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Jelly is being referred to another vet

Alicia

Mama Doe
I’m quite confused so I’m not sure if this will all make sense. Jelly has been subdued, quiet and just not herself for a few days. The vet examined her and everything physically is fine although she’s lost some weight. The vet has referred Jelly to an exotics vet who she thinks can help us more, but she thinks it’s a neurological issue. She mentioned panacur but I need to ring her tomorrow because I’m not sure whether I should start her on the panacur straight away or wait until our referral appointment on Friday. She didn’t mention e cuniculi but did mention another one, but I’m not entirely sure what she said because of masks and I was a bit stressed.

I think she’s been losing weight because she eats a lot slower than Felix, so today I brought her inside to eat on her own and she ate most of it but isn’t quite herself. Just waiting for the appointment at the exotics vet now but I’m worried. I’ve never had a pet be referred somewhere else, and I’m not sure what to expect.
 
I'm sorry Jelly is unwell. Honestly - a referral to a specialist feels like a totally normal appointment, they just are so much better at problem solving rather than fire fighting. What I would try is call the exotics & ask (once they get Jellys case notes through) if it would be advisable to start panacur prior to the app. I can see benefits of both starting before & delaying til she's assessed. Good luck, I hope she gets on well & you can find out whats amiss
 
The bit that I keep worrying about is where will they start, if it’s an issue with her brain I don’t know if they’d do scans or just start with panacur or something else. She seems ok this evening, but not herself, I’m hoping Friday comes quickly!
 
I'm sorry Jelly is unwell. Honestly - a referral to a specialist feels like a totally normal appointment, they just are so much better at problem solving rather than fire fighting. What I would try is call the exotics & ask (once they get Jellys case notes through) if it would be advisable to start panacur prior to the app. I can see benefits of both starting before & delaying til she's assessed. Good luck, I hope she gets on well & you can find out whats amiss

I agree with this :) I would think that the exotics vet would start from the beginning by asking you to describe her symptoms and by examining her. I also think you should ask the vet if you should start the Panacur before the appointment.

I'm sorry that Jelly doesn't seem her normal self and hope that the exotics vet can establish what the problem is. Sending her lots of vibes and I hope the appointment goes well.
 
I agree with J&B and Omi. Sending lots of vibes for her, I hope the appointment goes well.
 
We've always found exotics referrals incredibly helpful. So much so were now using them as our main vets although they are a but further than the others.

I would give them a quick ring about the pancur a receptionist should be able to arrange a call or pass the answer on to you.

Sending healthy vibes!

Sent from my SM-A705FN using Tapatalk
 
Hi everyone. Jelly had an x ray and blood tests on Friday last week, the vet said he’d ring me on Tuesday, no phone call. I phoned on Thursday and was told he’d call me back Thursday evening, I still haven’t heard anything so no idea what’s wrong with Jelly. She’s doing ok for now, but I’m quite angry that I’m chasing these results and can’t get hold of anyone.
It’s been very expensive, but is worth it to find out what’s wrong with her.

I came home yesterday to a letter from my original vet (the one that referred me) with a bill of £30. I wasn’t sure what it was because I paid when I went in for the appointment so I phoned and they said it was a referral fee. Is this normal? I was never told there would be a referral fee and having already spent £500 on tests and £40 on the original consult and with no test results I’m pretty angry at this to be honest
 
Hi everyone. Jelly had an x ray and blood tests on Friday last week, the vet said he’d ring me on Tuesday, no phone call. I phoned on Thursday and was told he’d call me back Thursday evening, I still haven’t heard anything so no idea what’s wrong with Jelly. She’s doing ok for now, but I’m quite angry that I’m chasing these results and can’t get hold of anyone.
It’s been very expensive, but is worth it to find out what’s wrong with her.

I came home yesterday to a letter from my original vet (the one that referred me) with a bill of £30. I wasn’t sure what it was because I paid when I went in for the appointment so I phoned and they said it was a referral fee. Is this normal? I was never told there would be a referral fee and having already spent £500 on tests and £40 on the original consult and with no test results I’m pretty angry at this to be honest

The Vet should have told you about the referral fee. I would take the matter up with the Practice Manager. It is not acceptable to have had such poor communication from the Referral Vets either and I would make that clear to the Referral Practice.
 
The Vet should have told you about the referral fee. I would take the matter up with the Practice Manager. It is not acceptable to have had such poor communication from the Referral Vets either and I would make that clear to the Referral Practice.

Could not have put it better myself!
 
I'd be grumpy. Its not nice waiting for results & this lack of info is unacceptable. Go get em Alicia !
 
The referral fee I have paid in past was £160, plus I know some vets charge a fee when you see them as well (at the referral practice) so you can two fee's which I don't think is good really. So the referral fee is normal but you should've been told about it in advance. I'm sorry you're still waiting for her results too, that's not fair!
 
Sending hugs, Alicia. Both vets are guilty of bad communication with you. I hope you get it resolved soon.
 
Hi not really any further on and I’m honestly so angry. So far I’ve ignored the referral fee because I’m disgusted, it’s such a blatant money grab ploy and at a time like this it’s really made me angry, I will deal with it when I’m able to write a polite letter or speak to the receptionist without getting angry.

The second vet (from the referral appointment) phoned me on Monday and said he couldn’t tell from Jellys results what was wrong with her. This confused me because he told me when he did them that these tests should cover everything and whatever was wrong with her would flag up. He said he was waiting on the results of one more test and would ring me the next day with a plan going forward. We’re now at Friday and he’s never rung back. I’m angry beyond words, I have a rabbit that isn’t right and I feel like both the vets I’ve used have just seen pound signs and I’ve never normally felt like this about vets before.

I have no idea what to do at this point and whether it’s right or wrong I really want to phone up tomorrow and tell them exactly what I think of the whole thing. I have no idea what’s wrong with jelly, who knows if she’s getting worse, but the vets have had their fees from me so it’s a job done I guess. Sorry for the rant I just don’t know where to go from here
 
That s not good at all. Sorry, can you remind me of Jelly’s exact symptoms ?

I would definitely call the Referral Practice and insist to speak with the Vet, not just a Receptionist or Vet Nurse. I would also state that you intend to submit a written complaint. On receipt of that the Practice will be obliged to escalate things and to try to address what has gone wrong. They are also obliged to do so in a timely manner and to keep you informed. If not the next step is to take your complaint to the RCVS.

Having a poorly Rabbit is stressful enough, the last thing you need is an inadequate service from a Veterinary Practice....or two :evil:
 
This is the issue, her symptoms aren’t always very clear. She is not herself and does strange movements that she’s never done before like holding her head almost straight up like she’s looking at the sky. When I pick her up she almost goes a bit limp. She eats very slowly (she’s separated from Felix for around 2 hours a day to eat and she rarely finishes it all in that time) which confuses me because she’s had her teeth checked and they’re apparently fine. When the vet first checked her he thought that there was an issue with her lungs and that she was holding her head in this way to try and get more air in but nothing ever came of that and no more was said.

I’m wondering about going to a different vet but will they have to redo all these tests? I don’t really want to waste anymore time. It’s difficult to explain what Jellys like but it’s all very strange and not normal rabbit behaviour at all. The vet did an X-ray and said that nothing looks quite right, her heart is enlarged, there’s cloudy parts that shouldn’t be and there’s two little white dots and he doesn’t know what they are.
 
This is the issue, her symptoms aren’t always very clear. She is not herself and does strange movements that she’s never done before like holding her head almost straight up like she’s looking at the sky. When I pick her up she almost goes a bit limp. She eats very slowly (she’s separated from Felix for around 2 hours a day to eat and she rarely finishes it all in that time) which confuses me because she’s had her teeth checked and they’re apparently fine. When the vet first checked her he thought that there was an issue with her lungs and that she was holding her head in this way to try and get more air in but nothing ever came of that and no more was said.

I’m wondering about going to a different vet but will they have to redo all these tests? I don’t really want to waste anymore time. It’s difficult to explain what Jellys like but it’s all very strange and not normal rabbit behaviour at all. The vet did an X-ray and said that nothing looks quite right, her heart is enlarged, there’s cloudy parts that shouldn’t be and there’s two little white dots and he doesn’t know what they are.

Sounds as though she may have heart disease- dilated cardiomyopathy , you won’t be able to access the full article here, but what you can see will give you the gist of the condition

https://www.vetstream.com/treat/lapis/freeform/heart-cardiomyopathy

Are you within commuting distance of Andover in Hampshire ? If so I’d recommend John Chitty here :

https://antonvets.co.uk/contact-us/

Is Jelly insured ?
 
I'm sorry that this has become such a hassle with vets for you to try to establish what is wrong with Jelly. It really doesn't seem fair and I can well understand why you are angry about it.

Sending Jelly lots of vibes and I really hope that you can get somewhere soon.
 
I agree all this is woefully inadequate. The idea was obviously to try & find out whats wrong with Jelly & get a plan not flail around trying to chase up non responsive vets & work out what her results mean. I think what I'd find annoying is I'd have lost faith in both vets by now.

When I'm really angry / upset / confused I can't trust myself to manage situations like this verbally so tend to write what I need to say. I also think it would be useful for the practices involved to have all your concerns down in black & white. The best part is you can obv adjust any letter til it sounds & reads well. I think it needs to go to both Practice managers. They need to have it spelt out in what ways they have failed you. Its important I think to decide what you want the outcome from them to be going forward x
 
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