Vibes for Simba

My little Simba is having an 'episode', as I've come to think of them. I don't know what causes them but I'm sure that once he's not feeling right he then feels worse out of anxiety that I'll pick him up and syringe things into his mouth. He hates being handled. I'm trying to avoid the vets now as although they're very nice and I think they are as good as I'm going to get locally they never actually know what is wrong and I think that on balance the distress taking him causes him is not worth it when I can give him stuff and a short while later he bounces back. When he's not having an episode he is so bright and happy. Particularly worried tonight as he was having an episode and panting and it was quite easy for me to catch him (it's usually very difficult). I can't be sure he wasn't panting out of panic that I was coming back into bedroom to check on him, or whether he was in pain or discomfort. About an hour ago I gave him metacam, zantac, infacol and fibreplex. He was lying down in between me syringing him each item, which isn't usual. He's such a special boy. He's maybe 6 or 7. I've spent most of the past year thinking he's about to die and then he bounces back. He hasn't yet come out of the bedroom since I gave him his meds. I don't want to go in and check on him again yet as I don't want to upset him and for me it is so upsetting seeing him in discomfort - I don't even know if he's in pain.
I only tend to come on this site when he's having an episode and it's particularly worrying me. It's so upsetting reading about the grief and desperation people feel when their buns aren't right and how helpless we feel. Yet it's also the only place where people understand.
He could come in here any minute binkying about - I hope he does.
Please send him some vibes - he's such a special little boy and I have such admiration for how he's bounced back so cheerfully so many times after I've handled him and syringed him.

Sending vibes, instead of stringing things into him could you put it onto pellets or herbs?
Would reduce at least some of the stress for him poor wee bub cxxx

Sending vibes x

Thank you so much for the vibes. Natsusakura thanks for the suggestion but he just won't eat anything unless he wants to so unfortunately I think syringing is the only way. I use it as a last resort. I don't syringe everyday, just when I know he hasn't eaten for a while. He hates being syringed liquid feed the most (e.g. oxbow critical care), so I only use that if he doesn't recover after I've syringed other stuff, as I was syringing that a few months ago and finally came to conclusion the upset was making him so miserable that it was prolonging his ill health. I don't always syringe metacam, just when I worry he's in pain. He's also very determined to spit out liquid food or fibreplex, but is much more tolerant of being syringed the medicines.

He has just come to join me in the lounge - oh thank you so very very much for the vibes (and I'm not a superstitious or religious person). He's just eaten a piece of hay from the floor (where he left it earlier, dragged on his fluffy rear end).

He hopped on a seagrass hut next to my sofa, which is what he does when he wants a fuss from me (I'm only permitted to touch him in very specific situations and that is one of them), so I left desk to go and give him the fuss being demanded. When he'd tired of his fuss (took about 10 mins) he hopped on his own sofa to eat dried dandelion and a treat. I went to check on his dindins in the bedroom and he's eaten it. He's currently munching on a small flower pot of grass on his sofa - he got excited when I lifted the blinds to get one of his pots from the windowsill.

From my point of view, it's like a rollercoaster of him looking so ill and then being so happy, and tonight was particularly bad. He's just binkied across the room towards me. He is thirsty though. I do think he has some sort of chronic condition.

When he requests a fuss after I've syringed him, is it because he wants comfort, or he wants us to 'make up' after the upset of earlier on, or does he think I was angry with him and he wants to be friends again, or is he telling me he understands I did these things and made him feel better, or what? He's requesting another fuss. I must comply!

I think if Simba keep's having these episodes I think it may be worth getting the vet to x-ray him as this would tell them perhaps much more, just a thought as there is obviously something wrong somewhere for him to be getting like this now and then.

I am glad to hear though he is much better tonight that's good

Sorry I didn't see this last night I hope Simba is back to normal this morning, I know exactly what it's like, having Daisy who is very similar. Sending vibes for Simba xxx

sending lots of vibes x

Aw im so glad he's feeling better!
perhaps you should post a thread in rabbit chat asking for a recommended rabbit savvy vet in your area, you say he doesn't travel well, so one as close as poss would be better.
Then you could even call and ask to speak to their most rabbity vet, and explain what's been happening to then, and see if they can come up with anything?
*hugs* its sounds really hard to be constantly worrying xxxxx

Hope Simba keeps better, bless him. Such a worry for you. xx

Thank you everyone for your vibes. He's having another episode right now though it is the first since Friday night. I did some housework tonight and he REALLY enjoyed helping and then after I finished he started on his episode. He's under bed again right now and I'm trying not to do anything just yet to see if he comes round without me intervening. I've been playing piano (he likes that and often comes in to join me).
I did put a post for a rabbit savvy vet in my area in the health forum just after Christmas, but nothing.
I had been hoping these episodes were all down to anxiety or, say, banging self and it hurting and then being anxious that I'm going to pick him up and syringe things, but I'm now coming to the conclusion that he does have a chronic condition and what I'm doing is effectively giving him palliative care. As long as he keeps improving either on his own or after I intervene I want to avoid the vets as much as possible as that really does distress him, as does liquid feed, whereas if I stick to my own intervention and just syringing medicines and fibreplex in the first instance then when he recovers from his episode he is much faster to get back to his happy cheerful cheeky self.
He did have an x-ray in February and it revealed no bladder or kidney stones, and 'normal' bone density. He did have his bladder flushed but I think that was largely because I knew something was wrong and I was convinced it was bladder sludge, based on amount of chalky residue in urine. They didn't find much in his bladder and his urine looks the same to me as it did before flush. The vet told me most of all they were concerned that he was 2.5 kg and should be 2kg. I wish now they'd done an ultrasound too, as maybe that would have shown up a tumour. When they palpate his stomach they think he is sensitive in his liver or possibly kidney area, though his blood tests were normal for a rabbit of his age apparently.
He's just so happy between these episodes. The vets are very nice but all they do is give him metaclopromide and zantac injections, yet it doesn't generally need those to get him eating again.
Ripminnie - what symptoms does Daisy have and how do you treat her?

Sending lots of vibes to you, fingers crossed Simba gets well soon x

queenofendgame said:

Sending lots of vibes to you, fingers crossed Simba gets well soon x

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Thank you.

Poor boy It does sound like he needs some more diagnostics, maybe a referral to a specialist vet. Hope you can get some answers. Sending lots of vibes for Simba xx

I tried to catch him for about 10 or 15 mins but could not get him out from under bed. I retreated to lounge alone and sat snivelling for about 20 mins and then he came in and started munching things like nothing had happened. Pleased he didn't needs any meds and that he didn't hold my pursuit of him against me. I wish I had a rabbit savvy vet. When not having an episode he is so happy. I wish he could tell me what's wrong.
Thank you everyone for vibes.
That was yesterday ( well, early hours of this morning) and he's so far been fine today.

Vibes for your pretty little fluffy Simba :wave:

Hiya :wave: I'm so glad Simba is feeling better
Daisy's symptoms vary :? Every time she has an 'episode' she will just sit looking unhappy and refusing food. Sometimes, that's the only symptom and she can be ok again in a couple of hours. Other times, she will be in obvious pain, which is awful to see, she rolls around, on one side then the other, then onto her back, and even all the way over, as though she is trying to rid herself of some gas or something, although she never ever feels bloated :? If she does this, it might be for just a few minutes, or on and off for up to an hour something else she does a lot is to bite at the area just above her tail and around her bottom (she hasn't got worms, in case anyone wonders). Sometimes I think she is struggling to pass a dropping.
She also seems quite uncomfortable when she has a wee - buns normally just push their bottoms back and wee, but when Daisy does it it's quite forceful, like a contraction, and you can see her whole body tense up. Maybe she has multiple things going on, I don't know. She has been to the vets on numerous occasions when she is symptomatic, just like yours, but they never know what's wrong with her. However, now I've found a rabbit savvy vet, but he is an hour away my buns all hate travelling. But next time something happens, if I can manage it, I'll be taking her there for some tests. I hope Simba remains stable x

ripminnie said:

Hiya :wave: I'm so glad Simba is feeling better
Daisy's symptoms vary :? Every time she has an 'episode' she will just sit looking unhappy and refusing food. Sometimes, that's the only symptom and she can be ok again in a couple of hours. Other times, she will be in obvious pain, which is awful to see, she rolls around, on one side then the other, then onto her back, and even all the way over, as though she is trying to rid herself of some gas or something, although she never ever feels bloated :? If she does this, it might be for just a few minutes, or on and off for up to an hour something else she does a lot is to bite at the area just above her tail and around her bottom (she hasn't got worms, in case anyone wonders). Sometimes I think she is struggling to pass a dropping.
She also seems quite uncomfortable when she has a wee - buns normally just push their bottoms back and wee, but when Daisy does it it's quite forceful, like a contraction, and you can see her whole body tense up. Maybe she has multiple things going on, I don't know. She has been to the vets on numerous occasions when she is symptomatic, just like yours, but they never know what's wrong with her. However, now I've found a rabbit savvy vet, but he is an hour away my buns all hate travelling. But next time something happens, if I can manage it, I'll be taking her there for some tests. I hope Simba remains stable x

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Thank you. Unfortunately he's having an episode again now. I am not going to intervene as he was munching away right up until it started. Daisy's symptoms sound very much like Simba's and I also think he tenses up when weeing. When having an episode Simba seems to pant although he's not mouth breathing. I hope your rabbit savvy vet can help Daisy. I don't have one nearby and I don't have my own transport and I feel somewhat responsible for not having made sure I could get him to a rabbit savvy vet before I adopted him. I honestly feel now that unless its something common that a regular vet can treat then Simba and I are very much in our own and all I can do is treat symptoms or hope they'll pass. After he recovered from his episode last night he had some very small poops which also made we wonder if its something to do with digestion.

Sending Simba strong vibes.:thumb: xxx