Craig 1965
Warren Veteran
Do you know when you quietly think that perhaps things are turning a corner with your rabbits health, only to suddenly find that within a matter of a few minutes things can go really worrying? Has anybun felt that?
Lillian has had what we can describe as a turmultuous few weeks - every 2 weeks she's had spasm attacks on her bladder and has had to have some vetinary intervention. Today, I quietly thought "it's been two and a half weeks without any hic-cup - maybe we are finally controlling this spasm".
I'd cleaned the bunnys out this morning and all was well. Plenty of wee and poop. Daily metacam and no sign of tension. All was quiet. All seemed good. But beneath the surface........
I was just finishing lunch at work and I get a text from my son. "Lillian has got blood in her wee". She'd peed on newspaper and luckily my son was home and had seen her do it. This text really flipped me out and I went into panic mode. But it's not easy for me just to drop what I'm doing at work at drive to the vet.
I had an email exchange with my son and things werent adding up. I rang the vet and booked an appointment at 6pm - describing what my son had told me.
My son then sent a photo of the bloodied urine and ...well, I don't know how I kept it together. I was thinking perhaps watery red pee. Nope. It was like someone had taken a paintbrush covered in red paint to a sheet of newspaper.
JJ - I am sure by now you are already working on a possible diagnosis. Bear with me - it gets worse.
The vet rang straight back and said she wanted to see Lillian immediately - which I sort of expected and my boss said I could take the afternoon off. I roared home and .....well, I almost fainted. The towel Lillian sits on was absolutely blood stained and I picked her up and her underneath was ...well, I genuinely thought she'd been attacked. It was a mass of thick gooey fresh blood.
No time to think. In the carrier, hold back the tears and straight to the vet. My eyes were streaming but Lillians eyes didn't show sign of pain as they usually do. Something wasn't adding up.
The vet specialist was on hand and we had a brief chat - I showed her the newspaper and she was shocked. Off she went with Lillian leaving me to work my way through a box of tissues and the thought that I'd not see her again.
I spoke to another vet who has treated Lillian and we talked about some possibles.
15 minutes later the vet specialist returned. And things sort of turned a corner. She had checked lillians bottom and there was no bleeding from there, but the blood was coming from the urethra. This was, as it happens, positive. Rabbits have high blood pressure - hence the amount of blood. The vet had scanned Lillian and found nothing - no lumps, no pockets of bleeding, no stones, no sludge - no sludge at all. Her tummy was soft and she allowed the vet to squeeze gently. Very very thorough examination. And the vet said that left only one cause - a severe bladder infection. She went into the biology of it - we discussed at length this - I'd googled some causes whilst I waited.
The vet is confident that Lillian has an infection that is treatable with baytril. She is very confident that this will sweep away the two possible bacterial infections. She will be (and is) hospitalised tonight and is on intravenous ABX but not fluids. Lillian is keen to eat and her tummy is nice and soft. It's just that her bladder lining is being ravaged by this infection due we feel to the fact that Lillian is vulnerable to these episodes which we now agree is due to the fact when we adopted her she had been deliberately starved and dehydrated. This has undoubtidly affected her develpoment and we are now seeing the legacy of that.
I am confident that Lillian is in the very best of care - and is safe and having the correct treatment. She is comfortable and I'm just about to do a food run. The vet said not to take Leo as he would chew the catheter that Lillian has. Lillian will have paracetamol and be closely monitored.
I'm still wiping away tears but given how she was 4 hours ago, she is in a far better place and much more comfortable.
We will work out a long term plan tomorrow with some more medical suggestions from the specialist which will be targeted at Lillians now weakened bladder to try to help boost the bodys defence.
So if anyone has any spare vibes - and I know there's other bunnies in more need of vibes at the moment, but Lillian would appreciate some gentle soothing vibes.
I will upate you all tomorrow evening when I get home - it is hoped she will come home tomorrow.
Thank you all for reading and sorry to give another health post about Lillian. We are doing everything we possibly can to help this little girl and as soon as we solve one problem, another one crops up.
Thank you everybun
Craig xx
Lillian has had what we can describe as a turmultuous few weeks - every 2 weeks she's had spasm attacks on her bladder and has had to have some vetinary intervention. Today, I quietly thought "it's been two and a half weeks without any hic-cup - maybe we are finally controlling this spasm".
I'd cleaned the bunnys out this morning and all was well. Plenty of wee and poop. Daily metacam and no sign of tension. All was quiet. All seemed good. But beneath the surface........
I was just finishing lunch at work and I get a text from my son. "Lillian has got blood in her wee". She'd peed on newspaper and luckily my son was home and had seen her do it. This text really flipped me out and I went into panic mode. But it's not easy for me just to drop what I'm doing at work at drive to the vet.
I had an email exchange with my son and things werent adding up. I rang the vet and booked an appointment at 6pm - describing what my son had told me.
My son then sent a photo of the bloodied urine and ...well, I don't know how I kept it together. I was thinking perhaps watery red pee. Nope. It was like someone had taken a paintbrush covered in red paint to a sheet of newspaper.
JJ - I am sure by now you are already working on a possible diagnosis. Bear with me - it gets worse.
The vet rang straight back and said she wanted to see Lillian immediately - which I sort of expected and my boss said I could take the afternoon off. I roared home and .....well, I almost fainted. The towel Lillian sits on was absolutely blood stained and I picked her up and her underneath was ...well, I genuinely thought she'd been attacked. It was a mass of thick gooey fresh blood.
No time to think. In the carrier, hold back the tears and straight to the vet. My eyes were streaming but Lillians eyes didn't show sign of pain as they usually do. Something wasn't adding up.
The vet specialist was on hand and we had a brief chat - I showed her the newspaper and she was shocked. Off she went with Lillian leaving me to work my way through a box of tissues and the thought that I'd not see her again.
I spoke to another vet who has treated Lillian and we talked about some possibles.
15 minutes later the vet specialist returned. And things sort of turned a corner. She had checked lillians bottom and there was no bleeding from there, but the blood was coming from the urethra. This was, as it happens, positive. Rabbits have high blood pressure - hence the amount of blood. The vet had scanned Lillian and found nothing - no lumps, no pockets of bleeding, no stones, no sludge - no sludge at all. Her tummy was soft and she allowed the vet to squeeze gently. Very very thorough examination. And the vet said that left only one cause - a severe bladder infection. She went into the biology of it - we discussed at length this - I'd googled some causes whilst I waited.
The vet is confident that Lillian has an infection that is treatable with baytril. She is very confident that this will sweep away the two possible bacterial infections. She will be (and is) hospitalised tonight and is on intravenous ABX but not fluids. Lillian is keen to eat and her tummy is nice and soft. It's just that her bladder lining is being ravaged by this infection due we feel to the fact that Lillian is vulnerable to these episodes which we now agree is due to the fact when we adopted her she had been deliberately starved and dehydrated. This has undoubtidly affected her develpoment and we are now seeing the legacy of that.
I am confident that Lillian is in the very best of care - and is safe and having the correct treatment. She is comfortable and I'm just about to do a food run. The vet said not to take Leo as he would chew the catheter that Lillian has. Lillian will have paracetamol and be closely monitored.
I'm still wiping away tears but given how she was 4 hours ago, she is in a far better place and much more comfortable.
We will work out a long term plan tomorrow with some more medical suggestions from the specialist which will be targeted at Lillians now weakened bladder to try to help boost the bodys defence.
So if anyone has any spare vibes - and I know there's other bunnies in more need of vibes at the moment, but Lillian would appreciate some gentle soothing vibes.
I will upate you all tomorrow evening when I get home - it is hoped she will come home tomorrow.
Thank you all for reading and sorry to give another health post about Lillian. We are doing everything we possibly can to help this little girl and as soon as we solve one problem, another one crops up.
Thank you everybun
Craig xx
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sending lots of vibes. And hugs to you too xx
