vets

Am I the only person who read Sweetie's thread last week with a sinking heart because she trusted a vet who declared an obviously sick rabbit to be 'healthy' and 'fussy'?
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=7682
I couldn't even bring myself to comment as I thought her vet was wrong but didn't dare criticise.

Now poor Elvis has died - in great pain as the vet didn't even administer a painkiller to him - and Sweetie is heartbroken - what can be done about vets like this? She said Elvis' teeth weren't perfect, but the vets did nothing about it - I just don't see how this is a vet that is 'good with rabbits' - or am I expecting miracles?

I'm really nervous about taking my rabbits to the vets as there are so many vets out there who don't seem up on rabbit health - I don't have a choice about vets as I have no car so have to go to one in the next town by bus - I just have to hope they know about rabbits - It shouldn't be like this! What can be done to educate vets about rabbits?

Hi Elve,

I am heart broken and still blame myself for what happened to Elvis as I keep thinking I shouldve done more when I took him to the vets. Up until this week, my vets had been brilliant. Elvis was neutered there and he was back to his cheeky little self within a few days. Apart from this week I never really had any cause to take him to the vets as he was very healthy.

I keep thinking that I shouldve demanded they treat his teeth as this may have helped him eat but the vet said that his teeth, although not perfect, werent the problem and he didnt know what was.

He also said that with rabbits they can go downhill very quickly and often there is nothing we can do.

I saw two different vets this week, one on monday and one on wednesday morning (as well as phonecalls to the emergancy vet inbetween). One gave a clean bill of health, the other diagnosed a bacterial infection.

Apart from Elvis not eating, I can understand why the vet gave him a clean bill of health physically on monday as he was still drinking, running around and was generally himself, no blockages, no ear trouble, claws, legs, feet, eyes......everything fine. The vet was baffled so gave him two injections to boost his appetite and science recovery and suggested baby food.

I am angry that nothing was diagnosed sooner that the day that he died. Im also angry that although the vet didnt sound hopeful she never said it could happen that quickly either. Im not saying i wanted to know if he was going to die so could prepare for it or anything like that but the way it happened was so inhumane and horrific to see that I dont think I will ever forget the way in which my little man passed away.

I want to know why he lost the use of his back legs, why he started to fit and why he couldnt breath. When I took him to be cremated yesterday, a post mortem was the last thing on my mind, i just wanted him safe and laid to rest after his painful last few hours. Now I dont think i`ll ever know what caused all this to happen.

I feel so guilty and I blame myself for Elvis` suffering as I shouldve insisted on a pain killer but now its too late.

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Perhaps he could have had kidney failure in which case there probably wasn't much you could have done for him. I don't know much about it in rabbits, but I had a cat die from from it once and he had fits and lost the use of his back legs before he died!


http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=18&cat=1803&articleid=3318

I was reading the posts and replying but i did think there was something sus about the vets diagnosis but it is not my place to say that a vet is wrong. I myself have had a bad vet and lost one of my rabbits because of him but people trust there vets with there animals.

I'm so sorry about Elvis, Sweetie. It was such a tragedy!
I too have lost a rabbit due to a bad vet who claimed "sometimes the rabbit just gives up". Well maybe, but mine had GI Stasis which could have been treated (I only know this now through researching myself).
The loss of back leg control could have been due to weakness. We had one in rescue, Minnie, who went downhill so fast that we only noticed she was ill because she didn't fight me for food like usual. She lost the use of her back legs and when she died she started screaming and gasping for breath. She passed about 20 minutes later. It was awful, but it has alerted me to watching the rabbits legs for any trouble. We don't even know what she died of. We suspect bloat and her gasping and screaming was because of pain.
We now have a great vet who is pretty good with the rabbits (the rescue uses him too) and he's always willing to give a bun a chance, no matter what. He understands that we'd rather treat than PTS. He also volunteers at a dog rescue too, so he's not one of those uncaring vets that is only in it for the money... I won't mention any names of those who do. :evil: Our good vet is AS Riley, Outram Street, Sutton in Ashfield, by the way, for anyone local who wants a decent vet.
Ask as many questions about rabbits that you can to find out if they do know about them... and don't be afraid to be pushy... if you think something is wrong, then there probably is!

I now know that I shouldve done more for Elvis, eg asked more questions, demanded pain relief for him etc

To prevent another bun going through what my poor little man did, can anyone recommend a good vet in the Bromsgrove area?

If I cant find a good vet within reasonable distance to where I live then i dont think its fair for me to have another bunny, just incase this or anything else happens again.

Thank you for all your views and your support through this terrible time.

I think we put our faith in the vets because they should know what they are doing but the vet we took our first rabbit Lochie to was not very well up on bunny's, we took Lochie to the vet the last night before he died and they didn't know what was up with him, they said they would have to look in the Exotic pet manual for advice.

I will always regret leaving him there as he passed away with neither his mum or dad with him, we thought the vet could do more for him than we could.

We took advice from where we adopted Jet from on the vets and the sanctuary advised us that most vets only have 2-3 weeks training on rabbits, they are an exotic pet.

They gave us the name of the vets they use which is a good half hour drive through the centre of Manchester and out the otherside for us, they deal in exotic pets.

Its just a shame we have to travel so far to find a vet we can trust with our little boy.

There are nearer vets to I am not sure to trust them. Although we have taken our gerbil and canary to one nearer to us and the vet seems quite knowledgeable.

To me its like a lottery and it depends on their training, which just isn't right.

the Jetty Clan.

hi

Don't blame yourself Sweetie - we all have to trust the professionals to do what's best - what else can we do? I wouldn't have been able to treat Pepsi myself...After he died (about 2 and a half weeks ago now) I found an article on the internet and wished I'd known about it before the vet treated him, so I could have asked about it - but it was too late then - It's only natural to think 'what if I'd done this?' etc.

With Elvis it could have been a whole host of possibilities - from a brain parasite, to poisoning, to injury of the spine, to liver failure and toxins from that - all of these produce fitting, paralysis of the legs and sudden death - He may even have had a genetic disability you were unaware of - I think you have just been very unlucky to lose him like this so suddenly, with no clear reason - so don't let it put you off giving another bunny or 2 a loving home in the future - I'm sure there are people here who can recommend a good vet in your area.

hi

I've never understood why the 'exotic pet' thing applies to rabbits though either - most families have a rabbit at some point - they must be as common as cats almost - why ever don't vets get thorough training with rabbit health?

I can only imagine it's because rabbits aren't traditionally valued alive - they've only ever been any use to mankind when dead, unlike cats and dogs. If I was a vet I'd realise by now there was a fortune to be made in keeping pet rabbits alive and healthy - they must be a bit dim :?

I think this is sooooo difficult but in the end I think you have to trust your own gut feelings - just like other loving bunny mums on here I learn't the hard way when we lost over lovely Dillon last year - he lost weight dramatically over the course of a week and the Vet I then had just sent me home with some SS Recovery and told me to just give him anything he wanted to encourage him to eat - we lost him 4 days later and I will always feel there was more I could have done for him.

Now I've changed my Vet to a Bunny Savy one and I never hesitate to ask for further investigation but it can sometimes be difficult to question your vets opinion but with gentle persistence it normally does the trick.

I think part of the problem is with general Vets that they are great with Cats/Dogs etc but unless they have a vast amount of experience with bunnies it can be hard to detect the problem - one reason why I so value the help of folks like Adele, Tracy, Jay, Lynda and sooooooooooo many other good folks on here that have first hand experience of nothing but bunnies.

I'm so sorry Sweetie and you must still feel so sad re your loss and praps your might feel better if you find a new Vet that you feel you can trust - they are out there Gal - just difficult to track em down and even more so to find one within reasonable distance!!

Thanks Lany.

Ive noticed you are in Bromsgrove too. Which Vet do you use? (if you dont mind me asking)

Please dont feel bad or blame yourself you did the right thing and the only thing you could do and that was take him to the vets. Bunny's can go down hill fast and I think reading this forum has proved that to us all.

Take care we are all thinking of you and all the bunny mums who have lost their buns of late

Elve,

You are absolutely right.

We were shocked bunnys were classed as an exotic pet.



The Jetty clan.

The trouble is with rabbits is that most vets just dont get enough experience with them, why im not sure but they dont they are treating mainly cats and dogs, if u know anyone that can recomend a good rabbit vet near u then its worth the travel. My current vet started of with only the basic on rabbits but got more interrested in learning more because i started using her for my rescue rabbits, and my own.the numbers of rabbits ment that she very quickly had almost every complaint a rabbit could have , thus building up her experience. Rabbits are very complex to treat and unless u have a good all round knowledge of them then they are hard to treat. Rabbits as u know are prey animals and have evolved to be cunning and hide the fact they are ill to avoid being picked off .Most owners do not realize there is a problem untill its too late .rabbits do go very quicly sometimes, sometimes showing no symptoms at all, so it can behard even for a vet to know whot is going on, they can only act on whot they see at the time.There are very few vets that specialize in rabbits, so its very hard to track down a rabbit savy vet. We as owners can only do our best. val

Hi Holly,
I use Acorn Vets in Studley, but they also have a branch in Alvechurch. They aren't rabbit specialists, but Stephanie, one of their vets, used to work with Jason who is Lizzie's rabbit savy vet from Glos. She has been great about trying penicillin injections etc for snuffles and abcesses, and seemed very clued up about head tilt etc. And my lot are giving her lots of practice :roll:

They are also doing free dental checks for any animal throughout August. One of the vets there is a dental specialist, not specificly rabbits though.

Sweetie said:

Thanks Lany.

Ive noticed you are in Bromsgrove too. Which Vet do you use? (if you dont mind me asking)

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Hiya Sweetie - I use Deborah Hope at the 608 Veterinary Practice - she is normally based at the Bentley Heath Surgery which is about 20 mins on the M42 for me and also in the town centre at Solihull which is about the same distance for me. There are other practices which are nearer to me but I know Deborah attends all the Rabbit Conferences and has a special interest in bunnies - if you need there full address and telephone numbers give me a shout :wink:

Hey ho Sweetie,

It took me ages to find a rabbit confident vet, and at least a year before I was brave enough to take on rabbit rescue thro' them, so good luck!!


Alice

Hi Sweetie,

I would say that you could do a lot worse than use Stephanie, Louise's vet, who used to work with "my" Jason - as has been said to me "what Jason doesn't know about rabbits isn't worth knowing" and he seems to have a gut instinct for their problems: he grew up with them all his life. He says that he ensures that every new young vet who comes into the practise, as Stephanie did, gets plenty of hands-on experience with rabbits and learns as much as they possibly can during their term. Also, Stephanie is very sweet and kind girl, which I think always helps on a vet visit, particularly if like me you get a bit nervous about it even if it is routine.

Sweetie, you did all you could for your bunny, please don't blame yourself.

As for vets who don't know enough about rabbits, well shame on them. Many people have rabbits and other small pets so it is up to the vets to make the effort to learn more about them!

I don't think they get much training with small pets ... BUT there are courses run for vets all the time to learn about rabbits and other so-called 'exotics', and its up to the vets to get themselves on these courses. The vet that spayed my bunnies had recently been on a course on rabbits and so was right up to date about spaying rabbits, and the kind of stitches to use to prevent them removing them etc.

Many vets qualify and then take no further training. This is very short sighted of them, because even with animals such as dogs and cats, new developments are happening all the time. I consider such vets lazy, and all they seem to want to do are 'easy' cases, such as vaccinations, and to rake in the money!

Sorry, I will stop ranting now!

Jane

Many vets qualify and then take no further training.

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Vets have to do a certain amount of CPD every year, so do continue to learn each year.

I think if you are unsure of your vets opinion or are not happy with the treatment your rabbit has received then you should speak to the vet concerned so you can express your concerns and they can also explain their actions. Often your worries and concerns can be put to rest easily if you let your vet explain.