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Urgent Help requested for my sick bunny

JoanneG

New Kit
:cry: Hi, My dearly loved Rabbit (Monty) has recently got very ill. After many trips to the vet, they have recommended he be put to sleep. I want to see if any one can suggest a rabbit specialist in the UK I could take him to as a last resort.

He has developed paralysis on the left side of his face and mouth, this has effected his eating and drinking - meaning we have to hand feed special food. It looks like this is being caused by a tumour.

Any urgent suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Joanne
 
Hi Joanne,

So sorry to hear that monty is poorly :cry:

Luckily for me i have not had to contend with a sick bunny, so I am unable to off any advice. But I know that loads of people on the forum will be able to help.

Are you a member of the Rabbit Welfare Association? If so they have a list of really good bunny vets and you will be able to find one close to you through that.

Good luck
 
Poor Monty and poor you!! What area do you live in? Why hasn't the vet taken the tumour out? Has he had xrays? Is he on painkillers? How long has he been like this? Did he have a stroke? Sorry about all the questions :oops: but it would help us give more appropriate advice :D
 
:cry: Oh Joanne - so sorry to hear this.

Just to Echo some of the thoughts on here really - is your Bunny is pain - have your Vets given any pain killers to help through - there are many specialist Veterinary Centres but time is really important as bunnies health can go down hill really quickly. If you look under the Thread of Vacinations on here there are a few good veterinary centres mentioned - tell us where you are if your struggling and it may be that someone on here will now of a specialist within your area - if your bunny is not in pain it may be well worth a second opinion.

Bunny hugs to you and your poorly one!
 
I am so sorry to hear about Monty being so ill - are the vets only suggesting a tumour? I would have thought that x-rays etc would have been the norm first. He could well have had a stroke or the tumour may be an abscess.
Monty needs to have painkiller and some recovery to make sure that he keeps his weight on. How is he in himself? Is he alert and active? Is he aware of everything that is going on around him?
Loads of questions I know but these things do help with suggestions that we may have to offer.
Kiss to a brave boy Monty :love:
 
Poor Little Monty

Thanks for all of your responses, they are greatly appreciated!

We live near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

He has not been himself for a couple of months, which is when we first took him to the vets. However, he has gone down hill very quickly over the last couple of weeks. He has been on painkillers for the last couple of weeks, but is no longer able to eat by himself.

He has not had an xray, the vet did mention about a MRI scan but said that would stress him out too much and that if it was a tumour on the brain then the risks were too high to operate.

We feel that we have got a far as we can with the normal vet and now require more speecialist help...

Any ideas to help me and little Monty would be great!
 
Hi Joanne

Oh the is such a sad case as I know your never sure which is the best route!

Have you tried talking to your vets and explaining that you'd like to consider a specialist and is there anyone in your area you could talk to?

Failing this - I know Jules mentioned it in an earlier response but are you a RWF member - perhaps you could give their helpline a call to see if they know of anyone close to you.
You could also try searching on the Internet for "Rabbit Vets" and see if there are any in counties near to you.

Hope this helps - keep us posted re how your bunster is doing.
 
hi,
im sorry to hear about ur loss and hope u find a specilist soon
u sed he anit eating by himself but is he eating solids if not is can be a big prob as i have jusr recenly experienced. rabbits teth contiuesly grow and need to contenly chew to keep them down and if he isnt chewing the teth will kepp growing causing more pain and another prob as i have no that was ill had didnt eat for ages and lost weght so i was syringe feeding him and when he did decige to eat is couldt eat very well and didnt have the engegy to fight no longer and was best for him to be pts. another prob with rabbits once they start to go down hill they dont semm to want to fight no longer as from experence other people and my self have had also a vet told me this and the dont seem to want to fight no more, also if it was to have a op it would be very weak bunny and might not survive i know a ill bunny once that was 9 and went for a op and survived it but died a few days l8er
but i hope all the best for u
becky
 
I have a rabbit that has one side of his face paralysed - due to an injury where the main facial nerve for that side was damaged. Luckily he does not have any adverse effects other than dry eye which is easily treatable with artificial teardrops.

What I would like to say to you is, don't give up just yet. When I first noticed that there was something wrong with my bunny, I got my vets to do all the tests under the sun (x-ray, biopsy, blood etc.). When they still couldn't come up with an answer, because all the tests came back clear, I sought a second opinion - which didn't get me an answer either. Then I asked my vets to refer me to a specialist which they did. The first specialist (a dental one), could not help either and refered us to an exotic animal specialist... bingo. Martin Lawton found out what the problem was and put my mind at rest.

If you find that your vet is not co-operative, find another vet for a second opinion from a more rabbit savy vet. As long as you feel that your bunny is fighting and has a decent quality of life, there is no reason to give up just yet.

If your vets don't know any rabbit specialists, contact the Rabbit Welfare Assocation.

Vera
 
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