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› Forum › THE LOUNGE › My girlfriend now has the $1000 bun
So during the weekend Fitzgerald (my girlfriend’s bun) decided to develop some GI Stasis. Usually, I’d prefer a half day of belly rubs and critical care before going to the vet but as she had lost two rabbits previously before 18 months had passed, I figured it was best for her emotional health to go right in. Of course, being on the weekend, she had to go to an emergency vet clinic and there was only one in Pittsburgh that had a doctor comfortable with rabbits on call. Well she called me that same day frantic because she had no idea it was going to cost so much. I told her not to worry and to put the vet tech on the phone. First round? $807. Now it’s another $200 for another night’s stay and a quick sonagram to make sure everything is moving along.
Needless to say, Fitzgerald is getting the present of some bunny health insurance as soon as I can afford to stop eating peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches 3x day.
Wowza! That does sound about right for an emergency clinic. I hope Fitzgerald is okay now.
What about getting Care Credit as well…it’s only good if a particular clinic takes it. It’s great because you can put large bills such as this on a deferred plan (which basically means as long as you pay the minimum amount due you don’t get a finance charge – you can obviously and should pay more) and for $1000 I think you can do it up to 24 months deferred interest…just have to be careful that you are diligently paying or else they will stick you with the finance charges and who knows what else.
aww… poor fitzgerald. and your poor girlfriend! youch! that’s azinger of a vet bill. i know how it feels. i also hope fizgerald is okay now.
Apparently Fitzy is upset with the vet staff as no one has given him his daily banana slice for nearly 2 days now. They asked my girlfriend if he usually has a lot of toys because apparently he’s utterly destroyed the cage he’s in.
So, yes, he’s feeling quite himself once again.
Wow. It is amazing what emergency care can get away with.
I can see why your girlfriend is freaked out – sick bunny and massive bill!
I’m glad Fitzgerald is feeling better!
I have not gotten Pet insurance yet – but, I keep thinking about it.
The thing about getting pet insurance is that you have to get it BEFORE somethign goes wrong, or that will be listed as a “pre-existing condition” and not covered until they are “cured” for a year.
I hemmed and hawed and finally got it for Pepper – she’s now my $3800 bunny and with her chronic pasteurella I would never be able to afford to keep her without it. We actually maxed out her benefits one year!
$12/month for that kind of peace of mind – it’s a no brainer
That is pretty crazy – I would never think either that it would cost that much. I took Henri in one night to emergency care and it was only $90. Hope you are off PBJ soon….have peanut butter and marshmallow fluff every once and awhile to mix it up!
WoW! and I thought Buttons was expensive! It’ll be worth the money though. always is, always will.
Yipes! At least he’s feeling better
Blow me down thats a lot. Yes I see a pet ins. somewhere in your future.
Is he home and better now? And LOL @ destroying his cage at the vet
Actually, he stopped pooping again. I’m trying to get an update as I think he’s just being a grumpy bunny. He’s eating and drinking normally though.
I hope there are lots of little poos soon! Poor little guy!
I wonder how some of those emergency vets sleep at night. I know they have to pay staff and clinic stuff, etc, but what they charge to treat a rabbit is ridiculous! I can definitely see how it can add up to $1000.00. There is an emergency clinic here that charges $170 for you to walk in the door. Last time Bindi had statis it cost $400 and we were there for about 20 minutes. And who could have the heart to turn out a rabbit in pain because the owners couldn’t afford the bill.
Sadly, cost and the thought of further trauma to my Mimzy by seeing an unknown vet or tech was part of what made me just watch and wait yesterday when he seemed to not be pooping as much. (and of course the excellent support of this board) I mean, the car ride there probably would’ve scared the stuffing out of him faster than a shot of Reglan, but I hate taking him in if I can at all avoid it simply because I can’t be guaranteed his vet will be there to see him and I don’t want to pay for anyone else…she knows him best. I’ve thought of inviting her to move in, but we have no room.
Leave him overnight?? God forbid! I went crazy enough when he had to stay for his neuter.
Healing vibes for Fitzy! ((((((((((((((((((vibes)))))))))))))))))) I would think a daily banana might be finally rethought now as a trigger for this kind of thing. How old is he now?
After working with Joann at SaveABunny, I can see how quickly meds can total up to a lot of cash. Add to that rent of the clinic, equipment costs, heating, etc… Although I don’t understand why a rabbit should cost more than a cat – guess they’re the mercedes of pets.
My girlfriend said she’d call me when there was a change but I haven’t heard from her all weekend – not returning my calls either. Although the not returning calls is normal for her, I’d think she’d keep me in the loop about Fitz. I am assuming she’d call me if the worst happened and not to be too dark about things but if he hadn’t pooped for 4 days, I’m not sure he’d still be alive.
Fitzgerald is around 2 years old – which is the age where her previous two rabbits had passed on. This one she’s been very good about diet – despite the banana slice a day. I’m just hoping the canned pumpkin has pushed things through and she’s just been too wiped from the stress going away after she found the head sized pile of poo.
Please let us know when you hear from her. I know dealing with a rabbit is stasis is beyond stressful. Pepe didn’t eat or poop for 2 weeks and he cost me a fortune – this has actually happened twice and he’s cost me a fortune. He continues to cost me a fortune anyway with his bad teeth.
Did the vet think this was from a blockage? I don’t see that you ever mentioned what the possible cause for his stasis was.
From what little I got from the vet (I’m not the bun’s owner so she was a little tight lipped – eventhough I was paying the bill – was that Fitz had a buildup of fluid in his belly. He was VERY lethargic – to the point of being like a stuffed animal. They did this and that to him and by the next day, the sonogram showed no signs of the fluid. There was no mention of what may have caused it. They said he was pooping before they released him but I’m not too keen on that clinic. Apparently my girlfriend called back to check on the meds he needed and they couldn’t find his file at all.
That’s not good that they could not find his file! I can understand why you aren’t keen on this clinic.
Do you think that you could get your girlfriend to have her vet consult with Dr. Harvey on this? I’m not at all familiar with fluid build up but based on your experience I wouldn’t be surprised if they got this wrong.
I honestly cannot understand why they would be tightlipped – I don’t think that the HIPAA laws apply to animals and vets – I’ve never had to sign anything like this from my vet or seen anything from this on privacy laws so I really don’t think it does.
From what my girlfriend has described, it is a classing GI Stasis matter now. So consulting with Dr. Harvey won’t help much. Anything else would require her to examine Fitz personally. I just have to cross my fingers. Girlfriend still isn’t picking up.
Well I hope she picks up soon because we all want to know how Fitz is :~)
If you ever get a chance to go to Pittsburgh to see her, go to Tambellini’s for their fried zucchini. It’s been ages since I’ve been to Pittsburgh (my family is from around there). Also see the National Aviary. Never saw the Warhol Museum but I bet it’s worth seeing too.
Warhol is pretty awesome if you are into that sort of think.
Mark what animal hospital is this so that I can be sure to avoid it??
This was the Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialty & Emergency Center. It is the one that the Northview Veterinary Hospital System suggested she go to because they didn’t have a rabbit saavy vet on hand when she called. The vet at the PVS&EC sounded like she knew what she was talking about but I think the support staff there has a lot to be desired.
Oh gosh, hope you hear something soon. (((Fitz))) (((vibes for you and GF too!)))
Poor Fitz! I’ll keep healing vibes going for him, and coping vibes for the gf. I hope you hear something soon. ((((((((((((((((get well Fitzy!))))))))))))
I contacted Northview Vet clinic and apparently they will accept a CareCredit card. I just need to go home and find my driver’s license and apply.
Mark, with the Care Credit, you need to make sure that they put in the CODE for deferred interest promotional financing (that’s what they call it) – it works a little different than a regular credit card. I think (but I’m not positive) that it’s for anything over $300.00 that you can do deferred on. My vet office will actually let me save my invoices up (within a reasonable time) so that I can get up to an amount that I can defer the finance charge and I usually do the longest amount of time (which I believe is 18 months) but of course I pay quite a bit extra to get the payments down. I just like having the cushion in case. This has really been a lifesaver for me (and I hate credit cards).
I think BinkyBunny also mentioned that Dr. Harvey’s office also takes this.
Good luck with the bunny!! Emergency vets are just so expensive, but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.
My parents took all of our dogs to Northview – they’re great (expensive though). Too bad they didn’t have a bun vet at the time! Does your girlfriend live near the Northview office on Siebert Rd? My parents live about a quarter mile from there.
(Ditto the aviary!! I love that place. The Conservatory is cool too).
The sad thing is that the amount of money we have spent thus far on Fitz, he could have flown out here, seen Dr. Harvey, gotten some real treatment and flown back and probably still had enough saved up for a bushel of carrots.
I know, it makes me angry how much emergency vets charge. Have you heard how he’s doing?
I sent a text message an hour ago asking her to contact me about him and the new vet but so far, nothing.
Just heard from the girlfriend. Fitzy is pooping again. They’re a little bit small for him but they are coming out. We figured that the issue was with the other rabbit being in the house. He became upset/depressed that there was another bun in the house and as soon as she took the rescue bun to its new home, he perked right up and began being his normal self again.
Her roommate has taken to calling Fitzy DK now – DK stands for Drama King.
She did call Dr. Harvey to confirm stuff and Dr. Harvey was confused as to some of the meds they gave him – such as Baytril when he had no sort of viral infection/illness. They checked HRS for other vets but the other one in the area apparently is where her first bunny died so she doesn’t want to take him there. We’ll be seeing how to get him some health insurance once we get our tax refunds and see about sneaking him in under the radar.
The Drama King himself
So glad the Drama King is better also glad they conferred with Dr. Harvey. Glad the rescue found a new home too.
Aww, he is such a cutie pie! I love his expression in the second pictures. I’m glad he’s doing better too.
Oh, and as always, that little black spot on his lip in the second picture is where Maryann bit him. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t like other buns around.
He sure sounds like he’s a Drama King!!! Wants the whole house to himself! Glad he’s feeling better.
With regards to the Baytril, the last bad statis Bindi had, my vet put him on Baytril for a few days afterwards. She said the bad bacteria that can accumulate in the digestive system when it slows down for so long can cause further problems even after the bunny is feeling better.
Oh yay! *claps hands* I’m glad Fitzy…er I mean, His Majesty, is feeling better. And they say it’s the female bunnies who are all the divas! ^_^
I do have to wonder if this isn’t also some of the psychological root of Mimzy’s problems; that perhaps his illnesses are provoked by his NOT being with his bonded bun (Pip) whom I am not sure he would even recognize now if he saw her. ‘Course I can’t take the chance of putting them together until I know what’s wrong with his nose.
I don’t remember you saying anything in the original post about a foster bun. Guess I need to go back and read that again. >.< Looks like the DK won't share his bananas with anybun!
Good to hear he’s back to pooping and pouting. Fitz sure is attached to his Mama! It’s almost like he staged a hunger strike in protest at another bun taking his place.
Oh & ditto LPT on the baytril. I’ve also been given baytril along with motility drugs for both mine when I’ve taken them in for stasis issues. Not sure about it all. Like it’s a safeguard or something…
› Forum › THE LOUNGE › My girlfriend now has the $1000 bun