Elevated liver values

[DazyDaizee]

Iggy
Mini lop
D.O.B. 7/23/09 (4 months old)
History: Mother of litter surrendered with 7 other buns to a local shelter. I fostered this litter, so I've had Iggs since the day he was born. Litter of 10. Several "runts" in the litter. For Iggy (and several other babies) I had to hold the mom and allow the babies to nurse because they weren't getting enough on their own. Iggy was also accidentally bit by his mom the day he was born. Minor injuries to his hind end. Another baby in the litter has an under-developed eye. They all seem healthy and haven't had any issues.

Currently:

Iggy went for his neuter on Thursday, November 19th. Everything went well, but I opted for pre-surgical bloodwork, which showed a very slight elevation in liver values (a point or a few points over normal). The vet wasn't too concerned, but said if we want to be safe we can recheck in a month so long as he's doing well.
Today, the 22nd, he seems a little off to me. Granted I'm normally not home to watch him all day, but he seemed less active than usual. His brother who was neutered at the same time seems perfectly normal, so I don't think it's due to the neuter itself (incision site looks great and they had 3 days of metacam).
I could be over-reacting.. but if Iggs is still seeming a little off tomorrow, I'm going to call and most likely bring him back to the vet. Just wondering if anyone has any input on what could cause problems with the liver in such a young rabbit. Any suggestions? He is eating well and stool seems normal, but he was definitely brighter earlier in the day than he is now.

 

[Maureen Las]

The liver values are probably not significant if they are slightly off by a few points.

Beau had slightly abnormal liver values after he had a severe eye infection and 6 teeth pulled last year. this year they are normal again.

if you use pine or cedar shavings ...the oil in the shavings cause an interaction with the ammonia in the urine and cause high abnormal liver values.

i don't know what litter you use.

i would not worry too much about this and just get it rechecked.

Liver values can be affected by any toxin in the environment, some medications or chemicals that the rabbit has contact with

 

[DazyDaizee]

I use only pelleted paper litters, never pine, cedar, or any other wood shavings. He wasn't on any medications and didn't have any stressful events (save the car ride) before the blood screen. As far as toxins.. they don't really chew anything, but I'd think anything he had access to, so would the others, and his brother's blood values were normal.

I think I'm being paranoid because I just lost my rabbit Wally so suddenly without any real definite answer. But for me it seems like my pets always end up with strange problems.. so of course, I worry.. But Iggy was still being territorial with Toot through the gate earlier, so I guess that's a good sign. And he ate his pellets tonight. I'll keep a close eye on him.

 

[tonyshuman]

At that age, elevated liver values would either be nothing, something in the environment, or something genetic. It's definitely possible that Iggy has something not working in his favor in the genetics area, since his background is unknown and perhaps a bit checkered (because his sibling has the genetic eye defect). However, I wouldn't worry about it too much unless it's a persistent thing. You don't have any of those "Snack Shacks", do you? They're stuff pressed together and painted to look like logs and they say they're safe. Of course, they're made mostly of pine sawdust, so they are in no way safe. That's one way he could have gotten something bad without you knowing about it. There's no real data to say that they're bad, but we've had several members with bad experience with them so I'm convinced.

 

[DazyDaizee]

He seems normal today. I don't have any of the snack shacks.. I read the ingredients when considering them for my rats and felt the same way.. can't be healthy. I don't know of anything in the environment that could cause problems since they haven't really chewed anything.. hopefully just a fluke.