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ARTHRITIS - Help

K

kjenkins

New Kit
Hi there.

Yesterday my rabbit was not eating or drinking and didn't want to move.

Took him to the vets and they kept him in over night to force feed him food and water.

They took x-rays today and said that he has Arthritis in his hips and lower spine.

He was alright on Wednesday night. Running around and jumping. Eating and drinking, and then within one day he can't move his back legs. Is this normal??

I bought him home from the verts tonight at 5.30 and he has only had about 4ml's of water from the syringe and about two bites of some lettuce (maybe not the best thing to give him but I have got lots of different things in the basket to try and tempt him.

I did buy some powder food called critical care for herbivores to feed him if he does not start eating, but I dont know how long I should wait before starting this.

Medication they have put him on is Metacam 0.5mls once a day and Baytril oral solution 1.6mls daily.

Any advice would be greatfully received
 
Oh dear poor Bunny :(
He probably stopped eating due to pain from his arthritis. This, in turn caused his gut motility to shut down. The Metacam is an anti-inflammatory which will help control pain. Has he had a gut motility stimulant (metoclopromide) To stabalise him whilst the pain relief kicks in it is essential that his guts keep working. Also, giving oral pain relief is not really appropriate in a Bun whose guts have shut down.
I would phone your Vet and ask:
Should Bunny have Metoclopromide?(to get guts going)
Would it be better to administer pain relief via sub-cutaneous injection? ( oral meds will not be absorbed from the gut if the guts are not working properly)
Why have antibiotics (Baytril) been prescribed for arthritis....??

Janex
 
That's what I thought about why he is not eating.

No metoclopromide. Was only given those two medicines. I just phoned the vets and asked about metoclopromide and she said that when shearer was there he was passing pellets and urine therefore his gut function was ok. She didn't seem to know why he was given the antibiotics though.

I have just given him 3mls of the feed mixture and a couple more mls of water. Gonna leave it for 5 minutes and then give him the anti-inflammatory.

How often do you think I should give him water etc. I am not even sure how much intake a rabbit should be having. He is just under 2kg's in weight btw.

Also, I have put some shredded paper in for his bedding, along with the western timothy and different fruit and veg, and all he seems to be nibbling on is the paper!!!!!! :(

Since getting home he has passed a small bit of urine, but no pellets as ye
 
I think I would be quite insistant re the metoclopromide...... :?
If you can get 10ml of liquid feed into him every couple of hours that should help. I really cannot understand why antibiotics have been prescribed for arthritis unless it is an infective arthritis secondary to a previous injury..... :?

Janex
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I think I would be quite insistant re the metoclopromide...... :?

We are going to take him back tomorrow, so my biyfriend said that he will mention it then.

Shearer has had one floret of brocoli now and half a babycorn. He is still munching on the paper and a little grass. How much water should I try and get inside of him. Sorry to ask these questions, but I am really shocked at how quickly he has/did deteriorate
Click to expand...
 
kjenkins said:
Jack's-Jane said:
I think I would be quite insistant re the metoclopromide...... :?

We are going to take him back tomorrow, so my biyfriend said that he will mention it then.

Shearer has had one floret of brocoli now and half a babycorn. He is still munching on the paper and a little grass. How much water should I try and get inside of him. Sorry to ask these questions, but I am really shocked at how quickly he has/did deteriorate
Click to expand...

Sorry, I went off-line after my last post

I hope everything goes well at the Vets today.

Janex
Click to expand...
 
My Brody bun has arthritis of the spine :cry: She was put on Metacam daily and I was told to ween her off it by missing 1 day then 2 days etc. between doses. She's off it now and has gained the weight she lost. The main problem her arthritis causes her is that she can't position herself properly to wee and poo and was getting severe staining/ urine scald as a result. I have changed the litter tray to the following: bottom layer newspaper, covered with megazorb, covered with a piece of Vetbed then finally top layer of hay. The wee goes through the vetbed and since I adopted that regime, her butt has been clean and fluffy and dry :thumb:

Good luck, hope all is well with Shearer
 
luvabun said:
My Brody bun has arthritis of the spine :cry: She was put on Metacam daily and I was told to ween her off it by missing 1 day then 2 days etc. between doses. She's off it now and has gained the weight she lost. The main problem her arthritis causes her is that she can't position herself properly to wee and poo and was getting severe staining/ urine scald as a result. I have changed the litter tray to the following: bottom layer newspaper, covered with megazorb, covered with a piece of Vetbed then finally top layer of hay. The wee goes through the vetbed and since I adopted that regime, her butt has been clean and fluffy and dry :thumb:

Good luck, hope all is well with Shearer
Click to expand...

I hope that Brody isn't in any pain now.

How long did it take you to get Brody completely off the metacam? The vet told me that Shearer was going to have to be on it forever :( Is she on any medication for the Arthritis now? How is her pain controlled

Luckily, shearer is able to clean himself today and seems to be weeing alright (I haven't noticed any urine left on his fur after he goes).

Is there any special diet that you were advised to feed Brody? I read that massage is good, but everytime I have tried to massage him he falls asleep and then wees - it's happened 3 times now... either he hates it and is trying to tell me in a very unsubtle way, or he is so relaxed that he just lets it go?????

How long ago was Brody diagnosed? Is her mobility/quality of life greatly affected? Was it a gradual deterioration, or was she fine one minute, and then unable to move the next - that's how it was with Shearer. I am still trying to get my head around how he could be running and jumping around and eating at 2am on Wednesday night, and then by 8am the following morning be unable to move and not be eating - just doesn't seem right to me (but then again I am no rabbit expert!).

Any suggestions or advice about what you do would be greatly received.
 
Jack's-Jane said:
kjenkins said:
Jack's-Jane said:
Sorry, I went off-line after my last post

I hope everything goes well at the Vets today.

Janex
Click to expand...

That's not a problem (I wont take it personally :)

Shearer is much brighter today. On Friday night my boyfriend and I took it in turns to make sure he was taking in water and food. Whilst the food wasn't an issue, the water was (and still is :(

He started passing caecotrophs at about 11.45pm on Friday but could not get around to eat it, so everytime we took him out to syringe feed the water, we would clear up the mess. At about 4am he was in the bed with us and he started passing very small, but firm pellets, and then by about 9 yesterday they were back to normal size. He didn't pass urine until about 8am yesterday and it was bright orange (I am assuming that's because of the lack of water he had drunk from the day before), he is now going regularly and it is back to a pale yellow colour. Even though I am not noticing him drinking (the bottle and dish have hardly gone down), should I be too worried about this as he is passing urine???

Thank you for replying to my post on Friday, I was beside myself with worry!!!

He isn't eating his Excel pellets, but is eating regularly with the Western Timothy grass and any fruit or veg I put in front of him. I am going to cut back on the fruit and veg today, to see if it will encourage him to eat the pellets. Not sure why his is off these!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Brodyd' symptoms were different to Shearers- she did not appear in a ny obvious pain, it was the urine scald that prompted me to take her to the Vets. They tested her blood for all sorts of things (which came back clear) but you could clearly see the degeneration of the bones in her spine on the X-ray. It was around the beginning of September that she was diagnosed and was on Metacam for 2 weeks then gradually weened off it. So I guess it's about 8 weeks now that she has been off the Metacam.

It does not seem to have a negative impact on her quality of life. She is still able to hop the 8 inches in and out of the hutch into the garden - I have put an overturned tray as a footstool but she doesn't use it :roll: I was not advised to give her a special diet. She had lost weight (gone down to 1.45kgs) but is now back up to 1.95kgs. I asked the Vet what he thought of Glucosamine (an alternative arthritis remedy for humans). He said he had seen some success with it in dogs but didn't think it would help Brody because of which bones were affected (I think he said it's more effective with ball and socket joints). However, I am sprinkling 1/4 of a capsule of Glucosamine Sulphate on her pellets. :roll: That's my choice - I do believe in some alternative therapies/ remedies. I guess it's one of those situations where I'll never know if it is actually helping or not.

One aspect of diet that I've tried to research (and got totally confused :roll: ) is calcium. I was wondering that if calcium is essential for building strong bones in humans, is it the same for bunnies then you get into the whole excess calcium/ bladder or kidney stones etc. It's a minefield.

Good luck with Shearer :D
 
My bun also has arthritis. He was diagnosed about a year ago but started to get worse when the weather changed. I have metacam for him but he only has it when he needs it rather than a regular doseage. Regular use made his stomach bad which had its own problems! My buns initial symptoms were loss of litter training and obvious stiffness when getting up after sleeping. He has been doing much better the last couple of weeks - I now completly line his run with vet bed as well as his shed. Makes lots of washing for me but it helps so much with preventing urine scold - bless him, he can't keep himself as clean as he used to and he is a white bun!

In regards to his diet - I have changed nothing. I have a very stubborn bun and any change to his diet (no matter how slowly I make the change) usually results in him picking up the bowl, throwing it and refusing to eat!
 
Hi Jill, Barney has just been diagnosed with suspected arthritis in his back legs/hips and I am just researching treatment. How did you find the dosage for glucosamine? Is it an animal-based or vegetable version that you use?

Thanks :D
 
Nix said:
Hi Jill, Barney has just been diagnosed with suspected arthritis in his back legs/hips and I am just researching treatment. How did you find the dosage for glucosamine? Is it an animal-based or vegetable version that you use?

Thanks :D
Click to expand...
Hi Nix,

I was using the suitable for vegetarians version and I vaguely recall getting the dosage off a forum - not a 100% sure but it may have been Jaypot (sorry Jay if it wasn't you :oops: ) I've had a change of heart and am no longer giving it to her as further research backed up my Vets comments that it wouldn't really help her type of arthritis. Here's a link with some info (which you may have already)
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html#arthritis
 
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