The importance of a rabbit-savvy vet (sad story)

[Zombie-Sue]

My friend’s rabbit is not doing very well. She was suffering from malocclusion and her vet did a poor job of filing her teeth down, causing some infections. They cleared up with a lot of care, and then her rabbit began drooling and grinding her teeth x(

 

I immediately reccomended her to my vet, who she went to see immediately. My vetrenarian informed her that she would require surgery, and this morning she dropped her rabbit off for surgery… and then she got a call from him this afternoon. It was worse than he thought, and he was afraid he’d break the rabbit’s jaw, so he did not go through with the surgery. He emailed the rabbit’s x-rays to a specialist about an hour away. The molar had actually started growing backwards into her gums, so much that it’s set the allignment of her entire jaw off and caused a large absess. 

 

She now needs very high-risk surgery that will cost upwards of a grand USD. My friend is going to sell a very sentimental bass guitar to pay for it, she is so dedicated to her rabbits…  but I thought that this sad story is a good example of why a good vet is so important. Wish little Rex Rabbit good luck  

[Arthur'sMom]

Send lots of hugs and best wishes to your friend and her bunny from me and Arthur! So sad. Hope everything turns out ok. And hugs to you too!

[Beka27]

My thoughts are with your friend and healing vibes are going out to her Rex Rabbit! Please keep us posted on how he does!

You are so right that a good vet (or human doctor, dentist, surgeon, etc…) makes all the difference. It takes a knowledgeable and honest person to recognize their clinical limitations, and refer out to the appropriate person as necessary. Her original vet might have tried to do the extraction him/herself and caused so many more issues.

I have seen and assisted in countless human tooth extractions and the jaw is a very dense bone. Rabbits are so fragile on the other hand. It seems like one wrong twist and the whole jaw could fracture.

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

That is a good reason why rabbit savvy vets are really important. My friend is getting her rabbit spayed and I called around to see what vets would spay her female. The one vet said they don’t do it but he could do it if you wanted him to. That didn’t agree with me because they shouldn’t say that if the vet never had done it before. My vet is a good vet but anything major she always checks with a specialist to find out. I live in an area where there aren’t alot of vets. I also live in an area where not alot of people have rabbits either. hope everything goes well.

[Stickerbunny]

I am sorry your friend has to go through this, the poor bun! I can’t stand when vets say they can treat an animal because they figure “hey, can’t be much different than a dog” rather than just admitting they weren’t trained for that animal. I hope her bunny makes it through the surgery and everything turns out OK.

That is why I interviewed the vets in town before I picked one – which got me some snobby responses from vets who wanted to treat my rabbit but proved they knew nothing about them, even though I was careful to be polite and non-accusatory when they got the answers wrong (IE: one vet argued with me that rabbits HAVE to be fasted before spay/neuter, even after I explained that rabbits cannot vomit and there is no need).

For anyone who reads this and needs help finding a good rabbit vet, house rabbit society’s webpage has a good list of questions to ask your vet to make sure they know what they are doing.

My vet I use now went over every medicine he gave my rabbit for her spay when I took her in – antibiotics etc, because I had asked them so many questions before I would let them do the surgery lol he talked to us for about 20 minutes when we went to pick her up and praised her good health and diet. He was quite happy to be questioned to make sure he knew what he was doing with my babies.

[LoveChaCha]

I have gone through 2 vets to find the one that is incredible. It was by recommendation of a fellow BB’er. I love my vet- she is so patient and answers all questions. She offers alternative therapy and is trained in accupuncture and chiropratic medicine. She says she hopes to never do that on my bunny (she wishes all her patients to be healthy!). She has been seeing rabbits for 15 years and sees a bunch weekly!

[Tate]

I had a similar experience with Velvateen’s first vet. It turns out he’s bad with all animals. I think he’s a failed MD that just needs to cut things open on a regular basis.

[tobyluv]

I hope that Rex Rabbit does very well with his surgery and that he fully recovers from his teeth problems.

[Zombie-Sue]

me too, thanks for all the well-wishing! I actually looked up the questions in case anyone wanted to find them, from the HRS. Here they are:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html

[LittlePuffyTail]

That is sad that a loving bunny owner (and bunny) had to go through that.

(((((((Wishing Rex an easy surgery and speedy recovery.)))))))

[BinkyBunny]

Keep us updated on your friends bunny, and tell her to come here and visit us if she wants advice or just support too.

[Zombie-Sue]

I definitely already reccomended this forum (: but she’s on 56k and doesn’t like to play around on the internet too much.

Rex goes in for CT scans this coming Thursday.

[BinkyBunny]

56k??!!! Wow, well, no wonder. I didn’t even realize people still had that much anymore. Most websites now know that people have higher speeds and will build their websites accordingly, but it will make it very slow for someone on a 56K. It would be like running around the block in cement boots.

Well, let her know we are at least thinking about her and Rex.

[Zombie-Sue]

Yeah, I know right? haha. At this rate though, she won’t be able to afford better internet :p

I will let her know, thank you. The rabbit seems to be doing well in the mean time, her pain is well-controlled.

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