Daisy has been diagnosed with spondylosis in her spine. Has anyone used Cartrophen?

[Tracy]

Daisy, one of my Flower Girl trio, went in for xrays today and they have revealed that she has spondylosis in a couple of her thoracic vertebrae, this is causing the vertebrae in her spine to fuse. She's been having some mobility issues and has an unusual gait (she will often walk rather than hop) and the spondylosis looks to be the cause of it. The condition isn't too bad at the moment, but it is bad enough to be affecting her movement.

She's doing OK for now, but we don't know how quickly or how much it will progress. She can't hop up onto things, but she can still do very clumsy binkies and she gets up a fair bit of speed with her version of running.

She's on Metacam, but my vet is looking into whether it's possible to also try Cartrophen which is used for dogs/cats with this problem. She's contacting the drug company to find out if it has been used in rabbits before. I just wondered if anyone else has used it for rabbits with joint issues.

 

[luvabun]

:wave: Hi Tracy, I'm sorry to read this. I had a bunny, Brody who had spondylosis of the spine. We didn't try Cartrophen so can't offer any help there. However one thing I wished I'd done is somehow force fed her her caecals. She deteriorated badly and could not reach down for her caecals. She got very mucky down below and I had to bathe her often. I wonder if the deterioration of her spine was speeded up because she was not getting the nutrients from her caecals.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

I have no first hand experience of it's use but I know a few folk who's Rabbits have been prescribed it and they found it to be beneficial xx

 

[Tracy]

:wave: Hi Tracy, I'm sorry to read this. I had a bunny, Brody who had spondylosis of the spine. We didn't try Cartrophen so can't offer any help there. However one thing I wished I'd done is somehow force fed her her caecals. She deteriorated badly and could not reach down for her caecals. She got very mucky down below and I had to bathe her often. I wonder if the deterioration of her spine was speeded up because she was not getting the nutrients from her caecals.

Thanks for this. She's doing OK at eating them and keeping herself clean at the moment, but that's definitely something I will remember for the future if she does get worse.

I have no first hand experience of it's use but I know a few folk who's Rabbits have been prescribed it and they found it to be beneficial xx

Thanks Jane, that's very helpful and good to know that it has had some benefit.