Miffy's not well :-( U/D getting better!!

UPDATE - Miffy seems to be getting better!

Yesterday she was able to stick her feet out to the side and her breathing is almost normal now! The vet upped her dose of metacam to 2 drops a day with food rather than just 1, has added probiotics and something to break down the mucus (lovely!) too. It seems to be doing the trick!

I mentioned septrin to him and he said that if Miffy hasn't responded to Baytril after the course is finished then he'd try septrin, as that was their usual course of action. He was really nice about it!

Once her breathing is better he wants to x-ray her to see if there's any obvious cause for both her gunky eyes/nose and her sore legs.

Thanks for your continued support, guys!

AMETHYST



UPDATE - Miffy's breathing sounds bad. I called the vet and he has prescribed Baytril as well as her existing meds. Is there anything I can do to alleviate her breathing? She looks and sounds so miserable.

AMETHYST


Original post below.


Hi guys,

After Miffy's botty-wetting incident the other day, I've been keeping a really close eye on her. Today, her nose was runny and her eyes gunked up, and also she didn't seem to want to use her back left leg very much at all.

I took her to the vets, and the vet says she either has arthritis, or she had some sort of trauma to the hock joint. Also, she had blocked tear ducts. He flushed the ducts, and has given me some oral metacam and tiacil (eye drops). He checked Miffy's teeth as well, said that the crowns looked fine but of course it could be the roots causing trouble.

He wants to see her back on Friday, and if there's no improvement he wants x-rays done. :-(

Any advice? Is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable?

AMETHYST

I have posted a reply in your thread in 'Rabbit Chat'

Janex

Hi Amethyst - awwwwwwww poor Miffy bunster.

Sorry I don't get chance to post much these days but just nosing around I saw your post and thought some of Buffy's experiences might help.

Sorry carn't help muchwith the Arthritis but Buffy has had really bad eye and nose infections recently and with lots of TLC she's coming out the other end now, although still on meds.

I found with Buffy after the eye flushing her eye always got worse - naturally I guess as its flushing out the infection - so I gently bathed her eye morning and night - especially when it was really gunged up - sometimes luke warm tea can be soothing and helps to soften the gunge which dries hard overnight. The bathing took about an hour morning and evening to just get her eye open but paid dividends in the end.
Gotta say I tried Tiacil twice and it didn't suit Buffy - her eye responds really well to Chloromycetin Cream so if Tyacil doesn't improve things it might be worth having a chat to your Vet to give this a try.

I also popped some Obus oil on a lint wipe in her area to help clear her nasal passages but not convinced this helped her that much as there was so much improvement following the course of injections.

Our Vet also popped her onto injection antibiotics (sorry not sure which one it was :roll: ) every three days which she taught me how to give and this helped Buffy dramatically - these were prescribed more so because she had got the secondary nasal infection so she was struggling to smell out her food, drink etc. consequently loosing weight too She improved quite quickly over the course of a week on the injections though and I encouraged her all I could with popping Apple Juice in her water and giving her lots of her fav foods to tempt her to eat and pop on some weight.

As her eye and nose infection gradually improved - the Vet encouraged me to gently "milk" her eye - that is very gently push up underneath from the bottom of the corner of her eye and this kinda milks away the discharge which you can mop up with gentle wipes.

My Vets opinion was not to be too quick to Xray - especially if she has nasal infections, Once Buffy's nasal problem cleared she began eating hay and hard feed and veggis better. For Buffs Xray would be too risky now as they infection was so severe it left her slight reduced lung capacity - but you wouldn't think it to see her charging around the Garden some evenings after Cagney

Its been around 7 weeks now and Buffs is due back at the Vets soon, her eye ducts are still not completely right but she is 100% better than she was. and I'm still wiping them and applying very small amount of cream morning and evening.

Hope this helps Amethyst - wishing you good luck with Miffy - it can be a hard slog but worth it :wink: sending snuggles.

bunnytales said:

Hi Amethyst - awwwwwwww poor Miffy bunster. Sorry I don't get chance to post much these days but just nosing around I saw your post and thought some of Buffy's experiences might help.

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Thank you, they did! I won't stress poor Miffy any more tonight, but I may well start on the lukewarm tea tomorrow (there's always some in the pot so that won't be any trouble!).

I'll bear in mind what you said about the medication and x-rays too. Thanks.

And Jane, thank you too. It's so nice to know there are so many knowledgable people to help - and even those who have less experience of these things still offer support, it really means so much!

AMETHYST

UPDATE 26.07.06:

Miffy's eyes are still gunky. She really seems to like having them de-gunked though, so she's really happy to let me do that. I put a towel down yesterday because it suddenly occurred to me how uncomfortable the laminate floor must be if you have painful back legs. No sooner had I put it down, Miffy hopped onto it and started grooming! She then settled down to rest on it too.

She certainly doesn't seem any worse, and she's still really interested in her food! Still, her eyes seem pretty gunky - what can I use to help de-gunk them effectively? Any suggestions please?

AMETHYST

Hi Amethyst

Glad little Miffy is still being a good bunny for her mum!

I checked with the Veterinary Nurses at my practice and I think there is very little you can safely use to de gunk bunny eyes other than either the weak warm tea solution I mentioned or lightly salted warm water which the Vets receommend but I found a little abrasive so I just used minimum salt :roll:

Unfortunately I've learnt its just a case of patience and time. I used to use a lint free eye dressing pad - dunk it in some luke warm and gently hold it over the eye for a few minutes to let it soften the gunk - then you can try a cotten bud to gently dislodge any sticky discharge. It takes ages but it really does work - the discharge is awful stuff though and just sticks and matts into the fur - but the cotten buds do help.

Buffy tended to like having her eye bathed when it was really bad - I guess it was quite soothing - especially as it got quite red and itchy as it got better - and the little Madam would scratch wouldn't she :roll: - what a minx.

You can also trim the fur around her eye if your getting loads of sticky discharge - looks a little strange but it soons grows back once the discharge eases, be careful through if your bunny is a wriggler if your using scissors, if you get stuck one of your Vets nurses might be willing to give a hand.

Shame I'm not closer to you - I'd happily come and help with her - they don't call me "Rent a bunny Eye Bather" for nothing you know

Hope this helps - how's the nose discharge by the way - has that eased at all?

Sending bunny snuggles.

Thanks for the continued help! I have some cotton buds so I think I'll try the weak tea solution then a cotton bud.

Her poor nose sounded a little bunged up this morning. :? Ideally I'd take her to work with me and de-gunk her eyes every hour or so! Alas, I will have to stick to when I'm at home. I got up at 6am today to do them before I went to work!

AMETHYST

I'm bumping this as I just edited the first post.

AMETHYST

i am sorry i cant help but i am sewnding you lots of happy, healthly vibes

Sue
xx

Dobbin said:

i am sorry i cant help but i am sewnding you lots of happy, healthly vibes

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Thanks, that's very much appreciated!!

Miffy has just had her evening de-gunk, plus eye drops and a drop of Metacam on a Shreddie! She was SO good, even with nasty bits of caked-on gunk she sat there enjoying it! It must be such a relief. I've decided I'm going to get up once in the night to de-gunk her, and also wake up early tomorrow morning like I did today.

Any more help/vibes greatly appreciated!

AMETHYST

When you say Miffy's breathing 'sounds bad' do you mean snuffly from the nose or raspy from the chest?
My Vet prefers to use SEPTRIN for respiratory tract infections, she finds Baytril less effective.
If Miffy is showing signs of respiratory distress (mouth breathing, stretching head and neck forward, trying to elevate front end on something) then she needs admission to the Vets.

If you can get her into as cool as possible environment it will help. Also wet her ears with cool water. If she is obviously distressed I would INSIST your Vet examines her, a home visit if necessary.

Janex

Awwwwww hope your girlie is ok

Ditto everything said here - absolutely any sign of distress regarding breathing pop Miffy to your Vets or home visit from the Vets if available - I carn't think of the times recently when I've rushed Buffty to the Vets when worried and its really paid dividends - hence she is still with me today.

Come on Miffy you can get through this.

Sending warm evening snuggles. XXXXXXXXX

Jack's-Jane said:

When you say Miffy's breathing 'sounds bad' do you mean snuffly from the nose or raspy from the chest?
My Vet prefers to use SEPTRIN for respiratory tract infections, she finds Baytril less effective.
If Miffy is showing signs of respiratory distress (mouth breathing, stretching head and neck forward, trying to elevate front end on something) then she needs admission to the Vets.

If you can get her into as cool as possible environment it will help. Also wet her ears with cool water. If she is obviously distressed I would INSIST your Vet examines her, a home visit if necessary.

Janex

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Thanks Jane,

I meant snuffly from the nose rather than raspy. I'll ask my vet about septrin when she goes for her checkup tomorrow, if not before.

I've bought her a fan which is on all the time and that's cooling her down. Plus loads of cold water and I have been wetting her ears. I'm going home at lunchtime briefly so will do all that again then.

If her breathing gets ANY worse she's going straight to the vets!!

Thanks for the advice.

AMETHYST

Buster use to have terrible eyes, I too had to inject at home everyday for a month with ceporex.

Well, Miffy was very good with her syringe feeds last night and this morning, and she seems to like the eye drops! She seems a little less gunky today especially in her eyes, but still sounds like a steamtrain when breathing, all snuffly. She now has an oscillating fan to sit next to (guarded behind bars) which she seems to like for short periods. I've also started spraying "Magicool" near her to cool the air around her, and misting her with cool water from a plant spray. All in all she's being a fantastic patient and hopefully she'll respond well to the treatment. She's going in for a checkup tomorrow.

Any hints and tips etc. still gratefully received!

AMETHYST

Good luck at the vets tomorrow and a big snuggle to Miffy.

Miffy's botty was really bad this morning. We clean her up twice a day when she gets syringe fed, and this morning her entire back end was covered in wee and stuck-on poo. It was so horrible to see, all her fur's getting matted and the yellow stains just don't want to come off.

I'm getting her back end bathed when she goes to the vets this afternoon (4:50pm), but what can I bathe her in when she gets back here? And how often should I bathe her back end?

Thanks everyone.

AMETHYST

*bump* as I edited the first post again!

AMETHYST

Glad to hear Miffy is improving

Janex