Peanut Butter's abscess is back. He's gone :(

[Scrappy's Little Helper]

As some of you may remember, towards the end of last year Peanut Butter was diagnosed with ear abscesses. These were successfully treated with surgery and a long course of penicillin. I took him for a routine check up last week and unfortunately it looks like it has come back on one side (vet felt a small lump and there is some discharge in the ear).

He is being referred to a specialist at RVC, appointment is this Wednesday. They're looking to do a CT scan and from there decide whether more aggressive surgery might be the best way forward. I'm quite worried about the risks but I'm hoping I can discuss it with the specialist in more detail.

He has been given metacam in the meantime to deal with any pain. Unfortunately I don't think it's keeping on top of it as last night I found he was struggling to eat hay. Although he has managed to eat forage, pellets and some broken up fibafirst sticks. He also managed to eat some hay when I chopped it up into quite small pieces.

Unfortunately my GP was fully booked this morning so I took him to the Animal Hospital. Initially the vet (a locum I haven't dealt with before) said there wasn't much more they could give in terms of pain relief. I then asked if we could try tramadol and she agreed. I've also got some critical care and emperid to keep his gut moving. Although he is still eating bits, he really needs to be topped up with recovery food. She did warn me that the tramadol would make him dozy. I must admit I am quite anxious about syringe feeding him if he is zonked on it because of the risk of aspiration. I gave him some earlier on a dish and thankfully he licked it off that. I'm really hoping he will continue to do so. I initially embedded the tramadol tablet in a tiny piece of apple, but he spat it out :roll: I managed to sneak it in by crushing it and mixing it with a little bit of pureed fruit.

Any spare vibes would be very much appreciated. Thanks x

 

[MrsCoultas]

Sending lots of positive bunny vibes your way x

 

[Omi]

Oh no, I'm so sorry Rabbit abscesses are just so rotten. Sending loads of vibes for him and for your appointment on Wednesday. I too would be very worried and so I know how you feel. I do think you are doing all you can for him though and it's just not possible to do more than that. It's such a fine balance with rabbits with keeping pain under control and keeping them eating. It's good that he will eat the recovery food from a dish.

Sending some hugs for you as well.

 

[Scrappy's Little Helper]

Thanks MrsCoultas and Omi. :wave:

Well the good news is that he's eaten more recovery food off the dish. I mixed a dose of emperid into the concoction and he licked the dish clean! For the time being I'm giving the food on about half a tablespoon every couple of hours. I think that's around 5mls. As I'm not putting it through the syringe I can make it quite thick. Just hope I get the balance right and don't fill him up on it otherwise it'll be difficult to judge how he's eating for himself.

Just monitoring for now. Although it is a bit tricky as they normally sleep in the afternoon. Plus add in the obligatory sulking after a vet visit :lol: I should get a better idea of how he's doing later this evening.

Thanks again for the vibes, vey much appreciated x

 

[joey&boo]

Many many vibes for Peanut butter . Isn't he good eating his recovery food from a saucer I'm glad you were able to request tramadol & the vet agreed x

 

[Jack's-Jane]

I am really sorry that PB is having more ear trouble I hate Rabbit ear infections/abscesses. I hope the appointment on Wednesday goes as well as possible xx

 

[Scrappy's Little Helper]

Many many vibes for Peanut butter . Isn't he good eating his recovery food from a saucer I'm glad you were able to request tramadol & the vet agreed x

Yes, thank heavens for small mercies! He hates being handled so going down the syringe route would have been a nightmare!

 

[Scrappy's Little Helper]

I am really sorry that PB is having more ear trouble I hate Rabbit ear infections/abscesses. I hope the appointment on Wednesday goes as well as possible xx

Thanks Jane. x To be honest we were expecting it to come back. Just hope I can keep him from going into stasis over the next few days.

 

[MightyMax]

As some of you may remember, towards the end of last year Peanut Butter was diagnosed with ear abscesses. These were successfully treated with surgery and a long course of penicillin. I took him for a routine check up last week and unfortunately it looks like it has come back on one side (vet felt a small lump and there is some discharge in the ear).

He is being referred to a specialist at RVC, appointment is this Wednesday. They're looking to do a CT scan and from there decide whether more aggressive surgery might be the best way forward. I'm quite worried about the risks but I'm hoping I can discuss it with the specialist in more detail.

He has been given metacam in the meantime to deal with any pain. Unfortunately I don't think it's keeping on top of it as last night I found he was struggling to eat hay. Although he has managed to eat forage, pellets and some broken up fibafirst sticks. He also managed to eat some hay when I chopped it up into quite small pieces.

Unfortunately my GP was fully booked this morning so I took him to the Animal Hospital. Initially the vet (a locum I haven't dealt with before) said there wasn't much more they could give in terms of pain relief. I then asked if we could try tramadol and she agreed. I've also got some critical care and emperid to keep his gut moving. Although he is still eating bits, he really needs to be topped up with recovery food. She did warn me that the tramadol would make him dozy. I must admit I am quite anxious about syringe feeding him if he is zonked on it because of the risk of aspiration. I gave him some earlier on a dish and thankfully he licked it off that. I'm really hoping he will continue to do so. I initially embedded the tramadol tablet in a tiny piece of apple, but he spat it out :roll: I managed to sneak it in by crushing it and mixing it with a little bit of pureed fruit.

Any spare vibes would be very much appreciated. Thanks x

I'm really sorry to hear this SLH Abscesses are not nice, and around and inside the ear is particularly horrid.

How's he doing on the Tramdol?

Sending millions of vibes for both you and Peanut Butter xx

 

[jerseygirl]

{{{Vibes}}} for Peanut Butter!
Really interested to hear how Wednesdays appt goes. I hope you come away with a clear idea of how to move forward in treating this.
He's a lucky bunny to have you in his corner.

 

[Ruthyjones89]

Hi,

Im so sorry to hear about PB, bless him! But he's a trooper & will get through it. I still find it raw talking about ears, especially after everything with honey.. It's so cruel!! But sending loads of vibes & really hope they can get his abscesses sorted.

Honey was on tramadol, not a high dose but a low dose, about 0.3 and she was 2.2kg and it made such a difference helping to keep her comfortable.
But with honeys tramadol the vets had already broken up the tablets & these were pre-mixed with water, so we just syringed the fluid to her. Not sure if this might make things easier with PB.

Sending lots of vibes for your gorgeous cheeky boy though xxx

 

[TheThreeB's]

Best wishes xxx

 

[Scrappy's Little Helper]

I'm really sorry to hear this SLH Abscesses are not nice, and around and inside the ear is particularly horrid.

How's he doing on the Tramdol?

Sending millions of vibes for both you and Peanut Butter xx

Thanks Mighty Max x

He does seem more comfortable on the tramadol. He has had a few long deep sleeps. I know when he's in a deep sleep as he makes "mmm" "mmm" noises :lol: And he has bursts of energy when he wakes up. Mainly running around and buzzing. He is still eating forage and was very enthusiastic about his fenugreek crunchie earlier. He is also passing poos, although they are smaller than usual.

I am a bit concerned however that he's still not eating his hay. Not sure if this could be because I'm overfeeding the recovery food? He's 2.25 kgs and I'm giving 5mls every two hours. His teeth were checked and although there is some slight spurring apparently it's not enough to cause concern. Might be that he's still not feeling up to eating it. Important thing for now is that he is getting his meds and food into his tummy.

 

[Scrappy's Little Helper]

{{{Vibes}}} for Peanut Butter!
Really interested to hear how Wednesdays appt goes. I hope you come away with a clear idea of how to move forward in treating this.
He's a lucky bunny to have you in his corner.

Thank you, that's very kind of you. x I really hope they'll be able to come up with a plan to deal with it. It was around 2 months from the end of the treatment for the last one to this. So it seems they'll keep coming back quite frequently

 

[Scrappy's Little Helper]

Hi,

Im so sorry to hear about PB, bless him! But he's a trooper & will get through it. I still find it raw talking about ears, especially after everything with honey.. It's so cruel!! But sending loads of vibes & really hope they can get his abscesses sorted.

Honey was on tramadol, not a high dose but a low dose, about 0.3 and she was 2.2kg and it made such a difference helping to keep her comfortable.
But with honeys tramadol the vets had already broken up the tablets & these were pre-mixed with water, so we just syringed the fluid to her. Not sure if this might make things easier with PB.

Sending lots of vibes for your gorgeous cheeky boy though xxx

Thanks Ruth :wave: He is 2.25kg and according to the label the tablets are a 10mg dose, to be taken twice a day. I think for the next one I might crush and add to the recovery food. It did a good job of hiding the emperid! He does seem more comfortable since he had one earlier x

 

[MightyMax]

Thanks Mighty Max x

He does seem more comfortable on the tramadol. He has had a few long deep sleeps. I know when he's in a deep sleep as he makes "mmm" "mmm" noises :lol: And he has bursts of energy when he wakes up. Mainly running around and buzzing. He is still eating forage and was very enthusiastic about his fenugreek crunchie earlier. He is also passing poos, although they are smaller than usual.

I am a bit concerned however that he's still not eating his hay. Not sure if this could be because I'm overfeeding the recovery food? He's 2.25 kgs and I'm giving 5mls every two hours. His teeth were checked and although there is some slight spurring apparently it's not enough to cause concern. Might be that he's still not feeling up to eating it. Important thing for now is that he is getting his meds and food into his tummy.

Well if the tramadol is making him sleepy, it's less effort to eat the easy stuff than munch through hay I suppose. Also I have found that in some rabbits even the slightest spur can put them off chewing. You know, the spurs that the vets say won't be causing them any trouble?!

Maybe also there's sensations around the ear when he chews that he doesn't much care for and it's putting him off a bit?

As you say, the most important thing for now is that he's getting food and meds down him. Time to attend to teeth and other things in due course.

Vibes for you both xxx

 

[Zoobec]

sending lots of vibes xx

 

[Scrappy's Little Helper]

Peanut Butter passed away this morning

Up until yesterday he had been really good eating his recovery food from a saucer. But from yesterday afternoon he didn't seem interested when I put it in front of him so I started feeding him via the syringe. Along with the emperid to try and keep his gut moving. When I went to do the morning feed he was very lethargic and he didn't even swallow the food, just dribbled it out. He also felt cold so I immediately took him straight to the emergency vet. There were gut sounds, but not as much as there should be. His body temperature and glucose were both very low. The vet thought the low blood glucose might indicate septicaemia.

They managed to stabilise him and advised that we should still go to the RVC appointment as arranged because they have specialists and she believed that was his best hope. We took a cab directly there and unfortunately he died on the way. I knew he had gone because he had a seizure and was then very still and seemed to have stopped breathing. He was admitted straightaway and they confirmed he had gone

The only comfort I'm getting at the moment is that I was with him when he passed and he died snuggled into Snoopy so he wasn't on his own. They were also very kind at the RVC and let me have some time to cuddle him and say goodbye, something I wasn't able to do with Scrappy.

I just feel I've utterly failed him. All I had to do was stop him going into stasis before his abscesses could be investigated and treated and I couldn't do that

I now have to get another friend for Snoopy. He much prefers the company of other rabbits than humans so I feel I need to do that quickly otherwise I'm worried he will get very depressed. I'm going to find that really hard as I'd developed a close bond with Peanut Butter but I have to now do what is best for Snoopy.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

Peanut Butter passed away this morning

Up until yesterday he had been really good eating his recovery food from a saucer. But from yesterday afternoon he didn't seem interested when I put it in front of him so I started feeding him via the syringe. Along with the emperid to try and keep his gut moving. When I went to do the morning feed he was very lethargic and he didn't even swallow the food, just dribbled it out. He also felt cold so I immediately took him straight to the emergency vet. There were gut sounds, but not as much as there should be. His body temperature and glucose were both very low. The vet thought the low blood glucose might indicate septicaemia.

They managed to stabilise him and advised that we should still go to the RVC appointment as arranged because they have specialists and she believed that was his best hope. We took a cab directly there and unfortunately he died on the way. I knew he had gone because he had a seizure and was then very still and seemed to have stopped breathing. He was admitted straightaway and they confirmed he had gone

The only comfort I'm getting at the moment is that I was with him when he passed and he died snuggled into Snoopy so he wasn't on his own. They were also very kind at the RVC and let me have some time to cuddle him and say goodbye, something I wasn't able to do with Scrappy.

I just feel I've utterly failed him. All I had to do was stop him going into stasis before his abscesses could be investigated and treated and I couldn't do that

I now have to get another friend for Snoopy. He much prefers the company of other rabbits than humans so I feel I need to do that quickly otherwise I'm worried he will get very depressed. I'm going to find that really hard as I'd developed a close bond with Peanut Butter but I have to now do what is best for Snoopy.

I am really sorry You haven't failed him, it sounds as though he was over-whelmed by infection. You did keep his GI tract working despite him being so poorly.

RIP Peanut Butter xx

 

[Mackers]

I'm so very sorry xxx