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Mysterious vague symptoms.

RedFraggle

RedFraggle

Warren Veteran
Opinions sought please.....
Scarlet has been a bit up and down as just not quite herself for a few weeks. It's more behavioural rather than any obvious symptoms.
She's refusing her metacam
She's not eating her nuggets but is eating loads of hay, herbs and forage.
She appears very tired later in the day sometimes and until the last week has been excessively bouncy on a morning, lots of binkying.
She's not eating her recovery food which she usually goes mad for.
She's a dental bun, is on permanent metacam and recovery. Guts, lungs and heart sound fine. She hasn't lost any weight at all. Teeth look fine (there aren't many left).
The vet put her on a precautionary 7 days worth of baytril which we started last Friday. She had a similar episode at the same time last year and took about a month to turn around. She had bloods and x-rays then and everything was clear.
Any ideas? I'm wondering if it's an allergy given the episode last year, she has been brighter since the baytril. Saturday she was so poorly I worried we might lose her and we had to syringe feed her. She was bouncy again by the evening and was bright and alert all day yesterday and is this morning. Vet is also wondering about an underlying pastuerella issue, her first husbun died from that. We don't know her age, but think she's around 8.
 
Sorry this will be a rushed reply, just off to Hospital

It sounds as though she may have some sort of infection given her apparent improvement after starting Baytril

Tooth root problem ?
Ears ?

Repeat bloods may shed some light on things if the full course of Baytril does not resolve the problem. Bloods may show if there is any infection/inflammation going on.

What have her poos been like ? Gastric ulcer maybe ??

Sending lots of vibes for her xx
 
RedFraggle said:
Opinions sought please.....
Scarlet has been a bit up and down as just not quite herself for a few weeks. It's more behavioural rather than any obvious symptoms.
She's refusing her metacam
She's not eating her nuggets but is eating loads of hay, herbs and forage.
She appears very tired later in the day sometimes and until the last week has been excessively bouncy on a morning, lots of binkying.
She's not eating her recovery food which she usually goes mad for.
She's a dental bun, is on permanent metacam and recovery. Guts, lungs and heart sound fine. She hasn't lost any weight at all. Teeth look fine (there aren't many left).
The vet put her on a precautionary 7 days worth of baytril which we started last Friday. She had a similar episode at the same time last year and took about a month to turn around. She had bloods and x-rays then and everything was clear.
Any ideas? I'm wondering if it's an allergy given the episode last year, she has been brighter since the baytril. Saturday she was so poorly I worried we might lose her and we had to syringe feed her. She was bouncy again by the evening and was bright and alert all day yesterday and is this morning. Vet is also wondering about an underlying pastuerella issue, her first husbun died from that. We don't know her age, but think she's around 8.
Click to expand...

Is Scarlet moulting at the moment? Sometimes I find it leads to some strange behaviour, a bit like stasis but not (thank goodness!). Also, older buns feel the heat more and get tired ... She seems to have more or less normal episodes in between?
 
She is moulting yes, she's still doing her big spring moult. I wondered about that too with it being the same time of year again.

Thanks JJ, our vet can't di bloods without a GA. If she doesn't improve she's going back to FHBs as they can.
 
Sorry, posted in a hurry.
That's reassuring about the moult, to begin with that was my first thought. She's either completely normal, super flat or super bouncy, there's no consistency. She'll be great for 2 or 3 days, then crash again. When the weather is nice she goes flat later in the day. Their shed and run only gets morning sun, which she lays in.
The like stasis but not comment is spot on, that's exactly how I'd describe it.
Poos are normal, she's clean underneath.
 
RedFraggle said:
Sorry, posted in a hurry.
That's reassuring about the moult, to begin with that was my first thought. She's either completely normal, super flat or super bouncy, there's no consistency. She'll be great for 2 or 3 days, then crash again. When the weather is nice she goes flat later in the day. Their shed and run only gets morning sun, which she lays in.
The like stasis but not comment is spot on, that's exactly how I'd describe it.
Poos are normal, she's clean underneath.
Click to expand...


I hope it is that then, and that it resolves and doesn't progress into anything that 'won't be mentioned' ...
(not wanting to tempt fate here :shock: )

Regarding blood tests - they won't always show up any inflammation or infection, so your vet was right to give Baytril just in case. Why are rabbits such difficult little beings? :roll:
 
RedFraggle said:
Just to update, we're seeing FHB tomorrow
Click to expand...

... would that be the FHB that 'retired' in October? ;)

Glad that she's seeing Scarlet and hope she has answers/reassurance etc.

(Don't keep her talking too long though, we have the last appointment...:lol:)
 
Indeed, I was the sneaky last appointment after your last appointment. Nice to see you. So.....She is a freak, very interesting conversation with Frances Harcourt-Brown just now. As I said to BunnyBuddy in the waiting room I'd become more convinced this was mouth related, it seems I was right . X-rays all normal, blood sample difficult to get results not back yet but based on the x-ray she doesn't anticipate anything untoward. Kidneys look fine as did her chest. In general her teeth/jaw were the same as the last x-rays, but she pulled another tooth (front left) while she was in there as it looked about to drop. The interesting bit is her tongue/gum is very abnormal, Frances has never seen anything like it. Her tongue is enlarged on the side with no teeth, and bulges out. A flap of tissue had grown between the tongue and the inner gum over the lower jaw anchoring it together (like the one that anchors the base of the tongue). This is probably why she won't drink from the bowl, eat her recovery food (she can't lap) why she was doing the a wierd cow impression with her tongue and was struggling with eating nuggets as she'd struggle to move them around her mouth. Frances has cut it away. They're keeping her in tonight and probably tomorrow night too but she was fine with the anaesthetic.
 
:shock: I bet it was a shock to hear that explanation. Thank goodness it's been dealt with, poor girl. At least you've found out what the cause was but I don't suppose you will know if it's likely to recur or not... at least you would know how to spot the symptoms.
 
RedFraggle said:
Indeed, I was the sneaky last appointment after your last appointment. Nice to see you. So.....She is a freak, very interesting conversation with Frances Harcourt-Brown just now. As I said to BunnyBuddy in the waiting room I'd become more convinced this was mouth related, it seems I was right . X-rays all normal, blood sample difficult to get results not back yet but based on the x-ray she doesn't anticipate anything untoward. Kidneys look fine as did her chest. In general her teeth/jaw were the same as the last x-rays, but she pulled another tooth (front left) while she was in there as it looked about to drop. The interesting bit is her tongue/gum is very abnormal, Frances has never seen anything like it. Her tongue is enlarged on the side with no teeth, and bulges out. A flap of tissue had grown between the tongue and the inner gum over the lower jaw anchoring it together (like the one that anchors the base of the tongue). This is probably why she won't drink from the bowl, eat her recovery food (she can't lap) why she was doing the a wierd cow impression with her tongue and was struggling with eating nuggets as she'd struggle to move them around her mouth. Frances has cut it away. They're keeping her in tonight and probably tomorrow night too but she was fine with the anaesthetic.
Click to expand...

Good grief, what an unusual case study!

Bet you are so glad FHB is on the case. Heaven only knows what would happen with a non savvy vet .. :shock:
 
Thanks both, I suspected a tongue related issue but was absolutely not expecting that. Have just spoken to the nurse and she's recovering well. Thank the bun in the sky for FHB, don't know where I, or Scarlet, would be without her!
 
She's grumpy and not eating but that's to be expected. She'll be stopping in at FHBs until she's eating properly.
 
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