Bladder sludge 8yr old male

My 8yr old male Netherlands Dwarf just had surgery to remove a very large amount of sludge from his bladder. The vet who performed his operation is not very experienced with rabbits but did a great job never the less. he has been home about 8 hours and still not eating or drinking (very much). How long after such a procedure can expect him to be uninterested in his food? is 24 hrs too long to wait? Other than his bladder sludge issue is a very happy healthy rabbit!

Does he have pain medication and if so what it is?

He may need a stronger pain medication (a narcotic) to help him feel better.

-Dawn

He has Baytril which is an antibiotic but no pain medicine. Are any children's strength medications that are safe for rabbits? He has eaten a couple of greens and a baby carrot so that seems promising!

I encourage you to go back to your vet and demand pain medication! Can you imagine having surgery and not getting any pain medication after? Rabbits are very sensitive to pain, and pain control is crucial to successful re-cooperation from surgery.

Ideally you want a narcotic like Tramadol or Buphrex (sp?) as they work best. But many vets want to administer Metacam (which is about the same as a human taking an over the counter pain medication like Advil).

There are some human over the counter pain medications that you can give rabbits but I am unsure of the dosages or the side effects. There are some that you don't want to give if there is a risk of bleeding as it inhibits clotting.

I would call the vet and discuss. But insist on some sort of pain medication.

-Dawn

Big ditto to what Dawn said. I would insist on pain meds. My rabbit has had two bladder surgeries to remove stones. Both times my vet gave Metacam but the second time I ended up going back and getting Buphremix as the Metacam just didn't seem to be enough.

He has begun to eat some more greens and is making small well shaped droppings. The vet did give him a painkiller shot that may have contributed to his odd behavior yesterday. As it wears off he is becoming more himself and is slowly eating more and grooming himself.

Any suggestions to avoid this in the future are greatly appreciated. He has only ever had very limited pellets (about 1/3 cup per day for 5lb rabbit). He has unlimited timothy hay and a big hand full of greens a couple times every day consisting mostly of romaine lettuce, cilantro, carrots with tops, sometimes a brussel sprout, some broccoli, and occasionally parsley!

So he has been completely uninterested in his pellets but has continued to eat small amounts of fresh greens and a few small pieces of hay. He did urinate on the floor today and it was thick as though he was expelling the remaining bladder sludge and His droppings are still small but are round and well formed. I took him to the vet today for a shot of pain medication (I forgot to ask which one she gave) He has been hopping around the house happily since so hopefully his appetite will improve with his activity level. Since he hasn't been drinking his water we have been syringe feeding him water and he does have a water bottle and fresh bowl of water available should he decide to drink on his own.

The pain medicine should really help and syringing the water is a good idea.

Our little Charlene who passed away last night had a huge stone removed when we first got her. She was off her feed for less than a day but it took about three days for her to get back to normal. Good Luck ray:.

Thanks for the encouragement and sorry about your loss Nancy. We are continuing to syringe feed him his pellets and water while he nibbles on fresh greens a little bit as he wants them. I finally persuaded the vet to look into some more medical options for motility and she has finally prescribed a 1 week treatment of Metacam for pain and has ordered critical care which will be in hopefully tomorrow. His poops are getting progressively bigger and his energy levels are still normal we just wish he would eat and drink on his own!!!!

Amy is our resident expert on bladder sludge;



http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=58231&forum_id=25

I am wondering if it would be helpfulfor you to learn to give your rabbit sub q fluids to make sure that he is actually hydrated