D!ck Vet rabbit owners night

A few weeks ago we went to a rabbit owners evening at the D1ck Vet.

Firstly they talked about care for elderly buns. One of the most interesting things I learned from this was that in all the slightly older buns that they have x-rayd/scanned/etc 100% of them had arthritis to some extent.

I did ask about the possibility of feeding turmeric to rabbits, I use this myself for managing joint pain and it makes a world of difference, many people feed it to horses and I know also a lot of people use it on other animals. The vets at the vet school had no first hand experience of turmeric being used with rabbits. I might put a post on the Turmeric Users FB group, they are bound to know.

I found the bit about chest tumours a bit hard going, having lost Temperance to cancer. But it was still interesting. They talking about one rabbit (who I may have posted on here about), she got a referral from down south somewhere, she was about 10 and had a thymoma chest tumour. The **** Vet treated it with radiotherapy which significantly reduced the size of the tumour. Following surgery her owners described her as being like a 2 year old again, and she had another 11 happy healthy months before she passed away from unrelated gut stasis. This may not seem long but as they pointed out 11months is 10% of her life.

For boths parts of the talks they had slide shows and included pictures and videos to show the owners how symptoms may present themselves.

This is what they posted on their page afterwards:

Rabbit night, our first client evening this autumn was a resounding success with over 40 rabbit owners coming along to find out more about caring for their pets. First speaker was Dr Emma Keeble who discussed the common problems encountered in elderly rabbits. In particular she focused on the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis which is increasingly commonly seen in pet rabbits. Practical suggestions such as elevating food bowls and avoiding stairs were discussed to help with back and neck pain. After a short break for tea, coffee and biscuits, Dr Jenna Richardson spoke about the diagnosis and treatment of thymoma in pet rabbits. She discussed the cutting-edge treatment options available at Edinburgh University using both surgical excision and radiation therapy to extend longevity.

Did you learn a lot from the talk?
It's my 'guess' that the people who attend these type of practice talks generally know as much about rabbits as the vets themselves.... maybe even more in some cases and some areas.They attend in the hope of learning more. I am also guessing that rabbit owners (the true loving owners) generally know more about their pet than the average cat/dog owner does who leaves all medical stuff to the vet as vets in general know more about those pets than they do about rabbits.
Reboot's vet isn't on the RWAF Rabbit Friendly list (the nearest Silver vet on that list is over a 100 mile round drive away and that would cost a small fortune in taxi fares as I don't have a car, it currently costs me £28 per visit which is often more than the vets bill). But after losing Lil Loll I choose this vet in preference to others locally simply because they are a pets only practice (rare in a rural area) and they LISTEN! They listen and work with the client and they readily admit when out of their depth and make referrals or consult with Richard Saunders as they did in Henry's case. They also recognise that, as herbivores, rabbits can be treated/helped with the use of herbs/plants that are often kinder/more helpful to their gut than drugs ... and less stressful to give.
I wish I had been able to attend some of FH-B's talks. I also wish I could go to a talk on the detrimental affects of stress in rabbits both in everyday life and in the treatment by vets and the prolonged administration of drugs.

I can never get to these talks but they sound really interesting. I agree, the vet is there for some emergencies but very often the loving bun owners know just as much if not more than the vet because they have first-hand experiences of certain illnesses.

Hugs
Jo xx

I would agree in many instances that bunny savvy owners know more than vets, however this was at the D!ck vet (which I see now was removed as its a word thats not allowed- edited to show it!) who are one of the leading exotics specialists in the country. We are very lucky to have them less than an hour way and they are the vet we get referred to if its something my own vet can't deal with. They also hosted the RWAF conference this year and do these owners nights themselves.

https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/services/small-animals/services/rabbit-exotic-practice (link edited - should work now!)

This is the rabbit that got referred from the south of England (Hampshire) for treatment of her chest tumour:
https://www.facebook.com/DickVetREP/photos/pcb.1720763501530422/1720762591530513/?type=3

You're lucky. Glad you made the identity of the vets clear... editing can be a pain, whatever happened to the primary readers from when I was a kid, D!ck and Dora? editing gives a whole new look to them, porn maybe?

Thanks for those links honey, the first wouldn't read but the second I will have a look through later.

Hugs
Jo xx