As a rancher with 25 years experience raising purebred Arabian show horses, miniature goats and longwool sheep,along with 12 years experience raising purebred longhair cavies, I would definitely put my faith in Randy's advice. Practioners of animal husbandry accumulate a vast wealth of practical knowledge which veterinarians don't have time to accumulate. Veterinarians are scientists who treat many patients, read medical literature, and go to conferences. They usually do not handle the day-to-day treatment of your animals. That is YOUR job. They are doctors, not caretakers.
As a caretaker with years of experience, I have learned how to give injections, read symptoms, start initial treatment, perform all kinds of first aid, and even suture open wounds. I have reached inside numerous female animals to reposition a baby for delivery, handle breeding stallions, and done all the things a good caretaker does to provide an optimal healthy, happy environment for my animals, and provide proper nutrition. Yes, I have taken animal science classes at the university, attended clinics on all sort of topics, such as nutrition, breeding, and other matters. None of this makes me a medical expert, which is why I hire the services of a veterinarian. Having a good vet, however, is not my only resource. I rely on the experiences of other ranches and cavy breeders as well.
I think the most important point of being an animal owner is to learn how to read your animals and the signs can be very subtle. A horse looking "not quite right", a marsu who seems "off the weather", a goat who isn't quite as energetic as usual. These are the subtle signs which foretell an illness long before the obvious symptoms which appear after the illness has been in the animal's system for several days. By then, your animal is very sick and you've lost precious time in starting treatment.
So, you look for the subtle signs, which is particularly important with rabbits, cavies, and other prey animals, who mask their symptoms until they are desperately ill. I read many forum posts like this: "Two days ago my bunny got a stuffy nose and now she won't eat. What should I do?" or "My marsu wouldn't eat last night and I woke up this morning and he was dead."
PEOPLE! Being an animal caretaker is more than relying on your veterinarian. You have to READ your animals. For example, I have a bunny on Batril. After 10 days, there was no improvement. She stopped eating. I called the vet. She said, "keep her on the Batril. Give it time to work." Based on my experience, I have seen animals not improve and that means it's usually because the drug is not effective for some reason. We may never know the reason - resistant bacteria, the animal is not metabolizing the drug properly, etc. So, at that point, I drew on my years of experience and decided that there are drugs which attack pneumonia better than Batril. So, Iconsulted the vet again and demanded that we try another medication. We put the bunny on trimethylprim sulfa. Within 36 hours, I saw dramatic improvement. She's still not eating, but she is more alert, has her ears up, and the white extrudant on her nose is gone. Okay, that's progress. Now, I have to get her to a better stage where she can eat without handfeeding. So, as a responsible owner, I do my homework. I read and read about apetite stimulants, other possible medications, and then armed with this knowledge, I call the vet. I present my findings and that gives the vet some ideas to think about. We discuss the options, make a plan, and try it for several days to see what happens. One option would be changing to a newer medication- maybe azithromycin (if it's available in Finland) or something else. What herbs are recommended and who has used them with success? How do I keep the costs of all this treatment reasonable? At the back of my mind is what happens if the bunny refuses to eat and has to be euthanized? How do I tell my husband because she is his bunny?
In the meantime, I rely very heavily on the experiences posted by people like Randy, who are kind and caring enough to spend their time - with being paid - to help those of us with less experience. To discount someone like Randy, just because he is not a vet, is pretty harsh. Veterinarians listen to people like Randy to add to their knoweldge base of what happens "in the field".
Personally, I think Randy wrote a very good post with valuable information that you can't easily find elsewhere.
Thank you, Randy.
