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New vet

thumps_

Wise Old Thumper
After the recent upset, & finding out that my usual vet wasn't returning from maternity leave. It's been back to looking for vets with a special interest in rabbits.
There's a good general vet round the corner. They've now got a rabbit interested partner, & we've had a good introductory consult. Apparently all the partners are now clued up about bunny emergencies like stasis + doses of meds. for buns:D & I can get to the branch surgeries.
We had the same ideas about managing snuffles. :D

Above all I was thrilled by Benjie's response. Usually he lies flattened out & motionless on the table trying to disappear. This time he didn't & was far less stressed, even looking round at his surroundings!
It's such a relief to me that Benjie's obviously so much happier.:D
 
Thank you. I feel as if a huge weight has lifted, & was really thrilled by Benjie's response.
It's odd that Thumper also seemed to know who would be the best vet for him. I'm really surprised & delighted by the marked change in Benjie's behaviour & hope it bodes well.
 
Arent rabbits awesome? Its so great to hear that Benjie had a positive reaction and that Thumper seemed to know which vet was good for him. Good for you for reading their signals. Your posts indicate that you are very tuned in to your pets. Most inspiring.
 
Thank you Tulsi. That's very kind of you.
Yes, rabbits are awsome. I had no idea they were so intelligent, learned so fast, & are so devoted.

I think that Benjie had an awful start with me. He was wandering around the centre of town in the dark by a nurse. Spent 2 weeks with her, & then unclaimed, came to me probably only about 12 weeks old. He'd been bitten on his lop ear at some stage before he came here by some animal, probably cat.
I had to do nasty things to him from the beginning, treating his snuffles & abscesses but he's always been incredibly affectionate. (he'd got pasteurella throughout his system) Poor little fella.

I was still geared up for a house rabbit after Thumper, but Benjie presented me with a problem. He's incredibly nervous which is hardly surprising, & spent most of his time hiding, yet would shoot out of anywhere to be stroked. Benjie was far from a normal baby rabbit in behaviour. I honestly don't have anything like the understanding with him as I had with Thumper. On the other hand Thumper had to teach me what rabbits like in their environment so Benjie didn't have to ask me to change much & hasn't developed the same relationship of trust that if he perseveres, I'll sort things out for him.!:lol:

He's coming on nicely at last, will come downstairs with me now, & started to pluck up courage to go in the garden this summer.:D I think he's still showing signs of severe trauma. He gets very focussed inside himself, & really doesn't hear me. Again, unlike most baby rabbits he's desperate to be well behaved.

I've had severely traumatised cats all my adult life, mainly because of long working hours. In retirement Thumper was my 1st rabbit. We live together 24/7. Benjie wasn't expected to last the year. He's on a totally foraged diet to reduce dust. I think he'd be much better with a partner bun, but with his poor prognosis, & I couldn't forage feed 2 buns, & lost my nerve that the stress of bonding could make his snuffles flare up badly. Sadly he's still single. I think it's trying to understand their viewpoint, lots of love & a two way give & take, so we can rub together in harmony!

Another good thing about the new vet, is that when I told her he was a house bun & I hadn't vaccinated him because of the health risks, (pasteurella flare up) she was fine about it, & didn't push me at all.
 
Wow. Amazing story.

A non pushy vet sounds good. The vet nurses at our local practice are great. So gentle. As for the wildlife expert we saw ... really kind, calm and reassuring. Suggested that I sat on the floor with Mottle (tricolour minilop) on my lap cos I said he could be jumpy. It was blissful holding him (he normally dislikes any physical contact).

I do miss having my bunch indoors because I see so much less of them but they seem very happy indeed out there.
 
I really badly want you to be able to work with this vet and have a good outcome for Benji. So far so good and I really hope that continues.
 
I'm so relieved that you were able to find a vet who seems to be in tune with you and Benjie. :) This is perhaps my biggest worry when it comes to moving out of state. I have two vets here I trust implicitly with my rabbits and other pets, especially Jenna who has limited treatment options since her near death battle with vasculitits this March. My exotics vet and I had a particular understanding when it came to end of life decisions for my rabbits. Without her, I am terrified to think what will happen when that time comes for my babies. :(
Jenna's vet saved her life (and has saved the life of my other dogs in the past) and I will be lost without his expertise. I consider myself pretty well versed in what ailments Jenna suffers but this last one threw me and I was desperate she live through it. He knew from the off what it was and cured her within a month. No other vet had a clue. She wouldn't be here now were it not for him.
I've already asked and none of them can recommend a practice in the area we are headed.
Of course, I could get down there and find a brilliant vet but my optimism isn't high at the moment.

I am glad for you and Benjie. Is there any chance you will have the consult of your original vet again, just for the discourse it can provide? I am hoping that no matter the distance, I know my vets well enough that we can chat once in awhile regarding how the animals are doing. :)
 
Thank you so much everyone. Yes, I also hope I'll have a co operative relationship.

With vets, I have clear boundaries. My job is to "listen to my rabbit" especially with diet & general care, finding ways to keep stress levels low & give a good account of what's gone wrong -why I think bunny is ill.
I also tell them what I'm doing, but know they can't comment on herbs etc.

I leave the medicine & clinical judgement to them, unless I know it doesn't make sense.
Sometimes I'll say, "do you think we could do xyz because ......"
Because of my work with humans I'm actually very admiring of them. It's really tough getting the diagnosis right in the early stages of illness, & I take my rabbits to the vet early. Again I think they usually see very ill rabbits apart from RUers! so they don't get the experience, unless they listen very carefully to us.
Getting to be a good doctor or vet is about continually honing your skills.
Of course rabbits are totally different from other pets so the minimum is to find someone with an "interest" in rabbits.

Another really good thing about this vet is that I said we'd tried baytril & marbocyl but they hadn't been very effective for this form of pastuerella, but he'd responded fanastically to Septrin.
Her advice to me was we'd put him on Septrin if his eye discharge became more milky. A huge sigh of relief that we didn't have to go down the road of ABx which weren't helpful for HIM.

I think you all know that I never comment about which ABx to use on RU. It all depends on the infecting bacteria & what kills them. rather than where the infection is, although we need different ones to get into places with a poor blood supply like cartilage & bone.
 
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