Thats interesting - we have a very very severe head tilt case here at present (EC). Plus a less severe (ear infection) case.
My bridge bunny Roger, a few years ago, was the worst head tilt bun Simon had ever seen, but with a lot of work, time, and all the help and support I got from Simon and Kim, his head tilt was completely reversed.
Strangely enough, knowing Simon and Kim as well as I do now, because of all my 'special needs' buns, yes I agree the Metacam dose does sound low, but Simon obviously had a very good reason for it, and I'm assuming the bunny in question must have been comfortable enough on it, or he would have needed it increasing.
Please don't worry or think that they are not up to date with things, when in reality they are as up to date as they can be, and from a lot of stories I read on here, actually streets ahead of other supposed bunny vets. Whenever my buns go in to have ops, at times I think I must be the only person who doesn't seem to worry about my buns, but that is because Simon is such a fantastic vet, I have complete and absolute total faith in him, they are the only vets I have heard off who go way, way above and beyond what you would normally expect, and so I have no reason to worry at all.
When my blind little dutchie, Pippa who had been left to starve to death, went in to be spayed when well, enough, her partner Dipsy went with her, but so as to minimise her stress as much as possible because of her blindness, Simon had a nurse hold Dipsy next to her until she was asleep, and then before she was woken up, Dipsy was brought back next to her. Pippa made an excellent recovery, and was pretty much back to normal the next day.
When Dipsy was neutered, he was back to normal the same evening, and his scar was so small I couldn't even actually see it to check it, and could only feel a little bit of scar tissue. Simon is an expert when anaesthetising bunnies, and all my bunnies over the years have been awake quickly and made excellent recoveries. I'm always very concerned about bunnies still being sleepy the next day or longer, as they have obviously been given far too much anaesthetic, and may well have been extremely lucky to have even woken up at all. Before finding Simon thanks to Tracy at RGPW, I lost a bun, Cassie, who was the sweetest little stunning black rex ever, and this was because of an inexperienced vet giving her too much anaesthetic, and not being able to reverse it quickly enough.
When Roger was pts a year ago today, my appointment was at 4pm, but I was given all the time I needed, and provided with a quiet private room to sit in with Roger to say my goodbyes. It meant such a lot that Roger was not just pts in his appointment time, and then Simon moved straight on to his next patient. Actually, Roger didn't leave until 2102hrs that night, long after the surgery had closed, and so I was actually there saying my goodbyes and having all the cuddles I could over 5 hours!!! How many vets would give you that time, and still wait patiently even after the surgery had closed.
Simon is incredibly fair with his prices, and when I have had very poorly bunnies that needed to see Simon most days over a few weeks, Simon would often not charge me at all for the consultation, or I can remember maybe paying only £9. Dipsy had a horrendous abscess at the beginning of the year, and sometimes it is hard to imagine how people often struggle for such a long time, or maybe never fully successfully treat them, when my own experiences with abscesses with Simon, have been successfully treated within a very short space of time, and most of the time surgically removed with antibiotics for a week and job done so to speak.
Simon and Kim are incredibly thorough, and always spend time observing how the bun is actually moving about on the floor. Dipsy had never been assessed like this before I had him, and as a result, no one had ever picked up on his 'special needs' because of neurological issues. But Simon immediately spotted how he kind of wobbled and his head bobbed up and down all the time, and explained to me that at some point he would have had a very severe ear infection, that had affected both ears, and that was why he was now like that, and yet Dipsy came from a rescue and had seen vets before, but none had noticed what Simon did within about 30 seconds.
I cannot praise or speak highly enough of Simon and his whole team. I actually look forward to going to see him, because they are really my rabbits extended family, and everyone is so lovely and remember things about your buns, and are always so welcoming and it is lovely meeting so many other bunny owners and being able to swap stories. Simon is also Harvey's, the famous house rabbits vet, who now has a book out, and Harvey's owner is just the battiest lovely lady ever. If you have not heard of Harvey, google 'Harvey Diary of a House Rabbit' and all will be revealed, you will get lots of insight into how Simon and his team work then, and Roger appears in Harvey's blog. Harvey's owner, Janet was so taken with Roger, that when she came out of her consultation with Simon and he was still talking to her, she asked him to hold on, and everyone was stood waiting for her to get the pictures she wanted of Roger. The woman is a total loon!!!
