Besides my introduction, here is my first post, I believe...
Hi all, I'm new here. I will be adding an avatar and pics soon. I just wanted to give all of you some information and this is the place to do it.
I lost a bun of 6 years 3 weeks ago to Congestive Heart Failure. This is not a common problem with rabbits, except the big breeds. Mine was an American Blue and he was nearly 8.5 lbs. Here's the story...
His eyes got looking like he had Conjuctivitis. Took him to the vet. Prescibed eye drops, the vet thought it was Cherry Eye, prolapse of the third eye lid. The eyelids would go down if he wasn't worked up, active. He had had some sneezing episodes when he ate pellets, thought it was dust, cuz this guy would be acting starving for his pellets and wouldeat too fast. Then he would be laying down and quickly sit up sneezing and shaking his head. It started to scare me. It wouldjust happen once and that would be it. This went on for months. One day I came home from work and myhusband said that I should keep an eye on himcuz he just had a badsneezing, coughing episode,and when he had a bad one, it would last 5 to 10 seconds and it was a little scary. I went to cage where hewas laying and he was breathing hard. Rushed him to thevet. They gave me a list of things they could do.I opted for no x-ray, thinking this was allergies because ofhis eyes. She told me I had a sick rabbit, probably pneumonia or a tumor and sent me home w/Baytril.
Maybe twoweeks later, I calledanother vet because the one that saw him before wasn't calling me back, so I called one close to my house andasked about the breathing andthey said it could be congestive heart. I was like great.Left work, brought him in and bylooking, he thought it was allergies or an infection. He stayed so they could do x-rays. I picked him up and talked to Dr. He said I don't have the best news. He showed me the x-rays. An enlarged heart, the doc said it was huge.
He sent me home w/ a sample of Lasix and Enalipril. Continued and he seemed to be doing ok.Got more meds, noticed mushy poo, diarrhea spots in cage. I also started hearing loud gut noises. The vet said these noises were a good sign, but I said "To hear clear across aroom?" I was worried. Got him some gas meds for babies. Just gave a little. The gas sounds persisted for days. Poos consisted, but didn't want to take him in if I didn't have to. The breathing hard thing was scary. He was eating ok though. Then I noticed loose skin hanging off the back of his bum, he was always so fit and trim to be honest. The doc said to drop the dosage of Lasix. I did.
It was hard to give him his meds b/c he was very smart, first I gave the meds just plain on a spoon, when he quit taking that way, I put it in applesauce. When that quit working, I put it in applesauce wrapped in mustard greens, he would eat around it. So now we had to physically take him out and syringe it to him, he hated this. He would fight me. I got good at it, but the last few nights, as this only took moments, when I got him back in his cage, he was breating soooo heavy, w/ mouth open for over half an hour. I would lay outside cage and talk to him and tell him how much I loved him.
Three nights of this and, my husband awoke me at 12:25am to tell me he had just passed. He only knew this b/c my other female mini rex went nuts in her cage I guess to let him know. He said he put a paw out of the cage and that was it. He did look so peaceful though. My poor baby just couldn't do it anymore. I did all I could. His name (besides all the nicknames) was Bun Bun. This story may help one of you someday to at least be diagnosed sooner. The vet just thought it was a genetic thing. I think the eyething was the onset of this serious condition due to pressure, with the heart being so big, and where it's located doesn't allow alot of room for air. I hope this helps someone someday. :?
. I don't know how to look up what threads I've posted in, but I do remember posting a binky video to the Photo Philes, Binky Bunny Video thread on the day that I joined. So I guess that was my first post 
