Rupert's thymoma-another bad night

My big gorgeous giant Rupert has a thymoma. He's on cortisone and furosimide twice a day plus he's had a weeks course of Septrim once a day. His eyes get very bulgy when he eats and he has rapid breathing with shaking. He tires easily and spends a lot of time lying on his pillow. He sneezes quite alot too.
However he's been eating well, skipping, hopping around, cuddling Milly etc.
But though the hot days have been awful, evenings are becoming increasingly awful. His breathing quickens, his eyes bulge and it's extremely distressing. I'm frightened to go to sleep, last night I seriously considered calling the vet out to put Rupert to sleep. At one point I thought he'd gone blind, he was terrified of everything, his breathing was so fast, I stayed in there until about 3.00am as Milly had been very energetic racing round and Rupert needed comfort. By 3.00 Milly had calmed down and was cuddling Rupert.
By morning he's always much bouncier, very bright, running in for treats etc. He looks 'normal' until he needs a lie down and then as the day progresses he looks worse and worse.
We're not a noisy home, nor noisy neighbours or outside. He does eat less at night although I do a big plate of veggies etc before bed so he can nibble on that and do another plate in the middle of the night. He's not eating pellets much-I think they're harder to eat and he has his head down for longer which hurts his eyes.
I know this is a time bomb but it's just so hard. I don't like to cry at home but when I dashed out for more herbs I found myself sobbing in the Co-op. I couldn't stop. I want to find a soundproofed room and just howl.

<<<Hugs>>> I know how you feel.

My bun was diagnosed with thymoma last year and it was awful when he had his "episodes" where he would panic and lie down panting. It is so distressing for them and us.

If you give him some food can you feed him out of your hand so he does not have to put his head down and also life any bowl up slightly so he does not have to put his head down to eat/drink.

If you can also lift him up against your chest if he has difficulty breathing as it may help the thymoma take the pressure off the areas that are obstructing his breathing/bulging eyes.

Unfortunately my buns was the aggresive form and we only had 3-4 weeks with him after he was diagnosed and even though on steroids the growth increased in size

Sending Rupert gentle nose rubs and vibes xx

bunny babe said:

<<<Hugs>>> I know how you feel.

My bun was diagnosed with thymoma last year and it was awful when he had his "episodes" where he would panic and lie down panting. It is so distressing for them and us.

If you give him some food can you feed him out of your hand so he does not have to put his head down and also life any bowl up slightly so he does not have to put his head down to eat/drink.

If you can also lift him up against your chest if he has difficulty breathing as it may help the thymoma take the pressure off the areas that are obstructing his breathing/bulging eyes.

Unfortunately my buns was the aggresive form and we only had 3-4 weeks with him after he was diagnosed and even though on steroids the growth increased in size

Sending Rupert gentle nose rubs and vibes xx

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Are these 'episodes' 'normal' then? I have no idea what to expect. I hand feed him his veggies and treats but he won't have pellets from anything other than his dish. I know it's better to have him upright but worried about doing that when his breathing is so bad in case it distresses him more. Do you think I should? He generally is quite happy on my lap when I do meds etc. Last night I was too afraid to do his meds as his breathing was so fast. Do I pick him up, wait for his eyes to go down then pop him back down again?
We're at nigh on 5 weeks on Monday since I first spotted his eyes were looking red. I knew it was a thymoma, though the vets said conjunctivitis. Then the vets said a hairball and wanted to do stomach surgery. So I'm on my own with this. I asked for these meds, got them but not had even one word from my vets about what will happen.
Thank you so much for replying. I am so, so sorry this happened to you too. It's horrendous living with a time bomb. Our poor buns. Xx

It can be very distressing to see how bad the symptoms look. This is how Eddie used to get when he had his head down to eat



But they would revert to looking like this when in a more 'head up' position and also after his diuretic dose was increased



In general the Rabbit is no-where near as distressed as we are.

What dose of Frusemide are you giving ?

Jane, thank you. Rupert is just like Eddie when he eats.
He's on 1.35ml frusemide twice daily-the liquid.
Also 2 cortisone tablets twice daily. Prednisolone 1mg.
Tried Baytril too as he sneezes a lot and it was clear fluid coming from his nose but Rupert was so distressed by it I got it swapped to Septrin 1.5ml once a day. A weeks course. Vet said he may not need the antibiotic as the fluid is likely to be from his lungs but I said I wanted to try. Should we continue?

He's been weeing quite a lot but his sneezing has definitely worsened. It's quite a honky sneeze but no mucus or obvious fluid as he wipes his nose quickly, but it's not fluid pouring out.

He's still strong though in his body. When I tried to pick him up for meds he waited til the last moment when I'm about to life him from the ground then did a giant leap. No idea how I managed to hold him!

I'm frightened though.

I doubt that abx will be of any benefit, as your Vet said the fluid is almost certainly due to the thymoma, not infection. However as he is on prednisolone a covering abx may be appropriate as the pred' could lower his immune system. Eddie remained on Depocillin throughout his palliative care as he had a long history of respiratory tract infections, we were concerned that the steroid he was on may lead to a bad flare up of infection.

Jack's-Jane has had a couple of bunnies with thymoma and is much more experienced than me x

Homey was on Prednisone, but can't remember if we gave him anything else too. I think there were abx alongside in case of infection. We just held him if he had these "panic" type attacks and then put him down. He was OK most of the time.

Thank you both so much.