doodlebugger
Well-Known Member
Our older rabbit, a mini lop, who is a little over 7 years old, has started having a few issues lately. He had this happen before, so we treated it like we have in the past, but this time, something different happened. So, in the past, the rabbit savvy vet determined that it was bladder sludge, which caused a UTI or bladder infection. He got an antibiotic, and we also treated him with metoclopromide and metacam (which he gets daily due to severe arthritis - he was a rescue bun whose previous owner likely dropped him). The big sign that this was happening, was that we found pee outside his litter box and he's very OCD about keeping his cage clean, so we knew there was something wrong. When this happened again later on, the vet suggested we try just the metoclopromide (plus the metacam he already gets), and it worked. So, the few other times this happened, we just do that and it stops. This time, it happened, and the meds didn't work. We took him to our rabbit savvy vet, and they gave us antibiotics. She did mention that she was a bit concerned about his back end, and the x-ray she took showed a very mild spur on his back spine near his hips, but she wasn't too concerned. She did mention that if he didn't improve after a few days, she would be inclined to think that this was more of a nerve damage issue. He did improve with antibiotics, and is finishing them, but yesterday, he was having problems getting in and out of his box. He's had one accident on the floor of his cage, and we are noticing that he is not realizing when he is having his cecatropes (probably didn't spell that right) which is very unusual for him. Some of his running outside of his cage is resulting in him dragging his hind feet at times. The weather here is horrible - with lots of very cold days and the humans in the house with arthritis are in a lot of pain. Could this be that the arthritis swelling is causing him to lose lower functioning somewhat? Because the last issue we had recently, was around the same time that a big cold front came through. Or, do you think we are looking at nerve damage in the spine? If so, what kind of quality life will he have? I guess we are trying to determine depending on what our vet tells us, what will be best for our sweet old boy. My hope is that this is just related to the cold weather, and that once it subsides, he will be walking more normally. I guess my mind is just trying to prepare myself for the potential that we could be saying goodbye soon. :cry1: