CBC blood draw

[BasilandPoppy]

II am looking for a little medical advice on successfully drawing unclotted blood for a CBC from Poppy, a small Netherland dwarf rabbit,(1.9lbs or.87K). I took Poppy in for the beginnings of headtilt 3 weeks ago. At that time they could only draw enough blood to do the blood chemistry panel, and did a PCR for e.Cuniculi. Thankfully either the antibiotics or the Panacur they put her on seems to have completely cured the headtilt, and she was e.Cuniculi negative. When I took Poppy back for her recheck this week, since it was about time for her yearly exam anyway, I had them draw blood for the CBC panel that wasn’t performed at her initial headtilt visit. Well……everything seemed fine, I drove 13 miles back home with Poppy and Basil, (who also came along for his yearly check-up). Then later I received an email apologizing, saying that the CBC could not be performed because the sample had clotted to much to be run through the machine!

Now for some background. I am lucky enough to live close to a veterinary college that has not only an amazing exotic animal vet but also an exotic animal phlebotomist They have taken blood from my rabbits last year, right after I rescued them, with no problem. I know that they prefer to use the saphenous vein (in the hind leg) as their 1st choice. I was told that I could bring Poppy back and they would try using the jugular vein, as it has faster blood flow and thus produce an unclotted sample. This makes me just a bit nervous, as Poppy is a very fidgety little bunny! Would it be safe for them to lightly sedate her to keep her still while they perform the jugular draw? (That is what they did last year when she had a sinus swab to see which bacterial strains were causing her sinus infection.)

 Has anybody else had this problem with small rabbits? Poppy doesn’t seem to have the best immune system, and regular blood work seems like the best way to monitor her overall  health. Any ideas?

It is a good thing rabbits are so cute, because they are sooooo complicated!!!

[LBJ10]

Rabbit blood just happens to clot quickly, so I can see there being a problem with small samples. There are some tricks to making sure the sample comes into contact with an anticoagulant almost immediately. Beyond that, I don’t really know what else could be done other than getting a larger sample that flows quickly into the collection tube. If the vet is experienced in restraining and collecting blood from the jugular, sedation shouldn’t be required. Can you talk to your vet about the risks associated with each route (sedation vs not)?

[BasilandPoppy]

I guess i am just looking for others experiences with a jugular draw, and a very small squirmy bunny. I know that the people at the vet school are very good at what they do, but as it is a vet school they take the rabbits to another room for the blood draw, so that the vet students can watch the phlebotomist do the draw and learn. So I have never actually seen how much squirming she does when they draw from the saphenous vein. As a Netherland dwarf rabbit, Poppy’s neck is so short that I am just having trouble visualizing how they will safely restrain her and get access to the jugular vein. I have a 19 year old CKD (chronic kidney disease) cat that I take in every 3 months for blood work and they always use the jugular vein for him but………….he has a much longer neck and doesn’t squirm.

I plan to call and talk to them tomorrow and see about rescheduling a visit, before the snow season here in the Midwest, but I want to have the right questions to ask. Also since she was e. Cuniculi negative, I assume that the beginnings of headtilt was from otitis? They could find no sign of infection or drainage in her outer ears, but her left ear seemed very sensitive, and that was the side her head tilted to before treatment. Besides the 3 weeks of panacur she was given SMZ-TPM for 2 weeks. Even though it has been a week since she finished the SMZ-TPM, I guess I am just worried that the infection was just knocked back , but is still lurking in her inner ear. Worried bunny mom! Thanks for your help. 🙂

[LBJ10]

I would think things would be a little more cramped on a tiny bunny, but it’s hard to say what your vet’s abilities are. Perhaps they have a method of doing it on smaller patients? Sorry I can’t be of more help.

As for the ear, it’s hard to know since the meds were given simultaneously. There is less of a chance that it was EC, but I’ve heard of there being false negatives even with PCR. Whatever it was, it seems to be getting better. Even after the infection is gone, the ear can still be sensitive as it continues to heal. I wouldn’t be terribly worried yet, but it’s something to keep an eye on. It seems infections like to come back and sometimes bunnies need to be on meds for an extended period of time to wipe everything out.

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