Board or Home? Kinda Urgent :(

[Betsy]

Our lovey bouncy funny bunny Vega died somewhat suddenly on Tuesday, leaving her brother Thabbit as an Only Rabbit. We’re due to go on vacation, leave Friday evening. Normally we have a friend come in to pet-sit (we have 3 cats, and had two rabbits) but we’re not sure what to do now.

Vega had a chronic sneeze, but more recently it had gotten “wetter”.  We had started to give her immune supplements last Weds (antibiotics did nothing for her sneeze in the past, only herbal immune boosters worked). Monday night we got home to find her lethargic – took her in to the vet as the first appointment on Tuesday morning and she was gone about an hour later.

High white-blood cell count (WBC), high kidney levels, and GI Stasis. She was 8 years old.

Unfortunately we have no idea if she had an infection that caused the kidney failure and the Stasis, or if she hid the stasis until it was too late and the high WBC and kidney failure was from that. Or if at 8 she had kidney failure, which cause the statis and the high WBC.  You get the idea.

We’re now trying to figure out what’s best for Thabbit.  

Do we board him, where he has more attention and more of an eye on him in case what Vega had was contagious?

Do we keep him at home so he doesn’t lose Vega and get taken away from his home territory all in the same week, but he’d only be visited once a day? (He’s never been boarded)

I feel like there’s no right answer – but would LOVE some input. We’ve only had bunnies for a year and still learning a lot  

(We adopted them as their 3rd set of humans when they were 7….)

Thank you

[tobyluv]

Are there any signs at all that Thabbit could have an illness? Is there any way that you could take him for a vet visit some time before you leave to have him checked out? It’s usually best for a rabbit to stay at home instead of being boarded. Is the sitter rabbit savvy regarding knowing signs of illness or any problems? Is there a possibility that the sitter could come more than once a day? If Thabbit seems to be fine, especially if he could be checked out, and if the sitter is knowledgeable about rabbits and could even come more than once a day, it seems like it would be best to keep Thabbit at home.

I responded to your thread about Vega, but I wanted to say again that I’m sorry for your loss.

[Betsy]

Thabbit had been at the vet for his annual check-up just last week, and all of his blood-work was stellar.

He’s been heard to sneeze once today, but otherwise seems pretty “normal”. He’s a very shy bunny to begin with,
so he’s been hiding in one of the cardboard box “caves” we have in his cage, but that’s normal.

He didn’t eat his lettuce this morning, which he’s usually enthusiastic about, but he also usually lets Vega eat first, and she’s not there, so it may be part of mourning and getting into a new routine.

I really want to leave him home, but the pet sitter is more cat-savvy than rabbit savvy, and he’s so laid-back it’d be hard to tell if he’s not feeling well.
On the other hand the exotic vet we take him to often has loud squawking birds and other noises that may stress him out more.

I’m leaning towards leaving him home and trying to set up a web cam so we can keep an eye on him too, look in more than once a day.
I don’t know that the sitter can come more than once a day though.

Thank you again for responding. Unfortunately we have to make the decision by tomorrow morning, so not a lot of time to observe him

[Azerane]

I would absolutely keep him home. He’s already lost his bond mate this week, I wouldn’t put the added stress on him of a completely foreign environment. At least at home he has the same surrounds, smells and sounds. I think it’s the best thing for him.

Setting up a web cam is a good idea as a means for keeping an eye on him. You could also leave a list of warning signs of things for the sitter to look out for that she will know means she has to contact you about or take him straight to the vet.

[Betsy]

Until about 11pm last night we had decided “Home with webcam”.

Then he had a sneezing fit. I went to his cage, brought him to our bed for some cuddles, and found a wet nose.

Since it’s *possible* that Vega had a URI (she had chronic sneezing issues, so it’s hard to tell when it was “regular” and when not) we’ve decided to board him.

We really wanted to let him stay home in his territory and with the kitties he knows around, but we also want to go away with some peace of mind.
In the last 6 weeks we’ve had two sudden deaths in the family – my brother-in-law and Vega. If we left Thabbit at home and it turns out he is sick,
and something happened to him… I don’t think I could take it.

If he seems stressed at the vet where he’ll be boarded, we can always have the pet-sitter bring him home.
We checked out the facility, the cages are large and the room is quiet and they get checked on at least 3x/day, even weekends and holidays.

He’s very laid back for a bunny, so I think he’ll be OK.

Thank you everyone for advice. This is the first time we’re boarding any animal, so it wasn’t an easy decision – but the wet sneeze settled it for us.

[Q8bunny]

My bun, Chewie, is boarded at the moment for the second time ever. This is his third week this time around, and he seems great judging from the updates. So since your bunbun will be in a quiet environment and frequently checked on by caring people, it’s probably for the best that he and his damp nose be near medical staff who can monitor the situation. (((Dry nose vibes.)))

[Betsy]

Thanks. Thabbit goes in tomorrow to his own vacation at the spa, where he’ll have other bunnies in the room to keep him company too.
At least that’s what I told him

Thank you all. I’m a really nervous “mother” to my furballs, so having a group like this helps

[LittlePuffyTail]

Have a nice vacation. I hope your little bun settles in to the boarding place nicely.

[Deleted User]

Posted By Betsy on 6/29/2016 2:17 PM


I’m leaning towards leaving him home and trying to set up a web cam so we can keep an eye on him too, look in more than once a day.

Sorry I am late to the party I was off work ill yesterday and wasn’t in any fit state to be near a pc

Anyway… On the subject of the bunny-cam idea, I have one set up to keep an eye on my two, I bought it when Gareth (Rainbow bridge bunny) became ill so that I could check in on him whilst out at work.

I have this one in blue: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clever-Dog…9Y0AZTB00B

You need to buy a memory card and you are good to go.

Vid showing how to set it up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv5lDUPADJw

These are screen shots from mine, Night time (Pitch black, no lights on):

<a href="http://s36.photobucket.com/user/axgizmo/media/Pets/ADC062EE-D45B-471A-8528-99327CF02B56_zpsnpqvzvjw.png.html”
target=”_blank”><img src="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/axgizmo/Pets/ADC062EE-D45B-471A-8528-99327CF02B56_zpsnpqvzvjw.png”
border=”0″ alt=” photo
ADC062EE-D45B-471A-8528-99327CF02B56_zpsnpqvzvjw.png”/>

Day (Bright outside):

<a href="http://s36.photobucket.com/user/axgizmo/media/Pets/8F5DFBE8-26F0-4847-827D-664EE111ADFE_zpsmlanuwev.png.html”
target=”_blank”><img src="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/axgizmo/Pets/8F5DFBE8-26F0-4847-827D-664EE111ADFE_zpsmlanuwev.png”
border=”0″ alt=” photo
8F5DFBE8-26F0-4847-827D-664EE111ADFE_zpsmlanuwev.png”/>

When Gareth was poorly it was a god send, I couldn’t tell you just how much peace of mind it gave me!

Hope the pics work, Photobucket doesn’t seem to be working on my works PC so I cant see them

[Betsy]

AxGizmo – thank you! We are going to board him – though now I’m worried that the cats will wonder what happened to him! (Can you tell I worry about my furry ones too much? )

We’re still talking about getting a cam, just to have in general – and will be shopping for one that doesn’t require a PC set up to it.
This looks like a great option – I like that you can talk to the animals as well

[Deleted User]

Yeah I read that, bless him, my boy has sneezes and a wet nose too, currently trying to find out the cause. They don’t half know how to worry us!!

Honestly it’s brilliant, its Chinese so some of the instructions are a bit questionable but it works really well.

[Betsy]

So an update:
We boarded Thabbit and were glad we did, since he went on hunger strike.
Granted, he may have been on hunger strike from being boarded, we’ll never know.
But he ended up having to be syringe fed twice a day for the first few days, before he
gave in and started eating on his own again. He’s been back at home for a week now
and doing VERY well. He seems to be over the initial mourning, isn’t just hiding in his
“man-cave” any more, but is hanging out in the “upper floor” of his cage in the sunshine
a lot more.

We ended up getting a web cam after we came home, just because we like the idea of
keeping an eye on him. We ended up with one called “Ouvis” rather than the Clever Dog,
mostly because we can pan and tilt from afar, so we can see about half his cage now.

[Betsy]

Here he is this afternoon, just hanging out. 

[Q8bunny]

What a prince! Lovely setup.

[Betsy]

Thanks. That’s about 1/4 of the space. That’s the “upstairs” area, where he hangs out the most. There’s a level just below him, too. And the camera only gets about half the length of the cage. We wanted him (and his sister – RIP) to have lots of space to hop around, after having lived previously in more cramped quarters.

[Author]

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