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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Hodari is hurt

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    • Silly Sungura
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        We’ll be taking Hodari to the vet today. We think she injured her foot or leg. I noticed early last week that she was having trouble maintaining her balance while playing on the bed, but because the bed is soft I didn’t think much of it. Also her appetite had decreased some. Then on Friday night she was playing on the floor and started to do a big binky. She didn’t even get much lift-off; she just struck the floor with her left side, picked herself up like nothing happened, and stayed fairly inactive the rest of the night. On Saturday she drank no water and had smaller poop than normal, and, although she can walk straight, she kept loosing her balance when scratching or turning around, etc.. Yesterday she was drinking again and eating a little better, but was still leaning to the left, flicking her feet, and falling over onto her left side. When she rests, she also leans on her left side. I barely touched her last night when she was walking by and she fell over onto her back with her feet in the air! So, today it’s off to the vet! She’s in a good mood and has been giving lots of kisses and trying to play, but something is obviously very wrong.

         

        I’m wondering what to expect at the vets? I hope they don’t have to hurt her to examine her. Does anyone have experience with sprains or fractures in bunnies? Does that sound like what this is to you? Some healing vibes for our little bun would be greatly appreciated.


      • Sarita
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          Oh no! Poor Hodari.

          Well, it will start with a physical exam and if they feel it is a sprain or break, they may want to do an x-ray…

          If they determine it is not that, then the next step may be bloodwork.

          Usually there is a progression once they start ruling things out.

          They certainly won’t intentionally hurt her for the exam, but her reaction to the physical examination may help determine what is wrong with her.

          I’ve had a rabbit who had a fractured femur a very long time ago and the only thing we could do for him was keep him confined so his femur could heal.

          Vibes to Hodari – let us know what the vet says.


        • FrankieFlash
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            Poor Hodari. ((Healing vibes))


          • tobyluv
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              When my bunny had an ear infection, she kept losing her balance. I first thought that she must have injured a leg or hip, then got the diagnosis from the vet about the ear infection.

              I hope that Hodari heals quickly from whatever is wrong.


            • Sarita
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                Tobyluv could be right about a possible ear infection too.


              • Usagi5
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                  Hope everything goes well with Hodari!


                • emkvet
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                    Healing vibes, Hodari!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                  • Huckleberry
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                      Good luck with Hodari! I hope everything went well at the vet
                      <<>>>


                    • Rabbit lover
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                        Healing <<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>> Hodari


                      • Silly Sungura
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                          Tobyluv: That’s what the vet thinks now, but we’re still unsure. It’s definitely not her leg. We had the vet do a CT scan and draw some blood to test for E. cuniculi. The CT scan showed no abnormalities in her ears, but the doctor still wanted to treat her for both an ear infection and E. cuniculi until they get the blood results back, at which time they will likely have us discontinue one of the meds. They really don’t think it’s E. cuniculi though, given her age (she just turned one) and the signs she’s presenting with.  They sent us home with Baytril and Fenbendazole.

                           

                          It was a traumatic day. The vet report says Hodari is “spunky.” Ha, ha. That’s because she is DIFFICULT! At one point the vet and the vet student had to stop her from jumping over my shoulder; she almost scaled my head!

                           

                          Thanks everyone for the vibes and well-wishes. We’ll see how she does with her medicine!

                           

                           


                        • jerseygirl
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                            Well her still showing her spunk is a good thing. : )

                            This may be a silly question but did they do a visual inspection of her ears too?


                          • melbunny
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                              Hope she feels better soon.


                            • MimzMum
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                                Sorry I just got to this thread now. Adding healing vibes for dear Hodari. (((((((((((((((Vibes)))))))))))))))))


                              • Pandorachik
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                                  (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Eating,pooping,drinking&healing vibes for Hodari.)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))


                                • Silly Sungura
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                                    jerseygirl: They did look at her ears with the otoscope, and everything was normal.

                                    I sure wish right now she had a little less spunk! Gosh, we spent an hour chasing her around the bedroom and she just would not let us give her her medicine.


                                  • bunnyfriend
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                                      Awhhhh poor Hodari! Healing vibes!!!!


                                    • Kokaneeandkahlua
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                                        {{{{{Vibes}}}} I was thinking that as well from the symptoms you said-an internal ear infection or ec can cause balance problems etc. Though I don’t know, some studies showed EC is in almost all rabbits, and isn’t acute…it’s hard to know there just isn’t a lot of research done. If it were me, I’d keep both meds going for a full run, regardless of what the tests say, just in case.

                                        Also ask about meclizine-it’s hard to get in some areas, we were lucky there is a pharmacy that does compounding here and could make it, but it’s thought to help with dizziness associated with the balance disorders. It dries them out so you give an eye gel to help their mucous membranes. It’s a human medication used off label in bunnies.


                                      • RabbitPam
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                                          A few more {{{{{{{healing vibes for Hodari}}}}}}}}


                                        • Silly Sungura
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                                            Thank you, everyone. I will ask about the meclizine as well as continuing both meds. We’re still waiting to hear about the blood test, but, yeah, it probably won’t give us much insight unless it’s a negative result. She seems to be leaning a bit more to the left today, but I am hoping it’s my imagination. Her appetite for hay is good, and she’s eating a few veggies and most of her pellets. I hope she’s not in any pain with this, although dizziness can’t be much fun either.


                                          • mindy10
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                                              oh no hopefully she is really better now. It is impossible to get medicine into a rabbit. I can’t even imagine. They need to come up with something to make it easier on us!!


                                            • littlemissflip
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                                                My bun, Captain Danger, had an E. cuniculi infection that caused a cataract in his eye at only 1 year old, so it’s definitely possible for a young bunny to be affected. It’s difficult to test for it though; you have to do a titer which checks for antibodies to EC, and really this just tells you if the bunny has been exposed to EC–not whether the EC is actually causing the symptoms. Like Kokaneeandkahlua said, it’s believed that many (most?) bunnies have been exposed to EC, and in the vast majority of cases it doesn’t cause problems. We don’t really understand why it causes problems in some bunnies, but my personal hypothesis based on our experiences is that it might flare up and cause problems in bunnies whose immune systems are otherwise compromised… Regardless, we were able to treat Capt. Danger successfully with fenbendazole, and he’s now been symptom-free for over a year–hurray

                                                Our trick for getting him to love (not just tolerate, but seriously LOVE) taking his fenbendazole was to mix each dose in a 1:1 ratio with all-natural strawberry-banana juice. It masked the chalky taste and turned the medicine into a delicious treat that he eagerly lapped up out of the syringe—we didn’t have to hold him down or anything.


                                              • Silly Sungura
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                                                  littlemissflip: Captain Danger is such a cute name! Awww. I am glad he’s doing well; it gives me hope. Hodari is taking her medicine better now that she’s just on the Fenbendazole. The Baytril was sweetened to taste like banana bread, which I thought she would like, but she detested it. As far as I know the Fenbendazole is unflavored, but maybe because there is less of it and it’s in a smaller syringe, she is taking it without too much of a fit. Afterward she tackles my husband because she knows he will be giving her some papaya. The blood titer, btw, was high, so something definitely caused the E. Cuniculi to flare up, but we’ll likely never know why. Do you have to treat Captain Danger with Fenbendazole periodically to prevent a relapse? I read somewhere that vets will do that sometimes, or have their blood tested again periodically.

                                                  I’m still trying to figure out a good way to get her to take her darned Meclizine pill! Grrr. It’s so hard because she won’t drink juice or eat baby food, or anything mushy. Lol. Squishing it into a craisin is the best I’ve come up with, and sometimes it slips out and she winds up only eating half of it.


                                                • littlemissflip
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                                                    Thanks!  The name was originally a joke, but it made us giggle, so it stuck

                                                    We treated Captain Danger with fenbendazole over a period of about 7 months. I don’t remember the specific treatment plan, but it was daily (or twice daily?) for about a month, then twice a week for some period of time, and then once a week for another few months… He’s now been off the meds since early May 2011, and there hasn’t been any talk of needing to retreat him unless we start to see symptoms return.

                                                    We did bloodwork periodically throughout the process (and at a 6-month follow-up just a few weeks ago), particularly to check levels of some liver enzymes that can be elevated by fendbendazole.  They were slightly elevated (but not to a problematic level) while he was being treated, but at his 6-month recheck, they’d returned to normal, so that’s good.

                                                    I’m not sure how often my vet will want to recheck his blood levels, but she does want to see him about every 6 months for a check-up (he had some other health problems in his first year too, poor bun), and our vetrinary opthamologist wants to check his eye once a year to make sure it’s staying stable.

                                                    We were very relieved at how effective the fendbendazole was, because several vets (including the opthamologist and another vet that my vet referred to) recommended removing his eye as the first course of action.  Our vet felt (and we agreed) that we could try saving the eye and treating the condition medically first, and … so far so good! But we’ll always have to be on the look-out for a possible relapse. If it comes back, we might just choose to have the eye removed.  Then Captain Danger can wear a little bunny eyepatch

                                                    I’m glad to hear Hodari is tolerating the fenbendazole now!  I have no advice on the pills… we’ve always used liquid meds on our rabbits.

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                                                Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Hodari is hurt