I've seen it all now.

[thumps_]

So good to hear this news .. the 'friskies' and the lying in his usual place sounds great

Thank you Griffski. He's having another really good day today. I'm amazed he's moulting - They need to increase their energy intake by 40% to do that. If a rabbit gets abdominal illness during moult they usually can't eat enough, & stop moulting 1/2 way through. Benjie has been stuffing himself with dill like grass for the last 2 days, lots of lovely big poops!!:lol: but he's also good, eating twigs for the concentrated fibre.
It's wonderful to see him so well. I think I'm most thrilled that he seems to be free from his abdominal pain for most of the time. He doesn't seem to feel so thin either.

 

[MightyMax]

Thank you Griffski. He's having another really good day today. I'm amazed he's moulting - They need to increase their energy intake by 40% to do that. If a rabbit gets abdominal illness during moult they usually can't eat enough, & stop moulting 1/2 way through. Benjie has been stuffing himself with dill like grass for the last 2 days, lots of lovely big poops!!:lol: but he's also good, eating twigs for the concentrated fibre.
It's wonderful to see him so well. I think I'm most thrilled that he seems to be free from his abdominal pain for most of the time. He doesn't seem to feel so thin either.

Oh wow, lovely to hear this thumps xx

 

[roxyroller88]

Thank you Griffski. He's having another really good day today. I'm amazed he's moulting - They need to increase their energy intake by 40% to do that. If a rabbit gets abdominal illness during moult they usually can't eat enough, & stop moulting 1/2 way through. Benjie has been stuffing himself with dill like grass for the last 2 days, lots of lovely big poops!!:lol: but he's also good, eating twigs for the concentrated fibre.
It's wonderful to see him so well. I think I'm most thrilled that he seems to be free from his abdominal pain for most of the time. He doesn't seem to feel so thin either.

How wonderful I hope the good days continue!

 

[Omi]

I'm really pleased to read the latest update about Benjie

 

[thumps_]

I had a lovely evening with Benjie. On the floor for our night time "love in", he postioned himself so that while I was stroking him, his whiskers were in a rosette around my nose - a whisker embrace.
He's also lying more naturally most of the time.
His eye has been dry for a few days now.

I have to chuckle when he moults. He still hasn't learned that his fur falls out naturally (& copiously) so stroking him brings out volumes! He eventually gets really shirty with me as if to say,"stop pulling out my fur, you'll make me bald".:lol:
Rabbits seem to be so fastidious about their coats, or mine do. Positively vain in fact!

I'm trying not to raise my hopes too much, that he's actually got ideopathic thrombocytopaenia & it's correcting itself. I wish i knew what his platelets were doing but I'm not putting him through a blood test just to satisfy my own curiosity.

 

[joey&boo]

I had a lovely evening with Benjie. On the floor for our night time "love in", he postioned himself so that while I was stroking him, his whiskers were in a rosette around my nose - a whisker embrace.
He's also lying more naturally most of the time.
His eye has been dry for a few days now.

I have to chuckle when he moults. He still hasn't learned that his fur falls out naturally (& copiously) so stroking him brings out volumes! He eventually gets really shirty with me as if to say,"stop pulling out my fur, you'll make me bald".:lol:
Rabbits seem to be so fastidious about their coats, or mine do. Positively vain in fact!

I'm trying not to raise my hopes too much, that he's actually got ideopathic thrombocytopaenia & it's correcting itself. I wish i knew what his platelets were doing but I'm not putting him through a blood test just to satisfy my own curiosity.

& rightly so. Its pleasing to hear Benjie is on such good form. Heres to many more whisker embraces

 

[thumps_]

A quick update. Because of his blocked tear duct, & difficulty sleeping without nasal obstruction, he's having ABx for his snuffles - an injection of tetracycline every 3 days which he's tolerating very well without bleeding into muscle.
He continues to gain weight by eating an inordinate amount of dill leaf which eases his abdo pain.
I'm far from happy about his gut. the stress of a vet visit puts him off his food for 12 hours even if just a weigh in. His diet is inbalanced from his norm, towards higher nutrients, even eating pellets! & less fibre than desirable, but most of the time he keeps himself free from dysbiosis so he's struggling to maintain weight & relieve abdominal discomfort & winning.

After 2 injections his eye is dry & he sleeps much longer. His chin now only has a minute patch of "stubble" - the rest is nice & furry.
We've gone back over his path results specifically looking for hepatic coccidiosis as advised on Auburnets thread - nothing except isolated thrombocytopaenia.

TBH I'm wracked with guilt about TB - a constant struggle to look at facts, & there's not a single symptom remotely like Thumper, even the uneaten caecals are different. So I'm being irrational.
Unforunately I've seen too many things in life which are impossible but happened. I mean - it's impossible to jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet, chute and drogue fail to open, land in a scant 5' hawthorn bush & be totally uninjured except for a few scratches. That's just one!
I also had the smallest vet fee ever. 12p for his injection done by a vet!:shock:

 

[Omi]

I missed your previous update about Benjie. I'm pleased that he's doing relatively well, despite having to have abx for his snuffles.

I've just got some Dill seeds, which I shall sow soon My rabbits have never had it.

I'm sorry that you're having feelings of guilt re TB, even though logic tells you this is being irrational. I know it is sometimes difficult to dismiss such feelings.

I'm amazed at the cost of his injection :shock:

I really hope he continues to do well.

 

[MightyMax]

A quick update. Because of his blocked tear duct, & difficulty sleeping without nasal obstruction, he's having ABx for his snuffles - an injection of tetracycline every 3 days which he's tolerating very well without bleeding into muscle.
He continues to gain weight by eating an inordinate amount of dill leaf which eases his abdo pain.
I'm far from happy about his gut. the stress of a vet visit puts him off his food for 12 hours even if just a weigh in. His diet is inbalanced from his norm, towards higher nutrients, even eating pellets! & less fibre than desirable, but most of the time he keeps himself free from dysbiosis so he's struggling to maintain weight & relieve abdominal discomfort & winning.

After 2 injections his eye is dry & he sleeps much longer. His chin now only has a minute patch of "stubble" - the rest is nice & furry.
We've gone back over his path results specifically looking for hepatic coccidiosis as advised on Auburnets thread - nothing except isolated thrombocytopaenia.

TBH I'm wracked with guilt about TB - a constant struggle to look at facts, & there's not a single symptom remotely like Thumper, even the uneaten caecals are different. So I'm being irrational.
Unforunately I've seen too many things in life which are impossible but happened. I mean - it's impossible to jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet, chute and drogue fail to open, land in a scant 5' hawthorn bush & be totally uninjured except for a few scratches. That's just one!
I also had the smallest vet fee ever. 12p for his injection done by a vet!:shock:

Thumps, lovely to hear from you

So glad to hear that Benjie is getting his sleeping under control. What a wonderful vet to only charge 12p. That's amazing!

It's really hard to be rational when it's our own. And when you don't have enough regular sleep yourself. But since you mention it, miracles (or miraculous-seeming happenings?) *do* happen. I'm wishing one for you and Benjie xx

 

[thumps_]

Thank you everyone.
Thank you for your kind understanding Omi. I've been looking for dill seeds in a different context - used in old fashioned pickelled onions but seemingly not sold in shops any more. I'm going to venture as far as I dare into herbal medicine & make a standard herbal tea for him. Dill seeds are the only active ingredient in gripe water which is safe for rabbits. The leaves are said not to be very effective but the rabbits sure get something out of it. My intent is to make each brew to the same concentration & let Benjie decide whether he'll drink it & how much.

MM Thank you also for your kind understanding.
Yes, we have a good practice just round the corner which I've been with since 1984 (apart from Thumper needing special care) Like most vets of that age they had very little training in rabbits. I admire them because realising their deficiency, the senior partners took on a young vet who had just passed her exotics training both to work & train up the senior partners. One of the vets, Amy, describes herself as a "GP with special interest" in rabbits, & is very sound, but she's based about 5 miles away & now the diagnostic work has been done, to the point where there is nothing we can treat & we have a management plan, we just go round the corner to whoever is available.

David a senior partner, more into large animals, was amazing, & examined Benjie so gently on the ground They always ask about diet, & brighten up no end when I tell them about his forage only diet + herbs & why. David - "herbs are good for rabbits".
I was very worried he'd go down the "Baytril route" but no - "most rabbit respiratory infections seem to be resistant to Baytril". Tetracycline was chosen because it is effective & the 3 day injection (If tolerated) was much less stressful for Benjie.
Mel told me that they get tetracycline in in bulk for the farm animals, so the tiny amount needed for Benjie was a similarly tiny price. However I noticed that they did not charge for vet time. (They need to keep a close eye that he's not bleeding into muscle - haematoma) I'm also impressed that they also understand Benjie's nervousness. We usually wait in the room for bereaved relatives, away from predatory animals. It was in use yesterday so a receptionist got me a chair & we sat at the back of the "shop area" away from the main waiting area & door. So yes, we've got a good team on our side.

ETA Yes, MM I've seen miracles in people too, & I'm a tough one to satisfy in that respect. Benjie gets his spiritual care too. Obviously I would like more time with him very much indeed, but I don't know what the future holds for us both, so it's whatever is best.

 

[roxyroller88]

Aaaah here you are! I've been thinking of you and Benji today I'm happy to see that he is doing well.
The vets that you use sound wonderful!

 

[thumps_]

Aaaah here you are! I've been thinking of you and Benji today I'm happy to see that he is doing well.
The vets that you use sound wonderful!

Thank you so much for your pm. I'm deeply touched. Sorry I'm a bit overtired, & not thinking as clearly as I should.
I'm really hoping for Sylar. Sorry that adjusting diet is such a long haul for you both, but it gets easier, honest!

 

[thumps_]

We've got some really good news now, apart from another 12p fee for vet exam & injection! (All these vets are really supportive of using forage & herbs in conjunction with meds, & doing all the simple things eg home saline nebuliser / stress minimisation)

Using a combination of homeopathy for congestion + ABx for infection - Benjie has virtually stopped snoring, & his eye has been completely dry with new fur growth for 6 days out of 7.
His ear skin is always pink & never icy cold now. (I think the pale greyish colour had been caused by abdo pain, - they can get it for similar reasons why we go pale)
He's almost completed a full moult which needs an increase in energy intake of 40%. His new coat is amazingly soft & glossy, a picture of animal health.
He's up to weight.
Instead of eating inordinate amounts of dill & parsley, & (struggling to increase calorie intake with pellets avoiding dybiosis, with blackthorn leaves & thin new growth weeping willow twigs - despite the small risk of NSAI's) overall volume has reduced, very few pellets as is his norm, started to eat more grass & broad leaf plantain. He's eating much less parsley which increases the chalk in his urine which he was offsetting by drinking a lot.
IE. his diet is normalising. I see this as a fantastic sign, especially combined with improved wastes which are now large, & very healthy forage only poohs. Dysbiotic caecals are down to x1 per month & usually when we lose it a bit, stress being a big tipping factor.
He now has his own tiny lavender bush in a pot. Instead of eating it voraciously he just prunes a few leaves occasionally = the bush is surviving.
Today the dill seed arrived & I start the experiment with "dill tea".

Re behaviour, he still needs a lot of stroking as always, but he's a bit fed up with me for the vet trips, & always goes off his food for several hours afterwards. Obviously I've tried to offset this by hand feeding him as much as I can get in, a few hours before the vet trip. He's also fed up of me brushing him, butI can't afford him to ingest a lot of fur with his tummy problems. A zoom groomer suits him the best. Unfortunately, the more I groom him the more seems to come out - handful after handful. He purrs at the beginning but eventually gets fed up. Result - he lives under the bed, but pokes his head out to be stroked! I give him most of his food under the bed

ETA I concentrate a lot on the effect of stress on infection with Benjie. It's also major factor in gut slow down, as well as all the many other factors - diet is paramount as is pain control, & we chip away at the rest as much as we can.

Benjie poses me with many unanswered questions particularly what's happening to his platelets & why did he only snore (get nasal obstruction) when he sleeps?

Benjie is abnormally stress prone, & excessively predator "aware" for several good reasons. It had to be the 1st thing he mastered as a kit to survive abandonment in a town. Snuffles compromises one main defence - smell. (I was surprised to watch him move his nostrils from side to side (possibly trying to localise any danger - which side is it coming from?) He also has an up & lop ear. Lop ears slightly muffle sound. I wonder whether the asymetry impairs his ability to localise sound? If both ears lop, with symetrical muffling they can localise fine. I know Thumper as an up & down ear rabbit - his norm indoors (reverse side to Benjie)but he could raise his lop ear. Outside both ears were up, as in my siggy. Benjie can't raise his lop ear.
For certain, when his snuffles flares up he starts to head bob = trying to improve (normal monocular) vision as the lesser predator detection method. He also fails to recognise me.
He starts to live under the bed - seeking cover rather than being out in the open, even to the point of mainly venturing out for the rest of his food if I'm keeping watch. He's good about the litter "tray" but it becomes a bit of a mad dash, & the last 3-4 poohs come out on his way back to "cover".
A partner bun might have helped much of this - 4 ears better than 1 1/2. Everyone knows that the infection can spread to ears & lungs. Bisolvon can help to prevent this. It seems less common on RU to see Benjie's problem at the beginning. Spread in the blood stream causing abscesses throughout the body. We knew about the thigh & foot, unknown was whether there was anything internally - a constant worry. Stress plumets the immune system in all rabbits. I didn't have the testicular fortitude to put him through the stress of bonding & the very high risk of the pasteurellosis taking off big time, especially as no one expected us to get this far. I can only say that this achievement, has needed a lot of thought / effort to understand both him, & the factors which make the disease more difficult to control, & finding innovative ways round them.

Forget the classical signs of snuffles apart from increased facial grooming, which removes the eye discharge. He grooms with the bottom of his paws (nothing on the side) He rarely sneezes, it's more a quiet blowing his nose, & licks his nose immediately. At least his nostrils are damp! When I do get a rare glimpse of the discharge during flare up, it's typical white purulent "gloop". Try explaining all that to a vet!! Thank goodness they listen to me.

Benjie got the better of me in one way. I ran out of home dried ribwort & bought a lot. It's different - very fragmented which I don't like because of the risk of him inhaling a small fragment up his nose. I thought he was eating it from the box under the bed, topping it up when it was empty. No he was just using it as a digging box. All the shop ribwort is behind his food boxes! :lol:. Not the 1st time I've heard of rabbits preferring home dried either!

 

[tonibun]

A full moult needs an additional 40% intake of energy - are you saying that rabbits should eat more during a full moult? I like the idea of Benjie having his own Lavender Bush!

 

[tonibun]

I am pleased that Benjie is doing so much better. xx

 

[Omi]

I had to smile about the dried plantain behind his food boxes :lol: I am so pleased he seems to have improved a lot recently. I will also be interested to see how you get on with the Dill seeds, as I've just sown some for my rabbits.

 

[MightyMax]

We've got some really good news now, apart from another 12p fee for vet exam & injection! (All these vets are really supportive of using forage & herbs in conjunction with meds, & doing all the simple things eg home saline nebuliser / stress minimisation)

Using a combination of homeopathy for congestion + ABx for infection - Benjie has virtually stopped snoring, & his eye has been completely dry with new fur growth for 6 days out of 7.
His ear skin is always pink & never icy cold now. (I think the pale greyish colour had been caused by abdo pain, - they can get it for similar reasons why we go pale)
He's almost completed a full moult which needs an increase in energy intake of 40%. His new coat is amazingly soft & glossy, a picture of animal health.
He's up to weight.
Instead of eating inordinate amounts of dill & parsley, & (struggling to increase calorie intake with pellets avoiding dybiosis, with blackthorn leaves & thin new growth weeping willow twigs - despite the small risk of NSAI's) overall volume has reduced, very few pellets as is his norm, started to eat more grass & broad leaf plantain. He's eating much less parsley which increases the chalk in his urine which he was offsetting by drinking a lot.
IE. his diet is normalising. I see this as a fantastic sign, especially combined with improved wastes which are now large, & very healthy forage only poohs. Dysbiotic caecals are down to x1 per month & usually when we lose it a bit, stress being a big tipping factor.
He now has his own tiny lavender bush in a pot. Instead of eating it voraciously he just prunes a few leaves occasionally = the bush is surviving.
Today the dill seed arrived & I start the experiment with "dill tea".

Re behaviour, he still needs a lot of stroking as always, but he's a bit fed up with me for the vet trips, & always goes off his food for several hours afterwards. Obviously I've tried to offset this by hand feeding him as much as I can get in, a few hours before the vet trip. He's also fed up of me brushing him, butI can't afford him to ingest a lot of fur with his tummy problems. A zoom groomer suits him the best. Unfortunately, the more I groom him the more seems to come out - handful after handful. He purrs at the beginning but eventually gets fed up. Result - he lives under the bed, but pokes his head out to be stroked! I give him most of his food under the bed

ETA I concentrate a lot on the effect of stress on infection with Benjie. It's also major factor in gut slow down, as well as all the many other factors - diet is paramount as is pain control, & we chip away at the rest as much as we can.

Benjie poses me with many unanswered questions particularly what's happening to his platelets & why did he only snore (get nasal obstruction) when he sleeps?

Benjie is abnormally stress prone, & excessively predator "aware" for several good reasons. It had to be the 1st thing he mastered as a kit to survive abandonment in a town. Snuffles compromises one main defence - smell. (I was surprised to watch him move his nostrils from side to side (possibly trying to localise any danger - which side is it coming from?) He also has an up & lop ear. Lop ears slightly muffle sound. I wonder whether the asymetry impairs his ability to localise sound? If both ears lop, with symetrical muffling they can localise fine. I know Thumper as an up & down ear rabbit - his norm indoors (reverse side to Benjie)but he could raise his lop ear. Outside both ears were up, as in my siggy. Benjie can't raise his lop ear.
For certain, when his snuffles flares up he starts to head bob = trying to improve (normal monocular) vision as the lesser predator detection method. He also fails to recognise me.
He starts to live under the bed - seeking cover rather than being out in the open, even to the point of mainly venturing out for the rest of his food if I'm keeping watch. He's good about the litter "tray" but it becomes a bit of a mad dash, & the last 3-4 poohs come out on his way back to "cover".
A partner bun might have helped much of this - 4 ears better than 1 1/2. Everyone knows that the infection can spread to ears & lungs. Bisolvon can help to prevent this. It seems less common on RU to see Benjie's problem at the beginning. Spread in the blood stream causing abscesses throughout the body. We knew about the thigh & foot, unknown was whether there was anything internally - a constant worry. Stress plumets the immune system in all rabbits. I didn't have the testicular fortitude to put him through the stress of bonding & the very high risk of the pasteurellosis taking off big time, especially as no one expected us to get this far. I can only say that this achievement, has needed a lot of thought / effort to understand both him, & the factors which make the disease more difficult to control, & finding innovative ways round them.

Forget the classical signs of snuffles apart from increased facial grooming, which removes the eye discharge. He grooms with the bottom of his paws (nothing on the side) He rarely sneezes, it's more a quiet blowing his nose, & licks his nose immediately. At least his nostrils are damp! When I do get a rare glimpse of the discharge during flare up, it's typical white purulent "gloop". Try explaining all that to a vet!! Thank goodness they listen to me.

Benjie got the better of me in one way. I ran out of home dried ribwort & bought a lot. It's different - very fragmented which I don't like because of the risk of him inhaling a small fragment up his nose. I thought he was eating it from the box under the bed, topping it up when it was empty. No he was just using it as a digging box. All the shop ribwort is behind his food boxes! :lol:. Not the 1st time I've heard of rabbits preferring home dried either!

Thumps, I missed your post here about Benjie! I am so glad to hear things seem to be 'under control' at the moment and that he is keeping up his levels of mystery and naughtiness

My plantain is only just beginning to flourish again after the winter. I must admit to not drying any, as I never had enough over and above what I fed.

I would be very interested in the dill seeds. I think I might look them up and plant some myself. Dill in the shops is mightily expensive! x

 

[thumps_]

A full moult needs an additional 40% intake of energy - are you saying that rabbits should eat more during a full moult? I like the idea of Benjie having his own Lavender Bush!

Thank you for your reply.
I learned about moulting from Marie Kubiac with Thumper who had 3 moult lines at the time. It was very obvious because his coat colour used to change a lot with each moult except for the black points.
In that context the moult lines were reflecting Thumper's limited ability to increase food "throughput" & absorb food products because of his compromised GI tract - particularly caecum.

I was extrapolating to Benjie in a different context - if he cannot maintain weight, - he's using more energy than taking he can take in. ergo moulting is a very good sign of improvement.

It's difficult for me to answer you accurately because I don't weigh out all Benjie's food (Forage & a few pellets). I notice that he only eats about 4 SS pellets /day in summer - most is left in his bowl. He eats the lot - an eggcupful /day when he moults.
I assume that most rabbits just eat more hay which is freely available anyway.

My comment was more to make others aware of a reason for moult lines & rabbits moulting when ill.

With you interest in GI issues, I've had a real struggle here. Whatever is causing his thrombocytopaenia made Benjie feel ill, cause abdo pain + weight loss + makr him more nervous. Nervous + pain slows his gut - makes weight loss worse. Benjie tries to keep up weight by eating higher energy forage so we get a tad of dysbiosis, but looses it, & we get to the verge of stasis. I can't use pain killers for him so "go for the anxiety". The anxiety, abdo pain / gut slow down probs knock out his immune system so his snuffles takes off.
I think that the dill leaf is helping his abdo pain, but according to the literature seeds are much more effective. Benjie needs 6 sachets of dill leaves/day to stay comfortable. To me, that's a high intake without much fibre - a temporary fix until we can control his pain and get him back on his normal diet. I don't know why he has such a passion for lemon grass or why it's intermittant. There's certainly plenty of fibre in that!!

I should add that although not mentioned much, the thrombocytopaenia is a very major issue which would normally be lethal without all these other side issues.
Benjie? the snuffles bun with guts of iron! Not a single uneaten caecal until last Autumn!! It's interesting how it all ties in - illness anywhere, rabbit psychology about being more vulnerable to predation, & the effects on the GI tract.

ETA Tonibun I owe you an apology on a different thread when the amount of pellets which should be given was discussed. I can't find the thread.
you were absolutely correct that 45 gram is far too much for a small rabbit. To my deep shame I was thinking in millgrams. & was wrong by a factor of 1,000.
I don't know the weight of pelletsI feed my forage only buns. It works out at 1-2 pellets per kilo/day

 

[thumps_]

I had to smile about the dried plantain behind his food boxes :lol: I am so pleased he seems to have improved a lot recently. I will also be interested to see how you get on with the Dill seeds, as I've just sown some for my rabbits.

Hi Omi. We're at the sorting out technicals stage of dill tea (tissane) at the mo. Erm he's accidentally wee'd in it once. (Don't ask about that - even my rabbit toilet arrangements are a wildie latrine adapted for indoor use. Thumper's opinion of a standard litter tray would have you creased up) & I've been " 'flue bound" big time. The wonderful young couple next door got his fresh herbs for me, & kept me plied with vege soup. So I've just started back again. It's trying to get him to realise that liquids can benefit him too, - no easty task as wild rabbits don't drink water so they're not geared up to this.
Failing the tea, I'll have to try making a mush with the seeds. I'm unwilling to try the dried seeds because they're so small he could breath them in up his nose.

WARNING any seeds bought for planting must never be used as rabbit feed in any way, because they are often covered in fungicides etc.
I'm using dill seeds sold for human consumption.

 

[thumps_]

Thumps, I missed your post here about Benjie! I am so glad to hear things seem to be 'under control' at the moment and that he is keeping up his levels of mystery and naughtiness

My plantain is only just beginning to flourish again after the winter. I must admit to not drying any, as I never had enough over and above what I fed.

I would be very interested in the dill seeds. I think I might look them up and plant some myself. Dill in the shops is mightily expensive! x

Thank you MM Ah he isn't being naughty he's just being a rabbit. It amuses me no end that I'm "supposed" to have superior intelligence & these rabbits can outwit me so easily! :lol:
Yes dill is mighty expensive & no way do I expect others to do what I do. It's easier for me because it's the time of year when my personal food costs are minimal, greatly aided by importing buckwheat in bulk for about 20 of us for the next 6 weeks.
BTW Quinoa gives a good yield. Top yield is 1 kilo/10 plants on an allotment. I made my own "low dust" thresher from vege oil cans from the local take away!.

Re. drying - essential for us, but needs a lot of space to cold dry. When we're going flat out in summer I have drying racks in the attic. & bundles of hawthorn hung along the length of the clothes line. It's not possible for most people.
Dust reduction for a snuffles bun particularly a smaller bun is good if the hay is stuffed into a tube & they have to scrabble it out in a thin layer. It's when they stick their noses into a clump of hay to select the best bit that there's a significant dust issue.

With all of this, as far as I see it, there's no ridgid right or wrong - forage diet or standard diet. The aim is to have a healthy, happy rabbit.

Yes, I usually quite enjoy "problem solving" & have a whale of a time with 3rd world technology because it doesn't matter if it goes a bit wrong - I just learn, correct the mistake, & start again.
With Benjie & Thumper before him, I feel anxious because I don't fully understand what is going on, & there's not much of a "margin for error" with a sick rabbit. TBH it would be so much easier if someone could tell me do XYZ like a recipe book.
I just hope that in my searchings, others pick up ideas, adapt them, & find things which work for them & their own sick rabbits.

To end on a high note. benjie had his last Abx injection on Sat by David who started the course. Probably in his 50's, very "reserved", & of very few words. Professional speciality - does all the orthopaedics for a very large practice with about 5 branch surgeries. I knew he wasn't exotics trained at the beginning, but we just needed basic competance. I like him a lot.
Everything happened on the floor of the quiet room & he spent ages trying to calm Benjie with the "calm down stroke" before examining him.

I'm always a bit embarressed by Benjie's terror at the vets. There's no struggling, or other aggro, he handles "beautifully". Just abject terror trying to flatten himself out to merge into table or floor & absolutely everyone has been lovely to him.
Dave said "Rabbits are always nervous". My reply "Top of their mind is to avoid being something else's dinner". The only vet I've ever met who does everything possible on the floor of the quiet room.
No table smelling not only of disinfectant, but under that innumerable cats & dogs(predators) The quiet room is reserved for bereaved relatives. Animals don't usually go in there. No pick up unless unavoidable (when a wild rabbit is picked up - a predator has got him) I thought from a few other "terse" comments. This gentleman really understands and Loves animals. We landed on our feet there.