Rocky’s Incisor Removal & Issues

[JRBunBun]

I rescued my rabbit back in April of 2009, somebody had dumped him and a friend of a freind caught him after seeing him running around in their woods for a few weeks.  I named him Rocky because I thought it was amazing that he survived so long in the ‘wild’, and figured he should be named Rocky because he was so tough!

I got him home and removed some ticks that I found on his neck and took him to a rabbit vet for a check-up and medicines.  She estimated at that time that he was between 8 months and 1 year old.  I consider April 22nd 2009 his 1st birthday, the day I brought him home.

Rocky has gotten annual check-ups with the vet and had to be neutered in 2010 – when I thought he was about 2.  He was neutered late because he started humping – on our first visit the vet said that I didn’t need to have him neutered unless he started spraying and/or humping, or if I wanted to get him a girlfriend…

About 3 months ago he broke off 3 of his 4 front teeth – I think on a plastic gate that I put up (cue serious guilt – and I took him in and the vet did a tooth trim to even out his teeth.  A month after that he had to go back for another tooth trim because the insicors were not aligning properly.  The vet told me that we needed to remove all 4 of the insicors because they would pretty much never align properly. Rocky had the surgery on Jaunary 19th – A Thursday.

I picked him up and brought him home the next day – the 20th.  The vet told me that the surgery was very difficult, and that she believes he’s a bit older than she had originally estimated.  He seemed to be doing alright for about a week at home, not eating as much as usual, but I assumed it was due to pain or other discomfort and the fact that he had to re-learn how to eat by using his lips to pick up his food.  I was giving him metacam for pain and he did seem a little out of it, so I also thought that was contributing to his behavior.

9 days after the surgery I noticed that he was breathing really quickly, hunching up and it looked like he was scooping up air with his mouth to breathe.  I took him to the vet right away and an x-ray showed that his lungs had filled up with fluid – he only had about 25% of his lungs working at that point.  The vet was able to drain the fluid from his lungs – she got about 35ccs of fluid, which is an enormous amount for a 3 lb dwarf rabbit! His vet told me that she believes that he must have had an underlying heart issue, and that because his surgery was difficult and he was under for quite a while, his heart was pushed to the max and that’s why the issue popped up seemingly out of the blue.  He stayed overnight and we brought him home the next day, along with 3 drugs to give him – an injection of penicillin, a squirt of lasix in the mouth, and a pill for his heart – enalipril.  The next morning (Monday January 30th) I gave him his shot, his lasix, and buried the tiny pill inside a piece of banana – his favorite – and he would not take the banana.  I literally had to shove it in his mouth to get him to take it – a task that is slightly easier when your bun has no front teeth…  I called the vet that morning and told her about it, and she said to bring him in right away.  I left work, rushed him in, and they found that his lungs had filled up with fluid again.  I was devastated, and the vet was sad for us, too.  She said that if it keeps happening, it’s too much of a rollercoaster for me, and for him, and it’s certainly not a good quality of life for him, so if it happened again (the fluid build-up), that we’d have to euthanize him.

I was so incredibly upset, and tried to prepare myself for the worst.  Rocky is my first pet that’s “just mine” and it hurt me terribly to think of him as being in so uncomfortable and having such trouble breathing… Plus the fact that my vet bill had reached a total of $1,200 in January alone, it was making it even more difficult for me to contemplate having to pay for addidtional drainings – and I didn’t want to have to put him through that either…  This past Wednesday – February 1st, I went to visit him at the vet and it seemed he had taken a turn for the better.  I brought him home 3 days ago – on Thursday Feb 2, and have been diligently giving him his medicines. He has been eating like a pig, veggies – pellets – hay, his fecal pellets are normal, and when I look at him I can see that his breathing appears to be normal. His nose is going up and down, not outward (nasal flare the vet called it) when he was struggling to breath.  He did 2 binkies today !  He’s not completely out of the woods, I still have to give him all 3 medicines, but he takes the banana with the pill inside like it’s mannah from heaven and I think he’s really doing well.  It’s like night and day.  The only wierd thing is that sometimes his face starts vibrating… Like he puffs up his cheeks and the shake really hard… I told the vet about it and she said she had noticed it as well, but that she’s not concerned with that right now – only that he is breathing well… It’s like a facial tremor – scary to see, really.  I think it’s a side effect of the drugs he has to take.  I’ll take a facial tick though, as opposed to him not being able to breathe!

Sorry this was such a looooong post, but I really did want to put this out there for other rabbit owners just in case they were going through something similar.

JRBunBun

[Sarita]

Vibes to Rocky! I have not dealt with this in the way that you are. I’ve never caught heart or lung problems in time to medicate my rabbit.

I do know lasix is used for guinea pigs and for rabbits.

[Sarita]

You might ask Dana Krempels if she has any ideas:

http://www.allexperts.com/ep/703-35789/Rab…s-Ph-D.htm

[tobyluv]

I’m sorry for all the health problems Rocky has had, and for all the worry and fear you have had for him. I hope that he continues to improve.

[JRBunBun]

Thanks Sarita, thanks tobyluv! It’s been a pretty crazy couple of months for me and Rocky but we’re hanging in there! I’ll let you guys know if anything changes! Rocky is lucky to have an amazing vet… When I went to pay the most recent bill, the vet said, “no charge”. I almost fainted. Not only is she an amazing vet, she’s a great person, too!

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