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We lost Ernie a couple months ago. I didn't say anything on here because I didn't want the thread to be nothing but bad news, and I really didn't know what to say. I was pretty caught off guard by it--after all the energy it took to nurse Bert back to health, I never anticipated that Ernie would die suddenly. I noticed he seemed down and wasn't eating all of his food, so I took him to the vet and found he had a respiratory infection. We got him on medicine and he showed a lot of improvement at the follow-up appointment, and then he was dead when I came home one day. I kept going over in my head what I could have done differently--he lost weight, but he was continuing to eat and poop normally, just not as much. I kept thinking I should have started force-feeding him Critical Care, but he never tolerated being swaddled well, and I think that probably would have made it worse faster. I just don't know what to say, really. At some point you have to accept that "What would a veterinarian do if they had them under 24/7 observation" isn't a standard you can hold yourself to. Since then I've been spending more time with Bert. Some part of me wants to go out and adopt a companion for him right away, but I just can't do it. My first thought when I get home from anywhere is "I have to check on Bert to make sure he's alive" and I worry about his health constantly.
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May 22, 2023 19:07
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 06:02 |
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If you can tell me her weight, I can help you with nutrition. You can be pretty liberal with greens, but it's important not to overfeed sugary stuff like carrots and fruit. What's your setup for litter and hay?
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Jul 10, 2023 01:31
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Congratulations! (Strawberry?)
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Jul 17, 2023 18:23
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It's always scary when they miss a meal. I've had bunnies miss a meal because they just ate a lot of hay, or I overfed greens or water-rich veggies, or maybe they just had a little gas or something. How long did she go without eating? I'm sure you were right to start CC, though; it's not like it can hurt. Bert is not cooperative about eating it, at all, and vets usually give you these small-bore syringes that get clogged instantly, and then you squeeze the thing and squirt a big glob all over their face. I ended up having to buy big-bore syringes from Tractor Supply and cut them down even further. So Bert's got this thing going on where it seems like his right eye is watering. The fur below that eye is frequently a little matted and damp. When he had head tilt, I was giving him eye drops daily to prevent irritation on his "down side" and once I had a scare where peed on himself and almost got urine scald before I realized. His head still tilts somewhat, sometimes, especially when he stands on his hind legs to take a treat. I thought maybe he was just getting his face wet in his water bowl--but the dampness is on the wrong side. I can't find any sign of irritation, conjunctivitis, tear duct swelling, cataract, or anything else, and he doesn't seem to be in any pain about it--he sits still and lets me pull his eyelid back to check him out. His regular checkup is tomorrow, so I guess I'll find out!
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Jul 27, 2023 16:36
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Bert was crying because his tear duct was blocked, so the vet flushed them at his checkup. He kept crying, so we went back and got them flushed again, along with a prescription for antibiotic eyedrops. That seems to be doing the trick very quickly; I haven't seen any signs of wet fur around his eyes. This has been going on for a long, long time and the vet agrees with my assessment that it wasn't causing him any discomfort--there are no signs of irritation at all. But of course I wanted to get it taken care of. I stopped following a particular account on social media because they put up a picture of a dead rabbit. I don't know why people do this. I can kind of understand when someone's pet dies and they post themselves crying over the body; it's awful, but I get that they're not in a rational state of mind. But the people who post dead rabbits to say like "Here is a picture of a bunny that fell off the vet's table and died. This is what happens if you don't towel them properly." Or "Here is a picture of a bunny that died from illness. This is what happens if you don't take them to the vet." I know what a dead rabbit looks like, rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 22, 2023 20:19
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Yeah it's very cute since we know he's okay, but if it happened to my little Holland Lop I'd be freaking out. Probably not so much if it was say a big 12-15 lb. rabbit.
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Aug 24, 2023 14:03
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 06:02 |
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trilobite terror posted:maybe consider homing some elderly rabbits, or working with a rescue to foster.
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Dec 27, 2023 02:26
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