Nathan - very sad rescue case who came in today

Nathan is a rabbit of about a year old.

He is a little dwarf rabbit of about a year old who was rescued by the neighbour of his original owner. He belonged to an old man who was sent into a nursing home and the rabbit was left running round a garage with no food or water.

A lady agreed to take him in when she heard of his plight, but when he arrived she noticed that things were not right at all. His face looked squashed in and he was not able to eat easily.

She had her veterinary nurse friend come round who noticed straight away that his jaw was very out of line. She clipped his teeth because they were growing at a very odd angle and recommended that the rabbit see a vet straight away. This was not an option because of finances, so the lady bought him here.

I have never seen a rabbit with such an out of line jaw. The top teeth are pointing towards his left foot and his bottom teeth are pointing towards his right eye. The vet nurse has done a good job clipping his teeth because he can now scoop rabbit pellets into his mouth and he is quite happy doing that. He can't drink out of a bottle, but can lap from a bowl.

His cheek is very damaged, but not externally. There is a nasty big lump that looks like an abscess. I know that if it is a abscess in the jaw then there is no hope. He is obviously in pain. You can see it when you watch him and the way he acts. But, being a typical rabbit, he is trying to cover it up.

It has been suggested that he has a broken jaw and judging by the way his mouth is I have to agree. Whether his jaw has been broken in the past and just left to heal or whether it has been done recently is unclear at the moment, but it is such a sever break (if it is broken) that it could only be caused by a major blow, such as being kicked or maybe dropped on his face. I am just speculating at the moment.

He is booked in tomorrow to see the dentist who will xray him and decide what to do from there.
If he can be saved his front teeth will definately have to be removed, but I am not confident that I will see him again after tomorrow morning.

Why can't people take responsibility for the animals that they take on? Will people never learn? How do they sleep at night???

Emma

OMG :shock:

people unfortunetly never fail to amaze me, that is why i like this site so much to hear about how much people love their bunnies and other animals.

Sue
xx

Poor Nathan . What sick people to leave him in that state...and to think they may have also inflicted it on him... :twisted: :twisted:

I hope things go well at the vets xx

poor bunny. I really hope he gets a second chance

Janex

I am trying to stay positive at the moment.

Nathan is now at the vets having an xray done. If they can fix it they will. His front teeth will definately be removed today if they can save him so that it makes it easy for him to eat.

The vet is not that optimistic.

Emma

Sending lots of positive vibes.

Louise xx

Good news for Nathan.

The vet has discovered that he does not have a broken jaw. He thinks that as a tiny baby he has suffered some form of severe trauma. Although the jaw has no fracture it is very deformed due to whatever happened to him as a youngster. The knock (however it was caused) has changed the way his bone structure should grow and this is why he has an angled face.

For today his teeth were clipped right back so that I can observe how he eats over the next week and that he can cope. He was too stressed today to operate on him, plus he has been to the toilet since arrival so we have to wait for him to settle and make sure that he is ok for anaesthetic. He has been booked in for next Monday to have his incisors taken out and be castrated at the same time.

The thing that surprised the vet the most was that his back teeth are not spurred at all. They are a bit long, which he is going to file down next week.

The lump in his cheek is not an abscess. It is just the shape of his face, but because his face is growing at such a strange angle, it makes his eye close slightly. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder though and once he is sorted we will be looking to home him as a house rabbit with a girlfriend where he can have a lovely and spoilt existance.

Emma

My fingers are all crossed for this little guy. Hope he finds his forever home very soon.
All the best
Carol x

Yay! I'm glad he has a chance.

Good news, fingers crossed it all works out for Nathan

awwww fingers crossed for this little man sounds promising so far

Some pics of Nathan taken tonight...


This is his lop-sided view. Because of the way his bone structure is growing, it looks like he is always squinting in this eye.


And a full face shot. You can see here how is mouth is growing to one side.

Emma

Aww bless him. He is a cutie xxx

Awww, so glad to see he has been blessed with a second chance in life, he is gorgeous!

awww poor bunny

hope he finds someone to spoil him rotten

Awww, poor little man, he's really cute! I so hope he gets a nice home and girlfriend where he can be spoilt rotten, he deserves it, bless him.

aaawww poor bun
never thought i see a bunny with the same name as me :lol:

Aww poor bun. Im glad hes in safe hands now x

Emma he's gorgeous! I do love the funny-looking ones.

He's a lucky boy to have made it to you where he can have a better quality of life!