Gracie updates – Urine ate away her nails (pics)

[skibunny8503]

For those of you who didn’t read in the House Rabbit Q&A section; Gracie has been doing bad since Easter.  We came home on Easter and she was soaked with pee (we were only gone from 1pm-6pm).  She smelled awful.  I gave her a bath and dried her.  The next day she did it again but I was home so she wasn’t covered with pee like before.  I made a vet appt. to get her washed and shaved because I just couldn’t keep up with her, she kept peeing on herself.  So $95 later she was as clean as she could be and shaved.  She seemed like she was a bit better and at least I could keep up with her with shorter fur.  I have pretty much had to give her a bath every other day or so since then.  We couldn’t get to the vet’s last week but she has an appt. with her other vet that said she had EC when she was younger (this is the effects it had on her).  I actually made the vet appt. because I had felt a lump by her jaw.  But now my main concern is her urinating and then the lump.  My mom and I are taking her on Monday for that appt.  I washed her again today.  I don’t even think she can get her tail up anymore and she doesn’t realize she’s sitting in her pee.  We bought her a pet bed and she’s actually used it in her box.  She looks like she’s in pain a bit when hopping.  Her peeing was so bad that the fur on her right leg is 3/4 gone   All we can do is make her comfortable, rub medicine on her legs and bath her.  I get so sad looking at her legs, I just want to give her mine so she won’t be in pain (although that would look a bit odd)

I’ll give you guys an update on Monday when we come back.  Wish us luck! 

[Michelle&Lolli]

(((Hugs))) I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers.

[Helenor]

Good luck! I wish you guys well at the vet and hope she comes out feeling better.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Poor little girl…thinking of you and wishing you have a positive and productive vet visit.

[Sarita]

Let us know how the appointment goes.

[skibunny8503]

I just got home a little while ago from the vets.  He looked at the lump by her jaw and said that it wasn’t anything to be conerned about, it looked like maybe old scar tissue but it wasn’t an absessed *sigh of relief*   He looked at her legs and said that they would wash her up again and he said he could take some blood work and see what her kidney’s are (or something with her blood count..I can’t remember what he said exactly )  We waited a bit and he came back and said that….um…her liver count was good and so was her white blood count but her kidneys were getting a bit high.  He gave me Orabax and said to give her 1 ML of it for 14 days.  Also give her Metacam every day along with the Tramadol (x2) and rub Silvedene (x2) on her legs every day.  He said if she doesn’t improve then there wasn’t really too much we could do.  I explained earlier to him that we didn’t know if she was going to get better and we didn’t want her to be in pain.  We talked about what we would do if we couldn’t help her.  She doesn’t even like to hop around because her legs are so raw.  He said there’s some urine scald on her legs.  He said he didn’t want to put words in my mouth but I think he agreed full heartedly about what was best for her.  

I don’t think it would be AS hard if she was a lone bun but my heart breaks for Archie, he loves her.  The other day she was in her tunnel kind of being miserable and he started binkying all around by her.  I never seen him do so much binkying before.  When he stopped he looked back at her like he was trying to act goofy to make her feel better

I’m going to see if she improves with the Orabax in 14 days and we’ll see what goes from there.  Just gotta take it one day at a time.  I’ll probably be bathing her every other day too.  I don’t want to let her go but I want her to be happy.  

[Monkeybun]

Poor Gracie bun. Archie is such a good boy, trying to cheer her up!

I hope this helps her, she’s in my thoughts every day!

[Boysclub]

oh hun, i have gracie in my prayers!!! i am hoping for a speedy recovery and a happy little girl!

[LizzieKnittyBun]

Oh poor Archie! The thought of him trying to clown around to make her feel better is so touching.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Poor little girl. So the vet doesn’t really know what’s wrong?

That’s so sweet what you described about Archie trying to cheer her up.

((((Gracie)))))) She’s in my prayers too.

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

I’m sorry to hear about this I really hope Gracie pulls through with the meds. You will all be in my thoughts!

[Elrohwen]

Oh my, this thread had me tearing up. Poor Gracie! I’m sure you guys will do what’s right for her in the end, and you’re certainly doing everything possible to make her comfortable now. Good for Archie, cheering her up!

[Sarita]

I feel for you. I’ve been in your situation and it’s hard when your rabbit just cannot take care of herself and you feel her discomfort because you know she cannot be comfortable even if she is still eating. I think they get used to their disability and discomfort even if you know they don’t have the quality of life you want for them. Have you tried any lambswool (the fake stuff of course) or fleece to see if that will help wick the moisture away from her?

[jerseygirl]

  More {{{vibes}}} for Gracie and the family.

Ski, did you ever see those videos Sarita posted that are pinned in the DIET&CARE forum? One was on disabled rabbits. I remember the host I think (not the guest speaker) talking about silverdene cream for urine scald and how great it was. I hope you do see good results with it for Gracie.

or something with her blood count..I can’t remember what he said exactly

Would this have been her blood urea nitrogen levels?  It’s (ironically) referred to as BUN levels which is why I’ve been able to remember it.

[skibunny8503]

LPT, when she went to the vet before the he said it looked like she had E Cuniculli (but the spores weren’t in her body anymore to affect Archie).  I’m guessing it started showing up just a bit when she was abused.  I read that sometimes EC shows up when they become ill or something tramatic like being abused.  We think from EC that she has like a paralsys on her back area.  She also has some arthritis.  And we don’t know exactly how old she is, she could be older than what we think which is around 7-8 maybe?

Sarita, I did get her a while ago a fake lambswool bed, but she refused to sit in it and Archie always dug at it.  I gave it to Sandy but she didn’t use it so her scent was on it.  I went to Target and got a simple cat bed that she likes to lay on now.  I put it in her maze haven and it takes up most of the box so she doesn’t have too much of a chioce anyways but I think she really likes it.  In the picture below she’s in it.

Jersey, thanks so much, I’m loading the video up right now!  It might have been that but he was speaking in “english” terms and not medical for me to understand haha!  He had the papers in his hand..I was thinking about getting a copy but I didn’t think I’d understand any of it anyways   And yes the silverdene has been a great help!  The dr. gave it to me a while ago in a big jar and I’ve used it a lot and still have more than 1/2 the bottle left. 

Archie was anxious to get out last night so I let him out and didn’t really expect Gracie to come out but she did!  Her hopping looked so much better and she didn’t look like she was in as much pain.  I noticed that the dr. shaved her a little better and there was a spot that I couldn’t see before because it was so matted and it was really red and looked like the skin had broke a little.  I had put the silverdene on it and it seemed to cause her pain but also relief (kind of like Aloe).  She hopped around the living room and then went back to the cage and Archie followed her. 

Later on she snuck back out when I was looking and laid behind the recliner (her spot).  I got their lettuce and she didn’t run after me but hopped pretty fast.  So she looks better and looks happier than before the vets. 

I didn’t take any pictures of her legs yet….I thought they were just a bit too much to take in but I’ll try to get a picture when I give her some more silverdene later today.

I took some pictures of her just a little bit ago:

 

This is the pet bed I bought her.  I kind of made her sit in it but she hopped away after I got the picture.  She only sits in it in her cage.  It has a waterproof bottom underneath which helps since she has peed on it. 

[Sarita]

With rabbits who have mobility problems it is constant care and clean-up. I clean my rabbit’s areas twice a day anyway but my two who are not so good with the litter box and pee on their carpets. I change and wash their area carpets once a week at least.

I have to clean Mango’s butt daily when he gets his metacam. He’s getting acupuncture treatments as well and while it’s too soon to tell how effective they are, he does finally seem to be growing fur back around his back end where the poop sticks to it and he sits in his pee.

I have a one of those high sided two piece cat boxes for Mango and just use the bottom because it’s shorter and lately he’s actually been climbing in it to pee. He hangs out on the side too and eats his hay from it. So you might think about trying this for a litter box if she’s still somewhat able to use one.

Maxine was unable to use a litter box at all during the end and it was such a challenge to keep her clean and she was a very large rabbit and I felt awful about the condition she was in.

[jerseygirl]

Goodness! Just reading these last 2 post I’m up and down in emotion. So I can only imagine what it’s like caring for these rabbits when they need this extra care. You ladies have my full admiration. I suppose you just have to take it one day at a time.

[skibunny8503]

Wow that video is pretty interesting so far!  (I had to break to start fixing supper)  Gives me hope that I can do this.  I think you get a little overwhelmed at first when dealing with that stuff.  

I do have a ramp that we made for her.  I never posted it on here, I guess I just kep forgetting.  We just never could find a litter box for her that she could get into well.  I was too afraid to cut down the sides if we messed up so my husband suggested building a ramp for her!  She uses it really well.  Sometimes she’ll hop in from the side but 90% of the time she uses the ramp.

[skibunny8503]

I was putting her medication on her skin (I didn’t get a picture of her since the camera is on the Ipod and my husband sleeps to it).  Her feet are really sensitive where if I touch by her toes she kicks her leg out.  I finally held her foot still trying to figure out if she had a burn on her foot or what.  Well her nails look hollowed out!  I couldn’t get a good look at it since she would sit still and she grinded her teeth like she was in pain if I touched by there.  I’ll try to get a picture of them tomorrow if I can.  The only way I can describe them is hollowed out.  I wouldn’t even be able to trim them because of the way they looked.  I just never seen anything like that.  I tried looking it up but couldn’t find anything yet about urine scald affecting the nails.  Anyone know anything about this or any treatment?  Or maybe she just has to heal herself?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Her hopping looked so much better and she didn’t look like she was in as much pain

This made me smile! Glad to hear it!

[jerseygirl]

Maybe the blood supply to her nails is not great due to the arthritis? Is it the nails on her hocks that are like this?

[Sarita]

Well, the older rabbits get the more brittle their nails can be. Urine is very drying so it could be drying out her nails…

[skibunny8503]

I got some pictures this morning.  Her right leg is the worst that I’m holding up.  Her left leg has a lot more fur on it.  The silivedene has really helped her a lot and she’s actually not as bad as it looks it’s just her fur has fallen off from the urine.  The good thing though is that I haven’t had to bathe her and I looked at her blanket today and there wasn’t any pee stains that I could see.

I tried to get a picture of her nails the best I could.  It’s only her back feet nails.  You can see that the nail almost looks like 1/2 a tube where it’s open.  She won’t let me really look at it because it hurts her too much.  The only way I can see the nails well is if I blow on her fur to see them better.  

Apparently she is feeling a lot better today because she was a little fiesty when I was holding her, before she won’t start chewing her blanket and today she did.  She aslo was chasing Archie around and trying to hump him however which way she could   Archie has been acting up a little.  I had to take her bed out because he started digging and made a hole in it! Then this morning he was digging at the blanket I have down and I heard him pee on it!    I don’t know if he’s acting out because I’ve been giving her a lot of attention or what.  I thought maybe his nails needed trimmed and he was digging because of that but that’s not the case.  Hopefully he settles down.

[Sarita]

Poor thing…I honestly cannot tell a thing about the nails on the second photo.

That Silvadene is great stuff – I’ve used it many times for urine scald – it is used on burn victims as well, that is what it was initially formulated for.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Oh…that’s so awful. I feel so bad for her and you as well since I know it’s very hard seeing your bunny unwell. She’s lucky she has you to take such great care of her.

[Elrohwen]

Poor bun!! She’s very lucky she lives with people who take such good care of her, instead of at her old home where I’m sure this would all be neglected.

[skibunny8503]

Update before I head to bed..  Gracie is doing very well.  She hasn’t peed on herself for a while now.  The Silvadene is really healing her up.  She still has a ways to go but it looks a lot better.  Her fur is even slowly starting to grow back!   She’s taking her meds very well…she actually loves them.  

[LoveChaCha]

YAY GRACIE BUN

[Monkeybun]

Yay! Keep doing better Gracie!

[skibunny8503]

Posted By Elrohwen on 05/12/2011 06:16 AM
Poor bun!! She’s very lucky she lives with people who take such good care of her, instead of at her old home where I’m sure this would all be neglected.

Oh I know it!  I don’t think she’d still be alive if she was still with those horrible people   She got another bath today just to freshen up.  I can see her poor little ankles  

I found my older digital camera that takes better pictures and hopefully you can see the nails better here.  She started getting mad at me and took it out on the blanket…..so it took me a few times to get her steady

See how it looks like a U?

 

 

It’s a little harder to see but once you see the nail is a U, in this picture you can see that the middle is gone. My husband believes that the quick is still there but her nails are very sensitive so if it is still there then it must be really close to it.  I’m going to check in with the vet tomorrow and tell him about it.  Don’t think there’s anything I can do about it but I’ll let him know.

[jerseygirl]

Posted by Sarita~Well, the older rabbits get the more brittle their nails can be. Urine is very drying so it could be drying out her nails…

Actually. I’ve noticed Rumballs back nails are more brittle and the tips once cut are like an inverted U shape. He’s 5 this year.
Ski, perhaps it is a comination of this as Sarita mentions? That they’re like this due to age but then sensitive because of the urine?
I know that video covered diapering a rabbit but it hard to know how much that could help as the area is not exposed to the air then and that could have it’s own problems. I guess while they are able to stand it’s best to encourage natural toileting habits as much as possible.

[skibunny8503]

I talked to the vet just now and gave him an update on everything. He knew exactly what I was talking about with the nails and he said the main thing is we don’t want them to get infected. I told him I had baby wipes and he said that would be good to just wipe them off to disinfect them. I forgot to ask about trimming them but he said to call him next week to give him an update and I’ll ask him them. I’m too afraid to trim her nails, I’m afraid they’ll break off. Her nails don’t grow as fast as the other bunnies anyways. Gracie’s nails are also a little sideways too from her old owners having her in a wire cage.

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