I wish my vet wasn't so honest!

I have more confindence in the vet I now use for bun than my old vets as they just didn't seem to care and I seemed to know more than them but my new vet is totally honest and its a bit disconcerting.

i've been posting about my buns ongoing 4 weekly sudden refusal to eat/drink and he is obviously very unwell but right as rain in less than 24 hrs and vet has been trying to work out what is wrong even rang Anna Meredith at Edinburgh.

Just had conversation with my vet because as Jacks Jane said in her post to me maybe its a bladder problem. Vet has said next attack to get urine sample with a kit for cats called Katkor ( kitty litter thats non absorbant so you can syphon up wee) but she did say I will have to look into where I send the sample as we don't do rabbit wee sampling here. I mentioned having an x ray for bladder stones and she said piggies stones are opaque on x ray but she wasn't sure if all rabbit bladder stones showed up on x ray but she would find out and get back to me. An x ray would be £85 so she said to do the urine testing first.

In a way its great that she tells me the truth and she does go away and find out what she needs to know but as I say a bit disconcerting.

so can anyone on here tell me if rabbit bladder stones always show up on x ray and where can a vet send a rabbit urine sample for testing??

There are no truly rabbit savvy vets in this part of the country.

I don't know about the stones but most vets send stuff off to labs such as stool samples so I guess they would have a lab they use for urine too.

I think it's good to be honest. My specialist is so honest with me and I would rather know what we are dealing with, is it treatable and if this doesn't work then what are we trying next. Doughnut has now been ill for 7 months and she is still wet. I'm off to the specialist tomorrow to see what he thinks now as the gut fungi and cut seem to be OK now.

Good luck.

bunkin said:

I have more confindence in the vet I now use for bun than my old vets as they just didn't seem to care and I seemed to know more than them but my new vet is totally honest and its a bit disconcerting.

i've been posting about my buns ongoing 4 weekly sudden refusal to eat/drink and he is obviously very unwell but right as rain in less than 24 hrs and vet has been trying to work out what is wrong even rang Anna Meredith at Edinburgh.

Just had conversation with my vet because as Jacks Jane said in her post to me maybe its a bladder problem. Vet has said next attack to get urine sample with a kit for cats called Katkor ( kitty litter thats non absorbant so you can syphon up wee) but she did say I will have to look into where I send the sample as we don't do rabbit wee sampling here. I mentioned having an x ray for bladder stones and she said piggies stones are opaque on x ray but she wasn't sure if all rabbit bladder stones showed up on x ray but she would find out and get back to me. An x ray would be £85 so she said to do the urine testing first.

In a way its great that she tells me the truth and she does go away and find out what she needs to know but as I say a bit disconcerting.

so can anyone on here tell me if rabbit bladder stones always show up on x ray and where can a vet send a rabbit urine sample for testing??

There are no truly rabbit savvy vets in this part of the country.

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They are made of calcium so they show up on x-ray. Actually, I might be over-simplifying that I've been told my rabbits (various investigations) don't have kidney or bladder stones from x-rays taken so I'm assuming it's a definite no because they can't see them. I have seen kidney stones on x-ray and they are very easy to see, I assume that they (bladder stones) are made of the same material ie calcium deposits but I might be going to learn something on that point ....

Edit to add: Actually, thinking about it more, if you were to try and see bladder STONES and there is also bladder SLUDGE it might be difficult to identify the stones as the bladder might look completely white from the sludge. I've seen Artie's bladder on x-ray a great many times and it just was a solid white mass as he had a severe problem with bladder sludge.

One of my best vets wasn't always completely rabbit savvy but was always willing to research and would always say if she didn't know something. She saved Grim's life by doing the research so I think your vet sounds fantastic. :thumb:

Yep I am very happy with my vet and she is so open about what she knows and doesn't know. She is also happy to discuss things and for me to ask questions.