Something's bothering Sophie

[a reader of books]

She's been washing and pulling on the fur below her chin a lot again these past few days. For those of you who didn't read my previous thread about it, or have forgotten (it's been a while!), she does this when something bothers her, like her arthritis or sometimes when her scent glands aren't clean (I'm still grateful you mentioned that possibility, IM, since I never would've figured it out on my own!). The vet has approved my giving her an extra dose of her Metacam on bad arthritis days, and so the other day when she was being really obsessive about it again I gave her extra and she settled down after a while, and this morning she was bad again and I've just given her an extra dose and she's taking a nap with Casper now, so it seems to help, which makes me think it's her arthritis. She doesn't act like she's in pain, though; she's very active, and jumping and running and digging. But we all know bunnies hide pain, of course, so I'm not sure what that means...

I've been trying to check her scent glands, but she won't let me, and I don't want to do it against her will as I'm worried about hurting her arthritic spine (I'm always very careful when handling her). So, I haven't been able to check if that's what's bothering her... It could also, of course, be a different thing entirely.

You can see that she's been washing the little patch of fur there a lot in these photos from this morning. It's wet and discoloured (she doesn't pull the fur out, just pulls on it):

I'm not sure if I should take her to the vet for a health check in case it's something else that's bothering her, since the extra Metacam does work and I'm thinking it's likely her arthritis... Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[KCG]

Can you send an e-mail to the vet for this situation, is it a problem? Maybe the vet would find it appropriate to see her?
I'm sending lots of vibes for Sophie, pretty little bun xxxxxxxx

 

[InspectorMorse]

Awww bless her. I hope the increased dose of Metacam will stop her fur pulling x

 

[Scrappy's Little Helper]

Aww poor Sophie.

I remember Fudgie did this once when she had a really bad stasis episode. The vet who first saw her gave her a very low dose of metacam, put the fur pulling stopped once the dosage was increased. So it does seem to be a pain response.

I'm glad the increased metacam appears to be helping Sophie. It might be worth contacting your vet and asking for her dosage to be reviewed.

 

[a reader of books]

Can you send an e-mail to the vet for this situation, is it a problem? Maybe the vet would find it appropriate to see her?
I'm sending lots of vibes for Sophie, pretty little bun xxxxxxxx

Yes, I think that would be a good idea. I'll send them a message and ask what they think. Thank you for the vibes.

Awww bless her. I hope the increased dose of Metacam will stop her fur pulling x

Thank you.

Aww poor Sophie.

I remember Fudgie did this once when she had a really bad stasis episode. The vet who first saw her gave her a very low dose of metacam, put the fur pulling stopped once the dosage was increased. So it does seem to be a pain response.

I'm glad the increased metacam appears to be helping Sophie. It might be worth contacting your vet and asking for her dosage to be reviewed.

Oh, that's interesting that Fudgie did it, too, once, in response to pain, and that it stopped once she got more Metacam. I'm glad the extra Metacam helped her then. Thank you for being glad it's helping Sophie, too. I'll contact the vets, yes, and ask if they think that her daily dosage needs to be increased.

 

[CarelessSquid07]

Sending vibes for Sophie!

I wonder if the weather affects her arthritis? Obviously lots of distance between us but hubby's has been acting up more on the slightly damp in the air cold days.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

 

[Zoobec]

Sending lots of vibes xx

 

[joey&boo]

Aww poor girl. Its clever she has this way of letting you know she's not comfy in some way & good that upping her metacam works. She is still leading a great bunny life by the sounds of it, its great she remains so active (I bet having Casper keeps her on her toes as going off your videos, he is really quick :lol: Boo is very defiant about letting me check her scent glands - no sure I've ever actually managed it. She needs a pedicure so I'll try again this weekend

 

[a reader of books]

Sending vibes for Sophie!

I wonder if the weather affects her arthritis? Obviously lots of distance between us but hubby's has been acting up more on the slightly damp in the air cold days.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

Thank you!

Oh, I wonder... If I remember right, keletkezes explained something about it to me once. Maybe I should keep a closer eye on the weather and see if it makes a difference.

Sending lots of vibes xx

Thank you for the vibes, Zoobec.

Aww poor girl. Its clever she has this way of letting you know she's not comfy in some way & good that upping her metacam works. She is still leading a great bunny life by the sounds of it, its great she remains so active (I bet having Casper keeps her on her toes as going off your videos, he is really quick :lol: Boo is very defiant about letting me check her scent glands - no sure I've ever actually managed it. She needs a pedicure so I'll try again this weekend

Yes, I'm glad she shows it when something's bothering her. It's kind of you to say that she's leading a great bunny life. She doesn't seem unhappy, thankfully, and, yes, trying to keep up with Casper keeps her active, though a lot of the time she just ignores his racing around. :lol: You know, if I were a rabbit I wouldn't want anyone checking my scent glands, either, so I do understand where Sophie and Boo are coming from.

 

[joey&boo]

Thank you!

Oh, I wonder... If I remember right, keletkezes explained something about it to me once. Maybe I should keep a closer eye on the weather and see if it makes a difference.



Thank you for the vibes, Zoobec.



Yes, I'm glad she shows it when something's bothering her. It's kind of you to say that she's leading a great bunny life. She doesn't seem unhappy, thankfully, and, yes, trying to keep up with Casper keeps her active, though a lot of the time she just ignores his racing around. :lol: You know, if I were a rabbit I wouldn't want anyone checking my scent glands, either, so I do understand where Sophie and Boo are coming from.

I like to think whatever species I was, I wouldn't appreciate the interference either:lol: I guess with old age comes the need for a little help & with that a little loss of dignity.

 

[Liz47]

I can't offer any advice but hoping Sophie will be more comfortable again soon

 

[Pets mum]

Sorry to hear about Sophies fur pulling, sending loads of vibes for her, and hope the metacam helps her xx

 

[bunny momma]

Glad you got her to stop pulling the fur with added pain relief.
Sending vibes she continues to do well.
She looks very pretty.

 

[a reader of books]

I like to think whatever species I was, I wouldn't appreciate the interference either:lol: I guess with old age comes the need for a little help & with that a little loss of dignity.

:lol: That's true, though I don't think Sophie agrees.

I can't offer any advice but hoping Sophie will be more comfortable again soon

Thank you, Liz.

Sorry to hear about Sophies fur pulling, sending loads of vibes for her, and hope the metacam helps her xx

Thank you, too, Pets mum.

Glad you got her to stop pulling the fur with added pain relief.
Sending vibes she continues to do well.
She looks very pretty.

Aw, thank you. She is a pretty bunny.


I have some good news, because this morning she's been fine and calm and hasn't been doing it. So, maybe it'll be enough to just give her extra Metacam on the days that she does it, rather than increasing her dosage for every day. I'll send the vets a message soon and ask.

 

[a reader of books]

She was doing it again this morning. I asked the vets and they said I can keep giving her extra on days she needs it, but to try to keep the dosage as low as possible so it won't be too much of a strain on her liver and kidneys. So, I'll try to find out what works best for her.

It's strange, though, because early this morning she seemed fine and jumped up unto the sofa twice, without using the steps, so you'd think she wouldn't have much pain if she did that? But two hours later she was clearly unhappy. But maybe it was the jumping that actually hurt her, I don't know...

 

[InspectorMorse]

She was doing it again this morning. I asked the vets and they said I can keep giving her extra on days she needs it, but to try to keep the dosage as low as possible so it won't be too much of a strain on her liver and kidneys. So, I'll try to find out what works best for her.

It's strange, though, because early this morning she seemed fine and jumped up unto the sofa twice, without using the steps, so you'd think she wouldn't have much pain if she did that? But two hours later she was clearly unhappy. But maybe it was the jumping that actually hurt her, I don't know...

She probably over did it by jumping up x

 

[KCG]

She was doing it again this morning. I asked the vets and they said I can keep giving her extra on days she needs it, but to try to keep the dosage as low as possible so it won't be too much of a strain on her liver and kidneys. So, I'll try to find out what works best for her.

It's strange, though, because early this morning she seemed fine and jumped up unto the sofa twice, without using the steps, so you'd think she wouldn't have much pain if she did that? But two hours later she was clearly unhappy. But maybe it was the jumping that actually hurt her, I don't know...

Ah Sophie, maybe because of the weather? Because my rheumatic pains are very bad since last night, I wonder if rabbits are affected like us?

 

[a reader of books]

She probably over did it by jumping up x

Yeah, I think that's possible, too. She's really quite active for an arhritic bunny, so I wonder if she just overdoes it a lot, if she pushes herself too much.

Ah Sophie, maybe because of the weather? Because my rheumatic pains are very bad since last night, I wonder if rabbits are affected like us?

Yes, I've been wondering about that... CarelessSquid mentioned that as well. I've started noting down the weather thingies for each day to see if I can find a correlation between her pain and the weather.

 

[KCG]

Yeah, I think that's possible, too. She's really quite active for an arhritic bunny, so I wonder if she just overdoes it a lot, if she pushes herself too much.



Yes, I've been wondering about that... CarelessSquid mentioned that as well. I've started noting down the weather thingies for each day to see if I can find a correlation between her pain and the weather.

Frankly, it's quite possible, because rheumatism has the same effects on humans and animals. In rheumatism, the weather affects people so much, why should animals be an exception? I've been crawling since last night, frankly I'm devastated. I went to the GP for the first time today. I think Sophie might be affected by the weather like me, after all, it's a small country, the weather is generally similar.

 

[a reader of books]

Frankly, it's quite possible, because rheumatism has the same effects on humans and animals. In rheumatism, the weather affects people so much, why should animals be an exception? I've been crawling since last night, frankly I'm devastated. I went to the GP for the first time today. I think Sophie might be affected by the weather like me, after all, it's a small country, the weather is generally similar.

I'm sorry you're struggling so much. You're right, though, there's no reason why something that affects humans wouldn't affect non-human animals. Probably a really silly question, though, but I'm no scientist, so I don't understand this stuff , but how would the weather affect her when she's indoors?