Jinny
Young Bun
I'm worried about my indoor, rescue, male, uncastrated (on vet's advice due to lung problems), 8yr old Lionhead Rabbit, Lightsa, who has a history of bladder stones, and bladder infections. We are in London, UK.
Just before October, he had a bacterial infection. I was away a few days, and came back and was ill, and didn't clean his cage for a week, and he had a water dish he overturned, and I'm soooo ashamed to say the cage was damp. Anyway - a week on Baytril, and he was back to normal.
Then a couple weeks ago, I was snuggling him, and I noticed he had a huge plug of earwax in his left ear. We went to the vet, who prescribed Canaural for 2 weeks, break for 4, and again for 2 weeks. He hated the treatment so much. And even though I stopped treatment after 10days on vet advice - his fur is still is very clumpy and greasy looking. Vet said his ear was ok.
He picked up again in mood. All was fine, but my own work load is heavy and I didn't handle him for a few days, because I was frustratingly suffering from Exhaustion and practically got through the door and fell asleep immediately. Lightsa can lose weight shockingly fast, and had gone off his food, and was sitting hunched up, and when I handled him I was shocked that he'd lost a lot of weight, so we took him to the vet immediately.
He'd gone down from 2.34kg, to 1.90kg in less than a week. The vet said to stop the Canaural, and feed him, and see how it goes. I suggested feeds every 2 hours of Critical Care, probiotics, and keep up the baytril 1.7mls a day. She agreed.
I fed him every 2 hours and while un-impressed, initially, he soon got the idea. On Monday and Tuesday, my Mum fed him the Critial care, and he was doing great and eating on his own too. Then on Wednesday late at night, I got back and picked him out to cuddle him. Mum had reported that since the early hours of Tuesday morning, he'd started to fight being fed. We just thought he was getting stronger. But when I picked him up - as soon as I touched him - I was shocked. He has 2 huge joined, long lumps, densely filled, very firm to the touch, and sore but not open or broken skinned, and sitting on what feels like, the outter side of the right jaw. She said she hadn't noticed it, but they were huge.
She took him to the Vet this morning, while I was at work, along with some strict instructions from me, and the vet said it's Cancer. I made mum take him back in get painkillers at the very least, and sent a text with a few questions. On the positive side - Lightsa had gained weight again and wanted to play, is 4 days - he now weighs 1.99kg. I asked them to see if they could aspirate the lump - in case it was a cyst - they took a sample for analysing - we get that result back Monday.
The other thing that is weird is that about 2 weeks ago, his left testicle seems to have disappeared. The right one is marginally larger, but I'm wondering if that's because of the weight loss. The vet said it was a sign of cancer , because the body's hormones alter and absorb the testicle. They took a biopsy of that too. Ive never heard of that before and to me that just doesn't sound right?
So I'm wondering if that's true - and also - can a large Cancerous lump turn up, in under 48 hours?
Any opinions/advice - is greatly appreciated, because he won't survive long the lump growth rate so high.
Just before October, he had a bacterial infection. I was away a few days, and came back and was ill, and didn't clean his cage for a week, and he had a water dish he overturned, and I'm soooo ashamed to say the cage was damp. Anyway - a week on Baytril, and he was back to normal.
Then a couple weeks ago, I was snuggling him, and I noticed he had a huge plug of earwax in his left ear. We went to the vet, who prescribed Canaural for 2 weeks, break for 4, and again for 2 weeks. He hated the treatment so much. And even though I stopped treatment after 10days on vet advice - his fur is still is very clumpy and greasy looking. Vet said his ear was ok.
He picked up again in mood. All was fine, but my own work load is heavy and I didn't handle him for a few days, because I was frustratingly suffering from Exhaustion and practically got through the door and fell asleep immediately. Lightsa can lose weight shockingly fast, and had gone off his food, and was sitting hunched up, and when I handled him I was shocked that he'd lost a lot of weight, so we took him to the vet immediately.
He'd gone down from 2.34kg, to 1.90kg in less than a week. The vet said to stop the Canaural, and feed him, and see how it goes. I suggested feeds every 2 hours of Critical Care, probiotics, and keep up the baytril 1.7mls a day. She agreed.
I fed him every 2 hours and while un-impressed, initially, he soon got the idea. On Monday and Tuesday, my Mum fed him the Critial care, and he was doing great and eating on his own too. Then on Wednesday late at night, I got back and picked him out to cuddle him. Mum had reported that since the early hours of Tuesday morning, he'd started to fight being fed. We just thought he was getting stronger. But when I picked him up - as soon as I touched him - I was shocked. He has 2 huge joined, long lumps, densely filled, very firm to the touch, and sore but not open or broken skinned, and sitting on what feels like, the outter side of the right jaw. She said she hadn't noticed it, but they were huge.
She took him to the Vet this morning, while I was at work, along with some strict instructions from me, and the vet said it's Cancer. I made mum take him back in get painkillers at the very least, and sent a text with a few questions. On the positive side - Lightsa had gained weight again and wanted to play, is 4 days - he now weighs 1.99kg. I asked them to see if they could aspirate the lump - in case it was a cyst - they took a sample for analysing - we get that result back Monday.
The other thing that is weird is that about 2 weeks ago, his left testicle seems to have disappeared. The right one is marginally larger, but I'm wondering if that's because of the weight loss. The vet said it was a sign of cancer , because the body's hormones alter and absorb the testicle. They took a biopsy of that too. Ive never heard of that before and to me that just doesn't sound right?
So I'm wondering if that's true - and also - can a large Cancerous lump turn up, in under 48 hours?
Any opinions/advice - is greatly appreciated, because he won't survive long the lump growth rate so high.