Does Buprecare cause drowsiness, inactivity?

[Bunny Buddy]

I know some of the heavier duty painkillers are morphine based and can knock rabbits out a bit - I can't open any of the stuff I find on Google - I'm assuming this is one of the morphine/opioid ones?

I've got Elijah home and after breathing very fast and being panicked for a good fifteen minutes he's now very, very quiet. He has sniffed at a Fenugreek Crunchie and not bothered further. He's only been home about 40 minutes though so very early, it was only a 10 minute drive though. Invoice says Buprecare on today's entry ... why-oh-why if he's doing so well has he been given a heavy duty painkller today. This happened with Esme too, she was sent home immediately after being given strong painkiller, so was out of it.

I'm supposed to be making sure he eats well, surely knocking him out isn't a good plan. I'm going to have to ring and ask when he was given it but knowing if this could be the reason that he's just laid there would be helpful.

Thanks.

Edit to add: He was given it this morning (don't know what time but that makes it at least 4 hours ago) so hopefully he won't be heavily sedated and will nom soon.

 

[parsnipbun]

buprecare is a bupronorphine based drug and will cause drowsiness and gut slow down - it is a strong pain killer and it rabbits can last 24 hours in my experience.

it is a drug of choice for many vets and does give good pain cover but personally I usually ask not to have it if anything else will do the trick (my vet will use ketamin if asked - though it does not work in quiet the same way so depends what is casing pain).

 

[Alibunmum]

It does seem odd that if he is well enough to come home he needs that sort of pain relief. I am currently using buprenorphine patches for my pain and can certainly testify to the gut slow down!

 

[Bunny Buddy]

Thanks both. That's pretty much confirmed what I already believed.

He needed strong painkillers on admission (Monday evening) and possibly Tuesday morning but was eating well from yesterday afternoon. Vet told me at 9am that he was well and ready to come home so I just can't understand why strong painkiller with those side effects. Esme had the same at same vets but was Vetergesic she was given, not sure if it's the same thing under a different name. Gutted really, as I have been so happy with his care otherwise. My experience from my usual vets is the morphine based painkiller is only given for first 24 hours or so of a 'normal' stasis episode.

At least I know the score but I'm not happy as he's not eating etc as well as he should if he hadn't been drugged up *shakes head*.

 

[SarahP]

I know exactly how you feel, as I had a guinea pig given this once. She just sat around and wasn't remotely interested in eating as a result. I know what the vet was trying, as she was concerned about her pain levels (and actually by that point, with hindsight, I should have had her PTS), but it made her go downhill as a result. It lasted about 24 hours in the guinea pig.