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- This topic has 7sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 3 months ago by
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You know what, if your vet can’t restrain him I doubt you can. I would phone the vet and discuss-how crucial is this compress. I’m not sure a compress is crucial (like meds would be) so upsetting your bunny may not be worth it-especially if you can’t get hte compress done even after a bunny rodeo.
Your vet knows your bunny is hard to handle-discuss and see if they can suggest anything you could do to help which doesn’t involve a struggle.As an aside-for a long term goal, get a clicker and some yummy treats and start teaching your bunny to be held
Will make the next vet issue easier -
Thanks for the support and advice guys.
The abscess is gnarly. It’s very large right now, though I think some of that is swelling from having it cut open again.
So, yesterday we managed to hold the compress on for about a minute and I squirted some water on it. Today he avoided me when he saw the towel come out but I got him wrapped up and flipped before he could get out, he only escaped once. I was able to keep hold on him by putting him on his back, cradled in my lap against my chest with my arm on his belly between his hind legs and my hand on his chest with two fingers going between his front legs and then wrapping around his shoulders and the others spreading out on his sides (we ended up in this position because the towel gradually slipped off).
He had the compress on for several minutes, I was able to use some gauze to remove the scab and used almost all the water I had preloaded into the syringe. So, this might be doable. I think I will still call the vet though because it’s so stressful for him. Also, he got soaked by the flushing process, which, while I’m sure it isn’t lastingly harmful since he’s cleaning himself up right now, does not make him a happy camper. And I don’t have enough hands to restrain him, flush and daub at the same time.
On the plus side, he doesn’t hump Betty (his brother) nearly as much when he’s all freaked out, so it’s helping with bonding.
Oh, that’s great advice Kokaneeandkahlua. He’s actually really good at being held. I can scoop him up hand on either side or one arm underneath & cradled against the chest fairly easily. Part of this has been clicker training (we’ve been doing just that for a couple weeks now), part of it’s because they live in a split level home so whoever’s on top for the week can only come out by being picked up. They don’t love it but I think they do fairly well. The vet who neutered them said they were really social rabbits. He just knows the difference between being picked up to be moved and being held down for uncomfortable experiences.
The other thing I’ve been doing is laying out the towel of doom on the floor for play time and sprinkling part of their ration of pellets onto it. That way they associate the towel with running and playing and eating and don’t run the second they see it.
Anyway, thanks for the advice. I really will call the vet because this is pretty traumatic for him and me both!
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