Vetergesic

Anyone have any experience of this stuff? Just remembered Joey was given a dose today at the vets and having Googled it, seen it's a morphine related painkiller

I'm now wondering if this is something to do with his spaced out/statue behaviour to ight.

Any input would be appreciated.

It could well be hun thinking about it logically. I really dont know though.

I hope he is doing better x

Definitely why he's spaced out.

A lot of vets tend to give it at the start of a stasis episode, which seems a good idea as it's a strong painkiller, but then if you are trying to temp them to food then they are just out of it which is counterproductive.

I've had two recent instances of rabbits with stasis out of hours that have gone to the local vets and stayed a few days, on the day they come home they've been given vetergesic and are out of it when I've wanting them to eat well which seems daft to me as they shouldn't have needed a strong painkiller at that time and it's side-effects are bad news to a rabbit just coming out of stasis.

I hate the side-effects of Vetergesic but it is commonly used in the first instance when a strong painkiller is needed. It also goes under a few other names such as Bupracare, Bupramorph etc (spellings might not be right).

Oh and in answer to the original question - I wish vets would warn people of the possible side-effects because you naturally think it's symptoms of the rabbit's illness and it really worries me seeing them like that.

Yes we use it a lot, it's a brilliant painkiller but it does knock them out a bit, I didn't know Joey was on it but now I know why he seemed spaced out.

I do agree with Big Ears that vet's should warn people about Vetergesic's side effects so they know what to expect .

Oh! Well, that sounds like that expains the spaced out behaviour.
It does seem a little counterproductive, but I guess each bun reacts differently and you have to take note if ever it comes to it again.

Big Ears wrote:Definitely why he's spaced out.

A lot of vets tend to give it at the start of a stasis episode, which seems a good idea as it's a strong painkiller, but then if you are trying to temp them to food then they are just out of it which is counterproductive.

I've had two recent instances of rabbits with stasis out of hours that have gone to the local vets and stayed a few days, on the day they come home they've been given vetergesic and are out of it when I've wanting them to eat well which seems daft to me as they shouldn't have needed a strong painkiller at that time and it's side-effects are bad news to a rabbit just coming out of stasis.

I hate the side-effects of Vetergesic but it is commonly used in the first instance when a strong painkiller is needed. It also goes under a few other names such as Bupracare, Bupramorph etc (spellings might not be right).

Oh and in answer to the original question - I wish vets would warn people of the possible side-effects because you naturally think it's symptoms of the rabbit's illness and it really worries me seeing them like that.

Thanks for this info. The vet didn't mention anything about it affecting his behaviour, and as you say when they sit there sitting looking vacant it's pretty worrying. Do you know how long the effects last?

If Joey has had 1 jab it should last about 12 hours so he should be ok by now unless he has had another jab.