Dental issues - bun passed away...

[Sandra]

Our 2,5 year old Rex girl seems to have some dental issues. I started noticing that she sometimes chews a bit weird when she eats pellets. She will eat pellets normally and then sometimes it looks like she has troubles chewing on the right side, like there is something wrong with the cheek teeth. Her incisors look fine. I tried to read about rabbit teeth and I have felt her jaw bone etc. and I cannot feel anything unusual or any swelling etc and she does not seem to be in pain.

There is now a little clear whitish fluid coming from her left eye and she gets a bit wet on her chin (although I have not seen her drooling..)

I know that she needs a dental exam but as we are in Jordan with no proper vet around I really do not know what to do :shock: Only one vet here has an xray but she does not know anything about rabbits and I really don't trust the vet to put her under anesthesia... Is there anything I could do for her?

She is happy and eating (pellets, timothy hay and veggies) and doing her toilet etc.

In case of an emergency I would have to fly 4 hours to Frankfurt airport where there is an animal hospital, but if there is anything I can do I would greatly appreciate the advice.

Thank you!

 

[prettylupin]

The symptoms you describe are of potential 'molar spurs' significant enough now to cause discomfort in the mouth and she may even have an ulcerated mouth/cheek/tongue on that bad side She will need pain relief now and further investigations. If left this can become abcessated and infected and then you're going to be in real trouble. However, I expect before this happens your bun may stop eating altogether and go into GI stasis, either from not enough food passing into the stomach from a reduced appetite or from the pain alone, and mouth pain is very painful. Sadly as a prey species rabbits will hide pain and often 'press on' through it, although stress hormones will still be being released and having a negative effect on her gut.

The weepy eye could be linked to a respiratory infection or a blocked nasolacrimal duct from swollen tissues in the respiratory tract, but equally it could be a tooth root pushing up into the nasolacrimal duct and possibly even the eye itself. I'm sorry if this sounds very frightening, but with your bun's oral pain issue you describe, sadly dental issues in the mouth tend to be related to tooth root issues in the skull.

If there really is noone rabbit savy in Jordan then you might need to fly your bunny to Frankfurt to see a vet, and I would personally say sooner rather than later. The stress of a flight is not one to be undertaken lightly and I would want my bun in reasonable health before flying them, rather than in a deteriorated state - which could be sadly just around the corner with the symptoms you describe. It is very worrying. I would also do everything possible to keep her in the cabin with you rather than have her in the hold if you do have to go.

Unfortunately these dental issues tend to be ongoing and more to do with management of a chronic issue rather than a 'quick fix', and so you might want to think about your bun's long term needs? I suppose this means either finding someone 'good enough' in Jordan who will be willing to communicate with some exotic vets abroad or do their own research, or possibly dare i say it find someone abroad who can look after your bunny for you? a friend, relative or even a rabbit rescue? Dental issues sadly are usually a long term and ongoing thing needing repeat treatment.

I'm sorry for for giving you such a negative answer here. I do hope your lovely bun will be ok. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[bunny babe]

HI, I agree with Prettylupin. Although it must be very difficult for you I think your options are to find a good vet in Jordan (best option of course) or to consider leaving her with with someone you can trust where there is a good vet.

I too think that this sounds like molar spurs which may be cutting into the cheek/tongue which is why she may be dribbling (this happened to one of mine).

I hope she will be OK.

 

[Sandra]

Just an update: We are now in Israel where we have found a very savvy rabbit vet working at the School of Veterinary Medicine and they have a very good animal hospital.

It took us some 7 hours of driving to get here from Jordan. Getting over the border is always difficult.. Today we had blood tests and an initial examination done. Mýsla was given Metacam for pain relief and Resprim as an antibiotic. Tomorrow we will let her rest and then we are going in Sunday morning for xrays and a possible dental procedure etc.

She could use some good vibes!

Best,
Sandra

 

[bunny babe]

Sending lots and lots of vibes.

I'm glad you have found a good vet, hopefully she can be sorted out now.

 

[Sky-O]

Oh wow, she is so lucky to have such a dedicated owner!

I hope that things go well, and Sunday goes smoothly. Please keep us updated.

 

[Carrie14]

Sending lots of international vibes:wave:

That's one well traveled bun:shock:

 

[yvette]

Best of luck with Bun....let us know how she is.xxx

 

[Lobo]

There may be a deeper message in this story. Perhaps if some of the world leaders were to get bunnies the world might be a calmer place. This has shown that regardless of the volatility of a border, do not stand between a bunny parent and a rabbit savvy vet.:evil:

Wishing you all the best with Mýsla's treatment.

 

[bunny babe]

Sending vibes for today, hope it goes well.

 

[Suzanne]

I hope everything goes ok for your girlie. She's very lucky to have such a caring owner.

 

[Sandra]

Hi :wave:

Yesterday we took Mýsla back to the hospital. She stopped eating Friday evening as everything she took in her mouth just fell out and we had to syringe her. She was however been quite frisky despite of this.

They took full body x-rays and blood works. The blood tests looked quite good, although the liver values were a bit bad (vet thought this was due to her not eating properly for a few days). The x-rays showed a density in one of the lungs and the one picture of the teeth looked quite normal. So they decided to do a CT and take a look at the teeth and fix them under anesthesia.

Turned out the cheek teeth on the right side were a mess. One was so sharp that it had punctured the tongue The density in the lungs turned out to be fat but puss from the tongue wound has probably run down in the lungs... They fixed the teeth and the wound etc. She came out of the anesthesia well and I got half an animal hospital with me back to Jordan. I still have to syringe her as she is eating very little on her own but when she eats the chewing seems more normal and she is no longer dropping food. I have been given fluids to give her under her skin, pain killers (metacam) and antibiotcs. She is peeing well but still no poops Will keep on syringing her critical care and probiotics and hope for the best!

Weirdly enough there was no problem getting the bunnies back over the border to Jordan. The problem was a few Christmas tea candles we had bought at IKEA...
:wave:

 

[Rhian33]

Hope she starts to feel better soon :wave:. It's lovely to hear someone that cares so much about their rabbit that they drive 7 hours for a good vet. Too many people can't be bothered to drive a mile or two for an appointment

So glad you found a good vet.

 

[Sandra]

In addition to being the nicest bun ever, Mýsla is now also the most expensive bun ever

 

[Sandra]

Well, things have taken a turn for the worse... Mýsla is now having diarrhea

Last night she was making normal looking (although rather small) poops. This night she was making some small soft poops and early this morning, around 6 am, she had a cluster of small soft poops stuck to her bum... It has been pretty hard to syringe her critical care this night as she has not been swallowing properly... Around lunch time she made a huge puddle of watery soft poops, and after that she has made poops like this

She is a bit more responsive now though and we have managed to syringe her mashed bananas and critical care (Oxbow) mixed with clean water and the Professional probiotics. We have also given her 150 ml of fluids under her skin this morning. She is showing no interest in food... I have offered her timothy hay, Alfalfa, basil, mint, parsley, dried dandelions, her favorite pellets (mushed up in water and dry), carrots, apple. But nothing interests her.

The medication she is on after the dental is:

Resprim - 48 mg/ml - 2.5 ml orally twice a day for 2 weeks
Meloxicam - 1.5 mg/ml - 1.3 ml orally twice a day for 4 days (after this we will give Carprofen - 20 mg/tab - ¼ of a tab mixed in bananna or water twice a day to complete 10 days to 2 weeks)
Sucralfate - 100 mg/ml - 1 ml orally twice a day for 3-4 days
LRS (Fluids) - 150 ml sub cutaneously twice a day for 3 more days

Is there anything I can do for her? I am so worried about my girl

 

[parsnipbun]

Thats a LOT of metacam!!! are you sure there is not a 0 in front of it???? ie 0.13mls

What weight is your bunny?

 

[Sandra]

Hi, yes it says 1,3 ml twice a day. She is 4,1 kg - she is a Rex.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

The dose of Metacam is fine, its what my Vet would prescribe for a Rabbit of her size in need of maximum analgesia.

The diarrhoea is a concern though :?

I wonder if the Sucralfate is the problem as it may be that reducing the acidity of her GI tract to try to protect her from GI ulceration has led to a gut dysbiosis, exacerbated by the oral antibiotics :?

I would call the prescribing Vet and ask whether it may be a good idea to stop the sucralfate :?

 

[Sandra]

Thanks! I called the vet and she agreed on stopping the Sucralfate for now. The vet had also given me this high calorie fluid to blend in the critical care which I was using yesterday and she told me to stop that and only mix with water as that might have been a contributing factor as well.

We have been rubbing her stomach gently and we are trying to encourage her to move a little to get the stomach working. She has only made a little more loose poops in the last hours.

I don't want to jinx it... but she just nibbled on some parsley

 

[Sandra]

She still has diarrhea... And that parsley she nibbled on before today was the only thing she has touched... Since then nothing. Just loads of poo and water coming out... Her butt is totally covered although we are trying to keep her clean...

We are syringing critical care mixed with water and probiotics and then we syringe her a little banana every hour which we have done since lunch. She just got her metacam and we will give her fluids under her skin again soon.

Since we have done this since before lunch - is it possible to say when we should see a difference in her? Or how do we know that what we are doing is working?

Is there anything else we can do for her??