Chito’s (and my) First Medicine Rodeo

[beebun]

Hi, folks.

It’s been a while since I posted! I hope your buns had been piling up nice round poops. Chito is now fifteen months old, transitioned to a bigger dog crate enclosure (which he likes), and eating proper timothy-based pellets (he used to have alfalfa). Fun, fun, fun. He had a stasis attack last May/March (a month that started with M….I’m not sure which ) but he went through it!

We lived an undisturbed life until…around a month or two ago. I started hearing raspy noise from his breaths, like a kid in the midst of a heavy cough attack (I had bronchitis when I was young–he sounded like me when I have pleghm all over). And then he sneezes a lot, too, and coughs like he’s about to retch. It sounded like Donald Duck cursing. At first it was sparse, and I blamed the dry summer we’ve been having in Indonesia, but slowly it became more and more apparent that he’s having these coughs a lot. I still dismissed the problem, blaming hay dust and asked the maid to sweep the floor just a bit more carefully, until eventually I brought him up to a rabbit-savvy vet (3 hours to-and-fro) for the intention of neutering him.

Oh, boy, was I surprised when the doc told me that he has a lung infection and couldnt be operated until hes better. He gave us a 7 day prescription (attached) and two injections (done at the clinic by him). We went home merrily. I gave him his medicine with applesauce. He gobbled it up. I’ve never been prouder.

And then, the next day, he changed his mind. Nope, he doesnt like applesauce now. I changed tactics to ground pellets, shaved carrots, a mixture of both, sneaky celery attack, paw-smear technique… No results. Just a heckload of stress for both of us. I cried daily trying to get him his medicine. Chito hates me and flicks at me and gives me butts. We;re not fans of the bunny burrito. I cant find the heart to be rougher and the conqueror knows that.

So today I brought him to the rabbitry I bring him to when we hoomins go on trips. The caretaker there helped gave him medicine and I asked him to keep Chito for a while until the medication is finished (we only have 8 left from 15–the first 2 capsules were eaten, the other 3 trashed). It’s a hard decision–my heart breaks that I wont be there for him in this immensely stressful time, but I was under so much stress I just…couldn’t anymore.

And now I’m just sitting at home thinking about him and I get so sad 

From what I read online and from the chat I had with the caretaker, lower respiration illnesses can take a long time to get out of. I’m worried because we’re charged quite a rate for boarding him there, and what to do when Chito gets home.. He had been shedding too, and I’m worried about his appetite post-medicine (hint: it’s awful, he won’t touch his romaine). I’m close to buying the oxbow digestive tabs for him and bring it to the boarding house to help with his digestion (we have acidophilus here, but it’s very, very expensive, and it doesnt come in nice flavours). Would the tabs be worth it to stand in place of acidophilus? I’m also wondering whether I should learn to do a proper bunny burrito so I can do this myself or ask the vet for injections instead (also training).

TL;DR: Chito hates me and Baytril, I cry a lot, he’s in a boarding home–do I continue with this stressful oral routine or ask to switch to injectables? Is there any special trick? There’s no acidophilus–would Oxbow digestion pills help?

Thanks, folks!

ATTACHMENT: presc copy

[Bam]

First of all: I’m sorry that Chito is poorly

There are other probiotics than acidophilus that are suitable for a bunny, f ex supllements with saccharomyces cerevisiae, brewer’s yeast, it’s f ex available in Animastrath and Fiberplex, from what I can see, Animastrath is available in Indonesia.

If you have to give Chito abs for a longer stretch, then I’d go for the injectable, since this syringe-feeding clearly puts lots of stress on both you and him.

The meds on your prescription are, except Baytril, meds I don’t know if they are bunny-safe. They are all meds for humans, which is not surprising since there aren’t many meds produced for rabbits specifically.

Mucopect we have here, it’s against thick phlegm and it also has a pain-relieving effect on a sore throat. It’s OTC here and I use it when I have a bad cold, but I’ve never used it on the bunnies. (I’ve never had to treat them for any respiratory problems)
I also use Bisolvon myself, that too is OTC and against hard plegm.
Ester C is vitamin C, in a form that makes it gentle on the tummy, so I’m guessing that’s prescribed as an immuno-booster. Common here for people who can’t take vitamin C otherwise because it gives them heartburn.
Cordyceps seem to be against cough + an immuno-booster, we don’t have it here.
Then there’s lasix, which is a diuretic, it pulls water out of the lungs and makes breathing easier but I’ve never heard of it being used for a common cough/upper respiratory infection, it’s mostly used here for people with a heart-condition.
Finally flumucil, it too is against hard phlegm.

Sometimes upper respiratory problems take a long time, even after the course of abs is finished. Sometimes you neesd to do a prolonged course of abs or try a different ab, Baytril is broad-spectrum but there are some bacteria it’s not effective against.

Finally I just want to say: I had to force-feed one of my rabbits for a month once, and he hated it, it was awful etc, but I can tell you that as soon as he was healthy again and didn’t need any more force-feeding, he “forgave” me just like that and not only that, it was as if the whole experience had made him MORE bonded to me. He sleeps in my bed, he wakes me in the morning by licking my arm etc – and this is a bunny who screamed in terror and bit me when I had to catch him to give him his meds + critical care 3-4 times a day for a month. So don’t worry about Chito hating you!

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