditions out.

not either

So on Sunday she started falling over all the time to the one side. and she cant seem to walk without slumping to the one side after a few steps. She is lying in the same position all day. It looked to me like the swollen belly was weighing her down.

However we took her to the vet yesterday and he said she isnt bloated - the issue is that she is curving to the right which makes her appear like she is bloated on one side. He thinks she has neurological damage, due to EC. I cant believe we nursed her through bad UTI and then bad GI stasis for now this. He said we should euthanize as its no way for a rabbit to live.

But we couldn't. She is otherwise really happy - eating with gusto and cleaning herself, pooping normally, breathing normally. She is feisty at times.
She's 12 years old.. its not like she runs around much anyway - she would typically spend most of her day in bed - with occasional trips to the bathroom. Was I wrong?

I wonder if some of this is from being confined in a small area for a few weeks while we resolved the other issues. I wonder if there is any physical therapy we can do for her legs and balance? Or maybe its a spine issue.. she is on metacam for possible arthritis.