morton2000
New Kit
Hello folks! Bit long but wanted to share.
I have a 5 year old giant chinchilla rabbit named Odie. Three months ago, we noticed, when he would hop, that his back feet appeared clumsy, not straight, almost like he was having some pain. We took him into the Vet(exotic) who told us that he probably had arthritis. The Vet prescribed Meloxicam twice per day. Almost immediate improvement, and I really thought this would be manageable. He did well for another few weeks, and I stopped giving meloxicam. He seemed fine. There was an abrupt change a couple weeks after taking him off the meds. Basically, hind leg paralysis. Odie laid down all the time, always on the same side, and when moving would flipper his back legs, but really pull himself along with his front legs. He stopped cleaning his hind legs and never ever was up after that, constantly laying on that side. Meloxicam reintroduced - with no effect. This went on for two weeks, and we feared his arthritis must have quickly advanced. Daily butt baths, and litter redesigns happened.
I wanted a more thorough examination and diagnosis from the vet since they performed no Xray/blood work or really anything except push meds. We took him back, same clinic, different vet, and she reaffirmed this was arthritis. Had xrays done, and she confirmed he had signs of arthritis in his rear lumbar and left hip joint. After showing me the Xray, her advice was to add gabapentin along with the meloxicam each day. We were anxious to try the gabapentin and hoped for the best.
Now, I'm sure gabapentin has its uses, but this stuff turned Odie into a zombie. He literally laid down flat on his side from head to tail, bout gave me a heart attack because I thought he was dying several times. Called back the vet, and they reassured me this was normal. Ok so now, I have a chronically arthritic rabbit, still bathing daily, who I'm zombifying with drugs each day. I really upped my research on this, and thanks in part to this forum, seemed to find a solution!
After looking at arthritic rabbit xrays online, and comparing them to Odies, I thought it was more likely he has mild arthritis. Not a vet, but hey it didn’t look as bad as those other rabbits. He also switched the side he was lying on. Now it was the right side? But what really triggered me was a post on this forum about e cuniculi. I only found a couple post that matched Odies's symptoms but was pretty convinced that MIGHT be his issue.
I called the vet and asked for panacur fenbendazole. Vet stated she wasn’t comfortable prescribing this as they needed to test for parasites beforehand. We ran in fresh Odie pellets and paid for that test, which came back negative. When they called with results, we asked if the test covered e cuniculi and the vet tech stated "Yep that’s included, and the results were all negative". I already found panacur on amazon, but really didn’t want to calculate dosage by myself. About an hour later the vet called, and said yeah, that test didn’t check for e cuniculi, but said Odie couldn’t have it because no head tilt was present. I pushed back and said I'd buy it myself if she didn’t want to prescribe it, and she relented.
We picked up a 7-day supply, all predosed in syringes. By day three, his activity increased. He pretty much had been stationary, and probably exhausted from pulling himself along. He seemed more awake and was more excited for treats. On day 4 he stood up in a loaf position for the first time in about 2.5 months! It was an emotional moment for us, as our guy was giving us a lot of hope. Once we hit day 7, he was no longer having moist/wet fur on his rump, and although we still check him frequently, he's been dry. Odie started cleaning his rear/hind legs and I hadn’t seen him do that for over a month. He now stands up and wobblily hops over for treats / food / affection. SO - we called the vet back and let them know we wanted the full 21 day panacur treatment. Without even saying anything they relented. Its day 8 now, and he's showing even more improvement. Today he saw me come into the room with a grape, stood up, and ran (not sturdy, but still) across the room to get it.
We have been to the vet four times now with Odie, and although they deal with exotic pets, it seemed we were misdiagnosed from start to finish. Needless to say we’ve been overjoyed that he’s getting better, feeling better, on the road to recovery. I want to thank the community for posting and ultimately guiding me to the solution for my best friend! Since there were only a couple posts that I could find at all that sounded similar, I figured I’d post his story in the hopes it helps someone else. Thanks everyone!
I have a 5 year old giant chinchilla rabbit named Odie. Three months ago, we noticed, when he would hop, that his back feet appeared clumsy, not straight, almost like he was having some pain. We took him into the Vet(exotic) who told us that he probably had arthritis. The Vet prescribed Meloxicam twice per day. Almost immediate improvement, and I really thought this would be manageable. He did well for another few weeks, and I stopped giving meloxicam. He seemed fine. There was an abrupt change a couple weeks after taking him off the meds. Basically, hind leg paralysis. Odie laid down all the time, always on the same side, and when moving would flipper his back legs, but really pull himself along with his front legs. He stopped cleaning his hind legs and never ever was up after that, constantly laying on that side. Meloxicam reintroduced - with no effect. This went on for two weeks, and we feared his arthritis must have quickly advanced. Daily butt baths, and litter redesigns happened.
I wanted a more thorough examination and diagnosis from the vet since they performed no Xray/blood work or really anything except push meds. We took him back, same clinic, different vet, and she reaffirmed this was arthritis. Had xrays done, and she confirmed he had signs of arthritis in his rear lumbar and left hip joint. After showing me the Xray, her advice was to add gabapentin along with the meloxicam each day. We were anxious to try the gabapentin and hoped for the best.
Now, I'm sure gabapentin has its uses, but this stuff turned Odie into a zombie. He literally laid down flat on his side from head to tail, bout gave me a heart attack because I thought he was dying several times. Called back the vet, and they reassured me this was normal. Ok so now, I have a chronically arthritic rabbit, still bathing daily, who I'm zombifying with drugs each day. I really upped my research on this, and thanks in part to this forum, seemed to find a solution!
After looking at arthritic rabbit xrays online, and comparing them to Odies, I thought it was more likely he has mild arthritis. Not a vet, but hey it didn’t look as bad as those other rabbits. He also switched the side he was lying on. Now it was the right side? But what really triggered me was a post on this forum about e cuniculi. I only found a couple post that matched Odies's symptoms but was pretty convinced that MIGHT be his issue.
I called the vet and asked for panacur fenbendazole. Vet stated she wasn’t comfortable prescribing this as they needed to test for parasites beforehand. We ran in fresh Odie pellets and paid for that test, which came back negative. When they called with results, we asked if the test covered e cuniculi and the vet tech stated "Yep that’s included, and the results were all negative". I already found panacur on amazon, but really didn’t want to calculate dosage by myself. About an hour later the vet called, and said yeah, that test didn’t check for e cuniculi, but said Odie couldn’t have it because no head tilt was present. I pushed back and said I'd buy it myself if she didn’t want to prescribe it, and she relented.
We picked up a 7-day supply, all predosed in syringes. By day three, his activity increased. He pretty much had been stationary, and probably exhausted from pulling himself along. He seemed more awake and was more excited for treats. On day 4 he stood up in a loaf position for the first time in about 2.5 months! It was an emotional moment for us, as our guy was giving us a lot of hope. Once we hit day 7, he was no longer having moist/wet fur on his rump, and although we still check him frequently, he's been dry. Odie started cleaning his rear/hind legs and I hadn’t seen him do that for over a month. He now stands up and wobblily hops over for treats / food / affection. SO - we called the vet back and let them know we wanted the full 21 day panacur treatment. Without even saying anything they relented. Its day 8 now, and he's showing even more improvement. Today he saw me come into the room with a grape, stood up, and ran (not sturdy, but still) across the room to get it.
We have been to the vet four times now with Odie, and although they deal with exotic pets, it seemed we were misdiagnosed from start to finish. Needless to say we’ve been overjoyed that he’s getting better, feeling better, on the road to recovery. I want to thank the community for posting and ultimately guiding me to the solution for my best friend! Since there were only a couple posts that I could find at all that sounded similar, I figured I’d post his story in the hopes it helps someone else. Thanks everyone!
