Will 'Rabbit Savvy Vets' Ever Become the Norm Rather Than the Exception............

[Mackers]

They all claim to, but still there are so few who have anything but the basics about Rabbit Health, if that.

I realise it needs to be addressed in the actual syllabus for Vet Med Training, but it really is very frustrating when the situation does not seem to be getting much better. If a Practice lists Rabbits as Pets they care for then IMO the Practice has a duty of care to insure that the Vets all keep up to date with the advances in Rabbit Medicine. Otherwise be up front, dont take on Rabbits as clients and charge extortionate fees for sub standard care

Rant over

Completely agree Jane. I'm very, very lucky to be withing travelling distance of a well respected bunny vet but in general, most vets only seem to know the basics about bunny care. It's no wonder the general public have no hope when their vet is telling them their bunny doesn't need to be neutered and will live for about 5-6 years :roll:.

 

[catxx]

Rabbit Residence is doing a lot of work with the Royal Vet College in Potters Bar, going in and talking to first year vet or vet nurse students on rabbit handling days and working to get a visit to RRR a compulsory part of their course!! They've had a lot of vet students coming up and spending time with the rescue bunnies. Baby steps.

 

[Milo+Fizz]

I have never seen another rabbit at any vets I have visited! My vets are brilliant and have always provided excellent care but I imagine that without practise and experience vets can never learn. Rabbits can be brought for next to nothing, free even, people just don't tend to think a vet is worth it for bunnies. I see cats and dogs that's it!

 

[SJ_R]

Before I came here, I had no idea about rabbit savvy vets. I just thought it was, if not equal exactly, close. Our vets have been pretty good with our dog and various hamsters, but when I brought Amy in to get spayed, they said they didn't do many spays (which I think they could have told my mum over the phone when she called for me) and actually hadn't seen any cases of uterine/ovarian cancer in rabbits there (not entirely sure why; not many owners bothering to spay, rabbits dying from cancer before they're brought in, or maybe there's something in the water). Thankfully Amy (aside from being a madam and chewing her stitches, getting herself an infection) got through it okay, and they were otherwise, if not quite excellent, then at least competent in their care.

 

[Rosie42]

I think that there needs to be some sort of big overhaul of veterinary practices in this country. I too presumed that your average vet would know how to treat rabbits, and discovered that that was not the case. I think that had I had a better vet, I might still have bunnies today- instead I lost them both within 6 months of each other when they were only 2 and 2 and a half years old

I do not think that vets should be allowed to say that they treat 'x y and z' species when in reality they haven't got a clue. I had similar experiences when I got my chickens. Over the years, chickens have become 'fashionable' so vets will state that they treat them, when all they will really do is the same as they do with bunnies- prescribe baytril as they have no idea what is wrong and then when that doesn't help and the animal gets worse they just suggest putting them to sleep :evil::roll: I have had arguments with vets who have accused me of starving hens, when in fact they were ex-battery hens and so are just naturally lean. They have almost no fat on them even when they are healthy because their egg laying just sucks all the nutrients out of them I've also got in to spats with vets because I haven't agreed with their opinion and have essentially called them out and showed that they don't know what they are talking about. I learnt the hard way with both my hens and my rabbits but I think that the sad thing is that most people just take their vets' views as gospel and don't question them, so animals are allowed to suffer or be unnecessarily pts because of the sake of a vet's ego and that they will not admit that they don't know what they are doing. The whole thing is just so hideous.

 

[Lucy-Lou]

This morning I was made aware of a situation whereby a Vet refused to prescribe any analgesia to a Rabbit in gut stasis as according to the Vet Rabbits do not tolerate analgesic drugs well and giving them would cause kidney failure. Thankfully the owner knew this was a load of tosh and promptly took the Rabbit to another Vet. Not before forking out almost £70.00 to the initial Vet- the charge for a consult and a shot of bloody baytril

This is just horrible - can you imagine an A&E doctor refusing to give pain relief to a patient who'd come in as an emergency? That vet shouldn't be practising :evil:

I'm glad I'm in a position now where I know enough of the basics to advocate for my rabbits, but when I first got Barney I would have trusted whatever a vet told me. I mean, they're the vet, and we're taught to listen to qualified professionals and assume they know what they're doing :?

 

[catxx]

Me helping with Caroline of Rabbit Residence at RVC, with first year vet nurses, we were literally forcing every single one to get hands on with bunnies, almost all were keen anyway but some had never really handled rabbits so were a bit cautious. We soon fixed that!

 

[aaammmyyy]

Good for RU I want to train to be a rabbit savvy vet

On a serious note though I find it shameful a vet will risk a rabbits life just because they dont know what they're doing - personally, id be in the job for my love of animals so couldn't let one come to harm because I didn't know - id rather admit and get them the best care!

When I took Skye (hamster) to the vets, they used her for an experiment without telling me :shock:
They put her on a human antibiotics which gave her a 50/50 chance of pulling through when a previous hamster had different abxs and didnt have the risk..&they worked perfectly well
It was in Skyes best interest to have a different type of abxs but they didnt make me aware of that...they then joked that if it all goes horribly wrong the box for the antis is big enough to bury her in, which I didnt appreciate
I haven't been back there!

 

[catxx]

We also had a final year vet student come to Rabbit Residence for advice on good vets to do their placement in, so we were able to point them in the direction of known bunny-savvy vets. Rabbit Residence mainly uses the Woolpack in Buntingford and the Cambridge Vet Group for bigger ops (they're pricey but willing to try anything to save bunnies lives, including complicated molar extraction, eye removal, all sorts). I use Nine Lives in Redbourn who are bunny savvy too, Ruth of Agatha's Annex (no longer rescues) travels over an hour now she's moved to still use Nine Lives for her remaining bunnies. There are good vets out there, Rabbit Residence is hoping to work hard with RVC and colleges in Cambridge at least to encourage vet students to come and volunteer at the rescue.

We have behaviour students and lecturers spending time at the rescue too, they're writing papers on bunny health and behaviour (including why they need to be kept in pairs and not alone!)

 

[parsnipbun]

Its true its the same with hens (and particularly anything out of the ordinary henwise - like fancy bantams). My local RURAL vet who is surrounded by people who have hens couldnt even crop feed a bird I took in and had no medicines for it.

 

[Lucy-Lou]

When I took Skye (hamster) to the vets, they used her for an experiment without telling me :shock:
They put her on a human antibiotics which gave her a 50/50 chance of pulling through when a previous hamster had different abxs and didnt have the risk..&they worked perfectly well
It was in Skyes best interest to have a different type of abxs but they didnt make me aware of that...they then joked that if it all goes horribly wrong the box for the antis is big enough to bury her in, which I didnt appreciate
I haven't been back there!

:shock: That's so unprofessional of them. What an awful thing to say

 

[aaammmyyy]

:shock: That's so unprofessional of them. What an awful thing to say

She made a full recovery thank god and I phoned up to complain, she lived happily and ended up getting pts at a new vets who im really happy with

If they dont really care about the recovery of the animal I dont have a clue why they're in the job!

 

[Sarah1989]

She made a full recovery thank god and I phoned up to complain, she lived happily and ended up getting pts at a new vets who im really happy with

If they dont really care about the recovery of the animal I dont have a clue why they're in the job!

I don't understand it either. It's not easy to become a vet, it takes several years at uni to qualify. If you don't like animals/don't care, why would you (generally not anyone specifically) go through all that? It doesn't make sense :?

 

[Jack's-Jane]

This Vet came all the way over from Australia to update her Rabbit knowledge. She spent a lot of time talking with FHB

http://therabbitdoctor.com.au/

If a Vet from a country where Rabbit's are seen as 'Vermin' can travel halfway around the world to improve her Rabbit Medicine knowledge I dont see why it seems to be so hard for so many UK based Vets to attend a few CPD courses.

I will stop moaning now

 

[aaammmyyy]

I don't understand it either. It's not easy to become a vet, it takes several years at uni to qualify. If you don't like animals/don't care, why would you (generally not anyone specifically) go through all that? It doesn't make sense :?

&the cost of uni!

I wouldn't wanna get into a job ive not got my heart and passion into!

 

[Sarah1989]

&the cost of uni!

I wouldn't wanna get into a job ive not got my heart and passion into!

Exactly! I mean how many vets do you see on the annual rich lists so they can't even be "oh I'll do that coz I'll earn a ton of money!" I have a friend on fb who trained to be a vet and she shared an article about common misconceptions & the reality. I couldn't be a vet if I didn't love animals & wanted to save them, it's too hard & stressful for very little gain otherwise by the sounds of it. :?

 

[Tamsin]

I wonder if it's partly a case of not knowing they don't know. I feel like from the descriptions people give it's not that the vet is unsure what they are doing but they are are doing something wrong with the apparent confidence it's the right thing.

I can't believe people still aren't promoted to get vaccinations or are told house rabbits don't need them.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

I wonder if it's partly a case of not knowing they don't know. I feel like from the descriptions people give it's not that the vet is unsure what they are doing but they are are doing something wrong with the apparent confidence it's the right thing.

I can't believe people still aren't promoted to get vaccinations or are told house rabbits don't need them.

A dangerous situation which takes us back to the fact that the problem needs to be addressed in the training. How it can be deemed appropriate to give just a few hours of lectures to cover Rabbit Health issues when Rabbits are now such popular Pets I dont know. To me it smacks of the 'it's only a Rabbit' mindset. Not from the Student Vets necessarily, but from those who set the Vet Med Syllubus and are obviously still stuck back in the last Century as far as the 'status' of the Pet Rabbit is concerned..................

I really will stop moaning now.................

 

[catxx]

Vet nurses learning about bunnies

 

[cpayne]

I feel so lucky to have someone who I know knows so much about rabbits. Took me a while to find him but once you find a great specialist cling on tightly