The Abandoned French Lop -WARNING- Graphic Pics

Someone found her at the side of a road in a carrier, she had a load of muesli chucked in the bottom on the 16th November.

She had a crusty thing on her head, like the skin is sliced away but has gone all weepy and crusty.




She had weepy eyes




Her ears were astonishing.



She looks like she has lost condition

(you can see the pus stuff from the wound on his head)

She had another of this crusty mass things on her belly



And a very dirty bum



She has since been to the vets who admitted and sedated her.

They cleaned her ears out - turnt out to be ear mites
Cleaned the wounds- from the ear mites
Flushed her tear ducts and inserted antibiotic capsules into abscesses she had in both front paws

I took the story to both local papers.
Here are the articles:


Article reads:

A GIANT rabbit was dumped, with a serious head injury,
in one of the worst cases of animal cruelty seen by a rescue worker.

Christine Thomas, 18, took in the 3ft bunny the day after it was found abandoned in a pet carrier box with a bloody head, ears infested with mites and a damaged leg, in Porters Avenue, Dagenham.
She said the injuries sustained by the French Lop rabbit constituted the worst case she had seen, after dealing with up to 70 rescues in the past year.
The pet was operated on at the Animal Ark veterinary surgery, Goodmayes, on Tuesday and is expected to take months to fully recover.
Miss Thomas, of Reede Road, Dagenham, said "Maybe the owners put off taking it to the vet because of the credit crunch. Maybe they thought the only option was to abandon it"
"Rabbits are the number one abandoned animal in the UK. There are 36,000 rabbits put into rescue centres every year.
She thinks the people who dumped the injured animal, with muesli in the box, sunday night, may have dreaded the £100 operation cost.
Miss Thomas is studying animal nursing at Writtle College, Chelmsford and warned families against getting rabbits for young children. They are a popular present at Easter. She said rabbit owners were consistently given inaccurate information about vaccinations and had difficulty finding sufficiently large hutches of at least 6ft x 2ft x 2ft.
She added: "I reckon maybe they got hold of the pet at easter time, possibly for a child. "maybe when they got it they did not realise it would get really big"


Well, the vet bill was £285 not £100!! (i wish it was!)
I didnt say about credit crunch i just agreed it could be a factor, but at least it gets the point across!!

AND



The article reads:

Callous owners dumped giant rabbit by side of the road
Injured bunny is now on the mend

A RABBIT was found with horrific injuries, after its owners cruelly abandoned it in the street.
Christine Thomas took in the French lop after a woman phoned to say she had discovered the creature in a box by the roadside in Porters Avenue, Dagenham.
Christine, 18, who runs a rabbit rescue centre at her home in nearby Reede Road, is currently looking after 28 unwanted bunnies.
She said "It was the worst case of neglect i have ever seen. Her injuies were horrific. Her ears were oozing blood, she was covered in mites and crusty wounds, and there were abscesses on her paws."
The furry newcomer is now on the mend since Christine took it too the Animal Ark Veterinary Clinic in Ilford.
She thinks the owners may have abandoned their pet to avoid paying the cost of having it treated.
She said: "Its cost me £285 in vet bills so far, so maybe they didn't want to fork out the money- especially now there's a credit crunch.
"Or maybe she got too big for them She's huge - about 4ft long."
Christine, who is studying to be an animal assistant, says an increasing number of people have been abandoning their rabbits or handing them over to her during the last couple of months.
"A lot of people will buy one as a present for their child at Easter time, and then when it gets cold around this time of yearthey decide they don't want to go outside and clean the hutch. So they end up giving the animal away."
She said buying a rabbit was too easy and too cheap, and that pet shops needed to give better animal care advice to customers.
Despite its injuries, the rabbit is now looking much happier.
Christine said: "At first she was huddled in the corner of her cage as if she didn't want to be seen. Now she's having a sniff around and seems a lot more content."
To help raise funds to cover the rabbit's vet bills Christine is running a competition to name the bunny.
Each name suggestion costs two pounds.
To adopt one of Christine's rabbits call her: ********** (blanked out for obv reasons!)

Hopefully this will all raise awareness.
I will be doing a name the bunny fundraiser for her in the fundraising section xx

Today is a big improvement, she willingly came over and DEMANDED nose rubs from me :luv:

She is on Metacam, Baytril and Zantac Syrup. Having Aloe Vera rubbed on her scabs twice daily and honey syringed into abcesses twice daily. Here are some pictures of her tonight.























How cute is this pic?!








She was then very naughty and tried to pull my skirt off the clothes horse




Sorry about the quality of pics and excuse my penguin pjs!!

Awww, she must be feeling a bit better if she is chilling out and playing with stuff. Well done you.

poor gyal

glad shes getting better! :luv:

she is gorgeous - how lucky she was found and got to you and is now on the mend.

The pics made me cry. So glad she is on mend and well done to you for saving her. Will you be keeping her ?

bigwig wrote: The pics made me cry. So glad she is on mend and well done to you for saving her. Will you be keeping her ?

No, eventually when she is fully healed and ready, she will be looking for a new home

Well done you have done a fantastic job and making everyone aware that it's not just cats and dogs that get neglected (sorry if not spelt right). She looks a fab bunny and so much happier now she is with you. I hope she finds a loving forever home when she is fit and well.

I am glad this bun is on the mend and I am hoping my community can give you a large donation fee. I am still awaiting to hear from sooz to see if we can make that fee bigger.

She's a very lucky bun to have been found by you. There is no need to let an animal get into such a state as the RSPCA will take it in if you simply don't want it. No-one should get a pet without being aware the the responsibility for it is lifelong. I wish other people had as much compassion and conscience as you have.

She's lovely, no one should have let her get like that, well done you.

(on a side note, you might want to blank out the phone number in the picture too as its still readable in there)

Poor baby she looks lovely, how could anyone let a pet get like that

angelmouse wrote:She's lovely, no one should have let her get like that, well done you.

(on a side note, you might want to blank out the phone number in the picture too as its still readable in there)

I know... im not the brightest person

I dont know how to either!!

I can't wait to see pictures of her when she is all better, the change will be amazing. As draining as it is, I love the challenge of helping 'fix' a damaged rabbit....my two fosters are coming on leaps and bounds already .

She is coming on so well

Next thing is to get weight back on her, she is so underweight =/

Bless her, she is SUCH a gorgeous girl :luv: ....and SO brave! I am happy to hear that she is improving so much......she looks loads better already!!!

You are doing a FANTASTIC job with her!!!!!

Oh my god I cannot believe the state of that poor girl. well done you for getting her sorted and I hope her previous owners die in a fiery yachting accident. HOW can people let a rabbit get to that state/!??!

By the way, you haven't blanked out your phone number on the second article....

buddabun wrote:Oh my god I cannot believe the state of that poor girl. well done you for getting her sorted and I hope her previous owners die in a fiery yachting accident. HOW can people let a rabbit get to that state/!??!

By the way, you haven't blanked out your phone number on the second article....

I dont know how!! Its okay!! All bunny mad here, so i wont get any "strange" phonecalls as such!!

Im hoping the articles may get people who know about her previous owners get in touch, however no luck yet

oh duh sorry it was written above.

if you open the photo in paint and just draw a big black line through it?

Well done you that is incredible... lots of get well vibes for the gorgeous bunster! Give yourself a pat on the back hun xxxxx

Starlights Rabbit Rescue wrote:She is coming on so well

Next thing is to get weight back on her, she is so underweight =/

I've been using a mix of pellets mashed with warm water & apple sauce, wheat-a-bix, banana, porridge and carrot peel and plenty of ready grass on my fosters and it's working really well. They both have a covering of flesh over their spines now which jutted out before.

They've been eating all they can manage for two weeks, I will evaluate them again after 4 and then adjust their diet appropriately.

Oh that poor bun Good for you for taking her in and getting her story into the papers. I can't wait to see how she comes along when she's all healed!

Unfortunately yesterday Bramble had an ultrasound which showed a mass, today she had a x ray under light sedation, it shows fluid has leaked from something, it could be a abscess/tumour etc, its very serious, as she is very underweight, the only way to find out what it is and treat it is surgery, which she has very slim chance getting through, i have brought her home and will spend all day with her, tomorrow evening i believe i will pts as i think it will be unfair and too much for her little body, though she is strong in herself and a fighter, i believe now, she should go peacefully

I do believe with her compromised liver function she may not have long left even if she survives and recovers from the operation so putting her through such traumatic surgery would probably only improve her future both shortly and minimally. It's one of those situations where you need to take a step back and decide who your actions are really of benefit to....and it sounds like you have done this.

I know some people prefer to PTS before an animal has a chance to deteriorate but I am an awful one for 'what if's' and am not sure I could live with the uncertainty of not knowing how much 'quality' life I would deprive a animal of in this way. My personal preference is to wait until they tell me they have had enough though TBH I truely didn't find this as easy as other people would have had me believe.

Can I also suggest that you research the PTS methods and options now so you are prepared for what you need and want at the time. If Bramble's condition deteriorates and they cannot locate a vein when the time comes the other methods of PTS can be somewhat traumatic without proper prior sedation.

Thank you Sooz, your reply really does put things into reality and makes me see the bigger picture. Im glad i went and brought her home 11:30pm tonight than have left her at the vets, she has been through enough, she should live out her last days peacefully, hopefully, my vet will agree the pts option isnt immediate and can be taken once its time.