Rosie dental update - absess and blockage - not eatting well

Just an update on my Rosie after dental 11 days ago. First off I must give many many thanks to Jacks Jane for her help and advise during this stressful time. Her knowledge, advice and guidance has undoubtedly saved my Rosie's life. After her dental rosie would not eat the next day and during her dental she had a tooth removed due to an absess. I rushed her to a different vet the next day as she had been prescribed antibiotics that would probably have killed her. The second vets diagnosed a blockage and rosie was admitted and was treated intensively for 9 days. The vets were amazingas were the nurses and I cannot thank them enough either. The blockage has passed and I have been syringe feeding her 3 times a day critical care 10mls at a time. She is on cisipride, zantac , fibreplex and metacam. She is producing small amounts of poo and peeing ok. Yesterday she ate loads of carrot tops , basil and some spinach leaves and I was really impressed. She also ate some herbs and parsley overnight. This evening she has only eaten a few carrot tops and a tiny bit of banana. She doesn't want to eat as much as yesterday. What is the best way to encourage her to eat more. ?? The vet said if her appetite was good today I could start injecting her with depocillian for her absess but I think I should maybe wait another day just to see. Any tips anyone ?

I don't have much experience or knowledge to give advice, but hope Rosie's eating improves soon. What other foods have you offered?

She has also been offered sage, corriander, thyme, mint,, grass from the garden, apple, grapes, romaine. She has eaten a little of each of these yesterday . I dont know what else to temp her with. I have just given her critical care just now.

I think pain from the abscess is almost certainly the reason why she is not eating too well. What dose of Metacam is she on ?

If the infection has penetrated bone then that will be exceptionally painful. Did the Vet discuss additional analgesia aswell as Metacam ?

Have you tried soaking her normal pellet feed in boiled water to make the pellets soft. She may eat them if they are not hard as it wont be so painful for her.

Hi Jacks Jane. She is on 0.3 ml daily. They said they wanted to stop the vetergesic as they didnt want it affecting the gut after they had got her poos going well. She only strarted the metacam yesterday. I could go to the local vet again tomorrow and get some more injected to see if that helps ??? I No they didnt discuss additional pain relief but she was in good form yesterday and this morning its just this evening. Would u start her on the depocillian yet ??

nickybunny1 said:

Hi Jacks Jane. She is on 0.3 ml daily. They said they wanted to stop the vetergesic as they didnt want it affecting the gut after they had got her poos going well. She only strarted the metacam yesterday. I could go to the local vet again tomorrow and get some more injected to see if that helps ??? I No they didnt discuss additional pain relief but she was in good form yesterday and this morning its just this evening. Would u start her on the depocillian yet ??

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Is it the Dog Metacam ? 0.3ml is a very small dose. How much does she weigh ?

Dog loxicom 1.5mg/ml . They gave me the dose in mls as the original syringe was confusing. She is 2kg. I hate to think of her in pain.

nickybunny1 said:

Dog loxicom 1.5mg/ml . They gave me the dose in mls as the original syringe was confusing. She is 2kg. I hate to think of her in pain.

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Rabbits metabolise metacam/loxicom at a much faster rate than dogs or cats. Therefore they require a higher dose rate to provide adequate analgesic cover. The current thinking amongst Rabbit savvy Vets is that a dose of 0.2-0.4ml/kg/24 hours of the Dog Metacam (which is 0.3mg-0.6mg/kg/24hrs) can be given In cases of severe pain and under watchful care of a good Vet the dose could be given every 12 hours. So Rosie could actually be on a dose of 0.8ml a day and still not be at the maximum. 0.3ml is unlikely to provide much pain relief at all

Here is some info about Rabbits and Meloxicam (AKA Metacam/Loxicom)

Ok I understand. So should I wait til tomorrow to give her a full 0.8ml dose ?? Or can I give her any more tonight ?? When do u think I should start the depocillian? ? Should I wait til she is eatting better?? Would the depocillin help the absess pain?? I am waiting on some of her pellets softening now.

nickybunny1 said:

Ok I understand. So should I wait til tomorrow to give her a full 0.8ml dose ?? Or can I give her any more tonight ?? When do u think I should start the depocillian? ? Should I wait til she is eatting better?? Would the depocillin help the absess pain?? I am waiting on some of her pellets softening now.

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I am not qualified to advise you to administer prescription only medication. I am just stating what my Vet prescribes. I would definitely ask the Vet about increasing the dose. If he is unhappy about this ask him to consult with the Rabbit Clinic at The Royal D1ck in Ebinburgh. They should be able to reassure him about using a much higher dose.


http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departm...ic-animal-and-wildlife/rabbit-clinic/overview

I cant advise re the Depocillin either as it is also a POM. If the Vet said not to give it until she is eating more then you could discuss this again tomorrow when requesting a more appropriate dose of Loxicom.

Spoke to vet and she gave go ahead for 0.4ml twice a day. They dont want her too long on metacam as she did have blood in her poo at start of week but zantac stopped this. I am keeping her on zantac as long as she is taking metacam. took a chance last night and gave Rosie 0.4ml ontop of the 0.3 ml she had at 9am. Overnight she ate well and was in great form this morning. She is sleeping with the others now. She ate about 15 soaked pellets as well . JJ I have been unable to give her any pain meds today as I have no one to help me until 4pm. If she gets her 0.4ml dose at 4pm when should I give her next dose ?? Do u need to wait 12 hrs or not ?? I am to give her her first depocillin injection this evening. I planned to syringe feed, give zantac and metacam and inject straight after. Is it ok to do this all in one go ?? I am so nervous about the injection. Thanks x

nickybunny1 said:

Spoke to vet and she gave go ahead for 0.4ml twice a day. They dont want her too long on metacam as she did have blood in her poo at start of week but zantac stopped this. I am keeping her on zantac as long as she is taking metacam. took a chance last night and gave Rosie 0.4ml ontop of the 0.3 ml she had at 9am. Overnight she ate well and was in great form this morning. She is sleeping with the others now. She ate about 15 soaked pellets as well . JJ I have been unable to give her any pain meds today as I have no one to help me until 4pm. If she gets her 0.4ml dose at 4pm when should I give her next dose ?? Do u need to wait 12 hrs or not ?? I am to give her her first depocillin injection this evening. I planned to syringe feed, give zantac and metacam and inject straight after. Is it ok to do this all in one go ?? I am so nervous about the injection. Thanks x

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Yes it is OK to give the meds at the same time, give the Zantac first, then the feed, then the Metacam. And yes the Metacam doses need to be given 12 hours apart. So you could maybe hold off doing the meds til about 6pm this evening to obviate the need to have to give the next dose of Metacam at 4am tomorrow ! 6am is not quite so bad.

With the Depocillin are the doses already drawn up into a syringe for you ? It is best to put a new needle on the syringe as the Depocillin can clog it up and make injecting it difficult. Also, make sure there are no leaks of it on her skin/fur when you put her back with the other Rabbits. They will no doubt groom the injection site and you dont want any of them ingesting Depocillin. If you massage the injection site for a few minutes after giving the dose this will insure it is well dispersed under the skin and thus not likely to leak back out should another Rabbit lick the area.

Depocillin syringes r all made up for me. I will make sure I clean the injection site well after. Never thought of the others licking it ! But good point. Thanks for tips and advice - Rosie will hopefully start to feel alot better when the depocillin starts to work.

First injection done and I was a bag of nerves. I hope I have done it right and not injected into a vein or something - am still panicking. No penicillin came out on her fur and I rubbed the skin after.

nickybunny1 said:

First injection done and I was a bag of nerves. I hope I have done it right and not injected into a vein or something - am still panicking. No penicillin came out on her fur and I rubbed the skin after.

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Well done

:thumb: Well done, hope she feels better soon.

Just wondering how Rosie is doing now ?

Hi Jacks Jane . Rosie is doing really well. She is eating all her usual foods again and even onto her hay too! Quantities nearly back to normal but I am still giving her one syringe feed at night with her fibreplex. She is off the metacam 2 days now and is just on cisapride morning and evening as well as the depocillian injections every other day. She has had 6 injections so far - I am still va wreck doin them but they r definitely helping. Soo pleased with her progress. She also out in the garden eating grass for about an hour in the morning and evening - her choice she wants out and runs to the back door. She is in really good form . Last night I had to take away her carrot cottage as she was violently tearing it to bits and I was afraid of her eating too much of it !! As she is doing so well I am so afraid of her being xrayed after Christmas. They said they have to to see how far the absess has gone so as to determine how long she needs to be on the depocillin. Is an xray definitely necessary? ? Just I am afraid to put her under sedation or ga incase anything happens to her especially now she is nearly fully recovered. Thanks Jacks Jane for asking after her. Its thanks to u that she is still here x

I am so pleased to hear how well she is doing You have fought so hard for her. I would probably wait and see re the Xray. In time she may need a full Dental under GA and I think I would prefer to wait til then before risking another GA. I have had Rabbits on Depocillin for months with no adverse side effects. So perhaps after the New year the Vet could see how the crowns of her teeth are doing and you could suggest postponing the skull Xrays until another Dental is really needed.

Hope that you and Rosie have a lovely Christmas and that the New Year is less stressful for both of you xx

Hi JJ. I am glad u feel the same about not wanting to put Rosie under GA right now. She has been through so much andI think she needs time to fully recover and I too would rather wait til a full dental is needed too. Also she is probably going to have to stay on the depocillian for a good few more weeks if not a couple of months anyway. Do u think I should take her down in new year for the vets to just look in her mouth - just like a normal check up? - should the pus in the tooth cavity look less if the depocillin is working ?? What length of time should she be on the depocillin or is it possible she may need to be on it for life ? Or will they only really be able to tell under head xray when I would take her for her next dental ? Thanks for u kind words JJ and for asking after her. Rosie is a tough wee cookie and am so glad to have my wee angry Netherland back lol x