Jersey and Rumball had a checkup on Wednesday

[jerseygirl]

I finally got J&R a health check after a few reschedules. I went to the vet who has been doing the desexings of the fosters I had and Im pretty happy with this clinic so far.
I’ve had various concerns over J&R but also, they are turning 6 & 7 later this year so it was time to get them looked over.

Rumball: I’ve been fairly happy with how the boy is going. He has been more humpy then normal (though not so much these last 2 weeks) but generally he moves around great. I’d also started to see something forming in his pupils.

Vet felt him right over and there doesn’t seem to be anything amiss. Checked mobility of his hips and fely his bladder. She thinks the behaviour might be in reaction to Jerseys behaviour. Even suggested I might need consider separating them. Eek! No! I made it clear how reluctant I would be to do that! It would prob make them both miserable. I am considering separating for eating though. In hope it calms Jersey down. Rumball doesn’t need the extra food either! Lol
Vet doesn’t think it’s cataracts starting in his eyes. Just normal aging. It doesn’t seem to effect him atm. So he was good. Just thumping the place down.

Jersey: jersey jersey! *sigh* I have been worried about her. Her condition is not great. Weightloss at last visit & feels bony. She’s grotty due to dismal litter habits and fur feels rough. Mats on insides of her front legs as if she’s been chewing fur. Aggressive & “stressy”. She has difficulty with veggies and only uses her incisors to eat them. She’s been getting slower eating. She never eats hay so i have her on a 98% hay pellet to keep her tum moving and produce more normal looking poo. Hers never are normal! I think these pellets are helping her weight.
She has the yuck habit of sometimes drinking her pee. I’ve noticed her doing this more frequently too. I did come across a theory that rabbits with dental probs tend to do this. I’ve also long had concerns because she had pretty clear urine. So wonder about her renal function. Previous tests didnt show any indicators.

Anyway, Jersey got the works done! Sedation for bloods, X-ray and dental work. I’llbe getting a copy of her X-rays so hope to upload them here. She does have some root overgrowth and bone thinning under the root starting on one side. No abscesses thankfully. Also has uneven wear of molars, impacted food and hooks again. She only had dental done in May at previous vet and October prior to that. So she seems to be forming spurs rather quickly. This is just going to continue but at least now I’m not going to feel so uncertain when insisting she have work done.

She’s recovered really well and keen for food as ever. It was a bit strange seeing her hop out the carrier though. She was still woozy and acted like she was stoned. I’d never seen her like that before. Poor Bub!

She’s on metacam for next few days & baytril for a fortnight. I’m hoping to see her happier and more calm.
My vet said the bloods showed an elevation in a liver value (I think…) so I’m not sure why that is. Ill be asking more when I get back in touch as i didnt see her for at the discharge. She didnt mention any concerns outright so I guess im not to worry. I’m glad I have recent blood panel now though, so future ones can be checked against it.

So! That was Jersey and Rumball’s big day out. Sorry for the long post!

[jerseygirl]

Take my Girl from me? Not happening! *THUMP*

[MimzMum]

I’m glad to hear they both came through their checkups well.
Mimzy is a dental bun. Just had his molars done in May after a year’s wait, now there’s a new spur forming on his down side. I don’t want to alarm you, but he also used to drink his urine and is not a great hay eater. Is there a possibility that Jersey has been exposed to EC? We are not certain this is what caused Mimzy’s tilt, but I’ve read somewhere that drinking urine (or even contact with urine and rabbit food) can raise the the likelihood of contamination with EC spores if a bun is exposed to the parasite. I often wonder if it isn’t an indication that they’ve already been exposed?
Mimzy has very cloudy urine though. He eats quite a lot of calcium bearing greens. Pip had odd colored and silty urine as well and the vet thought she might have an infection, but she turned out to just be sludgy due to her inactivity. Clear urine would indicate to me that Jerz is drinking more water rather than less and it is diluting any solids that might otherwise be found. As long as her kidney function looks good in her bloods though I assume it’s not a cause for concern.

Mimzy has managed to gain quite a bit of weight by eating pellets again, but sadly this tends to cause him to stop eating hay as well. Fills up on candy is my guess…no room for veggies. lol….
I think it would be horrible to separate Rumball and Jersey. I can’t believe a vet would even suggest it unless it was necessary to monitor eliminations and then only for a brief time.
Love the bunny butt shot! <3

[Monkeybun]

Aww poor Jersey bun! Hope she feels better soon. *hugs and vibes*

[Sarita]

Poor Jersey – we are going to see more and more aging buns with problems I suspect and those dental problems they just are not going to go away unfortunately.

It’s weird about blood lab work too – my vet used a very popular lab in the US for bloodwork and my rabbits (and other rabbits) used to come back with high kidney value count (or something like that) all of them and then her other rabbit patients had the same problems so she called the lab and it turned out that they never calibrated their values for rabbits (just cats and dogs) – they may have after the conversation with my vet but makes me wonder how other labs may be – I suppose your vet would have to see a pattern amongst her patients to wonder about this – not that this is the situation with Jersey’s values but I thought it was interesting.

I hope this dental trim helps with Ms. Jersey’s behavior problems – keep us updated!

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m glad you had a positive experience except for Jersey’s teeth. At least you got all those other tests done that can put your mind at ease. Dental issues are a pain in the butt but there is a lot worse things that a bunny could have. Sounds like what Bindi had last dental, hooks and lots of impacted food.

Thanks for the pics. I love your cuties.

[MissD]

Beautiful buns, lots of hugs for Jersey, I do hope you won’t have to separate them.

[Deleted User]

Glad to hear that they are doing well. =] I hope all your questions get cleared up. Keep us updated on how the buns are. Hopefully you won’t have to separate the buns.

[jerseygirl]

Nope. I won’t separate them. I’d only ever do that if they were viciously fighting.
Rumball’s humpy behaviour isn’t that problematic for Jersey I don’t think. He only attempts, she never allows him to mount her. Lol
I was surprised vet initially suggested it. Later i thought it wasn’t a bad thing. It shows vet was objective where it’s more difficult for the owners to be. Currently I don’t think it is a real problem to Jerseys health. They have the normal short-lived squabbles of a bonded pair. Pretty much when the food arrives. The rest of the time they’re snuggled together.

Sarita, that is really interesting about what was happening with your vets lab results. I’ll keep it in mind when I talk with the vet for follow up.

MM, Jersey does drink a fair amount and has for a nber if years. That certainly is a reason for her dilute pee. I’ve never been able to put my finger in why. Is it symptom
Of kidney trouble? Soothing her mouth? Boredom? Drinking in lieu of food because she doesnt filll up in hay? Etc etc. I’m always “chasing my own tail” trying to figure things out.
p.s. the bunny butt shot is an oldie but one of my favourites of them.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

[MimzMum]

I hadn’t thought of the lab calibrations, I will have to ask my own vet about that. Thanks Sarita!

Jerz, her drinking could be for any of those reasons you mentioned and doesn’t need to be anything sinister. But I do wonder if it might be connected somehow.
I noticed that when Mimz was brewing up for a dental, he would drink LOTS of water…and pee LOTS too. That’s when I’d find him drinking it off the floor of his habitat, as he also stopped using his litter box all the time. We thought it could be soothing, or just to fill his tummy, but I always took it as a sign he needed me to get him to the vet to find out how he was doing.
Mostly when my bunnies are bored they just chew/destroy things. And Mimzy would wash the sides of his pen. Constantly. Drove me nuts. 0_0
He also had elevated liver values. I do wonder if it had to do with what Sarita mentioned because when they ran repeat labs it would be fine. I don’t remember if it was him or Jenna who came up anemic earlier this year. But secondary testing showed nothing wrong…so they can definitely be fouled up.

I hope she is feeling better soon. ((((((((Vibes for Jersey))))))))) xxxx

[jerseygirl]

Thanks MM : )

It was on RU I came across theory that dental buns might drink their pee. The thiinking was that if their teeth were becoming sensitive, the warm fluids might be nicer then cold water. Makes sense really. Cold water would soothe sore tissue but not be so nice for nerve sensitive teeth.
Not the only reason a rabbit might do this but the one that could ring true for Jersey. Mainly, I put it down to her being a contrary Miss. ; )

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