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Old Age

Dave81

Mama Doe
Fluffy was diagnosed with arthritis just over a month ago now and is on meds due to this to help her mobility, have to say they've worked pretty well so far and she's really active.

For the past few days it's become a struggle with her as she picking and choosing what to eat and just grazing, she's currently getting syringe fed to supplement her food intake. Yesterday I had to book an emergency vets appointment as she was really cold, vets said she was hyperthermic so they warmed her up and have taken bloods as they suspect her organs are failing, she's lost a bit of wait since her last visit. Apparently one of her kidneys is really swollen and she didn't like them inspecting that area, they couldn't check the other one as it was hidden away.

I'm now just waiting to see what the blood test results come back as, we've got some other meds to give her along with the arthritis ones, just trying to keep her nice and warm and well fed with syringe feeds and food scattered around the living room.

Dreading getting the results back as it may mean it's time for her to go and I probably won't be able to be with her at that moment due to this virus.

I've got her a disabled litter tray that she can just walk into without having to jump into the usual.

Anyone else have elderly bunnies and what do you do to help them, she's around 9 and a half now
 
Me too, the vets were surprised at how active and alert she is given her issues, she certainly doesn't want to give up, it's just her body is starting to fail her
 
Hello stranger :wave: I hope you're well.

Mousey is pretty old & has arthritis. Things that seem to help her are heat sources (loves lying in front of the fire, radiator or by snugglesafes - sometimes they have all on the go), thick floor coverings, dog bed litter tray, little massages & twice weekly metacam. Mouse lives with Rudey who is in kidney failure (doing well with lots of supportive care) but he is actually my youngest rabbit. I've recently read about cold laser therapy & would like to try it on both my downstairs buns but obv that's off the cards for the forseeable

I'm glad she has a strong spirit - long may that continue
 
All is good just been busy working 3 jobs so not have much spare time, day job I'm working from home, weekend job we're closed as colleges are shut, still getting full pay for that one whilst sitting at home, get bits of training etc sent through to do over the weekends, and finally the evening job is furloughed. Suddenly found a lot of free time and wondering what I used to do before I did all this work.

Also not allowed out for 12 weeks as on the high risk register, although I did go to vets yesterday but they took her and I stayed in carpark whilst they checked over Fluffy and rung me to say what's going on, no chance catching anything stood in middle of car park at least.

My mum dropped off a hot water bottle this morning for me, I used it for about 45 mins as Fluffy did feel a bit cooler than usual, put her in the pet carrier and shut her in, put the hot water bottle under the carrier so the heat would rise through it and then covered the carrier over with a throw off the sofa, it's fairly large so Fluffy didn't mind it too bad, she did keep giving me evils through the perspex though, she came out toasty at least. The sun coming out today has helped, the living room catches the late afternoon heat from it so opened the blinds to let it all in.
 
Thanks all, she's been a bit colder a couple of times today so I've thrown her in the pet carrier for an hour at a time, she's come out from that much toastier although she not impressed.

Still light grazing which is better than nothing, getting topped up with syringe feeding, gave her some cabbage today which she immediately picked up and threw it back at me, so I decided to throw it back at her, she got the message and started to eat it instead
 
I’m not sure the pet carrier/hot water bottle idea is the best. Are you able to order her a heatpad online? Then you can just leave it in her space and she can choose for herself whether she needs it or not? My eldest buns are 12 years old and other than a bit of spoiling (extra bedding, comfy beds, heat pads 24 hours etc) and metacam for arthritis, they don’t require much in the way of extra care. It does sound as though she may have other issues going on though. Bless.
 
She doesn't sit in the same area ever having a heatpad would be no use as it wouldn't get used by her, at least in the pet carrier I'm in control of how long she's in there for to warm up before letting her out, it's working so far as it's only the odd occasion when she's cold
 
Got a call from the vets a couple of hours ago, Fluffys results came back today. Nothing of any significance to be fair other than it showed she was slightly dehydrated at the time.

She's maintaining her temperature now, I thought again about snugglesafe and have got a couple coming by Tuesday, I also bought a couple of self warming pet blankets which arrived today, feels quite nice to the touch but I've put a towel over the top to soak up her wee as she's not always using the litter tray these days.

I've been syringe feeding her every 3 hours between 8am and 11:30pm since Wednesday, I've slowly managed to get her weight to increase. She's still not eating as much as she should be, grazing now and then on hay and dried grass, she ignores pellets altogether, yesterday I managed to get hold of some fruity rabbit museli which she is picking at and then going back to during the evening's, better she eats something not too healthy then nothing at all.

From tomorrow I'm going to scale back her syringe feeds to every 4 hours to see how she responds to that over the next couple of days and then hopefully push it back a bit more gradually.

The vet treating her wasn't on duty today so they've left a note for her Incase sure needs to contact me about anything else on Tuesday I wasn't expecting an update until then to be fair given its Easter, it's a bit of relief knowing it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
 
Did the vet have a thorough check of her teeth? I would be concerned as to what is causing her not to eat properly. Good news re the test results though x
 
Also glad you decided on heatpads. If she is cold, she will almost certainly choose to lie where it feels nice and cosy warm, fingers crossed it helps her.
 
Yeah teeth are fine and she'll happily eat hay and grass etc etc just not massive amounts, she's eaten some broccoli today which has been a no for about 5 days, think she just likes to see what variety she's going to get next
 
Just swinging by with an update on Fluffy.

She's doing as well as can be, I've made her a comfy bed to snuggle on at night and I leave a heat pad on it for her to use it she wants to, usually gets pushed off to be fair.

I've bought an automatic pet feeder which has veg in which is set to open up in the early hours of the morning, it's got 2 compartments with 1 set to open 4 hours after her last syringe feed and then the 2nd one 4 hours after the 1st. Gives her the option to graze overnight so I'm not having to wake up to do a syringe feed.

She's gone from a syringe feed every 3 hours to every 4 between 8am and 11pm, over the week her weight has maintained the same so the next step is to try 4.5 hours for a week and see how she reacts.

She's not wobbling around as much her meds have helped she obviously has her bad days but still lively and attentive.

I've been making my order paste up by grinding pellets with some fibafirst in and a few oats.

She's still eating hay and dried grass just not enough for me to cut the syringe feeds yet
 
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