Unsolvable health problems

[frankie3000]

I’m posting this hoping that people have some words of support, or have found themselves in similar situations. I have an elderly rabbit, 11 years, who is trucking long but has chronic health issues that at this point seem unsolvable. Due to his age his teeth have shifted and are no longer waring down correctly no matter what he eats, which would leave him needing anesthetized molar trims every 2 months (each anesthesia is risky for his age). He is also suffering from glaucoma that is no longer controllable with eye drops, so the only other options are surgical procedures which would likely be too big of a trauma for his body to handle.

The vet hasn’t said it to me outright yet, but I think I need to start considering having him put to rest. It feels cruel when he seems to still have so much life left in him. But it also feels cruel to subject him to chronic pain and continuous surgical interventions. And there is such a big chance that one of these interventions will eventually kill him anyway. I’ve had him around since I was a teenager, I don’t feel ready or able to make this decision. I am kind of hoping the vet works up the nerve to suggest it to me so that I don’t have to bring it forward myself.

[DanaNM]

I’m very sorry, that’s a very hard decision to be going through. 11 years is a wonderful life for a bunny, so congratulations on taking such good care of him so far!

One thing that jumped out to me is that every 2 months for molar trims is pretty frequent. Usually older buns teeth don’t grow as fast, so it’s possible that he might not need them that regularly? My vet mentioned that sometimes when the teeth shift in age, the bun sometimes really only needs a trim or two to get things back on track.

It’s important to think about quality of life. Aside from his teeth, is he in pain? Is he on any pain management? Is his eye condition very painful?

If the main issue really is his teeth, you might consider just trying 1 trim, with the possibility that he might pass in anesthesia. There have been members here who have had to do similar surgeries, and they say their goodbyes before hand incase it doesn’t go well. Perhaps you could aim to get his teeth sorted out, and some regular pain management for his eyes, and see how he does? I agree that a complicated invasive surgery is prob not a great idea, but something simple like a molar trim and some pain meds might help him be more comfortable for a good bit of time more.

 

. . . 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.  

[frankie3000]

Hi Dana, thank you so much for your reply… the thing about the molar trim is that he has already had them trimmed twice. He had them done the first week of November, and already needed one again the first week of January (he was refusing to eat again). The vet saw him again this week and said he is already starting to develop spurs again on some of his teeth.

He definitely is in pain from his glaucoma. I do have him on daily doses of metacam now which has helped a lot, but I can tell he’s still not at 100%.

[LBJ10]

Is he already blind from the glaucoma? I’ve read about using gentamicin injections to destroy the ciliary body. This permanently reduces pressure in the eye. It also leads to blindness if they are not already blind in that eye.

[frankie3000]

Hmm, I believe my vet said something about this but that he’d never seen it used on rabbits before, he said something about only using it in dogs. Any chance you might have a link or info about where you read about that? (And he is already blind, so I’m not worried about that!)

[LBJ10]

Yes, you most commonly hear about the procedure being used on dogs with glaucoma. The Missouri HRS has an article that does mention it briefly: https://mohrs.org/rabbit-eye-health/

There are also some scientific articles out there that mention using it. However, there do not appear to be any studies ON using it. At least none that I know of. As with many things with rabbits, treatments are often “off label”. There are tons of medications, for example, that are not officially approved for use in rabbits. And yet our vets prescribe them all the time.

[DanaNM]

Ah, I see. That’s very hard regarding the teeth. Does he tend to “bounce back” after his trims very quickly? I think that would also factor into my decision personally. Some bunnies snap right back to eating normal, other’s take days of recovery and practically go into stasis. All of those things affect quality of life.

The treatment that @LBJ10 mentioned for his eyes sounds promising. There are also stronger pain medications than metacam available, so that might also be something to ask about.

 

. . . 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.  

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