This feels a little like deja vu

[Sparky04]

It’s only been a little over a month since Ragnar died, but yet again I have a neglected lionhead in my care. Two days ago, my mom’s friend got a rabbit. She didn’t really want the rabbit but the previous owners were looking to get rid of her and her kids begged her to help the rabbit. The friend has very little experience with animals, let alone rabbits, so she asked us to come by yesterday and help her. Pretty quickly, my sister and I realized the rabbit was in worse shape than anyone had expected. The previous owners had kept her in the garage and were only feeding her a junk kaytee mix (there are sunflower seeds in there! ) and no hay. And this rabbit is definitely overweight, but it’s no wonder. Next discovery was the mites. Looking in her ears, my sister quickly spotted the large red, flaky patches of skin in her ears. Her claws were also so long they were curling sideways. At this point we told the friend she definitely needed to be seen by the vet. The friend made an appointment with a local vet and asked us to come with her to the appointment.The vet wanted to sedate her immediately because she was wiggling a little but we argued against that and he conceded to getting a vet tech to help him hold her. He barely examined her anyway and said he couldn’t look at her teeth because we wouldn’t let him sedate her. He got really annoyed with us after we told him no about sedating her and it was just such a weird and bad experience. I won’t go into it, but he was the worst vet I’ve ever been to. He gave her a shot for the mites and clipped her nails, but when the friend learned about all of these health issues, she was overwhelmed and asked us to take the rabbit. I don’t blame my mom’s friend for any of this, she wanted to help and she wasn’t the one who so neglected this bunny. 

But here’s what we do know as of right now: The rabbit is an unspayed female, about 2 years old, has mites and an ear infection, and is overweight. She looks like a lionhead mix to me. First priority is getting her healthy. She’s in quarantine, but I’m also worried about Mordecai getting ear mites. Tomorrow she’ll see our regular exotics vet because I want to make sure nothing else is wrong with her. People are just awful sometimes, I feel so sorry for this little girl.

[dude.the.rabbit]

She’s a cute bunny I hope she gets the help she needs.

[LBJ10]

Aww, what a sweetie!

Can you get some Revolution to put on Mordecai? That would prevent the ear mites from spreading to him.

[Bam]

She’s so cute! Thank you for taking her in!

I too would consider getting Revolution for Mordecai too as a preventive measure.

[LittlePuffyTail]

So glad she is under your care now, the poor little bun. She’s very cute.

[Sparky04]

She’s doing all right. She’s eating but she’s not as much as she should be. I felt bad about putting her through the stress of another exam, but since the last exam wasn’t thorough, I really wanted to make sure nothing else was going on with her. The vet says her teeth look good, but her ears look really red and painful and the pain is effecting her appetite. If she’s still having problems after the mites clear up, then she’ll need a more intensive oral exam. We were already giving her some leftover meloxicam and he said to keep giving her that once a day. We got some revolution for Mordecai and the vet said to use the revolution on her in 2 weeks rather than getting another ivermectin shot. Oh and her name is Ava now. She didn’t respond to her old name anyway and I wanted to give her a new name for her new start.

[HereComesTheBun]

Poor, poor little Ava! She is such an adorable rabbit, and I’m so glad that she found you.

[arca9]

So sad I do think people should have to sit an exam before they are allowed any animal!!! Ava is so lucky she found her way into your care.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Ava is a pretty name for a pretty bun.

[Sparky04]

Ava’s turned into a different rabbit over this past week. She seems so much happier and full of life. She loves running around and is a ball of energy. She’s even started binkying lately. We’re still working on her diet, but at least she’s eating the hay. I’m taking it slow with her, sitting on the floor and letting her check me out. She gets to run about the room all day and is only locked up at night and she really seems to like that setup. Her ears still seem to be bothering her, she still shakes them a lot. But she’s been scratching at them more, which she wasn’t doing at first. So that makes me think they’re less painful than they were. Whether that’s the meloxicam or the shot, I don’t know yet. We also have Mordecai revolution as a cautionary measure and she’ll get revolution in a week. One thing slightly worrisome to me is that today I caught her pulling her fur out, so I’m thinking she’s probably feeling hormonal or something. There’s no chance she’s pregnant, but she isn’t spayed so hormones could still be in play.

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