Having tail issues

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DrSki

DrSki

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Joined
Nov 13, 2012
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Southeastern, Michigan, USA
Been reading the forum for a little while now and decided to seek some advice. I have a 9 year old mini rex, who has experienced some unusual tail issues over the past 6 months. Back in the spring, I noticed some blood streak fur at the tip of Sydney's tail. After multiple trips to the vet, antibiotics, clipping away the exposed cartilage at the tip and wearing a collar, I thought we had the problem solved. However, late last week, noticed it starting again. I left it alone, since she seems to get after it more if you mess with it and it seemed to stop and appeared to be on the mend, but when I got her out to play tonight, she has blood on her tail again (dried) and I'm really at a loss as to why this keeps happening. Last time we ruled out fleas or mites, and possibly thought it might have gotten caught in her cage, but couldn't confirm. Any thoughts? I really don't want to go back to the collar, since she was not thrilled with the whole thing.
 
Could pinworms be a possibility? I know with horses when they have them, they'll keep trying to rub their tail and rump against things to itch it. Maybe this is something like that.
 
If worms get rulled out, you might want to ask about seasonal allergies. Is this happening at a particular time of year? It might be something in the environment that he's allergic to.
 
DrSki wrote:
Been reading the forum for a little while now and decided to seek some advice. I have a 9 year old mini rex, who has experienced some unusual tail issues over the past 6 months. Back in the spring, I noticed some blood streak fur at the tip of Sydney's tail. After multiple trips to the vet, antibiotics, clipping away the exposed cartilage at the tip and wearing a collar, I thought we had the problem solved. However, late last week, noticed it starting again. I left it alone, since she seems to get after it more if you mess with it and it seemed to stop and appeared to be on the mend, but when I got her out to play tonight, she has blood on her tail again (dried) and I'm really at a loss as to why this keeps happening. Last time we ruled out fleas or mites, and possibly thought it might have gotten caught in her cage, but couldn't confirm. Any thoughts? I really don't want to go back to the collar, since she was not thrilled with the whole thing.
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--having already been to a dvm--,what did this dvm say it was..??--antibiotics should not be given freely to a herbivore--there are consequences,,-chewing on a tail may be no different say,than chewing on a foot,etc.- here is a link for more info http://www.medirabbit.com sincerely james waller :big wink:
 
The vet(s) thought she probably caught it and cause a wound initially. They did do a parasite check, but that came back negative. The antibiotics were prescribed because of the open wound and having the end clipped to prevent any possible infection. James, I will check out the link you posted. I will be checking on her when I get back home from work. If the problem continues, we'll make a trip back to the vets, and we can discuss seasonal allergies. Can rabbits develop allergies after several years, even if they are indoor rabbits?
 
Were there any changes to the environment? Maybe you're using a new litter or new bag of hay when it starts, maybe it's when the seasons change and you start using your heater, maybe you changed what you use to clean the cage, etc.?
 
I've always used the same brand of litter with her since her adoption (same brand as they used) and that's been about 7 1/2 years ago. However, I think I did open a new bag of Orchard Grass around that time and I do use that in her litter box, so that could be something to watch. Everything else is the same and the furnace has been on for a while already. Her tail is looking better, and I did notice that the little black tuft of fur that was on the tip of her tail seems to have changed and appears more white. What about shedding seasons effecting the situation? The first time this happened was late spring, so I wonder if that's a connection to her grooming her tail more and causing a sore.
 
I'm taking Sydney in to the vet in just a bit. She actually has chewed or licked her tail and left blood on her bed. That hasn't happened before. I will be asking some of the questions that have been posted here and making sure about infection. I've are seeing the emergency vet at another clinic, mine is out today, but they have seen her there before and for this. Multiple rabbit savvy vets there. I hope we don't have to use the collar again. She hated that, even though it's a soft one, she nor I was thrilled about the whole thing. I'll keep you posted.:(
 
Thought I'd give everyone a quick update on Sydney. The vet discovered about a 4mm sore on the tip of her tail. She prescribed antibiotics and Metacam. We discussed possibilities of why this keeps happening, but there still isn't anything definitive. I've removed her grass from her litter box and cleaned her cage area. It's a matter of keeping an eye on her. Since she really has an issue with having the collar on (bathroom issues and then excessive cleaning when it's off), the vet thought that as long as the medication was helping keep her away from her tail, we'd leave the collar off. So far so good. However, Sydney did not react too well to the two injections. She must have stiffened up when they were given and for most of yesterday didn't want to use her right front paw. Somewhat like when we get a shot and our arm hurts after. I think it affected me more than her. She seems much better this morning, good appetite, using her paw more normally and running around. Hopefully we caught everything early and it won't take as long as last time. We go back to our regular vet sometime this week.
 
Thanks, she seems to be doing better. We have an appointment with our regular vet Wed. She's using her paw more normally and her appetite seems to be just about back to normal. I'm thinking I might not have to do the Metacam tomorrow, That would be day 4, of course she won't mind,since it's one less thing to be wrapped as a bunny burrito :)
 
The never ending tail saga continues for Sydney and she is not a happy gal at the moment. We did see our regular vet on Wed. and after an exam and discussion, the vet took her off all of her medication she was on, since she was having some issues with not wanting to eat as much and loose droppings. She wanted to give Sydney's tummy a rest and if everything was back to normal, start her on Baytril, once a day for 10 days, as of Monday. At that time, her tail was doing well - scabbed, but she hadn't gotten after it again since the vet visit on Saturday. This morning was not fun. She got after her tail during the night and reopened the wound. It may also be a bit larger. Again, since my vet is not in until Tues., I contact the other vet clinic (wanting to avoid another car ride and cost of going out there again). I explained what happened at my vet's on Wed., and what happened this morning. My main concern again is infection, so since Sydney was eating and pooping normally again, she has started the Baytril today and I had to put her little collar on to stop her from getting at her tail. She is not happy and I feel so bad for her, however she is eating well, but we're monitoring her droppings (these seem to not be as plentiful as normal). I know she is looking forward to getting out in a few hours to have her collar off. I'll leave her out extra long, so she has more collar free time. I hope we can get it cleared up, since if she exposes more of the cartilage they may have to remove more of her tail (and since she's 9, that really scares me).
 
Just a thought, but could it be something unrelated to her tail and that's just a bit she can reach and she's taking the stress out on. For example if she had some lower back pain (rabbits can sometimes get spurs on their spine which can cause issues) or even a urinary tract problem that's causing discomfort. Perhaps some general investigative work such as blood test or xrays might reveal something?

If she's going for it from the side, whether you could adapt a harness with some stiff flaps going back like wings from the waist strap would give protection without the aggravation of something around her neck?

If she does need an op, then as long as she's otherwise healthy, don't worry too much about her age. I know bunnies older that have been neutered etc. and done just fine :)
 
Thanks tamsin, it's something to consider since when she was on the Metacam she did not chew at her tail. Also, I know she has some arthritis issues, looses her balance easily, doesn't always get at a spot she wants to with he back legs, etc. I will be calling my regular vet on Tues and that is something we can discuss. As for the harness idea, she really hates anything around her, but she's tolerating the collar and I've even seen her flopped on her side snoozing (baby monitors work great as spy cams to check in on her). So for now, we're giving the antibiotics and lots of supervised time out of her cage to have the collar off as much as possible, although I do go back to work tomorrow after the long Thanksgiving break.
 
If she didn't chew on her tail while taking Metacam then the drug may have been stopping whatever is causing her to go after it....pain? a pinched or exposednerve?

We had a rabbit with a broken ankle. The vet gave us Metacam for pain and inflammatiion. He said that as it started to heal she might begin to self-mutilate her toes as the feeling started to return to her foot. Maybe your bunis feeling some type of pain...nerve or other...in that area that causes her to go after it?
 
Update to the ongoing tail saga:
Since things were looking better, I took Sydney's collar for a few hours yesterday after I came home from work, since she has really be acting a bit depressed with it on in her cage (she never has it on when she's out of her cage, since I always monitor her). During that time, she managed to reopen up the wound, so today was back to the vet, because I was concerned about her exposing the cartilage/bone at the tip. Good news is there doesn't seem to be anything exposed and the actual wound is scabbed over and still is confined to just the tip. Majorv, I did speak to the vet about the Metacam and her not going after the tail when she was on this before. So we're going to try to add some to her routine, very small amount-once every 2-3 days and see if that makes a difference. My vet wants to limit its use, since it can bring up kidney issues, so we'll watch that very closely. Also doing 10 days of Baytril, and I had them order me some Proviable for rabbits. The vet did a very thorough check for mites and she appears clean. We also talked about any possible issues with her spine causing pain, but she doesn't really present with anything to back that up. I even asked about maybe something that we could spray on her tail that would taste bad to help stop her from going after it, but with Sydney the more you do with her tail the more she actually gives it attention. So for now, it's status-quo and letting it heal. It may take some time, but I have to proceed with caution, since I think I took the collar off before it had actually healed up enough (she just gives you that sad bunny face and you melt). She's down a bit in weight (even though she has been eating well), so the vet thinks boosting her greens and pellets a bit may be helpful. I appreciate all the advice and questions from everyone. I did bring up quite a few with my vet. Any other suggestions would still be helpful.:bunnybutt:
 
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Aww, I'm glad she's doing better. Hopefully once the scabs healed over it won't be on her mind and she'll leave it alone :)

It might help you to keep a diary of what you do when - sometimes it can be hard to track/remember the things you tried and what changes, and it's not til you look back you can see links.
 
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