Elderly Rabbit Advice?/Eye Infection?/Vets in Michigan? Help Needed ASAP

[Yield]

okay so here's the run down:

silas was 2 years old according to the humane society when i adopted him. which means he will be 7 years old this year (in june). he's a flemish/chinchilla mix i think- so large- 10-12lb i believe. he also has a bondmate, a female who is about half his size and VERY active and healthy- no signs of age at all unlike him... (she will be 6 years old this fall).

arthritis is hitting him QUICK. his back end gives out pretty often when he tries to run (he was never an active rabbit, ever since i got him), he stumbles (focused on the back legs, i can tell it's his hips probably) when he walks sometimes.

he has trouble controlling his bladder now too (you stimulate near his butt at all to wipe the pee off and you can bet he's gunna release his bladder). he pees pretty much anywhere he wants now, especially the inside of his cage (i even put a shorter litterbox in there).. he's in a dog cage/kennel at night so i am going to put fleece on the bottom of it because i can tell in the morning he is sore...

he has pee ALL over his back end now because peeing properly is hard for him with his arthritis/bad hips... (i am going to a dry bunny butt bath .. i would like to do it today but i can't do it myself (too risky because of his bad hips and large size) and my mom refuses to do it today because she is going out later...).. but that will be done within the next couple days :-(

so any suggestions on making things easier for an elderly, arthritic, wet-butt bunny and whatnot would be fantastic and appreciated.

and the main issue here is that he has a possible eye infection.. it's like the weepy eye??? it started this past fall, he was itchin at it and bothering it.. and i started spraying it with vetericyn to heal up the scratches (i didn't think it was an infection back then because it didn't look bad)... and it got better for a little while.

but now it's getting worse so i've started dripping/spraying colloidal silver on it (started a day ago)... i can tell the eye hurts bad, he flinches back from me bad when i get near it. and the matted fur around it has like. come off from his scratching, but is still hanging on. gosh i feel SO bad that it has gotten this bad..

pictures: (1, 2, 3) the orange-y color is from the silver though. it would probably look a bit less bad if the matted fur hanging on was off, but i don't want to accidentally stab him with scissors... he is a twitch-y bunny anyway, and he's worse when his eye hurts.

i was going to get terramycin for his eye, but i cannot find it for sale anywhere except online and i think they said it was discontinued so i fear buying it from the internet. i know it could possibly be his tooth pushing into it, but he has never had a tooth problem before. so i really hope it's not that... i'm not sure i can afford all of that..

so: any suggestions on making his eye feel better? i know the silver takes a while to have an effect, so i was wondering if there's anything else i should be doing? i was also wondering if i should be putting normal neosporin on it too...

i dunno, silas hasn't been to the vet in a while, and i really need to and want to take him but i can't find a good vet, and i have barely any money to my name and we're not doing financially well and i'm so scared....

so the big question: does anyone know a good, affordable vet in michigan?

i do NOT want to take silas to the vet i took sabriel to... because the vet insisted there was no side-effects to the meds she gave me to give to sabriel and there was a bunch and he died literally a day later. it was probably not entirely the vet's fault but i don't exactly trust the situation with the experience i had. i literally spent $200 for sabriel to die a day later....

i can not afford to do that again, financially, emotionally, or mentally. i do not want to lose silas, especially not this year. i love him so much.. and i just lost sabriel in september and one of my chickens in november... i'm not mentally okay enough to handle another loss.. i never would be of course, but especially anytime soon

it doesn't help that i really struggle with depression and anxiety so i'm. REALLY panicking right now...

i think that's everything though... please help!!!!

 

[JBun]

Yes there are things that can be done for the arthritis, but it will require a visit to the vet and prescription medications. Metacam is commonly given to arthritic buns. It can usually be given longterm quite safely, though it's likely your vet will want to at least do a blood test to check organ function and make sure it is ok. Another one used to treat arthritis is Adequan injections. It takes several weeks to start to see positive effects though. You want to make sure you are seeing a good rabbit vet, as many inexperienced rabbit vets will prescribe too low of a dose of metacam, usually the cat dose. Rabbits usually need a much higher dose(around 0.3-0.6mg/kg) due to a fast metabolism. One non prescription medication that some people have found helpful, is glucosamine.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Bone_diseases/Osteo/arthritis.htm

I have the same arthritis issues with my old bun, though maybe not quite as bad as your bun. She does get stiff and pees everywhere now. One thing that has helped to keep her bum clean, is covering her floor with pee pads. I just buy a big box of the puppy pee pads at costco, and they are fairly inexpensive to replace every few days as needed. She doesn't really dig or chew on them, so that's not an issue. Something you will need to keep an eye on is your buns hocks, as they can develop sore hocks due to the arthritis. It was an issue for my bun, that I solved using foam puzzle flooring under the pee pads.

With the eye problem, the vet will also need to evaluate this. It's possible your rabbit has a blocked tear duct causing the problem, or a dental infection can even cause this to occur. Or it may be an eye lash rubbing on the eye. If you want to try the terramycin, you can buy it online at reputable sites, or try your local tractor supply. It may or may not help, depending on the cause of the problem. Having a vet check the eye would be the best thing though.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=9674
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/weepy.pdf

Just know that to do a proper investigation of all of these issues, it could get a bit expensive. The vet may want the blood test before prescribing metacam, and xrays may be needed as well for the arthritis and possible dental issues, plus the medication costs. But it will also depend on what the vet finds during the initial exam. If you only want to get the eye treated, it may be just a simple tear duct flush that is needed, or it could be something more complicated. One thing that can help with costs is to not buy the medications from the vet when possible, but to get the vet to write or call in the prescriptions. Pet specific ones like metacam and adequan, you can get online for much cheaper. Sometimes human medications are used, and these you may be able to get at your local pharmacy, such as certain eye drops.

For good rabbit vets, all I have are these lists of recommended vets. I don't know if the vets listed are good or not. It can help to also look up online reviews of the vets you are interested in.
http://rabbit.org/rabbit-veterinarians-state-listings/#Michigan
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/forumdisplay.php?f=21

This has info on giving a butt bath for disabled rabbits.
http://www.disabledrabbits.com/baths--cleaning.html