Hi All
I am a rabbit loving englishman now living in New Zealand.
Ive always had pets but until moving to NZ i'd never had rabbits.
7 years in and we adore our bunnies and the joy they bring to us all. They are as much a part of the family as us.
Me , my wife, and two girls aged 2 and 5 enjoy them running around the house and garden.
Last year we lost our wonderful Belgium Hare to a susoected acute reaction to an antibiotic.
It was the saddest day.
Bless poor Beauty and her wonderful nature.
Beauty was survived by her partner Dr Fleischman . (named after an old TV series character)
Dr was sad and lonly so we adopted a new bunny from the SPCA .
An adorable grey rabbit we called Maggie flower.
Her and Dr fell in love and have been devoted to each other.
A couple of months ago Dr developed a head tilt.
It was horrible
He went on baytril and Meta cam and was all sorted out in just a few days .
He did have a skin reaction to the baytril injection but devoted Maggie flower help clean him and made him better.
2 weeks ago we noticed (very suddenly) that maggie Flower had an odd hop. A weak left leg and as a result was kind of walking rather than hopping.
Very quickly (over night) it got worse so we rushed her to the vet.
Yhey said it was likely trauma and did an xray.
they found nothing untoward and suggested a scan to see if there was an issue with a shadow near her kidneys.
the scan found this lump but she said it seemed fatty and not cancer or anything to worry about.
Maggie was put on Metacam, Baytril and flagl S ( i think thats right?)
She seemed fine in herself. eating, running, walking, and sometimes hopping.
We were feeling good about it all but i had been doing LOTS of reading and was worried it was EC.
We kept her on this medication for two weeks and she had maintained this same state of running, walking , happy , eating well etc. We had to clean her bum occasionally . As its summer here the possibility of flystrike was high.
She had her two week check up due this thursday.
ON Wednesday after noon my wife came home at 4 pm and let the bunnies out of their large hutch/run into the garden as we always do.
Maggie was hopping around.
I came back at 7 pm and went straight out to say Hi to the bunnies.
Maggie was lying in and odd position.
Kind of like a half flop.
like a rear end flop.
Both legs off to the side
I called her and she spun around and headed towards me.
Dragging her legs
i was horrified!
and very upset
I gently checked her and she seemed happy.
I offered food and drink and she accepted.
We made her comfortable and checked on her throughout the night.
Good old Dr kept her warm and in the morning we took her to the vet.
The vet is a small animal specialist and very good with rabbits. A lovely lady and very proactive.
She examined Maggie and thought again it was trauma .
She did a pinch test and there was a point along her spine that showed little reaction.She still had reflex in her legs and feet.
she suggested another xray to see if there was damage.
We agreed
an xray was done and she thought she could see a fracture but has sent the xray to a radiologist in Auckland today to review.
We have talked with the vet about EC . i have been sure that what it is.
The vet has not been keen to treat for EC with Pancur as she didnt think thats what it was.
today i demanded the treatment and have started Maggie on 28 days of pancur along with her baytril, metacam and Flagl S .
Wh have moved her into the hospital hutch ( as we call it) inside and are bathing, cleaning and caring for her round the clock.
She is very bright and happy in herself. She is eating well and drinkink too.
She hasnt lost mush weight in the two weeks and we are hopeful that she will get better.
So my questions and advice required are
Have we left it too late?
Should the pancur still be effective ? If indeed it is EC?
have i done the right thing?
is there any advice you can give to help care for a poorly , but chipper , rabbit ?
basically any help, support and ideas would be really appreciated.
We dont know many rabbit friendly families here in NZ. mostly they are seen as pests so the compassion from some folks is pretty limited.
i mu st go now and medicate Maggie, change her and settle her down with the good Dr.
busy times and im very worried.
this afternoon after drying her off after a warm bum bath i lay down and put my nose by hers. I told her to fight. that i would care and pay for anything she needed. that i was here for her but she had to do the fighting.
she looked me square in the eyes. And licked my nose. She has never done this before.
i cried.
I am a rabbit loving englishman now living in New Zealand.
Ive always had pets but until moving to NZ i'd never had rabbits.
7 years in and we adore our bunnies and the joy they bring to us all. They are as much a part of the family as us.
Me , my wife, and two girls aged 2 and 5 enjoy them running around the house and garden.
Last year we lost our wonderful Belgium Hare to a susoected acute reaction to an antibiotic.
It was the saddest day.
Bless poor Beauty and her wonderful nature.
Beauty was survived by her partner Dr Fleischman . (named after an old TV series character)
Dr was sad and lonly so we adopted a new bunny from the SPCA .
An adorable grey rabbit we called Maggie flower.
Her and Dr fell in love and have been devoted to each other.
A couple of months ago Dr developed a head tilt.
It was horrible
He went on baytril and Meta cam and was all sorted out in just a few days .
He did have a skin reaction to the baytril injection but devoted Maggie flower help clean him and made him better.
2 weeks ago we noticed (very suddenly) that maggie Flower had an odd hop. A weak left leg and as a result was kind of walking rather than hopping.
Very quickly (over night) it got worse so we rushed her to the vet.
Yhey said it was likely trauma and did an xray.
they found nothing untoward and suggested a scan to see if there was an issue with a shadow near her kidneys.
the scan found this lump but she said it seemed fatty and not cancer or anything to worry about.
Maggie was put on Metacam, Baytril and flagl S ( i think thats right?)
She seemed fine in herself. eating, running, walking, and sometimes hopping.
We were feeling good about it all but i had been doing LOTS of reading and was worried it was EC.
We kept her on this medication for two weeks and she had maintained this same state of running, walking , happy , eating well etc. We had to clean her bum occasionally . As its summer here the possibility of flystrike was high.
She had her two week check up due this thursday.
ON Wednesday after noon my wife came home at 4 pm and let the bunnies out of their large hutch/run into the garden as we always do.
Maggie was hopping around.
I came back at 7 pm and went straight out to say Hi to the bunnies.
Maggie was lying in and odd position.
Kind of like a half flop.
like a rear end flop.
Both legs off to the side
I called her and she spun around and headed towards me.
Dragging her legs
i was horrified!
and very upset
I gently checked her and she seemed happy.
I offered food and drink and she accepted.
We made her comfortable and checked on her throughout the night.
Good old Dr kept her warm and in the morning we took her to the vet.
The vet is a small animal specialist and very good with rabbits. A lovely lady and very proactive.
She examined Maggie and thought again it was trauma .
She did a pinch test and there was a point along her spine that showed little reaction.She still had reflex in her legs and feet.
she suggested another xray to see if there was damage.
We agreed
an xray was done and she thought she could see a fracture but has sent the xray to a radiologist in Auckland today to review.
We have talked with the vet about EC . i have been sure that what it is.
The vet has not been keen to treat for EC with Pancur as she didnt think thats what it was.
today i demanded the treatment and have started Maggie on 28 days of pancur along with her baytril, metacam and Flagl S .
Wh have moved her into the hospital hutch ( as we call it) inside and are bathing, cleaning and caring for her round the clock.
She is very bright and happy in herself. She is eating well and drinkink too.
She hasnt lost mush weight in the two weeks and we are hopeful that she will get better.
So my questions and advice required are
Have we left it too late?
Should the pancur still be effective ? If indeed it is EC?
have i done the right thing?
is there any advice you can give to help care for a poorly , but chipper , rabbit ?
basically any help, support and ideas would be really appreciated.
We dont know many rabbit friendly families here in NZ. mostly they are seen as pests so the compassion from some folks is pretty limited.
i mu st go now and medicate Maggie, change her and settle her down with the good Dr.
busy times and im very worried.
this afternoon after drying her off after a warm bum bath i lay down and put my nose by hers. I told her to fight. that i would care and pay for anything she needed. that i was here for her but she had to do the fighting.
she looked me square in the eyes. And licked my nose. She has never done this before.
i cried.
