Radar Is Very Ill (RIP)

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Pipp

Pipp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2005
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Location
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Radar has been fighting some kind of a upper respiratory or rhinitis or something (the vet says his lungs are clear, but he still had been wheezing, blowing a little snot out of both nostrils and had small amounts of white bits in both eyes).

We had him on ChlorPalm for awhile, and then a couple of weeks ago, switched to injectable penicillin. His problems cleared up, I gave it a couple of days after he was pretty much symptom free and stopped the shots. He had his last one a couple of days ago.

I think I gave him a bit more than usual in his last shot, but not much. I haven't always been able to give him acidophilus, he lives in my spare room area, and its hard to get access. (The new roomies are pretty useless when it comes to the rabbits in spite of saying otherwise when they answered my 'must love rabbits' ad).

Anyway, yesterday Radar he had poopy butt and was lethargic. I tried to just give him hay and water, but I doubt he touched either.

Today, he's got very bad diarrhea. I'm not totally convinced its all cecal matter, I did see a solid poop earlier today, but the liquid is just running out of him.

He's not eating at all.

I gave him acidophilus mixed with Pedialyte. I've also given him gas meds a Metacam. I don't have Critical Care, but I mixed up some Martins Timothy pellets, added acidophilus and just a tad of Nutri-Cal to approximate the CC contents. although not sure that was wise. <sigh>

I've also been giving him pumpkin. I've got more Pedialyte here, but its flavored, not sure that's a good idea, either.

I do have a lactated ringer kit, never used one, not sure if this will be the time its needed or not.

He is swallowing the pumpkin and the slurry mix.

Suggestions?


sas :?
 
Pipp if you think that you can do the sub q fluids i would go with that. I wouldn't give any food at all right now but just pedialyte and acidopholus and the sub q fluids
some of my rabbits get loose poops from pumpkin

Iwas trying to look up something else you could give him but can't find anything that is a home remedy .

Ithink this sounds really bad ; can you get him to a vet /
 
He's moving around now, like he has gas. (I prefer that to the lethargy).

Still waiting to see some output, but I think it's pretty much a bad case of cecal dysbiosis from the antibiotics.

The ER vet is more than useless with rabbits, they're downright detrimental. I should be able to contact my regular vet in a few hours, I'll ask about the Questran, thanks.

This Sub Q fluids kit looks pretty daunting. I may try more Pedialyte, acidophilus and gas meds first.

Any idea how much Acidophilus they can have? I don't think they can OD on the stuff. (Can they?)


sas :?
 
Well he was looking better for a bit there, he was moving around, washing himself. His fresh cecal matter was looking more solid. He even left his pen, I thought he was going to explore or look for Darry, who was out checking out the living room.

But he just hopped into the bunny fort and hid.

Now he's looking awful again. :sigh:

I've had a bad feeling about him for awhile now, he's been to the vet three times in the last few months, they couldn't find anything wrong. Now I'm wondering if there isn't a deeper issue than the dysbiosis. I honestly don't have the funds for a ton of diagnostics.

I'm pulling out the Sub Q kit. Looks huge.

PS: I've emailed the vet, asked about Questran. The clinic opens in a few hours.


sas :tears2:
 
Rabbit drug calculator says (for GI stasis) give a 6lb rabbit 151 mL, but that sounds like a lot!
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rx/drugcalc.html
Lactated ringer's is under "GI Stasis agents"

I really think at this point something like questran is needed, along with an antibiotic for the gut. The questran will help if he's absorbed any bacterial toxins, and the antibiotic can kill of clostridium.

:pray:
 
Fell asleep, thought my vet would phone first thing, he didn't... woke up and Radar's pretty much end stage.

I finally reached my vet, I'm taking him in to the clinic, but honestly, it's too late, he won't last that long. Wish I hadn't fallen asleep.

But I'm pretty sure something more than the antibiotics is/was going on. Doesn't make sense that he'd be on it for weeks and then get like this. His breathing and discharge went away, but he never did perk up.

He's a sweet little guy, a foster who has been hanging out in my back room for five years. I didn't interact with him much.

Obviously sorry to lose him, though.

sas :cry1:
 
I'm so sorry. Still will be pulling for him at the vet--maybe something miraculous can turn him around. :pray:
 
We didn't even make it out of the house. The vet said to try more fluids at home and keep him warm (which I've been doing) but there wasn't much point in bringing him in. He was definitely end stage.

He's going to do a necropsy.

Darry had been ignoring him for days. Now she's barely sniffed his body. She hopped into the pen -- he's lying there wrapped in a towel, head out -- she suddenly stopped, but she sniffed his rice sock and not him. She checked out a bit of poop, then started munching on hay.

She's enjoying her free-run time.

She's going to be so lonely in the back room by herself. :(

:rip: Radar.

You were a nice little bunny. :sosad


sas :cry2
 
I'm so sorry, SAS.:tears2:

I hope the necropsy sheds some light on this. And hopefully Darry will be ok back there by herself. I forget, are there single boys in the house at the moment?

:hug:
 
I have two unbonded Flemish (but they may be going to a new home soon) and little Mister... who also has people wanting him... but is bonding to me. And vice-versa. (Rats).

I'm hoping maybe to bond her with Marvin and Sherry, but not sure if that would work. Or if I have a condo big enough for three right now.

I do like one of the Flemmies. If the person can't take both, I wouldn't mind hanging on to him if Darry likes him. I guess we'll see.

I'm going into a 'bunnied out' phase.

Taking Radar to the vet for a necropsy.

I've started a Rainbow Bridge thread, it's here:

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=50826&forum_id=27

Thanks to all for your help.


sas :sad:
 
I stayed for the necropsy. The ultimate cause was gastric distress -- he had a lot of ulcers on his stomach. His stomach had the food I gave him over the course of the day/night, but his intestines were pretty much empty. My treatment -- the slurry, etc -- was okay, but ultimately too late.

The vet wanted to blame the Metacam, but he only got it as a last ditch effort with food and Pedialyte, his problems started long before that. Not sure if the Metacam helped with the pain from the gas and fluids in intestines, or made the pain from the ulcers worse, but I hope it took the edge off.

He did have some lung fluid (even though he showed no signs of it with a stethoscope at his vet visit a week and a half ago) and bladder inflammation.

The vet didn't look at his head at all, unfortunately. He still might.

But ultimately, me not noticing that he was off his food in time was the major factor. Although what caused him to stop eating is unknown.

I'm so sorry little guy. :tears2:

I'm even more choked than ever about the couple that answered my ad and sold me a phony story about how much they liked animals. They were supposed to be their caretakers, and they still don't even know their names. I don't think they've never looked at them much less pet them. They just do their best to avoid getting their hair on their clothes. :( They're nice people, but not what I asked for. Wrong choice. 20/20 hindsight, and too late for Radar.


sas :cry1:
 
Oh wow. I haven't heard of that actually happening--we hear to be careful with it, but to actually have it happen, wow. I think though, that these ulcers must have taken a long time to develop and most of the ones they saw were probably from long-term inflammation of the stomach. I wonder if some bunnies are prone to acid reflux and ulcers like some people are? Perhaps we should look into Tagamet more seriously--I have heard of it being used with NSAIDs in rabbits before.

I really don't think you caused this at all, so don't let the vet say that. You gave him 5 years of love, a bunny girl to snuggle with, and good care. In the end, you were there too, keeping him as comfortable as you could.

I'm sorry you are having roommate issues. It can be difficult to care for a lot of bunnies on your own, and not having the support of the people you live with is unfortunate.

[hugs]
 
sony0209035-1.jpg


:rip: Radar...

That's Darry behind Radar.

Darry is suddenly very quiet and withdrawn. Even when I offer her a treat, she's acting like I killed him and I'll be going after her next.

It's most unlike her. :(


sas :rainbow:
 
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