Hi everyone, I hope that you're all well. I've been inactive on here for a while, and feel bad logging in just ask for advice. I could really do with your expert opinions though.
Mid last week, my little Lily was off her food. She had been completely fine the day before. The neighbour's have a new cat who is very nosy and gave her a fright in the morning (a completely harmless little goofball, but she didn't appreciate being approached by him) - I assumed that this is what caused the stasis. We took her to the vets and she had metacam and emeprid injections, but was no better overnight, so we took her to the vet hospital out of hours.
She was put on a drip and syringe fed, in the daytime the hospital is also an exotics vet (RWAF Gold), so the exotics day vet examined her first thing in the morning. Turns out she had some nasty spurs sticking into her cheek, which had caused ulcers, and he said he could see some pus in her mouth too
She was already booked in for a dental the following week, but she had it performed that morning as an emergency.
She finally came home on Saturday afternoon, 2.5 days later. Finally some poops coming out. Tramadol twice daily, Ranitidine 3 x daily and critical care every 4 hours. We've been doing this round the clock and giving her a wide variety of forage free choice to try to get her appetite back too. I should mention that she is also moulting heavily, which did not help with the gut slowdown, so we've also been brushing her every time we syringe feed.
She was noticeably improving until yesterday morning, when she suddenly didn't want any greens for breakfast. We took her straight back to the vet and he was happy with her gut and said she was generally a lot more bright and alert, but she had also lost a bit more weight and had a lot of pus in her mouth, which was concerning. He said it could just be from the wound where the spurs were sticking into the cheek, or it could be worse if it was an infection in the tooth root. He did however say that his colleague who did the dental did not observe any loose teeth when performing the dental, which would have been the tell tale sign of a root infection.
He said the only way to know for sure would be to do a CT scan, which would cost £1100. I have already spent £2k+ on vet bills in the past week and unfortunately Lily isn't insured as she has a history of dental issues. To make matters worse, we're moving house 2 hours away on Monday. He said it would take 4 days to get the results of the CT scan. He did also question if it was worse than it seems, whether it would be fair to put her through another more extreme dental, as she is an older bunny. I would do anything for my pets, but I'm also scared of draining my emergency fund. I hope that people appreciate that and would not judge that there has to be a limit somewhere, although it's very hard to decide where that line should be drawn.
It was difficult to decide what to do, but for now she has been prescribed Baytril to see if that clears up the pus. I did wonder why she wasn't given antibiotics from the get go as the pus was observed pre-dental, but they're the experts and I trust their judgement. Apparently it takes 4 - 5 days for the antibiotics to start working, so we shouldn't expect overnight results.
I'm just wondering really if anyone else has been through a similar thing in the past with their bunny? Lily is reasonably bright today, she's moving around and has eaten some forage. She's happily eating her pellets too but still not interested in hay. Sometimes she is hunched and looking uncomfortable, other times she seems more relaxed and is grooming herself. We're still syringe feeding CC daily to make sure her gut keeps moving.
I'm just wondering if anyone has been through something similar with their rabbits before? Thank you so much as always.
Mid last week, my little Lily was off her food. She had been completely fine the day before. The neighbour's have a new cat who is very nosy and gave her a fright in the morning (a completely harmless little goofball, but she didn't appreciate being approached by him) - I assumed that this is what caused the stasis. We took her to the vets and she had metacam and emeprid injections, but was no better overnight, so we took her to the vet hospital out of hours.
She was put on a drip and syringe fed, in the daytime the hospital is also an exotics vet (RWAF Gold), so the exotics day vet examined her first thing in the morning. Turns out she had some nasty spurs sticking into her cheek, which had caused ulcers, and he said he could see some pus in her mouth too
She was already booked in for a dental the following week, but she had it performed that morning as an emergency. She finally came home on Saturday afternoon, 2.5 days later. Finally some poops coming out. Tramadol twice daily, Ranitidine 3 x daily and critical care every 4 hours. We've been doing this round the clock and giving her a wide variety of forage free choice to try to get her appetite back too. I should mention that she is also moulting heavily, which did not help with the gut slowdown, so we've also been brushing her every time we syringe feed.
She was noticeably improving until yesterday morning, when she suddenly didn't want any greens for breakfast. We took her straight back to the vet and he was happy with her gut and said she was generally a lot more bright and alert, but she had also lost a bit more weight and had a lot of pus in her mouth, which was concerning. He said it could just be from the wound where the spurs were sticking into the cheek, or it could be worse if it was an infection in the tooth root. He did however say that his colleague who did the dental did not observe any loose teeth when performing the dental, which would have been the tell tale sign of a root infection.
He said the only way to know for sure would be to do a CT scan, which would cost £1100. I have already spent £2k+ on vet bills in the past week and unfortunately Lily isn't insured as she has a history of dental issues. To make matters worse, we're moving house 2 hours away on Monday. He said it would take 4 days to get the results of the CT scan. He did also question if it was worse than it seems, whether it would be fair to put her through another more extreme dental, as she is an older bunny. I would do anything for my pets, but I'm also scared of draining my emergency fund. I hope that people appreciate that and would not judge that there has to be a limit somewhere, although it's very hard to decide where that line should be drawn.
It was difficult to decide what to do, but for now she has been prescribed Baytril to see if that clears up the pus. I did wonder why she wasn't given antibiotics from the get go as the pus was observed pre-dental, but they're the experts and I trust their judgement. Apparently it takes 4 - 5 days for the antibiotics to start working, so we shouldn't expect overnight results.
I'm just wondering really if anyone else has been through a similar thing in the past with their bunny? Lily is reasonably bright today, she's moving around and has eaten some forage. She's happily eating her pellets too but still not interested in hay. Sometimes she is hunched and looking uncomfortable, other times she seems more relaxed and is grooming herself. We're still syringe feeding CC daily to make sure her gut keeps moving.
I'm just wondering if anyone has been through something similar with their rabbits before? Thank you so much as always.
