Pain = irrational behavior?? (RIP Jack)

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billinjax

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Hello,

Jack is a 7 year old male English Spot. We have been able to maintain a really good quality of life over the past three years despite struggling with bladder sludge. We usually have a flair up 2-3 times per year but he's otherwise symptom free.

We're going through a flair up now and he's in pain. He's getting Meloxicam and sub-q fluids. 24 hours into this bout he's acting VERY scared. He's thumping for no reason that I can understand. We just had an incident where he flew down his cage ramp, slammed into the bottom floor wall, ran around crazy looking for a place to hide. He first picked a paper bag and then under a desk. He's back to the "on alert" posture like has been for a few hours now.

Do rabbits act irrationally or act crazy when they are in terrible pain? I've never seen this before despite a lot of worse times with Jack. I really thought he was going to die or have a heart attack.

Or could this be as simple as sensing those terrible tornado/storms in South Georgia although things are just windy here in North Florida. He's not usually all that scared of weather.

I realize this is a really odd question and calls for a lot of speculation. I'm a little freaked out since he is acting so odd after almost 8 years.


Thanks

Bill
 
I don't know, but I hope you figure it out. Running & hiding doesn't seem like a reaction to pain, unless something has caused a ringing or other noise in his ears that he's trying to get away from.
 
Every rabbit can be different and it certainly could be the reason for this behaviour. But yes it could also be about the weather.
Alot of animals associte pain with certain things and they lead to odd behaviour. Think of cats... one of the main reasons they stop peeing in the box is a UTI, they are associating pain with the litter box and now pee elsewhere.
The pain may be coming in waves or tingling and making him feel wierd, it may suddenly flair up with a stabbing feeling and scare him causing him to run. Bunnys do odd things when they dont like something.
Everything you have mentioned is 100% plausable for a pain reaction.
 
Thanks for the replies. Just after posting this, I noticed blood instead of urine/sludge coming out of Jack. I rushed him to the vet. I was lucky they were already there at 10PM on a Saturday handling other emergencies.

They did an x-ray and his bladder is more full (larger) than normal. She also said it was very hard. The sludge usually comes out like toothpaste or very gritty sand. They are going to keep him tonight and have the vet re-check him in the morning.

I'm still not exactly sure what caused his episode but it sounds like the pain was worse than it has been in the past.

Thanks again.
 
Poor Jack. Hoping this overnight vet stay helps him through this recent bout. Please keep us updated on your Sweet Jack.

K :)
 
I got to see him today. It's a really terrible sight. He's laying on his side tensing all of his muscles and is very jumpy. They say he's in pain but they're giving him pain medicine. They're going to try something different at the next time for medicine. He's still hanging on but there's still blood mixed with urine. The blood test shows that his kidneys are functioning. There might be an infection. X-Ray shows a larger than normal bladder filled with sludge. No obvious stones but it's hard to tell. There's no other underlying medical problem except for the sludge in his bladder.

We're not sure he is going to make it. I really wasn't prepared for this even though it's been three years since the first episode. He was perfectly healthy Friday morning. Thanks for your support. Jack really needs your prayers.
 
billinjax wrote:
I got to see him today. It's a really terrible sight. He's laying on his side tensing all of his muscles and is very jumpy. They say he's in pain but they're giving him pain medicine. They're going to try something different at the next time for medicine. He's still hanging on but there's still blood mixed with urine. The blood test shows that his kidneys are functioning. There might be an infection. X-Ray shows a larger than normal bladder filled with sludge. No obvious stones but it's hard to tell. There's no other underlying medical problem except for the sludge in his bladder.

We're not sure he is going to make it. I really wasn't prepared for this even though it's been three years since the first episode. He was perfectly healthy Friday morning. Thanks for your support. Jack really needs your prayers.
Click to expand...

He's in my thoughts! All we can do is hope for the best. IMHO, you are never prepared. Stay strong.

K:)
 
Jack passed away this morning. Last night, the vet thought he had improved somewhat but I guess it was not enough. I wish I could have been with him and I strongly debated not leaving him there by himself. He was so scared and I feel so bad.
 
I'm so sorry to hear about Jack. It sounded like he was in a very unhappy, painful place, and you did everything you could for him.
 
Thanks for the kind wishes. They're thinking he had a very serious infection since he went from regular activity/appetite on Friday to emergency situation in 24 hours. In the past, he always showed signs in advance when his bladder was uncomfortable. They'll have the CBC and other test results from Saturday's visit in a few hours. I always hear that rabbits get really sick really fast but this surprised me. To think he was racing around the living room Thursday night and normal before work on Friday. He even ate all of his pellets Thursday night and all of this vegetables Friday morning.

Anyway, I suppose I should stop running through the whole scenario in my head. It's not getting me anywhere.

Thanks again.
 
Just to close this out, the CBC came back with a white blood cell count over 20,000. She said it should have been around 8,000. His age (7+) and existing medical condition made it too much for recovery. They did give him some very strong antibiotics last night but it was too much to recovery from. She says this explains why he went from good to bad in 24 hours (very bad infection). She's not sure that antibiotics at the very first hour of symptoms would have made a difference. I'm going to go with this scenario.
 
billinjax wrote:
Just to close this out, the CBC came back with a white blood cell count over 20,000. She said it should have been around 8,000. His age (7+) and existing medical condition made it too much for recovery. They did give him some very strong antibiotics last night but it was too much to recovery from. She says this explains why he went from good to bad in 24 hours (very bad infection). She's not sure that antibiotics at the very first hour of symptoms would have made a difference. I'm going to go with this scenario.
Click to expand...

I'm truly sorry you lost Jack. I was hoping so hard for the best.

Hoping sadness is replaced soon with sweet memories of your lovely Jack.

K :(
 
I am so so sorry to hear about Jack's passing~ Binky free lil' man :rainbow::rip:
 
So sorry to hear about your Jack. Take comfort in knowing you did all you could for him, gave him a happy loved life, and he is no longer in pain. Hugs.
 
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