• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

  • Please Note - Medical Advice

    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

    You should always consult your vet before following any suggestions for medication or treatment you have read about. The wrong treatment could make your rabbit worse or mean your vet is unable to give the correct treatment because of drug interactions. Even non prescription drugs can do harm if given inappropriately.

    We are very grateful to members who take time to answer other members questions, but please do be clear in your replies that you are sharing personal experience and not giving instructions on what must be done.

    Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.

Rosie update - she's 11 today!

Well we're making a habit of this now. Been back at the vet with Rosie tonight (ooo, not our normal one). Rosie had eaten a lot overnight, lots of poops and been much more like her old self all day, to the point I was thinking we might manage to get away for the 2 days we've booked after all. 9.15pm she started tummy pressing, up and down, circling round and really not looking very happy. We didn't wait to call the vet as she looked quite obviously in discomfort, so we gave her some Infacol and set off. Good gut sounds so not in stasis (same as last Saturday). Vet's given her zantac and metacam both by injection to get them into her system more quickly, came home and she tucked into her hay straight away. So, it does look like she's now having trouble with her arthiritis and is going to need long term meds (she only finished the ones from last Saturday on Friday morning, ie about 36 hours ago, no pain meds and back in pain). We'll give her these drugs twice a day then I will ring our vet Monday afternoon when she comes on shift and discuss it with her. We just really hope there's nothing else wrong, but I'm trying to take it as a good sign that she had bloods done early December and they were normal (although only basic ones) but full xrays and no sign of other problems.

Anyone got any experience of long term meds for arthritis? Apologies if anyone has already told me this, we've had so many issues and updates with them both in the last few months I'm struggling to remember what's gone on.

On the good side, she does seem very bright at the moment bless her.

Also, I know metacam is ok for 6 months after opening but what about rinitidine/zantac? We've got some left from previous visits but not sure how long it lasts. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
It could be Weepy eye. I don't know what medical antibiotic they use for it anymore though. It used to be Teranycium. But it was proved ineffective and outlawed in the U.S.. Chamomile tea works great though! Boil some water and let the tea set in for a minute, put it in a jar so you can keep some for later. Take an eyedropper and put 2-3 drops in the rabbits eyes. Make sure its not hot when you put them in. Store in your fridge and throw out when tea becomes cloudy. I've also read that giving it to rabbits raw is good as well.
 
martlou said:
Well we're making a habit of this now. Been back at the vet with Rosie tonight (ooo, not our normal one). Rosie had eaten a lot overnight, lots of poops and been much more like her old self all day, to the point I was thinking we might manage to get away for the 2 days we've booked after all. 9.15pm she started tummy pressing, up and down, circling round and really not looking very happy. We didn't wait to call the vet as she looked quite obviously in discomfort, so we gave her some Infacol and set off. Good gut sounds so not in stasis (same as last Saturday). Vet's given her zantac and metacam both by injection to get them into her system more quickly, came home and she tucked into her hay straight away. So, it does look like she's now having trouble with her arthiritis and is going to need long term meds (she only finished the ones from last Saturday on Friday morning, ie about 36 hours ago, no pain meds and back in pain). We'll give her these drugs twice a day then I will ring our vet Monday afternoon when she comes on shift and discuss it with her. We just really hope there's nothing else wrong, but I'm trying to take it as a good sign that she had bloods done early December and they were normal (although only basic ones) but full xrays and no sign of other problems.

Anyone got any experience of long term meds for arthritis? Apologies if anyone has already told me this, we've had so many issues and updates with them both in the last few months I'm struggling to remember what's gone on.

On the good side, she does seem very bright at the moment bless her.

Also, I know metacam is ok for 6 months after opening but what about rinitidine/zantac? We've got some left from previous visits but not sure how long it lasts. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I cant remember if Rosie has been checked out for bladder sludge/cystitis ? The symptoms you describe fit with bladder discomfort. All this may have already been mentioned but I am afraid I have somewhat lost track :oops:

If the Ranitidine is in a small bottle rather than the original manufacturers bottle then personally I would not want to use it if it was more than a few weeks 'old'. Perhaps you could check with the Vet on that one ?

With longterm Meds for arthritis I have had Rabbits on Metacam, Metacam +Tramadol. The doses of each being titrated according to specific need. The Rabbits have also received acupuncture and massage.

I hope that Rosie has a better day today xx
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I cant remember if Rosie has been checked out for bladder sludge/cystitis ? The symptoms you describe fit with bladder discomfort. All this may have already been mentioned but I am afraid I have somewhat lost track :oops:

If the Ranitidine is in a small bottle rather than the original manufacturers bottle then personally I would not want to use it if it was more than a few weeks 'old'. Perhaps you could check with the Vet on that one ?

With longterm Meds for arthritis I have had Rabbits on Metacam, Metacam +Tramadol. The doses of each being titrated according to specific need. The Rabbits have also received acupuncture and massage.

I hope that Rosie has a better day today xx
Click to expand...

Thanks Jane, hope you're ok. When Rosie had her dental 3 December the vet did full xrays and went through quite a few body parts with me, one of which was her bladder and she said it was clear. I don't know how quickly that would occur though or what could cause sludge. What in particular from what I said made you think that? I don't know anything about sludge I'm afraid.

The ranitidine isn't in the manufacturers bottle and was something I'd thought last night, that we don't know when the original bottle was opened. The one we're using is from 11 Jan so sure that's fine but I'll get rid of the others I think.

Rosie is lively this morning and has eaten her breakfast apart from the red pepper so far which often gets left to last ☺
 
martlou said:
Thanks Jane, hope you're ok. When Rosie had her dental 3 December the vet did full xrays and went through quite a few body parts with me, one of which was her bladder and she said it was clear. I don't know how quickly that would occur though or what could cause sludge. What in particular from what I said made you think that? I don't know anything about sludge I'm afraid.

The ranitidine isn't in the manufacturers bottle and was something I'd thought last night, that we don't know when the original bottle was opened. The one we're using is from 11 Jan so sure that's fine but I'll get rid of the others I think.



Rosie is lively this morning and has eaten her breakfast apart from the red pepper so far which often gets left to last ☺
Click to expand...

The fact that Rosie displayed obvious signs of abdominal pain but she was not in gut stasis (according to Vet). Cystitis can cause intermittent/sudden onset of pain which in turn means Bun wont eat/tummy presses etc. With cystitis they may strain when weeing and/or just do spots of wee rather than a proper wee.
All that said, it may not be anything to do with her bladder at all and the pain may be arthritis related.

For reference here is some info about bladder sludge, but as I have said, Rosie may not have any bladder problems at all.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Uro_gen_diseases/generalities/Sludge.htm

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Uro_gen_diseases/Mech_diseases/Urolithiasis.htm

I just mentioned it as a possibility given that her GI tract did not appear to be the primary issue, (unless it was a bit of gas) and she clearly responded quickly to the metacam injection. I am glad that she seems to be doing much better this morning :)
 
Jack's-Jane said:
The fact that Rosie displayed obvious signs of abdominal pain but she was not in gut stasis (according to Vet). Cystitis can cause intermittent/sudden onset of pain which in turn means Bun wont eat/tummy presses etc. With cystitis they may strain when weeing and/or just do spots of wee rather than a proper wee.
All that said, it may not be anything to do with her bladder at all and the pain may be arthritis related.

For reference here is some info about bladder sludge, but as I have said, Rosie may not have any bladder problems at all.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Uro_gen_diseases/generalities/Sludge.htm

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Uro_gen_diseases/Mech_diseases/Urolithiasis.htm

I just mentioned it as a possibility given that her GI tract did not appear to be the primary issue, (unless it was a bit of gas) and she clearly responded quickly to the metacam injection. I am glad that she seems to be doing much better this morning :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Jane. You're right that the onset last night was sudden, last week she'd not seemed quite right all day but was still eating (not as much as normal though) but a much less sudden onset. I've read those articles you've linked to and I'm not seeing anything that makes me think this is her problem. She's never done anything that looks like the sludgy wee, or one of the ones with blood in and she regularly does the ones that are a different colour, but which match the normal picture. We've never seen her straining to wee and she does a decent amount. She isn't as good with her litter training now but my understanding is that this isn't unusual when rabbits get older. She's sun bathing in her little tent at the moment, it's really quite warm in there so that must make her bones feel better.

One of the reasons I'm finding this all so hard is that she's always been the one we didn't need to worry about. Ted was such a stasis prone bun and Rosie was the unbreakable one but now she seems to be struggling and it makes me really sad. I just hope we're doing what we need to be doing for her and not missing anything.
 
Based on her being estimated at 2 when Rosie was found as a stray, we picked today as her birthday and she is 10! We're so happy she made it and it's thanks to a number of you I'm sure. The last 3 months we've been so worried about her but she seems really well since she went onto these arthritis meds (though still trying to get to speak to our own vet for her to agree to them, these were prescribed by out of hours). Can't see how they won't agree but I'd like to get it confirmed! Her appetite has improved and she's very lively 😊
 
martlou said:
Based on her being estimated at 2 when Rosie was found as a stray, we picked today as her birthday and she is 10! We're so happy she made it and it's thanks to a number of you I'm sure. The last 3 months we've been so worried about her but she seems really well since she went onto these arthritis meds (though still trying to get to speak to our own vet for her to agree to them, these were prescribed by out of hours). Can't see how they won't agree but I'd like to get it confirmed! Her appetite has improved and she's very lively 😊
Click to expand...


Happy birthday Rosie :love:
 
Been a year since I've needed to update this thread :D . Rosie is 11 today! I've just spent half an hour reading back over this entire thread, I'm so pleased that she's doing so well at the moment. Although she's had the odd recurrence of her runny eye, the vets seem to think it's just one of those things as she's older now. It's been dry for a few weeks after being runny on and off for a while. She's also very well in herself generally. Really good appetite and still lots of running and binkying :love:
 
martlou said:
Been a year since I've needed to update this thread :D . Rosie is 11 today! I've just spent half an hour reading back over this entire thread, I'm so pleased that she's doing so well at the moment. Although she's had the odd recurrence of her runny eye, the vets seem to think it's just one of those things as she's older now. It's been dry for a few weeks after being runny on and off for a while. She's also very well in herself generally. Really good appetite and still lots of running and binkying :love:
Click to expand...


Happy Birthday Rosie :wave:

I hope you're doing well too, Martlou? x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
**UPDATE***Cleo's fluctuating weight :(
Replies
12
Views
308
InspectorMorse
InspectorMorse
~ILoveMyBunny~
Prognosis on fractured spine vertebrae (thorax area) - update: she's gone
Replies
16
Views
710
bunny momma
bunny momma
PumpkinBells
Healing and forearm lifting question
Replies
11
Views
266
PumpkinBells
PumpkinBells
Back
Top