Vibes for Sparky

lauraj27 said:

So as some of you may know, Sparky had a seizure earlier this year and developed head tilt. With a lot of TLC we got him through it. He is still a bit wobbly on one side when he tries to move too quickly but all in all he made a good recovery.

Tonight however, he has decided he doesn't want anything to eat. It looks as though he is trying to go to the bathroom and pass something through but is struggling. He is moulting at the moment so it could be he's just having trouble pushing that through.

He has had a dose of metacam and gut motility agent but I would really appreciate some vibes, especially as this time last year (15th August) we lost Evie and on 17 August 2009 we lost Flopsy so my mind is in overdrive!

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lauraj27 said:

So as some of you may know, Sparky had a seizure earlier this year and developed head tilt. With a lot of TLC we got him through it. He is still a bit wobbly on one side when he tries to move too quickly but all in all he made a good recovery.

Tonight however, he has decided he doesn't want anything to eat. It looks as though he is trying to go to the bathroom and pass something through but is struggling. He is moulting at the moment so it could be he's just having trouble pushing that through.

He has had a dose of metacam and gut motility agent but I would really appreciate some vibes, especially as this time last year (15th August) we lost Evie and on 17 August 2009 we lost Flopsy so my mind is in overdrive!

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lauraj27 said:

Thank you Mighty Max.

Just to say that Sparky has now eaten some kale, hay and had his head in his food bowl.

I go from zero to panic in 0.0001 seconds especially around this time of year and given his history! He is 8 years old bless him but I am nowhere near ready for the inevitable!!

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lauraj27 said:

Thank you for all of the vibes

By 11pm when we went to bed last night he had eaten all of his nuggets, lots of hay and a few bits of kale we had given him. He had also passed droppings, some were quite large and oval shaped, with a bit of what I assume was fur sticking out the ends.

Every time I gave another handful of hay he was dancing about, standing up and getting very excited as well as munching it straight down.

He's always been a bit of stasis prone / gassy bunny even though his diet is pretty much just hay with the occasional veg and a few nuggets. Thankfully we have a cupboard full of bunny medicine!

Jack's Jane I didn't think about bladder sludge/cystitis. His bum is clean and dry and his wee is normal colour, no chalkiness or blood in it. Are there any other signs / symptoms I should watch out for just in case?

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lauraj27 said:

Thank you for all of the vibes

By 11pm when we went to bed last night he had eaten all of his nuggets, lots of hay and a few bits of kale we had given him. He had also passed droppings, some were quite large and oval shaped, with a bit of what I assume was fur sticking out the ends.

Every time I gave another handful of hay he was dancing about, standing up and getting very excited as well as munching it straight down.

He's always been a bit of stasis prone / gassy bunny even though his diet is pretty much just hay with the occasional veg and a few nuggets. Thankfully we have a cupboard full of bunny medicine!

Jack's Jane I didn't think about bladder sludge/cystitis. His bum is clean and dry and his wee is normal colour, no chalkiness or blood in it. Are there any other signs / symptoms I should watch out for just in case?

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lauraj27 said:

Thanks for the info Jack's Jane, we will keep a close eye on him to make sure he is ok. We had a guinea pig that developed bladder sludge/bladder stones and she had a wet bum and back, was straining and making horrific noises when she went for a wee. Her wee also became very discoloured. I know that they are different from rabbits but that's the only experience I have with bladder problems!

He seems to be doing well. He was eating hay when I got in from work and seems much happier in himself. I did spot a couple of string of pearls in his litter tray so I am hoping that it was just his moult. Harley did exactly the same thing earlier in the year. None of my bunnies seem to moult at the same time, even Harley and Sparky who are both indoor bunnies!

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lauraj27 said:

Thanks for the info Jack's Jane, we will keep a close eye on him to make sure he is ok. We had a guinea pig that developed bladder sludge/bladder stones and she had a wet bum and back, was straining and making horrific noises when she went for a wee. Her wee also became very discoloured. I know that they are different from rabbits but that's the only experience I have with bladder problems!

He seems to be doing well. He was eating hay when I got in from work and seems much happier in himself. I did spot a couple of string of pearls in his litter tray so I am hoping that it was just his moult. Harley did exactly the same thing earlier in the year. None of my bunnies seem to moult at the same time, even Harley and Sparky who are both indoor bunnies!

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Jack's-Jane said:

The string or pearls poo was probably what caused the pain episode. If you do not already do so it would help to groom him daily to try to reduce the amount of fur he ingests. It is thought that fur in the GI tract only becomes a problem if the GI tract is already a bit sluggish. You seem to be feeding him lots of hay which is great for gut motility. Encouraging a good water intake and lots of exercise will help too.

Glad he is feeling better now xx

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lauraj27 said:

We do fuss and stroke him every day as he is part rex he has very fine fur. We have tried different brushes but he does not like them at all. Exercise for him has been a bit difficult as he is still a bit weak and wobbly on one side following his head tilt so he is a bit more cautious and not as fast on his feet as he used to be. We give him filtered water both in a bottle and bowl; initially when he had head tilt we had to take the bowl away as we were worried he would put his head in it and potentially drown, but he now has both back but he definitely prefers the bowl.

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lauraj27 said:

We do fuss and stroke him every day as he is part rex he has very fine fur. We have tried different brushes but he does not like them at all. Exercise for him has been a bit difficult as he is still a bit weak and wobbly on one side following his head tilt so he is a bit more cautious and not as fast on his feet as he used to be. We give him filtered water both in a bottle and bowl; initially when he had head tilt we had to take the bowl away as we were worried he would put his head in it and potentially drown, but he now has both back but he definitely prefers the bowl.

Click to expand...