Jack's-Jane
Wise Old Thumper
Hey folks,
Hope you're well.
This is going to be a bit of a strange post (and long) but feel it's necessary to ask these questions to see what the next steps are if you have any recommendations at all please help out, I've labelled them by number to try and make it easier for you to read:
1) Wobbles - It is day 40 since Siddi's seizure and while he has improved, he is still very wobbly when startled.. ( see first second of video and towards the end in milder form > https://vimeo.com/220826018 ) Long term, do you think there is anything that can be done with this other than the hope weight increase and muscle strength comes back? I don't know whether taking him to the Gold vets in Bedford is worth it against the stress, the American vets haven't recommend anything either and waiting for our vets to come back with a proposed cause of action.
2) Poop Size - This is a bit alarming, in the past 2 days his poops have shrank from monster rabbit poops (albeit they were a bit moisty - if that is a word) to little slightly firmer smaller ones, still perfectly formed, good colour and not that small but smaller than before - still moist, still breakable and with good contents of hay in them but if they get any smaller I would be worried. The counter argument is since Saturday, he's not had any metacam, he's only having 2 CC's a day now instead of 3 and it is about 8-10 degrees warmer in the house due to the UK actually being hot for once, at least in Herts! He is still eating hay, 6-7 teaspoons of pellets a day and a teaspoon of veggies while attacking his grass house but I guess here, if he stops pooping then usual procedure applys - get him to the vets, or if his poops turn to grit size again... Tummy rubs hes purring, so think there's no obvious blockage. Stomach feels good.
3) Eyes - We are also a bit worried one of his eyeballs is a bit swollen, I noticed it the day after his seizure that he seemed to have big bulgy eyes. One seems to have settled down but still one seems big, I think there is a very very transparent level of cloud on that eye, which in 40 days has got no worse. Do you know if it's worth consulting the Bedford gold vets about a lens replacement if it does? Is it expensive? I've put two pictures on flickr, trying to plough through the thousands I have of him prior to his vet visit to compare - https://www.flickr.com/photos/150482612@N02/35301214275/in/dateposted-public/ // https://www.flickr.com/photos/150482612@N02/35301214445/in/dateposted-public/
4) Teeth Grinding 5) This morning 5am (again) (14th June 17) & 6) Cecotrope
So this morning, I woke up about 5:30am to him in a rather odd position asleep, he was spread out like a loaf but no obvious signs of gas but rather in the spread loaf position his back hind legs were not relaxed but kinda bent against the floor, I left him to it for a few minutes and then said his name a few times and he woke up - perhaps he was snoring but he didn't seem right at the time and it took him close to 90 minutes to return to normal, in this time there was a lot of tooth grinding/chatter where there would be the odd loud individual grind, he was kinda comotose to a degree, he would walk to a spot in the room and then just stop and look gormless for a bit.. It was just odd behaviour, but then I'm not normally awake to see him at that time. When he started to come round he would try scratching and on one side (his left, opposite side to his injured leg originally) he fell over himself, perhaps it was through tiredness and stiffness I don't know. He has done it plenty of times when he got back from vets to be fair and over the past two weeks or so that's practically gone, but maybe being asleep for a while stiffed him up. His belly sounds were fine btw. For the next hour there was a bit of tooth grinding but eventually he started grooming himself, eating and gnawing at stuff and grooming me.. poops flowing too, we are looking at over 100 a day now. The strange bit here was just before I went to work, he left a perfectly formed cecotrope in his litter as he was too busy on the timothy hay... He's left a few since he's been back but none as well formed as that..
I guess the above is a kinda, he's getting better, but there's still signs of some things not 100% and it's trying to keep his progress going which is just proving hard. I am going on holiday at the end of July and one of my neighbours is going to be living in the house bar his work hours, but I am absolutely dreading it if he's not fully right, as you can tell there is a lot of monitoring going into him at the moment to make sure he returns to the best condition he can possibly get back to...
He has a repeat prescription available so I might go and grab it tonight just for anything to have the metacam on days where he seems to be teeth grinding, is this sensible? Is it worth the stress of a 30 mile / 40m drive to the gold vets to get him thoroughly evaluated or do we continue to see how it goes, monitoring poops day and water intake etc...
Sorry for the long post, it's just a rather anxious time at present given the odd few signs - but perhaps that is his 'normal' now.
Rich
It would seem that the 'wobbles' are neurological in origin. This might be due to the damage done by EC. From the photos it is hard to be sure but it looks as though he may have some cataract formation and possibly a condition called phacoclastic uveitis. Another result of EC, as detailed in the following information:
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Encephalitozoonosis.htm
If the intra-ocular pressure is raised this would cause pain, so it is something that needs to be checked.
As with any brain/central nervous system injury any recovery that may occur can take time. Months as opposed to weeks. But sometimes there will be a permanent disability of some sort.
Obviously all of the above are just my unqualified musings, I am in no position to make any sort of diagnosis. If getting to a Specialist were to be an option for you then I think I would opt to do that. But of course you know Siddi best and it may be that travelling and further diagnostics would be too stressful for him. It may be that you simply manage his condition on a day by day basis and continue to keep in close contact with your local Vet. Even if you were to consult the Specialist it may be that a definitive diagnosis is all that would come from it, with no other treatment options other than what Siddi is already having.
I hope that Siddi will remain comfortable within himself xx
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