Thank you eveyrone
Well, not as bad as I thought, but a few things I wasn't keen about.
First, his heart. Vet said it sounded very good and he did take a long time listening, it began to worry me when I saw his eyebrows go up at one point, but he didn't seem to think anything untoward was going on. Now I do wish he'd taken a film of his chest, but he didn't think that was necessary. There is a possibility that the wheezing and snoring then is coming from a tooth issue, or some abnormal tissue in the palate area, so if Fiver needs a dental soon we may make an attempt at getting more diagnostics done at that time. For now he wants me to monitor Fiver's respiratory rates while he is at rest and cooled down, instead of when he's all amped up and at the vets.
His hocks are pretty bad.
But at least they didn't look as dire as they did about a week ago when I gave him a nail trim and they were very inflamed, so the neosporin helped. And even though I'm using as much soft bedding as I can find for him, the vet would like me to utilize polar fleece blankets to help Fiver find more comfy positions. I just have to hope he rests on them and doesn't eat them!
He wants him to move about more...kind of difficult these days, Fiver was very active as a youngster, but is much more sedate now and getting him to bung about without stressing him further is something I haven't mastered yet. He'd also like him to drink more water. He did take an xray of his abdomen to see what has been going on since Fiver's bladder stone surgery. There appears to be mineralization of some sort forming, but it's in an odd area. It's hard to describe without the films themselves, but I didn't think to have him email them to me. :?
The area of concern is actually on the forward part of the bladder, high up towards where you'd guess Fiver's navel to be. Now it could be part of the scar from his surgery calcifying a bit, but it's not anywhere near big or solid enough for the vet to consider it a stone. But he does think it should be re-scanned in about 4 to 6 months. If it does appear to be a stone, it will have to be removed. Personally I don't think Fiver would survive another surgery like that one, so I'm hoping it's just scar tissue.
There is no chest congestion. His ears, despite him not being able to clean them properly, are fine. In fact, overall he said Fiver looks to be in very good shape for an 8 year old minirex.
To try to encourage him to move about more, and to better control what we believe may be his arthritis advancing, his vet has prescribed gabapentin, 0.1 mls once a day for at least the next 14 days, then if it appears that is not doing the trick we can up the dose. He does not want to see Fiver's metacam increased.
It's been extremely hard to find exercise time for Fiver of late as we are all madly trying to clear out the house for the move. But I'm hoping that if he is feeling better in himself with the new medication, that he will enjoy the play time I can give him a bit more, since he won't be spending most of the time he is supposed to be exercising by just laying about and trying to get his old, tired muscles to cooperate!
I have been told that gabapentin is an anti-seizure medication. Could anyone with experience of this drug tell me how it has helped or affected your bunnies and what side effects I should be looking for? These are a few questions I didn't really get cleared up by my vet and I'd appreciate hearing some personal experiences if anyone has any.
Thanks again so much for the vibes!
They have been a great help. I feel a little better about taking Fiver with us when we move now, as he may be more comfortable for the flight since he has better pain cover on board (provided it works!)
xxxx