Poor Bruce! (& Flo) u/d 5.9.12

Well I am back from the vets.

Bruce has had his teeth done.

Flo has had her xray. I am going to need to talk to the vet tomorrow - we missed each others phone calls today - but the nurse said that the vet thinks there is a narrowing in the space between 2 of her vertebrae towards her tail end. So she has been put on 1ml metacam to see how she goes.

I hope they both forgive you soon and that Bruce is back to normal. Vibes for Flo's problem to be nothing serious too

Top up vibes for all!

Sorry to hear both your buns are going through these ordeals, at least they are in your very capable hands so in that respect they are lucky. I don't really understand what this means for Flo, will it reduce her mobility in the long term and can anything be done for this? What has caused this to happen? Sending healing and positive vibes for you and Bruce & Flo

Obviously I need to talk to the vet to verify what she suspects. I am thinking that it could be a few things. She could have simply pulled something or damaged something. She is always clambering onto things and regularly misjudges things, she also binkies like and idiot so may have twisted wrongly. I gave up on thinking I could prevent Flo doing these things long ago so just try to make things as safe for her as possible.

Alternatively she could just have early arthritis, or something similar.

All I can say is thank goodness that my vet went to conference over the weekend and came back full of ideas!

extra vibes for you all with hugs too

Oh poor Flo! Hope it's something that can be manages for her Hun.

How is bruce doing post dental?

They are both very chipper. I have been repeatedly mugged for crunchies. Flo is a lot more mobile that she has been in a while. I guess you don't notice the slow decline. I had noticed that the buns have not been spending as much time in the evening in the sitting room with me but thought it was a phase. It is only seeing her suddenly this animated that makes me realise how still she had become when in the house.

sending lots of vibes

Lots of love and comforts on their way Cheryl hun, hope all goes well.

Hugs

Jo xx

So I have spoken to the vet today.

She is happy with Bruce. Having got a good look at them when he was knocked out she agrees with my original thought - that they are infected hair follicles as each one has a hair coming out of it. She is not too worried abut them. So he is going to have a few days more of the septrin and then wait 5 days and he will have his VHD injection.

She thinks looking at Flo's xray that there is a very minor shortening in the space between 2 of her vertebrae. It is most likely a little disc issue which may have been caused by a fall or bad binky or something. It is only because she is actively looking for an explanation that she has noticed it. The only way we could really check what the problem is would be to go to a specialist and have xrays with coloured fluid injected in to show up different areas to establish the problem. At this stage she does not feel that is worth pursuing (thankfully as that sounded both stressful and expensive). The good news is that the xrays have also shown that as yet Flo's sore hocks are limited to her skin. Apparently when buns get sore hocks for a while they can start to get damage in the tendons of their feet. Flo does not have this yet. So the plan is to give her metacam for 2 weeks and then see what the situation is. If she is no better she will have to have her feet wrapped - which wil please her no end!

That's pretty good news. I wonder if Flo's back problem has even caused her sore hocks - if she is not putting her feet down properly to compensate for having a sore back.

Hopefully the metacam will make all the difference - I assume you have a cunning trick for getting it into her?

oh that sounds so much better than it could have been so pleased that the sore hocks are only skin at mo vibes for them both and hugs

Sparky wrote:That's pretty good news. I wonder if Flo's back problem has even caused her sore hocks - if she is not putting her feet down properly to compensate for having a sore back.

Hopefully the metacam will make all the difference - I assume you have a cunning trick for getting it into her?

That is pretty much why the vet xrayed her Sparky - it is that wonderful thing where vet goes to RWAF conference, vet discusses issues she has seen in her caseload recently, vet comes back full of ideas. She thinks that because Flo has been in some sort of pain she has probably just been sitting fairly still and slightly hunched up putting all her weight on the wrong part of the foot. A bit like a pressure sore in humans.

As for special tricks - it is just the old shredded wheat trick. I am giving her glucosamine as well. I just have to make sure I give Bruce his septrin at the same time or he will try and steal her metacam - and indeed the other way around. You have to be seen to be fair in this house.

This is very similar to the issue DaisyB had with his hocks. We discovered there was a problem in his back sound very similar.

With some metacam, some soft fleece and jumping restricted his back eased and so did the hocks.

Hopefully Flo will get the same results.

Glad that Bruce's sores are something easier to treat bless him.

I would certainly think that Flo's sore hocks are due to her back problem.

Sending lots of Vibes for Flo as I know what's it like to have a bad back xxxxxxxx

Glad the vet was happy with Bruce

Poor little Bruce, more binkys on their way.

Hugs

Jo xx

Topping up my vibes for your gorgeous pair.

I hope the little loves are better today Cheryl.

Hugs

JO xx