BlueGiants
Well-Known Member
Forgive me if this ends up being a littlelong... but I could use another opinion... I sold a white Flemish buckto a young man in New Jersey. He's had the rabbit for 8months. The bunny is now 10 months old, 15+ lbs. generallyvery healthy, but hates hay... any kind... timothy, alfalfa, sweetgrass, etc... I recently suggested he give the bunny pumpkininstead and switch to a higher fiber food... Therabbit loves the pumpkin. But the rabbit went into stasis...not eating, not pooping. Advised him to get to a good bunnyvet, suggested he contact the HRS in his area... (Told him if hecouldn't get into the vet to use NutriCal and pumpkin with Benebac...)
Got the rabbit in on an emergency visit to a HRS vet... The Vet hadNEVER SEEN A RABBIT THIS BIG!!! (Tried to tell the guy he wasoverfeeding the rabbit!) Vet kept the rabbit for3days, on the second afternoon, they called him to tell him the rabbitwasn't eating. He went in and got the rabbit to eatsome pumpkin. The vet had a fit! Pumpkin is unfitfor a rabbit.( But IMHO, at least the rabbit ate something...)
The next day (yesterday) he brought the rabbit home with antibiotics(metronidazole), Oxbow Critical Care, Ensure Plus Nutritionalsupplement, and a $400 bill. They said they found mites andstarted him on Ivermec. (Bring him back in 2 weeks...) Whenhe asked about the Benebac and the NutriCal, the vetstartedberatinghim that he was going to kill therabbit if he insisted on using such products... if any vet eversuggested using NutriCal on a rabbit, he should have his licenseyanked...And no one should be feeding CANNED PUMPKIN to arabbit!(I know the Critical Care contains the bacterialsupplements, but if the rabbit doesn't eat ANY hay at all, I wouldthink a regular dose of pumpkin or NutriCal would keep things"moving".) As of today, the rabbit is pooping again, but he'sleaving "Strings of pearls"... he's shedding a lot and cleans himselfreguraly.
On top of that, they told him the rabbit has to have his Incisorsremoved (for another $400). I have never had any of myrabbits develop malocussion... the only thing I can think of is hepulled his teeth on the cage wire... (He does yank the door around toget attention). But I told the owner to ask the vet to showhim the teeth and what is wrong... the vet couldn't/wouldn't showhim... but he did charge the guy for teeth trimming....
The guy is upset... I asked him to take the rabbit to another vet foranother opinion. I offered to pay for it. Or Ioffered to take the rabbit back and give him another baby. (Ican get the teeth taken care of here for a LOT less money!And I'd rather have the rabbit back here!) But the guy isattached to the bunny... he'll let me know.
Has anyone dealt with a vet like this? Wouldn't even listento the owner... and in my opinion, the owner wasn't doing anythingwrong or asking "stupid" questions... What do I say to theowner (who now thinks I don't know what I'm talking about...)
Sorry for the long story... I'm kind of upset... I feel like I let the owner (and the rabbit) down.
Got the rabbit in on an emergency visit to a HRS vet... The Vet hadNEVER SEEN A RABBIT THIS BIG!!! (Tried to tell the guy he wasoverfeeding the rabbit!) Vet kept the rabbit for3days, on the second afternoon, they called him to tell him the rabbitwasn't eating. He went in and got the rabbit to eatsome pumpkin. The vet had a fit! Pumpkin is unfitfor a rabbit.( But IMHO, at least the rabbit ate something...)
The next day (yesterday) he brought the rabbit home with antibiotics(metronidazole), Oxbow Critical Care, Ensure Plus Nutritionalsupplement, and a $400 bill. They said they found mites andstarted him on Ivermec. (Bring him back in 2 weeks...) Whenhe asked about the Benebac and the NutriCal, the vetstartedberatinghim that he was going to kill therabbit if he insisted on using such products... if any vet eversuggested using NutriCal on a rabbit, he should have his licenseyanked...And no one should be feeding CANNED PUMPKIN to arabbit!(I know the Critical Care contains the bacterialsupplements, but if the rabbit doesn't eat ANY hay at all, I wouldthink a regular dose of pumpkin or NutriCal would keep things"moving".) As of today, the rabbit is pooping again, but he'sleaving "Strings of pearls"... he's shedding a lot and cleans himselfreguraly.
On top of that, they told him the rabbit has to have his Incisorsremoved (for another $400). I have never had any of myrabbits develop malocussion... the only thing I can think of is hepulled his teeth on the cage wire... (He does yank the door around toget attention). But I told the owner to ask the vet to showhim the teeth and what is wrong... the vet couldn't/wouldn't showhim... but he did charge the guy for teeth trimming....
The guy is upset... I asked him to take the rabbit to another vet foranother opinion. I offered to pay for it. Or Ioffered to take the rabbit back and give him another baby. (Ican get the teeth taken care of here for a LOT less money!And I'd rather have the rabbit back here!) But the guy isattached to the bunny... he'll let me know.
Has anyone dealt with a vet like this? Wouldn't even listento the owner... and in my opinion, the owner wasn't doing anythingwrong or asking "stupid" questions... What do I say to theowner (who now thinks I don't know what I'm talking about...)
Sorry for the long story... I'm kind of upset... I feel like I let the owner (and the rabbit) down.