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I'm a jinx.....

Craig 1965

Warren Veteran
Strange title for a health thread. But I am.
You may all recall that I was a whoopin and a cheerin about Lillians health check/annual vaccination on saturday last week. The vet said she was all good to go. No issues. Two and a half long weeks after Lillians last rather brutal flare up/cystitis and we were thinking positive.
Sunday - Lillian had a fantastic day in the garden. Streatching up on hind legs, scoffing all manor of triffids and really full of life. It was beautiful to watch.
Monday morning I'm having breakfast - something not quite right. We gave her her meds at 7am and when I held her - there it was - the spasms. Tight as a drum. I watched her on the floor in the position to pee but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't. And then the shuffling started. 30 seconds sitting, then shift, and repeat. My heart sank. I mean sank. I felt my stress levels go through the roof and just felt for Lillian. 12 hours earlier she's absolutely fine. Now, we're back at square one.
Obviously I had to act fast - the vets opened at 9am (I have them on speed dial now!) amd got an appointment at mid day with Lillians favorite vet.
Good news - we've got our own parking space at the vet hospital now!
Ok, so the vet checked her over whilst I went through the covid protocols. The vet was way ahead of me and had already felt spasms from Lillian - so at least I had diagnosed that right. It was/is difficult to watch Lillian struggle like this. But the vet was confident of getting this under control - again. She was against hospitalisation as this would stress Lillian out further. She was treated for secondary infection - just to be on the safe side and in view of the reaction to diazipam a few weeks ago, the vet decided to give Lillian gabapentin.
We've been back to the vets the last 2 nights (3 days worth of antibiotix) and Lillian started to get wet undeneath from Monday night and through Tuesday.
However, yesterday morning she was nice and dry but the gabapentin has a bit of a side effect as it makes her very dozy.
The gabapentin has been successful so far in that it has surpressed the spasms. We're on Thursday now, she was bone dry this morning and yesterday morning she had a bit of time in the garden as I was cleaning the toilet area out and I observed Lillian going to have a pee and having no straining at all - everything working as nature intended. So her internals are working properly again and during the last 3 nights worth of vet trips there has been no evidence of spasms that either I've felt or the vet has felt.
I had a discussion with the exotic specialist today - she is very knowledgable and she is tuned into Lillian now. We have to continue with 1/4 tablet of gabapentin for the next 4 weeks and review. Given Lillian has had flare ups every 2 weeks for the last 4 months and my vet bill is somewhat eye watering, I'm hoping the gabapentin is going to help control whatever is causing these spasms. My thought was that there may still be something in the garden that Lillian is eating that is somehow irritating her urinary tract. My wife dug out another triffid thing yesterday that Lillian had been nomming on so maybe it was that?
Presently (8pm) Lillian is very comfy - sploofed out and relaxed under our table. She's waiting for the forage mat along with Leo but that's a few hours away.
I'm sorry for not posting earlier - to be honest I just didn't have time. I've had to go to work early to make up time, then go to the vets after work and by the time I get back home and get Lillian settled, eat tea and have a wash, it's bed time. So I'm on my knees exhausted now, but it's worth it to get Lillian well again. Her body language is much more positive and the vet praised me for knowing Lillian so well as to intercept these spasms and identify them so quickly. So we are back to where we were on sunday now. Lillian is recovering as she has been doing, she is peeing and pooping, there's no temperature and no spasms. Her body language is more relaxed and comfortable.
I'd just like to get Lillian free of these spasms.
I'll keep you all updated if there's any change.
Craig xx
 
Poor Lillian :( She must be so fed up with this happening so often. Does the vet consider that it's Cystitis that is causing the spasms?
 
Poor Lillian :( She must be so fed up with this happening so often. Does the vet consider that it's Cystitis that is causing the spasms?

That’s exactly how I imagine she’s feeling Omi. It’s not deliberate - our pets never do deliberate.
We’re not sure on the cystitis issue. The vet feels it’s under control now and we’re giving her special cystitis meds every day to protect and improve her bladder. My gut feeling is that it’s something in the garden. The weather has been pretty pap down here the last 2 weeks so they’ve not been outside much due to rain. And Lillian is a bit more....varied with what she eats in the garden whereas Leo is much more fussy! So I had my feeling it was possibly a long leafy triffid bulby thing that Lillian’s been chomping on the leaves of. So the wife dug that out yesterday and there’s no more bulby type plants that we can see. I think it’s that that is then irritating the urinary tract somehow, and possibly starting these crampy spasms that just happen without any warning.
Poor Lillian deserves a break from a vet trip every 2 weeks so hopefully this will be a turning point.
Thank you Omi and thank you Jane for your thoughts and input.
Craig xx
 
I know how you feel about the jinx thing...just mentioned it in Jenna's thread. I've turned blue from holding my breath so many times now I must look like a smurf. :?

Sorry to hear Lilian has again had issues but I quite agree on digging up the triffids if you believe they are the cause. Bunnies eat a lot of things that they probably aren't meant to and I was anal about what I gathered forage wise from my back yard in Alaska. We were fortunate that in summer we had dandelions and leaves growing as long as my arm that the bunnies all loved. It was impossible to winter them over (I did try to grow some in pots!) and drying them took away the juicy nomminess they loved (plus they'd just disintegrate) so for 9 months they'd wait for them to come back for a 3 month buffet! :( The only others I gathered for them were plantain and in some cases yarrow, also we had wild strawberries but I think my daughter's dog loved grazing those better than the rabbits. :lol:

Hoping that the gabapentin does the trick. I have that for Jenna but am terrified to use it as I know it's got ataxia as a side effect and Jenna has enough trouble keeping steady on her pins as it is, plus it's one that once you start it it's a hard one to wean them off of.

Keeping you and Lilian and Leo in my thoughts. xx
 
oh Craig, no wonder you've been tired, I felt worn out for you reading your post ! Really hope Lillian keeps well again now, but well done you, again, for spotting Lillian's discomfort. Both your bunnies are so lucky to be in your care. Hope you can relax a bit now xx
 
I am sorry to hear you had to take Lillian to the Vets again and I think you could possibly be right in thinking Lillian is eating something in the garden which is having a bad effect on her. Even too many Dandelions can put a strain on the urinary system.
 
If you really do think that Lillian is eating plants in the garden which she shouldn't, I would very carefully this weekend go round the garden, identifying everything. I don't think that rabbits always ignore toxic plants, especially if they don't have a bitter or unpleasant taste, so if you're not sure what she is eating it might be worth trying to do this before plants start to die down for the Winter. There are lots of people on the forum who could help you establish any plants which she shouldn't be nibbling.
 
Just jumping onto my own thread to give everybun a brief update on Lillian.
We're now two weeks in once again - I'm getting anxious as she has had these spasm episodes every two weeks. And we're due for it!
That said, touching wood, rubbing by lucky charm and not walking under any ladders right now, things are looking ......stable. And I'm not sure why. Which sounds strange but I'll explain. We've removed what I thought might be the offending triffid from the garden and Lillians not had much garden time over the last 2 weeks (I'll come back to that). I'll take photos of that triffid later and see if anyone knows what it is. So having removed that, then when Lillian is outside she can't access that plant.
However, she is also on gabapentin twice a day and metacam once a day so these might be stabilising things? So determining what the trigger is, will be tricky unless we remove one of those factors. The vet specialist has suggested at least 4 weeks on gabapentin so if we get that far without any flare ups then we'll have to reassess.
Lillians manorism hasn't really changed - she is active and peeing well.
Now - garden activity. Both Lillian and Leo were keen to go into the garden yesterday at 8am and usually Leo only stays out for a short period. But not yesterday. They were both out all day from 8am til 4pm (when I could barely see) in the garden. Lillian was eating fallen leaves, grass, other triffids and sitting for prolonged periods without any discomfort. It was just beatiful to watch - and I was from my kitchen windown view point (where I am now as it happens). She was going to the loo regularly (which she is doing now as it happens) and both her and Leo just loved the whole day of being outside. It was mild and overcast and they just loved it.
This morning they have been out since about 9:30am and Lillians finding a bit of sunshine and just chilling. Leo is dancing about the place and standing guard when he needs to - but he's frightened of his own shadow at times.
So things so far are looking ok. Lillians monching on some grass now and I've got plenty of cooking to do in the kitchen so I'll keep a watchful eye. I'll try to take some footage later and take some photos of the suspect triffids.
Craig xx
 
That's such good news that Lillian's been stable, that she hasn't shown any discomfort since her last episode, whatever the reason is for that. =) And it's lovely to hear that she and Leo have been having a wonderful time being outside. :love:
 
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