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Arthritis in the vertebrae of the back...

yaretzi

yaretzi

Wise Old Thumper
I adopted Winston about 4 months ago as a boyfriend for Tapla, after losing Nena to a long term battle with a dental abscess.

I noticed after about 3 weeks of having him that he is a bit wobbly - sometimes struggles to jump very high, or land where he wants, and the same when jumping down. He got stasis a few weeks ago where he stayed in overnight, and then came home and I got him eating well again after about 4 days on metacam and syringe feeds but he did not get to 100%.

I took him back to the vets yesterday and he's had X-rays and bloods done today. The bloods I am still waiting on the results from but the X-rays showed that he has arthritis of around 3-4 vertebrae in the back :cry:

I've got no experience of arthritis in animals (or myself!). They live in a shed attached to a run via a runaround tube which he struggles to manage. I would never have homed a rabbit with arthritis outside but I cannot bring them indoors - I live with my parents and it is absolutely not possible under any circumstances.

He's only 4 and he's looking at a fairly limited lifespan - he's already been unable to get into his litter tray in the last few days and has not been able to clean his back end either.

He's been on 0.8ml metacam twice a day since the stasis and we're now upping that to 1.2ml twice a day for about 7-10 days where I'll check in with the vet, and we'll find the right dose. There are other painkillers as well but it's all about managing his symptoms really. Keeping him warm is important which is upsetting as he's in a shed but I do have snugglesafes that I use and I'll look into getting a cosy bed that they won't wee on.

I'd be really interested to know how others have managed symptoms of spinal arthritis in terms of medication/treatments and also changes to their setup.
 
I'm so sorry to read this :cry: could you try a low sided litter tray for him, I've seen people use these for buns with limited mobility http://www.garden4less.co.uk/g48-ga...BHRIUX3_4Fc3FQmUhbeylB4fPgDTaZ81arBoCC1Xw_wcB
I haven't any experience of a bun with arthritis, but I have just bought this heat lamp for the goat shed for my newborn kids https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0...SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=titan+infrared+lamp

The shed is insulated and lined, the lamp is hung from the ceiling and is lovely and warm eveN when it's freezing outside :thumb:
 
I had an outdoor arthritic bunny who did reasonably well. He was on meloxicam twice daily and gabapentin three times daily. I also had trans-mucosal buprenorphine if I felt he needed something extra.

Housing wise, I kept everything to one level and a low sided litter tray. Also thick bedding and heatpads!
 
I can't offer more than what has already been offered really.
Sending vibes.

Zoobecs suggestion of lower tray & heat lamp is a good idea. It may also be worth looking into the thing where they put needles into the skin in select locations.... (I'm sorry.. mind gone blank - if I think of the proper name I will come back and update [emoji38])

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone, it's been really useful. I've been thinking on the way to the vets and back too and have a few more ideas.

The low sided litter tray looks like it'll definitely be helpful for him at some point but hopefully he can manage his current one for now even if I need to put a little step on the one side. The heat lamp is really interesting and I'll have a look into it... not sure how I'd get the power from the house to the shed and how expensive waterproof plugs etc would be but I'll investigate! Their shed is 6 x 4 ft and it's fulled insulated so luckily it's always a couple of degrees warmer than outside in winter (obviously summer isn't an issue for warmth!)... I wonder how much it'd heat the shed up by?

It's good to hear your bunny did okay outside HMacU2. I've heard of gabapentin but never used it before, but it's good to know another painkiller to add to the list! I'll research the transmucosal buprenorphine too as that sounds like it could come in handy at some point. Luckily my vet is really good but it's always good to have heard of these things before they mention them! I've moved their 2 high things out their shed for now so that Winston can benefit from the whole space as he cannot manage the runaround tube to get outside at the moment, and also so that it forces Tapla to snuggle up to him rather than being aloof and sleeping on top of things :roll: I've been looking into stable matting for a while so I think I'm going to get a 6 x 4 ft piece to lay in the shed on top of their lino as I'm sure that extra softness will help.

Thanks daphnephoebe, acupuncture might come in handy at some point too. I know my vets do do it so I'll speak to the vet when I take Winston back in a week or so, and see what he thinks going forward. He may not really benefit now but I'm sure at some point he will.

I'll have to invest in some beds for them too and hope not too many of them get weed on or ripped to shreds :roll:

Winston is still a bit sleepy and a bit wobbly but I've given him a snugglesafe underneath his bed, and he's eaten a few treats. I'll leave him to rest until this evening. I've left a big bowl of readigrass so I'm sure he'll get his face into that as soon as he perks up.

I'm pretty gutted. I know what it's like to be in chronic pain and a few people I know have arthritis, and I'm really sad that I can't just bring him indoors and keep him toasty warm.
 
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daphnephoebe said:
I can't offer more than what has already been offered really.
Sending vibes.

Zoobecs suggestion of lower tray & heat lamp is a good idea. It may also be worth looking into the thing where they put needles into the skin in select locations.... (I'm sorry.. mind gone blank - if I think of the proper name I will come back and update [emoji38])

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Acupuncture? My vet says it can work wonders in bunnies ...
 
yaretzi said:
Thanks for all the advice everyone, it's been really useful. I've been thinking on the way to the vets and back too and have a few more ideas.

The low sided litter tray looks like it'll definitely be helpful for him at some point but hopefully he can manage his current one for now even if I need to put a little step on the one side. The heat lamp is really interesting and I'll have a look into it... not sure how I'd get the power from the house to the shed and how expensive waterproof plugs etc would be but I'll investigate! Their shed is 6 x 4 ft and it's fulled insulated so luckily it's always a couple of degrees warmer than outside in winter (obviously summer isn't an issue for warmth!)... I wonder how much it'd heat the shed up by?

It's good to hear your bunny did okay outside HMacU2. I've heard of gabapentin but never used it before, but it's good to know another painkiller to add to the list! I'll research the transmucosal buprenorphine too as that sounds like it could come in handy at some point. Luckily my vet is really good but it's always good to have heard of these things before they mention them! I've moved their 2 high things out their shed for now so that Winston can benefit from the whole space as he cannot manage the runaround tube to get outside at the moment, and also so that it forces Tapla to snuggle up to him rather than being aloof and sleeping on top of things :roll: I've been looking into stable matting for a while so I think I'm going to get a 6 x 4 ft piece to lay in the shed on top of their lino as I'm sure that extra softness will help.

Thanks daphnephoebe, acupuncture might come in handy at some point too. I know my vets do do it so I'll speak to the vet when I take Winston back in a week or so, and see what he thinks going forward. He may not really benefit now but I'm sure at some point he will.

I'll have to invest in some beds for them too and hope not too many of them get weed on or ripped to shreds :roll:

Winston is still a bit sleepy and a bit wobbly but I've given him a snugglesafe underneath his bed, and he's eaten a few treats. I'll leave him to rest until this evening. I've left a big bowl of readigrass so I'm sure he'll get his face into that as soon as he perks up.

I'm pretty gutted. I know what it's like to be in chronic pain and a few people I know have arthritis, and I'm really sad that I can't just bring him indoors and keep him toasty warm.
Click to expand...


It must be very sad to think of him out there, especially if you've no electricity to your shed. For me, that was the best thing, as I could then put in a 24/7 heated bed which my bunnies all seem to love (indoors or outdoors).

It's going to be a challenge for you, I expect, and not what you signed up for. You've had your fair share of difficult cases, but I know you'll rise to this one and Winston will thank his lucky stars he landed on his feet with someone as kind and caring as you x
 
Well the vet called back with the results of his bloods - Winston is anaemic and has a high white blood cell count. The anaemia is probably from the arthritis and I've got to go and collect some antibiotics (baytril - yum... not!) tomorrow to give a 7 day course of that to begin with.

My poor little poppet.
 
My old bunny had severe athritis in her lower spine. We managed it with daily metacam, occasional acupuncture and she absolutely LOVED her electric heatpad. She lived in a shed/run as she hated being indoors and my husband ran power to the shed for me so I could install the heatpad. Mine was a flexiguard aluminium heatpad from Petnap and I'd highly recommend them. It had a nice fleecy cover and I also used to cover it with a disposable puppy wee pad in case of any accidents (although she never peed on it). I would say the main thing that helped was heat and metacam. Honestly, she sat on the heatpad 24/7.

Near the end (she was ten and a half), I covered the whole shed and run in a thick substrate (Aubiose) and covered it all with hay as she couldn't even manage a low sided litter tray so I just turned the whole setup into one large litter tray! I even slept in the shed with her the night before I had to have her PTS as she was just falling over constantly and couldn't get herself righted again. Her bonded partner, Benji, took it all in his stride!
 
Mackers said:
My old bunny had severe athritis in her lower spine. We managed it with daily metacam, occasional acupuncture and she absolutely LOVED her electric heatpad. She lived in a shed/run as she hated being indoors and my husband ran power to the shed for me so I could install the heatpad. Mine was a flexiguard aluminium heatpad from Petnap and I'd highly recommend them. It had a nice fleecy cover and I also used to cover it with a disposable puppy wee pad in case of any accidents (although she never peed on it). I would say the main thing that helped was heat and metacam. Honestly, she sat on the heatpad 24/7.

Near the end (she was ten and a half), I covered the whole shed and run in a thick substrate (Aubiose) and covered it all with hay as she couldn't even manage a low sided litter tray so I just turned the whole setup into one large litter tray! I even slept in the shed with her the night before I had to have her PTS as she was just falling over constantly and couldn't get herself righted again. Her bonded partner, Benji, took it all in his stride!
Click to expand...

Wow, that heatpad looks amazing. I wonder how feasible and expensive and messy it is to get power out to the shed. It's only about 10 or 12ft from the dining room wall, I wonder if it's possible to get an electrician to drill through the wall and wire up a socket to the shed from a socket in the dining room. I've heard mixed ideas about whether that's possible or not but I've not really looked into it! Also I remember reading that if you have an existing electrical socket outdoors you can use that to wire off from which might be cheaper. We've got an external on/off switch in a waterproof box to turn our fountain on and off. If I could just run a waterproof extension cable through the wall into a socket and then put that in the shed that would be perfect but I doubt it's possible!

Anyway both bunnies are inside in our utility room tonight, as it's -3 and much too cold for him to go out tonight after his anaesthetic. They are quite enjoying it :lol:
 
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I have two bunnies who are definitely getting more creaky and arthritic by the day. One is Mimzy, my holland lop, who is formerly tilted and has had EOA since he was three years old. He has been on increasing amounts of metacam since that age and has tolerated it well. He is now very bent and has gimpy rear legs. He's also had the odd dose of gabapentin that seemed to help with his nerve pain somewhat, he just doesn't like taking it.

Fiver is a minirex and has poor hocks and a bent spine, he doesn't properly support his weight (although I think he is quite thin for his size) and besides keeping both these boys as warm as possible I have added a small plush mattress for his comfort that he seems to enjoy immensely. There are also those self heating crate pads that I use but having chewers I don't leave them with them alone for long for fear of only finding a few pieces when I next look at them. :?

All my bunnies have been on nearly lifelong metacam and they are all fairly well in themselves barring age related difficulties. They are all around 10 years old now.

I hope Winston's issues can be easily solved, bless him. xxxx
 
yaretzi said:
Wow, that heatpad looks amazing. I wonder how feasible and expensive and messy it is to get power out to the shed. It's only about 10 or 12ft from the dining room wall, I wonder if it's possible to get an electrician to drill through the wall and wire up a socket to the shed from a socket in the dining room. I've heard mixed ideas about whether that's possible or not but I've not really looked into it! Also I remember reading that if you have an existing electrical socket outdoors you can use that to wire off from which might be cheaper. We've got an external on/off switch in a waterproof box to turn our fountain on and off. If I could just run a waterproof extension cable through the wall into a socket and then put that in the shed that would be perfect but I doubt it's possible!

Anyway both bunnies are inside in our utility room tonight, as it's -3 and much too cold for him to go out tonight after his anaesthetic. They are quite enjoying it :lol:
Click to expand...

My husband bought a reel of armoured cable, put a plug on one end, drilled a hole through the garage wall and ran the armoured cable from a plug socket in the garage to a newly installed socket in the shed. We then installed both a tubular greenhouse heater and the electric heatpad in the shed (as well as an electric light for the winter). You do need to protect the cable outside so it's either got to be armoured cable or regular cable run through conduit to stop you accidentally putting a spade through it. When we had our garage converted, we had the electrician put a proper outside socket in so it's now a little less 'Heath Robinson' as my husband is a very competent engineer and DIYer, but he's not a qualified electrician! It all worked though, and was safe since the garage electrics went through a circuit breaker.

If you already have an outside socket, you could easily run a cable from that to the shed - just make sure the cable is protected.
 
Thanks both for all your help and advice, it's really good to hear about Mimzy and Fiver and it's really interesting to know about getting electricity to the shed too. Definitely going to look into that!

Poor Winnie still hasn't been doing very well at all since my last post - he's still very much in pain, and barely moves off his bed/snugglesafe. Whenever we go out we find him on a bed flooded with wee... whether it's all his or whether Tapla is doing her usual pee-fest on anything soft I'm not sure but it's not right for him to be sitting in it. He is eating well though and his poops are pretty close to normal which I am so thankful for. I emailed the vet earlier and collected some tramadol along with the baytril tonight, and I gave him a dose of tramadol, metacam and baytril about 30 mins ago so I'll see how he is in a couple of hours. It's breaking my heart, he's so tiny and gentle and yet is in so much pain. Poor little fluffball. If it is this bad already it doesn't feel like it bodes well and I won't let him suffer like this if this is how it is from now on.

Some photos:

t7TWlqV.jpg


zZtoSzA.jpg


jMiSzmo.jpg


e6rjAYE.jpg


(excuse his mucky face, chin, bum, legs etc... :roll:)
 
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I'm sure you could run a cable from your outside socket, then it would give you lots of options. The heat lamp really makes the shed feel warm, I've never checked how warm but it is lovely and toasty even with ice on the ground outside! It gives light (albeit red) and heat at the same time :thumb:
 
Poor baby :(. I see he's on vet bed, which is great for letting liquid seep through to the underside. And I know this sounds disgusting but if you have a heatpad underneath it, it dries any wee out quickly so they're less likely to be damp. Really hoping he perks up. Do try to find a vet who does acupuncture though - I found it helped Flora.
 
Mackers said:
Poor baby :(. I see he's on vet bed, which is great for letting liquid seep through to the underside. And I know this sounds disgusting but if you have a heatpad underneath it, it dries any wee out quickly so they're less likely to be damp. Really hoping he perks up. Do try to find a vet who does acupuncture though - I found it helped Flora.
Click to expand...


I agree, this is the case with my oldies too :)

It's been said on here that 24/7 heat pads are unsafe for rabbits, but mine have used them for a couple of years (on constantly) without issue. My vet recommends them and also uses them in her surgery for recovery :thumb:
 
yaretzi said:
Thanks both for all your help and advice, it's really good to hear about Mimzy and Fiver and it's really interesting to know about getting electricity to the shed too. Definitely going to look into that!

Poor Winnie still hasn't been doing very well at all since my last post - he's still very much in pain, and barely moves off his bed/snugglesafe. Whenever we go out we find him on a bed flooded with wee... whether it's all his or whether Tapla is doing her usual pee-fest on anything soft I'm not sure but it's not right for him to be sitting in it. He is eating well though and his poops are pretty close to normal which I am so thankful for. I emailed the vet earlier and collected some tramadol along with the baytril tonight, and I gave him a dose of tramadol, metacam and baytril about 30 mins ago so I'll see how he is in a couple of hours. It's breaking my heart, he's so tiny and gentle and yet is in so much pain. Poor little fluffball. If it is this bad already it doesn't feel like it bodes well and I won't let him suffer like this if this is how it is from now on.

Some photos:

t7TWlqV.jpg


zZtoSzA.jpg


jMiSzmo.jpg


e6rjAYE.jpg


(excuse his mucky face, chin, bum, legs etc... :roll:)
Click to expand...

Poor lad :cry: He may feel more able to move about if you could put some non-slip mats onto the tiled floor. They would offer more traction as he hops and this should help him get about.
 
Poor little guy :( He reminds me of my old rabbit Izzy in appearance. I wanted to wish you good luck with keeping his pain managed - hopefully with the right dosages of meds on top of figuring out a way to keep him toasty and dry there'll be a lot of improvement!
 
Jack's-Jane said:
Poor lad :cry: He may feel more able to move about if you could put some non-slip mats onto the tiled floor. They would offer more traction as he hops and this should help him get about.
Click to expand...

:thumb: good thinking Jane. Even healthy and fit pets can struggle on a tiled or wooden floor. I know most people will hate it but I have always had carpet tiles on the floor in my kitchen purely so my dogs don't slip and slide all over the place. Youngsters go mad playing and running and end up hurting themselves and the old'uns can't get any traction and struggle to get their feet under them when getting up. I don't eat off the floor and I regularly shampoo my carpet so I really don't have a problem with it. And even if I did, the welfare of my dogs would still come first so I'd still have carpet.
 
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