Lynseypvic
Young Bun
Hi
Our rabbit is approx 5 1/2. until recently, she has always been healthy. She is by herself after losing 2 partners, as we have decided not to get anymore rabbits. Compared to the other two rabbits we have had, she has not been as friendly and was the passive rabbit, preferring her partners to any human attention, but she has always been really easy to look after and has always loved her food. We wouldn't overly handle her and we let her have free run of the garden and she would run into her hutch when we chucked her pellets in there, so we didn't have to chase her often. She would eat grass all day and would also eat any veg and also hay(as long as in with her bedding). She is litter trained. If we did pick her up to groom her and give her a check over, once caught she would let us without any problems.
A few weeks ago, we noticed she was off her food a little and her poos had become a bit small, so we took her to the vets and we were very surprised when they said she was very impacted and ill. We started medication and she just got really stressed with this and stopped eating. Back to the vets and more medication, fibreplex and recovery food (she spat out the latter). The vet decided that she should start staying with them for the day, so we had a week of dropping her off in the morning and picking her up in the evening so she could be put on a drip as well as force fed. They did xrays and could not find any underlying issues.
We had her home for the weekend and she ate a bit the first day and then just stopped and passed hardly anything. We took her back sat morning and the vet suggested we could take her to "Vets Now" who cover emergency evening and weekend, but it would likely cost £1000 plus they would want money up front. Obviously that wasn't an option. We force fed her as advised, but she was clearly in a lot of pain.So on Monday the wanted her in again every day to start the same regime.We explained that we were worried about managing this again. As well as the stress to the rabbit, it was difficult for us to manage as a family because I am home educating 3 children with special needs, plus I don't drive. I was having to get a cab there with the rabbit and 3 children each day. Though, inconvenient, you do what you can for a pet, but the problem was we would be waiting in the waiting area for up to an hour which was tricky and I am sure all those dogs barking was driving her crazy. The vets are good in that they don't rush appointments, but they really do run 40-60 minutes late each time and its mad in the waiting area. The stress was also really affecting the kids. So we arranged that the rabbit would actually stay at the vets overnight this time as well, even though they do not have staff through the night.
They did xrays again and blood tests and said they just do not know whats causing the problem but don't want to give up. They said they have never had the case, where they have treated the rabbit with success and they have just get impacted again. They started a new gut stimulant called cysapride (which she is still on), which they said has only just been licenced again because of risk of side effects to humans! They said her liver seemed a bit enlarged, likely because of her starving herself but the blood tests came back fine. By Thursday there was an improvement. Friday morning she had passed lots of poo so they stopped the drip and force feeding and we picked her up in the evening. She went downhill again over the weekend. Sunday night I thought she might pass away as she sat in the corner of her downstairs run all night and would not eat at all. In the morning she was sitting there in her pee. So we took her back to teh vets that day (Monday). I expressed my concern that it doesn't seem like this rabbit is going to get better and obviously we cannot keep up the current regime for the rest of her life. It was agreed we would keep her at home this week and bring her back tomorrow (sat) to discuss what to do next. We were reluctant to force feed again because I am sure its caused her more pain as well as stress and it stops her eating completely, so we have just been given the fibreplex and medication. She has grazed as little grass, cabbage and dried dandelian/grass feed. She still wont touch her pellets or her favourite parsley. She may be eating hay, its hard to be sure how much because she only ever eats hat at night and wont eat it out a rack, just her bedding. She has allowed us to handfeed her dandelion and fresh grass through her hutch (which she spend more time in than out even though the door is open) but goes barmy if we come near her anywhere else. She shows no interest in the guinea pigs (who have their own enclosed run on the grass) anymore who she used to kiss through the bars.
Well, to look at her she obviously isn't right but doesn't look like she is desperately ill (i.e going to die imminently). Her poos are small, and today she doesn't look like she has gone much at all. Obviously she is going to get worse.
Behaviour wise, she is obviously very unhappy. She does move around the garden at times, but other times she just sits still. She tends to sit around in the downstairs run of her hutch which is on the patio, so I have put down pet bedding in there to make her more comfy. She has learnt to growl as well as her usual thumping, which I have never heard a rabbit do! A couple of days ago, i went out to her and she had obviously gone a bit mad in the night because her food tray of pellets and dried grass was everywhere and her litter tray out of place and thats never happened before. This evening, I just went to hand feed her some grass and she was grabbing at it like she was really hungry, but then she started growling really loudly and tried to fight me with her paws through the cage! i wont be able to let the children feed her grass anymore.
The vets have asked if anything could be stressing her, perhaps a fox. Well we have always had foxes around the neighbourhood at night so this is possible, but obviously hasn't bothered her before. We are up until late and haven't noticed any. She has had the odd frog visitor - no problems there. I wonder whether a rat could be getting in and that is what caused the scuffle in her hutch and is why she is being aggressive? We certainly haven't seen any signs of one though.
Personally, I have always felt there is something wrong with her mouth/face causing the problem since she got ill. She will eat a bit and then give up and look annoyed and when I have hand fed her grass, her face looks a bit distorted, like she is uncomfortable. But the vets say they cannot find anything. When I tried to feed her some rabbit biscuit style treats I bought to try to temp her, she mouthed them with her gums but then got really angry.They did burr her teeth both weeks she was in, just in case. The xray did show a black line across the root of one tooth and they did say maybe an infection, but only as a 'trying to come up with something' possibility.The blood test didn't show up anything which would indicate an infection.
Clearly she isn't going to cope with constant human intervention. Our last rabbit who died, had to have his teeth burred every 1 or 2 months and had no problems receiving extra human attention and affection and if it wasn't for wanting to put him back with his mate, he would have happily been a house rabbit and would just come in on his own. He was very expensive to keep because the insurance would not cover his teeth, but a lovely little thing.
Has anyone got any advise? We asked the vets about surgery last time she was impacted and they really didn't want to. The only thing we can do, is have her back in the vets next week, though unless the vets agree a deal on the price, we won't be able to afford it as her £2000 pet insurance is nearly all used up.
If she has decided to give up, do we just keep her as comfortable as possible at home, offering food and handfeeding her grass etc in between her small amounts of grazing for as long as she lives rather than restart aggressive force feeding and drips again? Or do we look at putting her to sleep? I feel awful thinking about it as to look at she doesn't look like she is ill enough to consider that yet, but if the vets are saying they have no understanding whats wrong with her, I can't see how paying out hundreds more to have her stay in again next week will do any good. Do we carry on doing what we are doing at home and having regular vet appointments and then consider putting her to sleep if she gets much more worse? If I thought this was a rabbit who could handle more intervention, I would try, but I really don't think she can. I can't bear to think of her hurting either way.
Our rabbit is approx 5 1/2. until recently, she has always been healthy. She is by herself after losing 2 partners, as we have decided not to get anymore rabbits. Compared to the other two rabbits we have had, she has not been as friendly and was the passive rabbit, preferring her partners to any human attention, but she has always been really easy to look after and has always loved her food. We wouldn't overly handle her and we let her have free run of the garden and she would run into her hutch when we chucked her pellets in there, so we didn't have to chase her often. She would eat grass all day and would also eat any veg and also hay(as long as in with her bedding). She is litter trained. If we did pick her up to groom her and give her a check over, once caught she would let us without any problems.
A few weeks ago, we noticed she was off her food a little and her poos had become a bit small, so we took her to the vets and we were very surprised when they said she was very impacted and ill. We started medication and she just got really stressed with this and stopped eating. Back to the vets and more medication, fibreplex and recovery food (she spat out the latter). The vet decided that she should start staying with them for the day, so we had a week of dropping her off in the morning and picking her up in the evening so she could be put on a drip as well as force fed. They did xrays and could not find any underlying issues.
We had her home for the weekend and she ate a bit the first day and then just stopped and passed hardly anything. We took her back sat morning and the vet suggested we could take her to "Vets Now" who cover emergency evening and weekend, but it would likely cost £1000 plus they would want money up front. Obviously that wasn't an option. We force fed her as advised, but she was clearly in a lot of pain.So on Monday the wanted her in again every day to start the same regime.We explained that we were worried about managing this again. As well as the stress to the rabbit, it was difficult for us to manage as a family because I am home educating 3 children with special needs, plus I don't drive. I was having to get a cab there with the rabbit and 3 children each day. Though, inconvenient, you do what you can for a pet, but the problem was we would be waiting in the waiting area for up to an hour which was tricky and I am sure all those dogs barking was driving her crazy. The vets are good in that they don't rush appointments, but they really do run 40-60 minutes late each time and its mad in the waiting area. The stress was also really affecting the kids. So we arranged that the rabbit would actually stay at the vets overnight this time as well, even though they do not have staff through the night.
They did xrays again and blood tests and said they just do not know whats causing the problem but don't want to give up. They said they have never had the case, where they have treated the rabbit with success and they have just get impacted again. They started a new gut stimulant called cysapride (which she is still on), which they said has only just been licenced again because of risk of side effects to humans! They said her liver seemed a bit enlarged, likely because of her starving herself but the blood tests came back fine. By Thursday there was an improvement. Friday morning she had passed lots of poo so they stopped the drip and force feeding and we picked her up in the evening. She went downhill again over the weekend. Sunday night I thought she might pass away as she sat in the corner of her downstairs run all night and would not eat at all. In the morning she was sitting there in her pee. So we took her back to teh vets that day (Monday). I expressed my concern that it doesn't seem like this rabbit is going to get better and obviously we cannot keep up the current regime for the rest of her life. It was agreed we would keep her at home this week and bring her back tomorrow (sat) to discuss what to do next. We were reluctant to force feed again because I am sure its caused her more pain as well as stress and it stops her eating completely, so we have just been given the fibreplex and medication. She has grazed as little grass, cabbage and dried dandelian/grass feed. She still wont touch her pellets or her favourite parsley. She may be eating hay, its hard to be sure how much because she only ever eats hat at night and wont eat it out a rack, just her bedding. She has allowed us to handfeed her dandelion and fresh grass through her hutch (which she spend more time in than out even though the door is open) but goes barmy if we come near her anywhere else. She shows no interest in the guinea pigs (who have their own enclosed run on the grass) anymore who she used to kiss through the bars.
Well, to look at her she obviously isn't right but doesn't look like she is desperately ill (i.e going to die imminently). Her poos are small, and today she doesn't look like she has gone much at all. Obviously she is going to get worse.
Behaviour wise, she is obviously very unhappy. She does move around the garden at times, but other times she just sits still. She tends to sit around in the downstairs run of her hutch which is on the patio, so I have put down pet bedding in there to make her more comfy. She has learnt to growl as well as her usual thumping, which I have never heard a rabbit do! A couple of days ago, i went out to her and she had obviously gone a bit mad in the night because her food tray of pellets and dried grass was everywhere and her litter tray out of place and thats never happened before. This evening, I just went to hand feed her some grass and she was grabbing at it like she was really hungry, but then she started growling really loudly and tried to fight me with her paws through the cage! i wont be able to let the children feed her grass anymore.
The vets have asked if anything could be stressing her, perhaps a fox. Well we have always had foxes around the neighbourhood at night so this is possible, but obviously hasn't bothered her before. We are up until late and haven't noticed any. She has had the odd frog visitor - no problems there. I wonder whether a rat could be getting in and that is what caused the scuffle in her hutch and is why she is being aggressive? We certainly haven't seen any signs of one though.
Personally, I have always felt there is something wrong with her mouth/face causing the problem since she got ill. She will eat a bit and then give up and look annoyed and when I have hand fed her grass, her face looks a bit distorted, like she is uncomfortable. But the vets say they cannot find anything. When I tried to feed her some rabbit biscuit style treats I bought to try to temp her, she mouthed them with her gums but then got really angry.They did burr her teeth both weeks she was in, just in case. The xray did show a black line across the root of one tooth and they did say maybe an infection, but only as a 'trying to come up with something' possibility.The blood test didn't show up anything which would indicate an infection.
Clearly she isn't going to cope with constant human intervention. Our last rabbit who died, had to have his teeth burred every 1 or 2 months and had no problems receiving extra human attention and affection and if it wasn't for wanting to put him back with his mate, he would have happily been a house rabbit and would just come in on his own. He was very expensive to keep because the insurance would not cover his teeth, but a lovely little thing.
Has anyone got any advise? We asked the vets about surgery last time she was impacted and they really didn't want to. The only thing we can do, is have her back in the vets next week, though unless the vets agree a deal on the price, we won't be able to afford it as her £2000 pet insurance is nearly all used up.
If she has decided to give up, do we just keep her as comfortable as possible at home, offering food and handfeeding her grass etc in between her small amounts of grazing for as long as she lives rather than restart aggressive force feeding and drips again? Or do we look at putting her to sleep? I feel awful thinking about it as to look at she doesn't look like she is ill enough to consider that yet, but if the vets are saying they have no understanding whats wrong with her, I can't see how paying out hundreds more to have her stay in again next week will do any good. Do we carry on doing what we are doing at home and having regular vet appointments and then consider putting her to sleep if she gets much more worse? If I thought this was a rabbit who could handle more intervention, I would try, but I really don't think she can. I can't bear to think of her hurting either way.
