Eventful Day at the Vet: Advice Needed

[BunnyBeth]

Hello all!

I have some questions about revelations made at the vet’s today, but I’d like to give a bit of back story first so you can understand my rabbits (and my) situation.

I have two rabbits, I think they’re about 4.5 months old now and they’re probably New Zealands mixed with something. They weigh just over two pounds each and are adorable. When I got them about 2.5  months ago my friend (who had raised rabbits for 4H) helped me sex them. The white one was a girl and we named her Betty and the black one was a boy, named Dupree.

I built Betty and Dupree a 3 story bunny condo with NIC cubes and used two of the pieces to form a barrier between the top two split levels and the bottom level. For the last two months I have rotated them between the levels at every cage cleaning (~3 days). It’s not enough space when it’s split in half and because they needed to exercise separately they each only got 2-3 hours out a day, which is why I’ve been so excited to get them fixed and back together once Betty heals from her spay.

In the mean time, Dupree developed a jaw abscess which burst once while he was on Baytril and healed over. Then he had surgery to remove some of the pus and got an x-ray. Apparently the infection is in the bone but the vet mentioned nothing about teeth. So now he’s on weekly Pen-G injections for 8-10 weeks with a mid week check up. We’ve done about 3 of these and he takes ’em like a champ and gets a raisin afterward. A small pocket of more fluid pus moved to the front (where it had popped the 1st time) and burst again. I cleaned it up the best I could and it closed up again after a couple days. During this whole deal he’s eaten consistently and doesn’t seem to have troubles, though he favored one side of his mouth while chewing occasionally, I had attributed it to swelling, because it was always when his abscess was at its largest.

So, that’s where we were when fixin’ day rolled around.

I got a phone call soon after dropping them off. Turns out Betty is a boy! His testicles are much smaller than Dupree’s which would be why I never felt them while scooping him up, unlike I had with Dupree.During this phone call the vet also suggested reopening the abscess and setting it up so I could keep it open and flush it, which I readily agreed to.

I got another phone call about 2 hours later about Dupree, this one more serious. The vet had checked his teeth while he was under. Apparently one of his molars has broken. It’s about half the size of the other, healthy one and brown. She said the prognosis was poor, though I don’t know if she meant for recovery, future quality of life or survival. She recommended getting him looked at by his regular vet sooner than originally planned and removing the molar. (They’re not at their regular vet because the spay/neuter is through a low-income charity). Their regular vet is familiar with rabbit dentistry.

I’ll be picking them up in about 4 hours.

After all of these phone calls I have some questions.

1. Does the fact that they’re both males mean I should expect problems with cohabitation? They got along well before I separated them and have had constant sniff access the last 2 months. I’ve let them snuggle a couple of times with adult supervision and removed them the second Dupree showed any interest in Betty (apparently he thought Betty was a girl as well).
2. How long should I keep them separate to recover? Since half of the enclosure is split level, should I make sure they can’t hop up and down between levels until they’ve recovered?
3. What is it like caring for a rabbit that has had a molar removed? Will he need to eat mush for the rest of his life or just during recovery? I understand there are always risks with these things, but I really don’t understand what it means when the vet says “prognosis looks poor”. I can handle routine care or molar grindings if I have to, but are they talking about survival/quality of life?
4. If any of you have been through this, what did it cost? Molar removal surgery and follow up grindings? I know prices vary, but I have a limited income and want to start pre-planning my saving strategy.
5. I’ve been looking into alternative medicine to supplement Dupree’s treatment. I’ve found that echinacea can support immune systems. Has anyone tried this before? Where do you buy your echinacea and what form is it in? What about bunny acupuncture? His regular vet is learning acupuncture and has offered me free acupuncture treatment if I’ll let him be a guinea pig, it doesn’t seem like it could do any harm.

Sorry, I know that was a lot, I just got hit by a lot of new info at once. Any advice is appreciated. I plan on asking these questions to the vet when I pick my boys up and when I speak to their regular vet, but I wanted to hear from people who’ve dealt with similar situations.

BTW, Betty is staying Betty. I don’t see that it makes a difference and he’s my little sugarloaf, I couldn’t change his name now!

PS: I just realized this is in the wrong section, but I don’t know how to move it…

;”>;”>;”>;”>;”>;”>;”>

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Wow what a day!

1. No I think once any animal is de-sexed (fixed) they are just that. There is no need to think of them as two males. Besides in the rabbit world females are the territorial ones. Lastly I’ve had a male male bonded pair and they bonded with no tricks or fights. So once hormones have died down, go on with bonding exercises

2. I’d keep them separate about a month-apparently they can store sperm that long, so I’d imagine thats at least how long the hormones would last. But use your judgement and go with your gut. No need to rush things!

3. Since the vet who looked at the teeth admitted she/he wasn’t experienced, just wait on worrying. We can make real mountains out of molehills. See your regular vet, and don’t hesitate to get other opinions. I’d imagine the only thing to worry about would be regular molar levelings, as the opposite molar won’t wear down without it’s counterpart. But I don’t have much experience in dentistry. (I’ve only two with small dental issues-one with regular levelings and one who had incisors overgrow)

4. No idea, but my rabbit’s molar leveling-with xrays, bloodwork and sedation run about $500. Which is insanely little compared to what I would have guessed. At my regular vet, it’s $275 for just an x-ray, but at a specialist with special x rays, bloodwork, aftercare, sedation etc-to only pay $500 is super low (though yeah I’d rather spend that on something else!) -so I’d imagine it will just vary! You could definitely phone around though and see what other vets charge-it may even be worth a road trip for lower prices too!

5. I’m very skeptical of ‘alternative treatments’-it’s fine if it’s can’t hurt might help-but don’t waste time and money when there is no research backing it up. I can’t see how needles or supplements could affect dentition. So I’m leaning towards-providing wood chews, and proper diet as the only holistic care I could think of.

[BunnyBeth]

Thank you so much for such a thorough answer.

That’s good. I’d just heard it was easier to have a boy-girl pair. I’ve never seen them fight, over even look annoyed with each other. Is humping a way for rabbits to establish dominance? Dupree has done it before, Betty just lies down and takes it. Because they’re never had any issues I’ve just had them both out and about with access to the cage since we’ve gotten home. They’ve laid next to each other, put noses together and Betty has asked for grooming. Dupree just tried humping him again though. Dupree’s also cleaned Betty’s ears. No fighting though, so I guess they’re good? I don’t think they’re particularly concerned with territory since I moved them so often for two months.

Thanks for the reassurance.

$500, huh? How often does that happen? Right now that would be like… 40% of my monthly paycheck. Well, calling around is what I do best. That’s how I got them fixed for $60 total, 2 months of phone calls.

Oh, the echinacea and acupuncture were both things suggested to me to boost his immune system and help with the abscess & infection, not fix the tooth. That would be a miracle!

They’ve both perked up a lot. They’ve eaten almost a whole bowl of salad and have been skipping around the room more in the last hour, though Betty keeps turning into a loaf in front of Dupree.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Emmm I really dislike dominance theory in general (mostly because it assumes we know an animals thoughts and intentions-which we can’t-and because when we assume intent we subscribe human emotions and yada yada-I won’t get into it!) But it’s for the large part-dominance theory has been dismissed by the scientific community, -so I wouldn’t call the humper dominant or non-dominant (The D word is a swear word in my house!) -so imho -as long as they get along great. If the humpee doesn’t mind, let sleeping dogs lie (or rabbits hump!) If the humpee minds-break it up.

The $500 is every three months (yeah me-who needs clothes or nice things!) But it’s not monthly so it’s something I can plan for It will totally depend on a million things and worth just waiting to see what your vet says, and checking with other vets. I find my fees are somewhat high to normal for what I hear about here, but my fees are in Canadian dollars and we are in an inflated province.

Oh for abscesses-that kind of makes sense! hah I was like-uh…. Definitely might be worth a shot if you find you are dealing with an abscess or a bunny prone to them.

[BunnyBeth]

Okay, Betty seems to be getting more irritated with it (just trying to dodge every other time), so now I’ve been letting the boys hang out until Dupree starts making a honking noise, and then Dupree gets removed. They’re not sleeping together yet, so they’re only together when I’m around.

Thanks for the advice. I just had zero idea what to expect, so even one anecdote is an improvement from where I’m at.

Yeah, he’s got a big ol’ one on his chin, which is why the tooth is having problems (probably).

[Author]

Messages