I blame you, Jane!

Angie B said:

Completely and utterly your fault :lol:

Coco's unwell!

She was under the weather on Tuesday, gave her Meloxaid, or whatever it is, she bounced back :thumb:.

She was absolutely fine this morning, making a nest in the hay , shot out of the shed like a bullet when I rattled the treat box, 100% normal and healthy.

Got my washing in at 3pm and whenever I'm outside I always check the buns. She was flat out in the run, panting. Ignored me, ignored fresh grass, ignored the treat box.

Gave her a dose of Metacam (I can spell that!) but at nigh on 5pm was still not right so off to the vet we went.

Elena refused to treat her on the table, instead getting a blanket and treating her on the floor "rabbits don't like being up", she said - how lovely!

When Coco finally settled on the blanket and allowed herself to be checked over, Elena gave her a dose of Vetergesic and another jab of Metacam and said to give her some Recovery an hour later.

I was surprised she didn't give her gut stimulant BUT Coco did a poo while she was at the vet and her guts were noisy, so that's possibly why not, though Elena reckons she had had gas/a colic episode. Still, she's the vet, I'm not.

I gave Coco about 2ml of tepid water in total when we got home, because after about half a mil she went to her water bowl but didn't seem to have the energy to drink (she took a lap or two) so I gave her some more and she didn't dribble any water out of the syringe. Just given her 5ml of Recovery and now I'll leave her for a while.

Elena said if she's no better come the morning, to take her back. I mentioned the out of hours vet if she's no better, but Elena seem put out almost, but as Adrian (husband) said, she's already been dosed up so what will another vet do? I guess. But if she gets worse then I will. And of course on Vetergesic she'll be off her face for up to 8 hours anyway so probably won't show any improvement/willingness to eat in any case.

The only thing that we can think of which has caused this and Tuesday's episode is the wind. It was cold/windy Monday night and we forgot to put the tarpaulin down on the run thus exposing them both to a windy and cool night. And again, it's been rather windy today though not particularly cold. However, Thumper is the most fragile one of them both so why hasn't she been affected? Beats me. It's Thumps who's the snowflake, not Coco.

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Angie B said:

Thank you everyone xx

And I have good news in that she is eating!

She has shaken off the vetergesic a lot faster than Thumper did who was off her face for hours - not sure if that helped with the recovery or not - and seems to be improving as she's started to munch on hay. I had gone downstairs to fill up the food bowl with herbs as they both like herbs and Adrian said the bowl was empty, much to Thumper's dismay, although she went back to the hay box I'd brought in. When I went down, Coco was sitting up instead of being sprawled out, and munching on straggles of hay, so I put a handful in front of her and she tucked in! Ade said he'd given her a small amount too - but that was all gone by the time I went down and it was only 10 minutes later, so she'd soon eaten that.

So she's got about half an hour before I make my final decision about the out of hours vet, but at this moment in time it's looking unlikely, which is great! An hour ago, I was going at 10 if she hadn't improved (if you follow) as she was shaking and lethargic, but that was probably a reaction to the vetergesic.

I will make a mental note and next time (yes, there will be a next time) we go to the vet I'll ask them not to give vetergesic unless they think it's absolutely necessary as I don't think it suits either of my girls, and as MM said, we can't judge how they're doing on it as they're spaced out and don't want to eat. We'll see.

In 16 days I've had 3 vet visits (1 being out of hours) , and in between those I've had to give them pain relief at home, which luckily worked. So in 16 days they've been under the weather 5 times between them. What the heck's going on?! (rhetorical!)

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Angie B said:

Thank you everyone xx

And I have good news in that she is eating!

She has shaken off the vetergesic a lot faster than Thumper did who was off her face for hours - not sure if that helped with the recovery or not - and seems to be improving as she's started to munch on hay. I had gone downstairs to fill up the food bowl with herbs as they both like herbs and Adrian said the bowl was empty, much to Thumper's dismay, although she went back to the hay box I'd brought in. When I went down, Coco was sitting up instead of being sprawled out, and munching on straggles of hay, so I put a handful in front of her and she tucked in! Ade said he'd given her a small amount too - but that was all gone by the time I went down and it was only 10 minutes later, so she'd soon eaten that.

So she's got about half an hour before I make my final decision about the out of hours vet, but at this moment in time it's looking unlikely, which is great! An hour ago, I was going at 10 if she hadn't improved (if you follow) as she was shaking and lethargic, but that was probably a reaction to the vetergesic.

I will make a mental note and next time (yes, there will be a next time) we go to the vet I'll ask them not to give vetergesic unless they think it's absolutely necessary as I don't think it suits either of my girls, and as MM said, we can't judge how they're doing on it as they're spaced out and don't want to eat. We'll see.

In 16 days I've had 3 vet visits (1 being out of hours) , and in between those I've had to give them pain relief at home, which luckily worked. So in 16 days they've been under the weather 5 times between them. What the heck's going on?! (rhetorical!)

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Graciee said:

Ah I'm so glad vibes the nomming continues

Interesting what you say about vetergesic. I refuse it for Atticus and Penelope, Apricot I'm on the fence, Clementine I'm fine with her having it (other than Atticus if they really needed it and there was nothing else I obviously would listen to vet) I really dislike it, my vet said under no circumstance is Atticus ever to have it again, that was an awful experience. I know it's a good pain killer but with stasis... If they're so off their face for 8 hours that they cannot eat... Surely stasis is just gunna get worse... Idk. Just how I feel about it.

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MightyMax said:

8 hours? After three days I contacted the vet and she said it couldn't be the vetergesic.

Oh yes it was, and I could prove it

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Angie B said:

It is supposed to be only in their system for 6-8 hours max. but I've googled that a lot and apparently the pain killing effects that vetergesic has with rabbits does outweigh the downsides of them not wanting to eat, oddly enough - probably because we as their carers can give them Recovery by oral syringe maybe? Pain relief is priority, eating is next, so I don't know. However, seeing how badly Thumper reacted with it I really don't want her to have it again if possible as it did take her 8 hours to get over it, Coco it's taken 4.

Coco's fine now, happily munching away, so I'm going down shortly to give them a final fuss and then lights out for the night. I just hope that she remains okay now.

I'd done my sums wrong before - in 16 days it's actually been 4 vet visits, not 3 - 2 of those being on the same day as one was to the out of hours vet. Not that it really matters but I was having a bath and it was bugging me that I was sure I'd missed one so I was lying there working it out, as you do :lol:.

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MightyMax said:

Yes I know it's 8 hours max, but it really can affect some bunnies adversely for a lot longer than that.

If I had taken my vetergesicked (new word!) rabbit back to the vet for further tests I honestly believe at that point I would have lost him. He had just given up. I did find a way out of the conundrum, but it wasn't easy!!

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Graciee said:

That's the same with Atticus - given up was exactly how I'd have described it! And then afterwards... Scared and extremely aggressive.. I went from the sweetest bun ever, to one who bit me so badly now I have a friendly bun who has learnt to trust.. But often gets scared and is unsure.. And then gets ill... I'm sure it's so rare, but it really worries me.

Flip side Clementine has had it lots, and way more of it than Atticus had... And shook it off in an hour or so [emoji38]

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Angie B said:

Crikey, it's frightening to read of the side effects that some of you have had with vetergesic - at least my two weren't quite that bad! But I will do my best to remember to ask the vet not to give it to them next time.

Jane - me too with the zip! :lol:

Update - they're both back outside this morning but as a precaution I've left the tarpaulin down on the run so that it gives them protection from the wind, as it's a bit cool again today (and raining now in fact though not much), but they enjoyed their bounce around the garden this morning. I think once Coco felt better last night she rather enjoyed her fusses in the house, and again this morning, but they are far happier outside, so fingers & paws crossed she'll be okay now.

I can't get over so many vet visits/generally under the weather incidents in such a short period of time - that has never happened before to my memory. It may be weather related as it's changed so rapidly here over around the same time - the weekend was very warm again (even I didn't need a cardi with my short-sleeved top so it must have been warm :shock: :lol: ) and yet Monday was cold and windy, which is when Tuesday morning Coco was unwell. Who knows. Rabbits are fickle and of course pedigree (like pedigree anything) are so much worse.

Bloody rabbits :lol:.

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MightyMax said:

I think *you* have to be the one to remember.

Although it's on the rabbit's file, I have found that (like in the NHS) the vet doesn't always have time to read all through everything when you visit.

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