Hugo's There
Wise Old Thumper
I haven't really done a thread about Clem's illness but I know many of you know how poorly he has been. Yesterday he went to a referral hospital and finally we know what's going on. So thought I would share in case it helps anyone else, although hopefully not something that happens regularly.
For those that don't know. Clem is nearly 9 months old and has been ill with his breathing since he was 5 months
He suddenly came down with a horrific lung infection. We all battled round the clock and tbh he wasn't expected to survive but some how he did. He remained on all his meds , and there is a lot, for 12 weeks. By which time he should have been better. New x-rays. Showed his lungs were clear. Yet he was still sneezing, retching and choking when he drank and slept and has noisy laboured breathing. We thought maybe he had developed a secondary upper respiratory infection so continued with his meds. Still no improvement so we got conscious skull x-rays and sent them to three specialists. All advised a CT scan.
During all this Clem has developed dental issues due to mouth breathing and being unable to eat hay etc
Yesterday Clem went to great Western referrals to see Neil Forbes as we wanted him to have the very best. He had a CT scan and endoscopy and although we don't have the results of the CT scan yet we have a diagnosis.
Clem has a congenital deformity to his soft pallet and there is a hole between his larynx and windpipe This explains everything. The sudden lung infection was aspiration pneumonia from food getting into his windpipe. When he drinks water is getting in, when he sleeps saliva is getting in It also explains the lack of nasal discharge
So all things being equal with the scan he needs a highly complex operation to try to fix it. It's not something even the specialist has huge experience of doing and the post operative risks are huge. Potentially his windpipe could swell from the surgery and suffocate him
But if it goes well he will be a normal rabbit again. The other option is pts but when you see him binkying about that really isn't an option .
So now we are waiting on the CT results to make sure nothing else has shown up then we discuss the op in more detail. ( and find out the cost!)
I don't know if this is anything anyone has ever experienced before or may experience in the future but thought it was worth sharing.
For those that don't know. Clem is nearly 9 months old and has been ill with his breathing since he was 5 months
He suddenly came down with a horrific lung infection. We all battled round the clock and tbh he wasn't expected to survive but some how he did. He remained on all his meds , and there is a lot, for 12 weeks. By which time he should have been better. New x-rays. Showed his lungs were clear. Yet he was still sneezing, retching and choking when he drank and slept and has noisy laboured breathing. We thought maybe he had developed a secondary upper respiratory infection so continued with his meds. Still no improvement so we got conscious skull x-rays and sent them to three specialists. All advised a CT scan.
During all this Clem has developed dental issues due to mouth breathing and being unable to eat hay etc
Yesterday Clem went to great Western referrals to see Neil Forbes as we wanted him to have the very best. He had a CT scan and endoscopy and although we don't have the results of the CT scan yet we have a diagnosis.
Clem has a congenital deformity to his soft pallet and there is a hole between his larynx and windpipe
This explains everything. The sudden lung infection was aspiration pneumonia from food getting into his windpipe. When he drinks water is getting in, when he sleeps saliva is getting in It also explains the lack of nasal dischargeSo all things being equal with the scan he needs a highly complex operation to try to fix it. It's not something even the specialist has huge experience of doing and the post operative risks are huge. Potentially his windpipe could swell from the surgery and suffocate him
But if it goes well he will be a normal rabbit again. The other option is pts but when you see him binkying about that really isn't an option .
So now we are waiting on the CT results to make sure nothing else has shown up then we discuss the op in more detail. ( and find out the cost!)
I don't know if this is anything anyone has ever experienced before or may experience in the future but thought it was worth sharing.
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