Been to see Brigitte Lord (Reusch)U/D - He's Gone

Benji has been having problems with his gut for about 4 months now, and I'm so worried for him. Every few days he has some squishy poos (faecal poos, not caecotrophes) and his regular poos are very small and mis-shapen. He has been quieter than normal, although he has never stopped eating or gone into statis. He's just not been 100 per cent.

We have been back and forward to the vets and had faecal samples done, but nothing untoward showed up. I thought it might be coccidia as it started when we gave both buns some grass from the garden in the early summer, but I think that was just coincidental. His weight has gone down from 1.8kg to 1.45kg (although he is now 1.55kg) and we have been giving him Protexin Pro-Fibre Rabbit Pellets which our vet suggested.

However, he has still not been right, and yesterday we took him (with Paddy for moral support!) to the Royal D1ck Vet School in Edinburgh where he saw Brigitte Reusch.

He has had lots of tests today under sedation - bloods, x-rays, ultrasound, etc, and will have more tomorrow.

So far, she thinks that his gut problems are secondary to other problems - he seems to have a very small liver, which she said is quite concerning. All the veins from his organs and digestive tract to the liver are too big and his heart is slightly enlarged, but not worryingly so. He is to have a heart scan tomorrow. She also said the blood supply around the liver was not normal-looking, although the liver tissue shape was normal (?).

Apparently his stomach has moved further up into his ribcage and the caecum is further forward than it should be. There is abnormal movement of the gut, and the gut is overfull.

His skull was x-rayed, and his teeth are fine, except for one of the cheek teeth being slightly longer than it should be, but no treatment necessary just now. An odd thing about his teeth are that they are quite discoloured (yellowy brown) and Brigitte said she had never seen teeth like them before. They seem fine in other respects and she thinks they may be permanently discoloured from having an antibiotic when he was very young. Paddy's teeth are the same.

X-rays of his hips, legs and feet showed no problem. There are more faecal tests in progress, and he will get his blood pressure checked tomorrow.

Blood tests showed that he is very slightly anaemic and his immune system is a bit run down - probably consequences of being under the weather for the last few months. His liver and kidneys showed as 'normal' in blood tests, but Brigitte said that they only show as 'abnormal' if they are over 70% damaged.

Sorry for the essay, just wanted to update our situation. Will add more over the next few days as we get more results.

They both seem to have settled OK, but it's horrible having them away from home. I have no idea what the prognosis will be for Benji, as it's a bit too early to tell exactly what is wrong with him yet.

Any spare vibes would be welcome, thanks.

OMGosh Helen, the poor chap As ever, you have done the utmost you can do, and Benji is in the best hands he can be. I pray there's a solution to this, and that he can continue to live a happy life with you all.
Vibes a plenty for your special guy xxx

Thank you Jay.

I will know more later today, so will update then. I'm hoping they will be home tomorrow.

Goodness me.

Poor Benji, and poor you - its horrible to be apart from them when they are poorly.

He really is in wonderful hands though.

Im sending you oodles and oodles of vibes that the gorgeous wee boy is better soon.

Katie x

Thank you Katie. x

I haven't really posted much about his ill-health so far, as he's been OK-ish for much of the time, just not quite 100%. However, it was time to do some investigations, and it seems there are organ irregularities. I've no idea what this means for him yet, so am trying not to get too worried! I'll be glad when they are home though, the house (strangely) is quiet without them.

I have just spoken to Brigitte.

Benji's heart scan showed no abnormalities, which is good news. She said he was such a good boy that they didn't even need to sedate him.

However, the abnormalities in the blood supply to his liver and the very small size of the liver means that he is going to have to have keyhole surgery so that they can take a liver biopsy. His liver is so small and they can see so little of it with imaging techniques that there is no more they can do from 'outside'. She said they may find twists in the blood vessels which could be corrected.

She is sure that Benji's gut problems are related to this. He is on a hay-only diet at the hospital, with Oxbow recovery food which he seems to be scoffing from a bowl. He seems to be quite comfortable, although he is on gut motility drugs and Metacam. She did say there are a few rabbits who cannot tolerate commercial pellets, and it may be that this is the case with him.

So ... we will hopefully be bringing them home tomorrow for the weekend and they will have to go back to Edinburgh on Tuesday for the biopsy.

She did say they were both bright and lively. Apparently they have the rabbit ward to themselves at the moment and are out chasing each other around the room!

Thanks for your thoughts and vibes.

Helen, I'm so sorry you are going through this so soon after Rosie.

However, I am so impressed at the array of tests they are doing. They are going to find anything that isn't right just now so hopefully there won't be any more nasty surprises for you. Just as well that you are an experienced bunny mummy and knew something was wrong.

Sending tons of vibes for Benji. I hope that there is something they can do for him. xx

Although its not nice, at least they are getting closer to finding out what the problem actually is and then they can work on making him better.

Sounds like you have the best team looking after him, and im sending all the vibes i can muster.

Katie x x x x x

The rabbit ward .. How lucky are these two - it must be like Bunny BUPA!

Like Nickie, I'm amazed at the treatment he's getting, and I pray they find what they need to make Benji well again. Sending lots of vibes and give them a cuddle from us when they get home x

Thank you Nickie, Katie and Jay for all your vibes and thoughts

I've been impressed at what they have done too - and he is in good hands. We're lucky to have such a specialist centre not exactly nearby, but within travelling distance.

Jay wrote:The rabbit ward .. How lucky are these two - it must be like Bunny BUPA!

I know! I'd love to have seen the rabbit ward, but I don't think us hoomins are allowed - only bunnies.

Got home earlier with Paddy and Benji, who seem to be not too stressed by the journey, etc, which is good.

Benji's full diagnosis (for the moment) is -

Hypotension
Enlarged caudal vena cava, liver veins and portal veins (ie, veins to and from the liver)
Small liver
Slowed intestinal motility
Mild anaemia

On Tuesday he will be getting a 'laparoscopic liver examination and biopsy' to try and find our more about the liver and what is wrong. I really hope we are doing the right thing for him. It is SO hard to know what to do for best when you're a lay person.

The liver does really seem to be very small, and I think unless they go in and investigate, his prognosis is not good. We were basically told he may just go downhill. Now, that may happen anyway depending on what they find, but due to them being able to see very little from the imaging techniques, we don't really know what's wrong with the liver and what, if anything, could be done. So I feel we have to try and find out a bit more - I really hope we are doing the right thing for him.

We saw x-rays of his thorax, stomach and gut today and they were very interesting. The stomach was VERY overfull - you could see a load of food in it - far more than there should be. The caecum was displaced (I think) because of it and his liver was very small. Despite the amount of food in the gut, he has been eating and pooing OK (albeit small faeces). It seems to be passing through his gut OK, even though there's a lot of it. (He is on gut motility drugs at the moment though).

He's to be fed 30ml of Oxbow Critical Care 3 times a day and we have just had a nightmare trying to get it into him. Brigitte said that he ate it from a bowl (great! we thought) but he was not interested in it tonight. We tried to syringe it (used a big syringe) but it got everwhere, except in his mouth. I always find the plungers in syringes stick at the crucial moment!

I eventually ended up in tears (not in a hysterical way; more in a frustrated "I'm a rubbish bunny mum" way ) and he didn't really eat much at all. We're going to leave it tonight, as we feel he has been through enough today already.

Oh helen, I'm sorry you're having such a rotten time. How is Benji doing today?

At times it is really hard at times to know what to do for the best, but you have some of the best rabbit experts advising you, so all you can do is discuss the options and be guided by them. You know Benji best and you will do your best for him so rest assured, you are a good bunny mum. Sometimes syringe feeding is so hard, especially when we are distressed as well, they soon pick up on it, so having a break is probably a good idea, and try again when you are both more relaxed.

I know it is different, but in some ways we are in a similar position with Ruby's pancreatitis. It is something unknown in rabbits so we are trying things out, to find something that works so in the future other rabbits/owners and vets will have a better understanding. It's not nice being the first, but we have the experts on our side to ensure our rabbits have the best possible chances. So far Ruby is doing OK but we don't know what the future holds, I hope that you are able to find a positive way forward for Benji too.

I really hope all goes well for him, let us know how it's going. Lots of vibes for you, Benji and Paddy

Thank you Lynne.

Benji is not too bad today, happy to be home for the weekend and snuggled up with Paddy.

We have managed to get him to eat some of the Critical Care by making a stiff paste and rolling it into pellets for him. He'll eat it if he's hungry, but will still reject it sometimes. He seemed to be taking it fine at the hospital - typical!

Some of the things about Ruby's situation struck me as similar to Benji too. At least we are both lucky to be reasonably close to really top rabbit vets and to know that our buns are getting all the benefit of their expertise.

It's just unsettling, not knowing what exactly the future holds, isn't it? For us, we'll know more hopefully on Tuesday when Benji goes back for his laparoscopy and liver biopsy.

I know that in humans the liver is one of the few organs that can regenerate itself so maybe if they can sort out a better blood flow to it, it can improve and he'll have a better prognosis.

It sounds like he is in wonderful hands and he is probably such an interesting case for them too as it sounds a very uncommon condition.

The idea of making pellets out of critical care is what we did with Holly when she was ill. I found the syringe just a horrible messy affair and more of the stuff went down her and me than in her. By making pellets, I could push them against her teeth and she would start to lick them off her mouth. It felt a little mean, but she needed to eat.

Sending hugs to you and healing vibes for Benji. xxxxc

Thanks Nickie. xx

Yes, I had read that about the liver too in humans. We'll have to see what they say, although they did say they were quite concerned, so that makes me a bit nervous. But no point in crossing bridges before I come to them.

The Critical Care is horrible stuff! It's much easier to make it into pellets rather than trying to syringe it. It's like bloomin' glue as well - as soon as it shoots all over you, your bun and the towel, it starts to set and goes all crusty. Yuk. It reminds me of the henna I used to put in my hair many moons ago!!

Rosie Rabbit wrote: . . . .

It's just unsettling, not knowing what exactly the future holds, isn't it? For us, we'll know more hopefully on Tuesday when Benji goes back for his laparoscopy and liver biopsy.

It's horrible, we go back on the 29th. In the mean time we plod on and make sure we enjoy everyday with her, just in case.

Oh Helen, I'm not surprised you're feeling so worried. Times like this when you wish you could wave a wand and just make them better. Big Big vibes for Benji and Big Big for you. Will be thinking of you all tomorrow xxx

Thinking of you Helen, keep us updated, sending oodles of vibes for beautiful Benji.

Thanks so much guys x

Will keep you updated when I have news tomorrow.

Benj is now nomming lumps of the Critical Care from my hand - he seems to quite like it. He's probably given up hope of getting pellets which is what he really wants!

Paddy of course is shoving in in true Paddy style and would hoover up the Critical Care mush all on his own. But he's not getting it - too bloomin' expensive to feed to him too!!

Well, the good news is that Benji's laparoscopy went fine today and Brigitte says he is recovering well. They managed to do the surgery with just 2 tiny incisions. He's on a drip at the moment, getting a morphine-type drug and Metacam.

They took biopsies of the liver, spleen and left kidney and they will be tested to see what bacteria are growing on them. We won't have the results of that for a week or two.

She said the liver shape and tissue did not look abnormal, it is just very small. We know the blood supply to the liver is abnormal, but when the results come back she'll be able to tell if he has a condition in which the blood supply in the tiny micro-vessels within the liver is abnormal too.

His spleen has an extra nodule apparently, and there was a little scar tissue (like a rubber band) across his tummy near his spleen, so she has broken that down. She doesn't think enough blood has been getting to his spleen as well.

His left kidney is a little pale apparently; a biopsy has been taken of it too.

She said his intestines were moving well but there was quite a lot of bruising to the caecum, probably just because of the slow movement of matter through his gut causing small blood vessels to burst.

His blood pressure is a bit low anyway, and dropped a little during the surgery, so he had to have fluids to help that. She thinks he has learned to live with slightly low blood pressure, but when something else happens which places demands on his system, the lack of a 'normal' blood supply to his organs are causing the symptoms in his gut.

What really surprised me was that Brigitte said that he is the ONLY rabbit she has ever seen with low blood pressure. She has seen some with high BP, but not low. She thinks that he might need medication for that longer-term, but it's not something she's considering right now.

So basically, it's a case of waiting till the results of the biopsies come back, and continuing with his hay/Critical Care diet and meds for the meantime. He will remain in the hospital, with Paddy, till at least Thursday though, so any spare recovery vibes would be very welcome.

I think that's everything. I was frantically trying to make notes while on the phone, so I hope it all makes sense!

Blimey! Sounds like she is being amazingly thorough, which is really good. Bless Benji though, just managing through when things are not quite right.

Sending him millions of get well vibes and lots and lots and lots of love.

Love and hugs to you too, hun. x x x x

Well done you for managing to convey all the information in such a coherent way. I would have taken the phone call, then halfway through realised I needed to make note and not been able to find a pen.

I hope that they are able to put together a package that enables Benji to have a long and happy life. It is so lucky that he came to you and not to some family that just didn't notice he was ill and then found him dead one morning.

Sending zillions of vibes for his recovery. xxx

Aw, thank you Katie and Nickie x

I just hope he is able to be helped after all these investigations - depends what the biopsies show I suppose. More waiting! At least she was able to remove physically a bit of scar tissue which might have been causing him problems.

Nickie - I'm a control freak, I was carrying the phone and paper and a pen around with me all day in case Brigitte phoned - even to the loo!

I'm glad he's come through OK, that must be a relief. I hope you get some news quickly, the waiting is horrible.

Sending vibes for a quick recovery

Thank you Lynne