As some people may know, my Holly has been having a really rough 24hrs. I think this has been the most stressed, angry, confused and frustrated I’ve ever been and I felt like just typing it all out (completely understand if no one reads this long rant!)
1am in the morning, suspected GI stasis, so what do you do? I immediately took her to the Emergency Room Vet (mod deleted vet hospital name). They admitted her immediately, but after 3 hours in the waiting room I was finally told that they had done nothing so far and were waiting on a call back from the “on-call” exotic vet. The “on-call” exotic vet never called, and came in to work at 8:30am, at which point the original vet FINALLY gave her some fluids. Two hours later I get a call from the actual exotics vet saying he wants to do bloodwork so I needed to pay more money over the phone. 3pm rolls around, no blood work was done, but an x-ray instead which found nothing we didn’t already know. I ask a laundry list of questions such as “Are intestinal motility drugs a possibility? Critical Care? Gas Meds?” All of which were a big no. He says he’s going to try to “tube” her stomach to release pressure. Two tries over 3 hours and there’s been no progress or improvement. All the while they’ve been trying to feed her hay and pellets….but no Critical Care as she still might have a blockage. That doesn’t make sense to me.
Finally get a call at 5pm to tell me she’s exactly the same and they aren’t trying anything else expect continuing fluids and pain meds over night, and some just in case antibiotics. So, $850 in and I’m confused and frustrated and feeling like I’m getting zero answers. The original vet was nice enough to go buy her some mint and greens to entice her to eat, but insisted on spraying it with fruit juice first, despite my worries about all the sugar. I’ll try to trust him on this…as eating anything at this point is probably better than absolutely nothing. She still hasn’t pooped or peed in 24hrs now so it seems she’s getting more serious the longer she’s been at the hospital. I had to insist they give her a litter pan, because I know there have been long periods of time in the past that, while healthy, she refused to go to the bathroom without litter. I’m really at my wits end, and am just praying she makes it through the night so she can see her regular vet tomorrow (whose been following her progress with me over the phone).
Has anyone (if you’re still reading this! ) ever felt so helpless and confused in terms of dealing with a vet. The Vet Hospital is supposed to be one of the best, but so far I’ve been feeling more frustrated than anything with them. I mean, who leaves a rabbit in stasis, in the ICU, just in her carry crate for 3-4hrs with absolutely no treatment while the owner just sits in the waiting room believing she’s being helped? I was speechless when the tech came out and told me all they had done for those first 3hrs was to call the “on call” exotics vet over and over with no reply…then FINALLY give her some fluids after I leave (without the exotics vet, so he was fully capable of doing that himself from the start).
I’m honestly bracing myself for bad news in the morning because I’ve felt very uncomfortable with the care she’s been receiving for the past 24hrs. A lot of my questions were answered with obvious annoyance, and for the better part of the day today I didn’t even know what tests were being run or what treatment she’s been getting, so at the end of the day I’m not 100% sure what I’m even paying for…
If you bared with me through that, THANK YOU! I just felt like I needed to get that all out.