Thank you for your vibes IM and BM. Your endless support and welcome advice helps boost our spirits and Lillabelle is being a little trooper
I apologise for my late response due to my chronic pain being especially difficult to manage recently which usually happens when either bunny is sick. I am therefore morphined up to my eyeballs so I will try and keep it short.
The vet said Lillabelle was so good on Thursday being handled and they managed to get skull X-rays and bloods without having to sedate her which is fantastic. Vet said she ate most of the veggies and pellets before she was handled for X-rays/bloods but she hardly ate afterwards so she was given an injection of Metoclopramide before we picked her up and the vet advised us to syringe feed her one lot when we got home.
Her skull X-rays showed root elongation in her molars but no abscesses or infection as far as vet could see. The vet has sent these to a London vet which specialises in rabbit dentistry. I was a bit shocked that we would have to take her to London for work done and asked about another vet that specialises in rabbits in Maidstone which is much nearer. She said it depends how bad it is as to whether we could just go to Maidstone or even manage it here in our usual vets. She mentioned that they uses Trinity vets but not whether that is in London or Maidstone. The vet said we will hear on the blood tests in a week and could be up to 2 weeks for the X-rays. At least we get paid on the 8th so hopefully we can afford the travel.
I googled Trinity vets when we got home and there is a Trinity vets in Maidstone but nothing was coming up for London. I will ask the vet when I next speak with her which vet they use in London as it could be nearer Kent or even north London which would be a nightmare for us as we do not drive and have noone who could drive us either. The problem being we would need to get to the vets from the train station and I don't think the tube would be a good idea as so busy, noisy and hot for Lillabelle. So it would mean a taxi from the station so it could cost a fair bit I expect. We will also have to find out if Lillabelle would stay the night at the vets or we can pick her up later in the day. If she is staying over night we would have to stay in London the night as well as it is too far to go home and travel back the next day. If we are staying the night Mischief would have to go to the vets with Lillabelle as he will need feeding and checking up on. We have noone I would trust to look after him or that could stay at ours over night. So it is a bit of a dilemma.
Also we need to work out how to transport Lillabelle and possibly both of them. Even Lillabelle is heavy to carry for long distances as I found out when I had to carry her when we went to the vets a fortnight ago due to my OH having a hip replacement. I have had awful pain in my neck and shoulder keeping me awake at night ever since so I can't do that again. My OH is still not able to carry her far either. We are thinking we could buy a big carrier on wheels like a stroller but they all seem to be made of fabric. Does anybody know of a strong large carrier on wheels we could buy please? Would a strong fabric stroller be safe for them as they do chew although I do doubt they would chew the carrier tbh. They tend to just sit there fast breathing when we put them in a carrier. The huge plus side with a stroller type is that they could be in a carrier together rather than separate carriers as they are at present. The other option is putting her/their carriers on my granddaughter's old pushchair as she no longer uses it. We will ask my daughter to bring it over so we can test out whether the carrier(s) fit safely on it as that could hopefully work for us without spending more money.
I looked up her insurance again as well. She is covered for £2500 a year and it was just renewed in August. It is a life time insurance so she will be covered for this her whole life as the vet did say it will take a few dentals to sort out her root elongation plus I realise she will always be a dental bunny for life most probably. However we have already claimed £1100 for this due to gut stasis and dental so she only has £1400 left for this year. I don't know how much this will cost yet but I imagine it will cost a fair bit? I need to read up on root elongation yet so Idk how it is treated etc but I worry it will take a few dentals to put this right. Yet again it all comes down to money even though they are insured
I was reading Inspector Morse's post on vet fees the other day and really agree that it is tough for those not earning a good salary to afford to own a pet
I realise L may not have to go to the London vet yet as we haven't got the feedback from the specialist but I do worry about our finances being on benefits plus I like to be prepared. There is some positive on the insurance possibly? It also covers travel and accomodation if she gets referred to another vet up to £300. It does stipulate that it pays a maximum of 25p a mile. Is that just for drivers though I wondered? Does it pay out for public transport used up to 25p a mile as well? I will ring and ask Agria on Monday to find out. At least it should cover us staying at a Travelodge or somewhere else that is cheap-ish overnight
L is doing well atm. We gave her a syringe feed on Thursday night and she did eat some but she also spat a lot out. She did poop a few after and they were soft and looked and smelt like caecotrophs. Later that night she did poop a few harder poops which were a bit small and softer than usual but we were happy with that. We are keeping them in the pen for now so we can keep an eye on how much she eats and she is always near food. We are also writing what time she eats anything and how much plus we are also writing down any output. This is especially important right now as I am often awake through the night due to pain and my OH is awake normal hours so we can use this log to communicate to each other when we are like passing ships in the night.
She has been eating well including lots of hay and pellets. We are giving her double amount of SS pellets which is around 40. She has some at lunch time and some about 9pm so they are spread out through the day from her veggies meals breakfast and evening and her forage feed at 11pm. We also give her a handful of Readigrass before bed to help to build up her fat stores as she is underweight. We will weigh her tomorrow and will adjust her feeds accordingly. Any advice on the would be greatly appreciated as I know little about rabbits that are underweight and needing to build up muscle. We are starting to encourage her to run up our long hallway when she shows interest but otherwise leaving her to stretch her legs a few times a day on her own. The vet said we need to build up her muscles so she needs exercise but firstly does she need to build up her fat stores?
I can't think of anything else atm to say except she is still eating well and has lots of output both wee and poos. She is alert and runs about and just came up the hall and sat by the kitchen waiting for her treat which today was a large sprig of fresh parsley
I know I said I would keep it short but I don't feel up to changing it all now so a long post it is
(Basically he stamps his feet a lot and growls at them and pounces.)
However my OH said L tucked in to that brekkie as well so that is great news! Plus she has also ate 10 SS pellets as well. We have to be vigilant in case but L is eating well and almost back to usual activities like lying along the lounge room doorway and sitting by the fan watching tv 
