Bunny with heart disease

[ourtimewithbuff]

Sorry that my first post here will be so depressing, but you seem like a nice community of helpful people, and many desperate Google searches have led me to this site recently.

I got the call today to say my 7y/o mini lop (age estimated as she was a rescue) has heart disease.

About a week ago, my boyfriend and I noticed Buffy was breathing too fast, sneezing a bit, and being less active than usual, so we got her to our local rabbit-savvy vet ASAP. The vet initially gave gave us 1 week of Baytril to try in case it was snuffles, and told us to come back for X-rays if her breathing didn’t get better.

It didn’t get better, so she was sedated and X-rayed yesterday. Two rabbit savvy vets were at the clinic yesterday and both looked at  her scans without seeing anything obviously wrong. But they were still concerned about her breathing, so they sent her X-rays to a pet radiologist.

Overnight we felt weightless, like maybe she was okay after all, but then this afternoon, we got that call no one wants.

Buffy’s heart is mildly swollen (enlarged but within the range of normal sizes for bunny hearts) and there is a small amount of fluid in her lungs. She has heart disease.

They seem to think we’ve caught it early, especially because the (very experienced) vets didn’t notice any of this on the X-rays themselves, and the specialist had to catch it, so hopefully we have a few months left with her.  We just picked up her meds — 0.3mls per day of Flusapex (a diuretic) to hopefully reduce fluid in her lungs. We have a check-in with the vet again next Wednesday morning to see if it’s working.

Unfortunately the vet who was available to give me the news today was not a rabbit savvy member of the clinic staff, so I have a lot of questions left unanswered.

Does anyone here have experience with rabbits who’ve suffered from heart disease? How long did you have with them after diagnosis? What was their quality of life like? Were treatments helpful — if so, how long before you started seeing the effects? Any tricks or tips to help the bun be more comfortable?

And for anyone who’s lost a bun to sickness, how do you deal with anticipatory grief? I lost my boy to a swift and shocking bout of stasis — devastating, but sudden. I want to enjoy every moment I have left with Buffy. Instead, I feel like I’m drowning in grief already, and that’s not how I want our last time together to be.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice you can offer.

[Wick & Fable]

I’m so sorry to hear about what you and your rabbit are going through. Unfortunately, not many owners have experience with heart disease, so working closely and comfortably with your rabbit’s vet (who is rabbit-savvy; not unexperienced staff) is likely key in maximizing Buffy’s life. While short, there are some references linked here that might provide insights/information not yet known: https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Cardiovascular_disease

Anticipatory grief is so tough, and I hope Buffy’s presence can help you through it as you go through this journey together.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Azerane]

Luna (7 and 1/2) has a heart problem that was diagnosed early last year. She has moderate mitral valve regurgitation, meaning that some of the blood flowing out of her heart flows back into it as it is pumping. This means her heart is ever so slightly enlarged. She also has severe kidney disease which can affect the heart with fluid building up around the heart and lungs. Since she is on Semintra (Telmisartan) for her kidneys, the vet advised not to put her on anything else for her heart as the Semintra also helps to reduce blood pressure which is beneficial to her heart condition. Treatment I assume varies greatly from case to case depending on the cause and extent of the condition.

I am of the assumption that Luna’s time is limited although I’ve really no idea how long that time is. Since she recovered from E.cuniculi early last year she has been fairly stable except for a scare earlier this year that was unrelated to her heart or kidneys. I think her discomfort is slowly progressing but her eating/drinking/weight is stable. It’s really tough to say how long she has, she could hang in there for another 3 years, or she could have a bad turn at any time and be gone within a week. In terms of how to deal with that anticipatory grief, I think it’s something that we all get at some point in time, even with perfectly healthy young animals. Thinking about an animals death is not something that I personally shy away from, I like to think that I’m realistic. I don’t like to get ahead of myself but of course I know that at some point I’m going to lose all of my pets, not just Luna who is unwell. While it’s not good to dwell on, I find that if I’m overthinking it and getting upset I can redirect myself to think about the fact the reason I would be so upset is because I love them so much and they bring so much joy to my life. Then I can channel that into caring for them better, playing with them more, spending more time etc. as a way to appreciate the time that I have. I am someone who can relatively easily redirect negative experiences/emotions into positive/productive output. It helps me to cope if I can find a way to put action to that feeling. I hope that helps 🙂

[msav]

Hi, I’m so, so sorry you’re experiencing this and I hope Buffy is hanging in there. I finally joined this forum specifically to respond to your post, because I’ve been looking for this kind of information over the past couple months. I hope any of this is helpful or relevant to you or anyone else.

My bunny (age ~6.5-7, estimated because also a rescue) was diagnosed with heart disease in mid-March; the vet said the right side of his heart was “severely enlarged.” They prescribed 1 mg pimobendan every 12 hours by oral syringe. My rabbit absolutely wouldn’t tolerate this and I did the best I could until I could get powder capsules. Even then, he wouldn’t take it all the time. I’m sure the vet would’ve had me follow their orders exactly, but 1) it was causing him extreme stress and fear, 24/7 and 2) I noticed his behavior changing and him becoming more distressed, whether due to the medication or the progression of the disease. I ended up following my gut and made the really painful decision to allow him to enjoy whatever quality of life he had left without further intervention. Toward the end of the progression of the disease, the vet also suggested an ACE inhibitor and a diuretic in addition to the pimobendan. I’ve heard different stories for different rabbits. I think if heart disease is caught early, there’s probably more luck with treatment.

Sending you and your bun so much love.

[Author]

Messages