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Heart Problems in a Bunny -- U?Date

T

tonibun

Wise Old Thumper
Took Saffron to the Vets today as she was breathing fast and I thought she must be in pain. After examining her the Vet thought it could be her heart so she gave her an injetion of Fusi..... and said if I noticed an improvement in her breathing shortly after, thisa would be a good indication of it being a heart problem and she can go onto tablets. Also I can have her x-rayed to see if anything shows up so I will be doing that tomorrow. Saffron is 5 and spayed. Has anyone else had this problem? :)
 
Last edited:
tonibun said:
Took Saffron to the Vets today as she was breathing fast and I thought she must be in pain. After examining her the Vet thought it could be her heart so she gave her an injetion of Fusi..... and said if I noticed an improvement in her breathing shortly after, thisa would be a good indication of it being a heart problem and she can go onto tablets. Also I can have her x-rayed to see if anything shows up so I will be doing that tomorrow. Saffron is 5 and spayed. Has anyone else had this problem? :)
Click to expand...

I am sorry to hear this.

I have had a few Rabbits diagnosed with heart disease over the years. To obtain an accurate diagnosis as to the precise nature of the problem other diagnostics are needed aswell as a chest Xray. These usually include blood tests, an ultrasound of the heart and an ECG. A chest Xray may show if the heart is enlarged, but not why. Hence the need for more tests to then establish the most appropriate way to treat the condition.

These may be useful to read

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Cardiology/Failure/congestive.htm

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/CardiomyopathyRabbit.htm

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/CongestiveHeartFailureRabbit.htm

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/Kidney_calcificationRabbit.htm
 
Gordon was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, following a chest X-ray and heart ultrasound. He was on furosemide and enalapril, initially injections and then tablets. It took a few months to get this diagnosis as we thought we was dealing with an URI so he was on antibiotic injections for months until a chest X ray was done. Gordon was a very stressy rabbit, and he couldn't deal with the regular vet trips so was in a bad way when we started the medication and they did improve his condition but even just handling him for his medication daily made his condition worse and as we couldn't reverse what was already done I made the decision to have him pts for various reasons.

But with medication your bunny should hopefully do well, Gordon had other issues so I don't want to scare you with a bad ending. I was told of many bunnies that did well on medication.
 
tonibun said:
Took Saffron to the Vets today as she was breathing fast and I thought she must be in pain. After examining her the Vet thought it could be her heart so she gave her an injetion of Fusi..... and said if I noticed an improvement in her breathing shortly after, thisa would be a good indication of it being a heart problem and she can go onto tablets. Also I can have her x-rayed to see if anything shows up so I will be doing that tomorrow. Saffron is 5 and spayed. Has anyone else had this problem? :)
Click to expand...

Yes I have had rabbits with heart issues.

As Liz has said, an X-ray and heart ultrasound (echocardiogram) are used to determine the extent of heart problems.

Did she improve after the injection of furosemide?

Very often vets use Fortekor to help with heart problems and it can work very well. It's an ACE inhibitor and is used in humans too.

Good luck for the diagnostics tomorrow, Tonibun x
 
Saffron was almost her normal self yesterday evening after the injection and still is so much better this morning so we are going down the tablets (or liquid form if the Vet can get it) route for a while because the Vet is a little concerned about the anaesthetic re her breathing, so for now the tablets are the way to go. I thought at first she must have a URI so was giving her Baytril and Metacam without any improvement. I will keep in mind Fortekor as an alternative. I think if she was much worse then we wouldn't have seen such an improvement after the one in jection (right ?)
 
tonibun said:
Saffron was almost her normal self yesterday evening after the injection and still is so much better this morning so we are going down the tablets (or liquid form if the Vet can get it) route for a while because the Vet is a little concerned about the anaesthetic re her breathing, so for now the tablets are the way to go. I thought at first she must have a URI so was giving her Baytril and Metacam without any improvement. I will keep in mind Fortekor as an alternative. I think if she was much worse then we wouldn't have seen such an improvement after the one in jection (right ?)
Click to expand...

Getting the right dose of furosemide will take a great deal of strain off the heart. If it were me though (and it has been in the past) I would want her on an ACE inhibitor as it really does reduce the stress load on the heart. It's been shown to prolong good quality of life. It's tablets too :D
 
Sadly I have just found Saffron has died in the night. She was ok yesterday. Bit of a shock! Oh dear!
 
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