Bunny Dramas

This last couple of weeks has been insane for lots of reasons, the most stressful of which is Daphne, our little dwarf mix bunny girl.

We could tell something was wrong and took her in, which lead to dental surgery (one of her teeth was growing sideways, several others were dead or had points, she got off to a bad start as a baby- 2 years under her previous owner with no hay at all) and also, there's some kind of stone or something in her bladder. She's been recovering from the dental surgery, but suddenly stopped pooping and has been really fighting the forced feeding and all her meds (of which there are too many). So it could be GI Statis now on top of everything else.

I cannot even tell you how expensive this has all been, and badly timed too. Thank god for credit cards... and hopefully tax returns too. But she's a stubborn little trooper and we really hope she'll make it... her boys miss her and are very worried. So are we. She was our very first bun, a rescue and is a tough tiny girl with a big attitude! She's the one who won our hearts and got us hooked on bunnies from the get go.

The new year has been nuts for lots of people, I dunno what it is with January but I hope Febuary calms right the heck down. Anyway, I'm really nervous waiting to hear back from the vet, I dropped her off earlier today so they can try and get some food into her and see what they can do. :(

aww. poor bunny. i hope she makes it, and im sure she appreciates all of your care. I love to hear it when people bend over backwards for animals :)

I so sorry Sheree. I can only imagine how worried you are about your little girl. It sounds like she's having a really rough time, and I hope the vet can work a miracle for her. :hug:

Awww I really do hope everything comes out fine. Heres hoping for the best.

I have my fingers crossed of her! Stick in there I'm sure everything will be ok. Times like these can be so tuff..........................

Thanks guys... my critters are like my kids, I'll do anything I can for them.

Here's a recent pic of Daphne glaring at me over her feet just before recieving medicine/food. This is my view several times a day lately.

http://pics.livejournal.com/medusasowl/pic/000khw4q

Aww...she is adorable and I hope that you get things straight with her....best of luck:)

Just got back from the vet, and now we're not only force feeding her and giving her meds, she needs liquid injected under her skin and we have one of those hospital baggie things now hanging in the hallway. :sigh2:

Sooo sorry....:( Best wishes that she makes a full recovery. She really is a Cutie! *hug*

"The new year has been nuts for lots of people, I dunno what it is with January but I hope Febuary calms right the heck down."

Glad I'm not the only one that has made this observation......

Thanks Laooda! I hope she feels better soon, it's a good thing I work at home because she has to be force fed 4 times a day, medicine twice a day, and two injections a day. :rolleye2: Weee!

And yeah, this month has been insane. The apartment office lost our check then threatened to evict us for *their* mistake till we found the stub, the electric company charged us to close our account because someone else said they were moving in (wtf??), sick bunny... and that's not even including all the crazy stuff that's been going on with friends and friends of friends...

Come on, Feb, cut everybody a break! :please:

Awwww Sheree....I just came across this thread. It must be SO difficult, but even so, you are a shining example of pure pet-mommyness! If anyone can pull Daphne through this, I know it is you and Karen. :hug: You're in my thoughts and prayers!

Lots of hugs and sending tons of good healing bunny vibes your way. What a rotten, stressful time you've had of it lately!

So, the jury is in... Daphne has a bladder stone. A big one that's getting bigger. She needs surgery.

It's no wonder her potty and eating habits have been so bad. I was really optimistic this morning, as I saw her nibbling hay and she's been feeling more active, but when it comes down to it: she still needs surgery. Again. And this time, it's over $1,300. Not including what we've spent already on her dental surgery and many many medications which probably add up to about as much, I haven't wanted to think about it and we've been putting it all on credit. I've felt it though, and it is a huge stone. The size of a marble in such a tiny bunny bladder. The vet said there was no way to prevent it, some bunnies get it and others don't so it just kinda... happened. All of the techs reacted to the news, they know us and our critters... *sighs* We can pull it off, but... well, our getting out of Phoenix will obviously be severely delayed. And noone else is allowed to get sick for a while, ourselves included. *knocks on wood*

Life is what happens when you make other plans, yes? In the meantime, same regimen with her meds and feedings and lots of love.

So, um, yeah... not the best of Januarys. We need to seriously get some pet insurance one of these days...

On the up side, Ma-tsu is shedding as I type, so some healthy eggs soon would most definitely brighten up my month! :please: Here's hoping!

Oh hon how awful. I'm glad in one way it's a fixable condition but what a financial hit to take! Will she be liable to get more of them in the future or is this a sort of one time freak thing with bunnies? Have you checked whether your vet clinic has any funding or programming to reduce extraordinary vet costs? Ours back in northern Michigan had funds available (often left to them by deceased past customers) that one could apply to access to help offset things like this. Perhaps it's worth checking into to help a bit that way.

That rabbit is so lucky to have you for an owner! Most people would not put that much money into a rabbit.

I'm really really hoping it's a one time freak thing, although her teeth problems are relatively ongoing. She had a rough start before we got a hold of her as a rescue from a neighbor, and I think that's a large part of her health problems. The bladder stone though, the vet said they have no idea what causes it or what. Some rabbits and horses can get them while others never do, they used to think it was from too much alfalfa hay or sugar but more recent studies have shown that... well, nobody really knows. :sigh: The vet is calling us back today about possible payment plans and the risks involved in surgery today before we set a date for it.

And thanks, Tmlowe. Honestly I think it's sad not many folks would go out of their way for a pet rabbit (feeders are a whole nother ball game, crowbar of separation there). Ours have been as lively, personable, and loving as any cat or dog, and they have the potential to live as long as many dog breeds too. We even call them our quiet little puppydogs sometimes. I really hope our little fuzzballs can make it to a ripe old 11 or 12 years old, maybe even more. We could only put her down if it was the very best thing for her or if we had no other choice.

They can have a good long run of it. We took in a big male ex-stud bunny years ago from a breeder that wanted to go in another direction. Poor old Bullwinkle who was already 5 or 6 was going to be put down. He turned out to be a super nice big bunny and lived on another 5 years as a pet before quietly passing away in his sleep one day. He actually won first prize for bunnies at a local pet show for the goofy teeter totter trick he did with his ears (they were sort of half upright and half not upright hence why we named him after a cartoon moose). Apparently there's just not much competition in the "Bunnies Who Can Do Tricks" category LOL.

Bunnies can totally be taught tricks! :D It's like training cats though, takes a loooot of treats and patience and a clicker, usually. ;) I know my buns are all trained to the sound of the treat jar to stampede, lol. So much personality on these little guys.

Bullwinkle sounds like he was such a sweetie, Jo! 10 years is the average life span of a house rabbit, and Daphne's only 5. She's got years left in her! I scheduled her surgery for this Friday, so here's hoping... We'll figure out the finances somehow.

Awwww Sheree.... :hug: You and Karen and all your critters are in my prayers. Something will work out for the finances....money is common. Special little bunnies that steal your heart are not!

I'll make sure to put you all in my thoughts come Friday.

Thank you guys! :grouphug:

i'm so sorry i missed this thread. i am sooo sorry to hear this. any chance you have a paypal account so i can send a little something to help you out?

She's in surgery right now, poor thing! :please: I do feel a bit weird about charity (blame my proud Italian mother, I guess) but if you've been thinking at all about getting something from my print shop, now'd be an awesome time to go for it! :oops:

Our savings and some are gone on this lil girl. She's had a rough go of it, but she's a trooper... I hope the aftercare goes smoothly and inexpensively! She'll be at the vet overnight. But yeah... we may not be getting out of AZ as soon as we'd hoped at this rate... this has not been our month. And all of it's happened in just one month. Rent drama, car drama, vet drama... Ugh. :(

Rule of three so hopefully the bad stuff is over now. Please let us know how she did through the surgery hon. I know the whole BPNet community is pulling for the little bun bun to come through this and bounce (or rather hop) back to full health as quickly as possible. :)

well i hope your bunn-bunn does GREAT. please keep us posted.

Her temps are high and she's not eating, but otherwise she looks good. She has to stay overnight at the vet, and I got to go in and hold her and talk to her for a while after the surgery. I also got to see the gigantic bladder stone! It's the size of a robin's egg, and looks like a slightly crystalized smooth off-green river rock! It's HUGE! They'd have let us keep it if they didn't need to send it to the lab. How that fit in such a tiny bunny, I'll never know! Poor thing!! It took up her whole bladder! :O

I'll know more tomorrow, but geez... she was so pitiful and out of it when I saw her at the vet... She almost made me cry... I know she's in good hands though, http://northcentralanimalhospital.com/ is good people.

good to hear... poor bunny with a stone that large :(

My jaw hit the floor when I saw it... Nobody should have a stone the size of a jawbreaker inside them, no matter what species they are! :petting: And the vet said they've seen an even bigger one in a dog before... just... wow... I wish they knew what caused these things so they could be avoided...

My vet/teacher once took a 2lb stone out of a lab. It was so big it had formed to the inside of her bladder(shape-wise). That thing was softball sized, poor dog.

I hope your bunny-girl does well! Now we pray for pee! :)

A 2lb stone?? :O That poor doggie!!

Daphne's stone looks a lot like a cocktail olive, just a little bigger. Luckily, it was the only one, and no signs of others trying to form. But it was huge for a little bun like her! I am very pleased to say she is now peeing easily and without pain or blood, although she is in an extremely pitiful and grumpy state.

http://pics.livejournal.com/medusasowl/pic/000rb654

She's still on a lot of medication, which hopefully we can wean her off of soon. 3 oral, two injected. She hates... HATES the little clown collar. I think it's cute, but man... she is not amused. She actually tries to pick it up and throw it on a regular basis. She IS however eating on her own!! She started last night, which is awesome, because force feeding her 4 times a day had been taking up my whole life for the past couple of weeks. She'd fight me every inch of the way, and it'd take forever each time. So YAY Daphne is eating!

I'm actually making something for Cafepress off a picture of her in the collar. I can't decide what it'd say, maybe something like "No such thing as "just a rabbit"" or something about helping a bunny or something... not sure yet. But here's a few other cute pics.

http://pics.livejournal.com/medusasowl/pic/000rc87y

http://pics.livejournal.com/medusasowl/pic/000rdxe5

And here's her boys, lending more moral support before the surgery.

http://pics.livejournal.com/medusasowl/pic/000rarx9

http://pics.livejournal.com/medusasowl/pic/000r83p2

http://pics.livejournal.com/medusasowl/pic/000r7xe7

http://pics.livejournal.com/medusasowl/pic/000r61a6

I love these little guys so much... we're hurting, but I'd do it again for any of our critters in a heartbeat. I really wish we'd have caught this sooner... poor Daphne... but the important thing is she's not in pain anymore and on the road to recovery. And she is her fiesty self already during medicine time, which is a really good sign.

Poor little bunbun!!! But SOOOO happy to hear she's snapping back so well! It's gotta be all that love in that little apartment!!! :hug:

Oh Sheree in all this I just had to burst out laughing at poor Daphne in her collar in the second pic. It's like "get this bleepity bleep bleep BLEEEEEEEEEP thing off of me!!!!"....poor thing but oh her face is priceless! LOL It is touching how the male bunnies stayed so close to her cage when you had to seperate them for her surgery. Glad to hear she's eating and peeing on her own! :) (I may however never eat an olive again! LOL)

Oh Sheree......both me and all 7 of my bunnies are crossing fingers (and paws) for a speedy recovery for Daphne....:hug:

ahhhh her little face. and i too love the way the boys are all around her... supporting her...

such cuties.

She looks so thrilled, doesn't she? lol! Poor lil gal! We still have to force feed her and give her meds *sigh* aftercare, wee, but she gets to have the collar off a couple times a day for that, as well as lots of cuddles, and she very clearly appreciates that!

Her medical bills for January/Feb have now surpassed 3K. We're pretty bad off right now, but seeing our sweet girl perk up and gearing up to rejoin her family is more than worth it. I'm thinking of making a cafepress dealie for donations, but can't decide what text to use. Here's the pic I have in mind though. Maybe something like "Every pet deserves a good vet" or something like that? I dunno. But suggestions more than welcome. Every little bit helps.

http://pics.livejournal.com/medusasowl/pic/000rer57

wow 3k... that's a lot of cash. :(

Yeah, this is why our moving plans may have to be moved back quite a bit... this is quite a thing to bounce back from financially. :( I'm really unhappy with living in Phoenix too and was excited to get out, so it goes to show how much we love her.

it certainly does!!!

:) you are good people sheree... you and karen both! :hug:

So glad to hear she is doing better!! She may not like it but she looks adorable in her collar. :sunny: Sending you wishes for her speedy recovery.

Thank you! :) Daphne's so cute when she's disgruntled, poor thing, lol.

Daphne update!

She's currently off meds and her stitches are looking good, we just have to watch her close as far as eating/drinking/pooping/peeing goes. But otherwise, lookin good! She's a real trooper.

Because we're so in the hole after this, I made a Cafepress shop for donations if anybody's interested. http://www.cafepress.com/daphnewear

If by some miracle we actually make enough with the shop to cover her impressively expensive bills, the rest will be donated to our local rabbit rescue so that the money still goes toward bunny health. :) It's the same shelter we got our Bowie from, and they're good folks.