My Sweetheart Livingston

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SugarGlider

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Kenton, Ohio, USA
I have not posted much about Livingston lately. I've kind of not wanted to admit what's going on. I do think that it's time now, since there is very little doubt what is wrong with him.

When I got livingston he had a drained absess on his shoulder. There was a small scab where it must have drained at. Weather that happened on it's own or the breeder took a needle to it I do not know but the breeder acts as if she knew nothing. We discovered this the second day we had him and we called her and rushed him to her (it was rush him to her or the vet ands he asked we bring him to her and if he needed a vet we could go on to one). She told us it was a drained absess. It seemed to be on the mend so we took him home.

We took him to a rabbit show three weeks after we got him. He was disqualified for snuffles. The breeder explained he was probably sensative to the pine I was using since he'd not been on it before. This seemed like a good explaination so I waited for it to go away. Except it didn't go away.

I stopped asking the breeder then and about a month after the show I took him to my vet. He was put on Baytril once a day. The vet said "his lungs sound like crap".

Two weeks late we took him back for a progress repost and his lungs sounded better. She moved him to baytril twice a day.

On Saturday (after two weeks or so at twice a day) we took him back. This time his lungs were clear. The vet says it's just the upper respitory area now. To kick it out she puts him on injections of Baytril twice a day. So my husband and I have been doing injections since Saturday. He is supposed to be on this for 20 days (two full viles of baytril.

My vet tells me "I can almost garantee that it's pasturella".She also tells me that she feels there is a good chance that he will recover and not have another outbreak. She feels this outbreak could have been caused bacteria from the absess. I do not know what to believe.

Last evening his nose looked dry and I was encouraged. This morning his nose was moist and had snot. I am so very very discouraged.

He is so beautiful and I love him so much. I will keep him no matter what.

Thanks for listening!
 
I'm so sorry - I have been wondering how he was doing. He's a beautiful rabbit and I'm glad that he has someone who is giving him a good quality life.

TWe are all here for you if you ever need a few hundred shoulders to cry on. :tears2:

Many of us have been through the same thing that you are going through now and can certainly relate to the stress and worry that you are going through.

Pam
 
I'm so glad he has you to take care of him! I know it seems very discouraging that he still has upper respiratory problems, but the lower respiratory infection was probably the worst part. After my kittens' issues, I definately know how you feel!

I wonder if a nebulizer would help him? It would deliver meds directly into the air passages. Haley's doing it for Max, who has pneumonia, and you can read about it on her thread. Might be something to ask about.
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=16549&forum_id=16

:hug2:
 
Im so sorry to hear this about Livingston. I had been wondering how he was getting along.

I wish I could offer some words of encouragement, but Max is doing pretty bad as well. He has been on antibiotics on and off for about 6months or so (between the abscessed tooth surgery and now the bronchitis). I bought the nebulizer yesterday and just started treatments. I built a chamber to put him in and he just breathes in the meds for about 15 minutes 2x a day.

I'll keep you posted on how this works. If Livingston isnt getting better, it might be something to try. If you read through some of the threads in the resource center, you will find that a lot of people have had success with nebulizers.

I'll be keeping Livingston in my prayers. Our bunnies are so lucky to have us ;)
 
Thank you all,

I should add that after the show the breeder did offer to buy Livingston back from me. However, by then we loved him and I knew what happened to sick show bunnies... I couldn't let him go back.

I noticed yesterday afternoon that he sounded wet as he breathed and this morning he's weezing... I'm not really sure what to do.I have an appointment to get two gliders neutered tomorrow so I might take him back in with me to see the vet. I feel like we are going backwards. It doesn't help that he is outside and the weather is hot and cold.

Thanks for the advice about the nebulizer, I'll ask my vet about it.

I'm so afraid he is going to hate me after all of this but even after a shot he comes over wanting petted! I feel so bad leaving him outside.
 
The impending cold weather will further tax his immune system. If you are unable to bring him in, is there any way you can set up a heating lamp for him? (Be careful - these can be a fire hazzard if placed to close to anything).

As Naturestee mentioned, a nebulizer can offer a lot of relief.

Nutri Cal is easy for rabbits to metabolize and really helps boost the immune system. Helps the keep their weight up, and will add plenty of calories to keep him warm during winter.

Pam
 
I think we have decided to get him neutered and make him a house bunny. It really would do no good to go through all of this to help him get better then have a storm blow through and make him sick again.

We are going out of town this weekend so we are boarding him at the vets tomorrow till Monday then he'll be in the house after that and probably get neutered next week I hope.

He's drinking a lot but he's not eating as much as he was. He may have been going through a growth spurt but I am worried about him.

Thanks for listening everyone. Most people (including my own mother) don't understand the bunny thing and it's good to talk about it to people who do.

ETA: he has had a heat lamp since he got here. It's pretty warm where he is but he gets drafts. Either way its not as good as having him in the house with us :)


 
Be sure to discuss Livingston's health issue with the vet and whether or not he should be subjected to the stress of the neuter surgery.

We will be praying for him!



Pam
 
Thank you Pam

I had two sugar gliders neutered today and my husband and I and the vet had a long talk about Livingston. She will have him all weekend so if he isn't up for it she'll be able to tell us.
 
Robin,

Check out Max's thread here in the infirmary if you get a chance...Pipp posted a recipe that someone uses for boosting the immune system. Ive been using it with Max. I cant really say whether or not its working,but it cant hurt. It also includes slippery elm, which might help Livingston with some of those respiratory issues.

It would probably be good regardless to supplement his diet with that or something like nutrical if hes not eating as much.

I'll be keeping him in my thoughts, I hope you have a great weekend and can relax a bit :)
 
I wanted to give a little update!

Livingston came home from the vet last night (where we boarded him all weekend) and his nose was DRY!!!! I was really excited.

Livingston is in the house for good now! We are going to buy him a cage tomorrow and he's perfect when we let him loose (better behaved than our dogs even) so he'll get lots of out of cage time. Emma is outside in Livingstons old pen now.

My husband and I talked and we decided if Livingston is going to be a house rabbit... and we want him to be... that we should get him neutered. I know I said we had already decided but we decided for sure this time.

He got so mad when I put him in the dog crate last night (he hardly fits in the thing) and I was laughing. He must have smelled Emma in here because he went nuts when he got home and was actually coming over to us to get petted and stuff. He's fun to have in the house :)
 
Yay! I'm so glad he's doing well! What are you getting for a cage? NIC cubes? It's hard to find cages big enough for Flemmies.

House bunnies are soooooo much fun.:D
 
We got his cage today. I decided against NIC cubes because I'm worried about clean up and things getting on the carpet.

We got this cage at pets supply plus for 103.00 and we think with enough out of cage time it'll be ok for him.

As for his health I have not seen any snot lately and he's very active and seems very happy. He's jumping on all of the furniture and going up and down the stairs. He follows us around and comes when he's called. It's absolutely amazing! He is a wonderful house pet.

DSC00001.jpg


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Thats so great, Robin! I am so happy for you that he's doing better!

Are you guys going to litter box train him now that he's an indoor bunny?


 
No, I'm not going to litter train him but I hope he'll pick a *spot* to pee in like he did outside so I can keep his cage cleaner.
 
ahh I see. :) I just asked because I know, for me, it cut down on cost a lot once I didnt have to put bedding throughout the entire cage (like you have in your pic).

I know from working at the local rabbit rescue that giant size bunny also means giant sized poops :D
 
Livingston had snot again last night.This thing just does want to let go of him! I've got to get him another vial of Baytril tomorrow to give him another 10 days of injections. He hates us looking up his nose, the poor guy.

Since we brought his cage home we keep the dorrs open and he'll go in his cage and lay down in there. He was in there last night with the door open for a few hours. He'd hop out and come in the living room and look around then go back to his cage. Is this normal for a house bunny?

He must have been visiting the sugar gliders a bit too because I heard him get crabbed at a couple times.
 
Yup, sometimes when my buns are lazy they barely poke their heads out of their pens. And Flemish are known for being a bit lazy due to their size.

I hope he gets over this soon. Sometimes it takes several rounds of antibiotics.
 
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