The trouble with Vet’s

So there are 2 vets one is more expensive than the other. The more expensive vet miss diagnosed Speedy’s Abscess for 12 month until it burst and then wanted to charge huge amounts after surgery to keep it clean that I knew I could do myself.

The cheaper one who was originally Speedy’s vet till they got to expensive. The one that made the mistake has become really expensive so I thought I would try Speedy’s original vet as they were closer and there are road works on the way to the other one.

The reason why because Speedy’s lump on his side has gotten bigger and he is in pain. It turns out the original vet has now become the cheaper one and they are better too. We thought the lump was the source of Speedy’s pain another abscess or cancer, well its not giving Speedy pain. The vet gave it a good look over and its not an abscess, he seems to think it is a fibrous lump…it may be cancer but he wouldn’t recommend surgery given Speedy’s age but it’s probably not and even if the cells he took out were sent for test and it turned out to be cancer he would still not recommend surgery. He believes Speedy is having a flare up of his arthritis and that is the source of his pain but the cbd oil and meloxicam isn’t covering it so the vet called Chris did a little digging to see what else Speedy could take and it turns out that rabbits can take liquid paracetamol in quite a high dose though he wanted to be cautious as he was concerned about possible liver damage and only wanted us to try a 3kg dose for a dog which is 10mg per kg rather than the rabbit dose. The Dog dose would be 30mg twice a day so infant paracetamol that you can get in a pharmacy or Supermarket for a couple of quid can be used on rabbits….who knew?

I like this vet. The consultation was 20 pounds the other one would have been more like 30 pound plus what ever for the paracetamol assuming they would have thought of that

If you try it for your dog or for your rabbit make sure you check the ingredients as some infant liquid paracetamol has ethanol in which is bad for them, the one I got was calpol not the sugarfree one as that has other stuff in it that is bad too.

Anyway the paracetamol does seem to be working so we had one good day of weather this week so we did this….

We went to the nearest beach for a little sun and R and R!

Speedy’s Recovery and Easter Wishes

So its been a few weeks since I last posted about Speedy’s recovery.Not much to say really when pictures say it best.This was taken on the 14th March

These were taken on the 19th March…..

This was taken on 31st March……

It say a thousand words doesn’t it? The fur is growing back nicely and so far no refilling of the abscess after the last set back. Speedy is back to running around like he used to but towards the end of the day it does get sore and he starts to lift the paw up. I don’t know if that will pass with time and the soreness at the end of the day will lesson or if he will just have to live with that and have a little painkiller to make it more comfortable for the rest of his life, there is no way of knowing if any permeant damage was caused by walking on such a large abscess for so long and spreading the bones in his foot apart because of it. My guess is he will have arthritis in the the paw as a result or something similar. But the good news is the foot was saved and he is back to normal doing what he loves best and for that I am thankful, its like an Easter miracle for me.
Here in the UK the Lockdown restrictions are gradually being lifted and Monday we were finally able to go a little bit further and have a proper day out, all be it a socially distance one. We went to Okehampton castle and had a picnic in the meadow next to the castle. It was lovely. We basically had the castle all to our selves…..

And finally Speedy wishes you all a very Happy Hoppy Easter or Passover and hope you get to spend some time with your families

Speedy’s Recovery Update: Up and down and then up again

So just when we thought this was it, no more puss pockets and down we go on that road to another puss pocket to empty that was in the first half of last week. When I found it I cleaned it and squeezed out the puss 3 times that day and then just little bit each day for a couple of days.

It’s been 3 days since I last had to squeeze out any puss and this morning it was still clear, no puss! And some fur is starting to grow back…..

Please let this be the last time I have to put Speedy through that cause even though he is a brave boy and a good boy, he’s starting to get fed up with me poking and prodding his paw….who could blame him

Speedy’s Road to recovery: Light at the end of the Tunnel

 So I was meant to write this for you yesterday but it was a weird day, good for Speedy but not so much for us. I’m not going to go in to that here today as this is all about Speedy. After having a little set back in the week where part of his abscess refilled and me having to drain it a couple of times we now can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So we were able to give Speedy a bit of a treat to make him feel better about his ordeal with his foot….

  As you can see Speedy is using his foot properly now so we picked this Special spot that had no gorse bushes and kept him to the grassy paths. Now for the Update on his Paw….

As you can see the hole has shrunk to almost nothing with just a small scab and the swelling has almost gone too. It’s still a bit tender to touch but it feels more or less like his other paw. We just have to be very careful now so it can continue to heal. And as Speedy was looking so good we took him back to the special place for another treat….

Speedy will probably get another treat today and tomorrow to make the most of the dry weather as Wednesday we are back to wet and windy weather for the rest of the week.
Thank you for all your POTP for Speedy and all the nice messages You’re all amazing!

Speedy’s Road to recovery update and little sneak peak at Hogmite

So first we’ll talk about Hogmite the Male hedgehog who over wintered with Pup the female last year. Hogmite picked his favourite box to hibernate this year, he finally woke up a couple of weeks ago and has been chowing down every night and has continued to stay….I expect when we get further into spring he will go off chasing the girls again just like last year. Anyway this afternoon I was filling the food bowls and the water bowls and I found him snoozing in the entrance of his nest box….

 a hedgehog will often do this if they get a little warm inside their box to cool off, the sun was shining on the box so after taking these I went and got something to shade his box and he promptly decided I was making to much noise filling the food bowls that he went back inside. But he is looking in great shape so all is good.

Now on to Speedy’s recovery. I have continued with the daily cleaning of the wound from his abscess on his foot and this is what it looked like on Thursday….

Half the swelling has gone down and I managed to pull out some of the dead tissue so its looking more healthy now. I carried on with cleaning in daily with salt water bath and vetericyn spray and today it looks like this….

Some scabs have come off on other area’s of the foot. I had to take this from another angle as I was holding Speedy but the hole is definitely shrinking size and looks to be healing from the inside out and there is even a little fur growing. Also it’s not hurting him as much, Speedy is much more active now in the kitchen. He is walking on it normally and hardly hold it up now. Fingers and paws crossed it continues to heal up the right way.
Thank you for all your visits. We will try and visit some of you this week.

Speedy’s Road to recovery update

I was going to post this yesterday but I decided in the end to wait till today. Don’t worry no photos of the Abscess today. After yesterdays cleaning and this mornings clean of the abscess I have to say it did look a little better. There was very little puss this morning which has to be a good thing. 

To start the cleaning process I mix up a little salt in very warm water and soak Speedy’s foot to soften up the area so I can get in there with a cotton q-tip ,once I can clean it out properly I then dab it dry with a towel and spray Vetericyn into the hole and fill it up, using a new q-tip I clean it out again to make sure there is nothing mucky left it there and then re-spray the hole again and just leave it to dry.

Vetericyn is antibacterial and anti fungal so will help to kill of any nasty microbes in his wound. I have to say it must be working because Speedy’s using his foot more, though it is sore and he holds it up at times to rest it, he is using it to balance when sitting ,eating his food and go toilet and he does walk on it too.

So for Speedy’s play area in the kitchen and in his sleep den I did change his bedding to help keep the foot clean. His Litter tray in the kitchen I just line it with a puppy training pad and put some hay on one side for him to eat. In his sleep den I lined the pen with a towel and an old sheet and put some puppy training pads at one end for him to pee and poop on and at the front some hay for him to eat. Rabbits need to eat a lot of hay so he has to have hay in his sleep den and in his litter box in the kitchen, we want to keep his tummy healthy.

So far nothing is getting into the wound so this seems to be working

So I will leave you with this photo of Speedy relaxing this morning and give you and update in a couple of days time. Again thank you for all your well wishes for Speedy

Speedy’s Road to recovery: Warning it’s not Pretty

Speedy went back to the Vets today and had his dressing removed and flushed out. The Nurse said that it looks like there was still some necrotic skin on the edge of the hole they cut out and there was some puss which she flushed out. she gave me instructions to keep flushing it out daily and keep it clean as possible and leave it to drain out naturally and if there are any problems to get in touch.

Now if you’re squeamish the I apologize now but I want to show and keep an accurate record of where we are with Speedy’s paw and the healing process. So this is how it looks today…

It’s not pretty is it? Looks pretty nasty but it is nowhere near as swollen as it was and I am sure it is very sore give how Speedy lifts his paw up but it can’t be as painful…I hope it’s not but pain wise Speedy in on his meloxicam and CBD oil so we can’t give him more than that.

Tomorrow I’ll post the changes to his bedding to minimize anything getting in to the wound. Thank you for all the lovely messages, I read them out to Speedy each day and appreciates every single one.

Speedy’s Road to recovery: Dressing Change day

 So Speedy had his dressing changed today. I have no idea what it looks like as with covid restrictions I’m not allowed in with him. Apparently there was some puss that had to be cleaned out so we were told Speedy needed to have his dressings changed 3 times a week. Todays was supposed to be included with the bill on Monday so I was expecting just the bill for a new bottle of meloxicam….only to be shocked to have to pay for todays visit so £306 pounds on Monday and another £56 today! To say I wasn’t happy is putting it mildly especially as the abscess was misdiagnosed for 10 months and in my mind that should never have happened, Speedy should never have had to suffer with a growing abscess for that long.

Quite Frankly nearly £100 a week to have his dressings changed after the vets mistake is a hard pill to swallow so after a slightly heated conversation about it Speedy’s treatment has changed. Friday the Dressing will be taken off and I will clean the wound myself with Vetericyn everyday and left to heal naturally open to the air. I have antibiotic solution here at the house which is used on rabbits and small animals and I have Manuka honey too. If it looks like the paw needs a light dressing I’ll do it myself and use the antibiotic solution and Manuka Honey with the dressing and then Speedy will have the occasional check ups as he needs its.

I’m not going against the vet advice but I just can’t afford £100 pounds a week on vet bills when I know I am capable of cleaning the wound and dressing it myself. Also I pick up on problems far quicker than any vet can and so can his dad and we don’t make mistakes.

As For Speedy well today he is a lot brighter and a lot happier much more like himself and he is fully eating on his own now. I’ll do an update on Friday after the Dressing is removed and then we can all see what we are dealing with….I’m sure it won’t be pretty so if you’re squeamish you might not want to see that one. Keep your Fingers crossed for my boy, You’re all amazing with all your Messages that you have sent….Bless you all!

Speedy Update:The Road to Recovery

Speedy came home last night after only having a sedative and local anesthetic for his surgery. Because Speedy is such a well behaved bunny the vet decided to on that rather than putting him out. When we got him home he would only eat from our hands and just wanted to have sleep cuddles till bed time.

Then at 3am we checked on him and gave him more cuddles in bed with us but by 4.30am we were giving him his Meloxicam as we could see he was in pain and not happy. We have spent all day feeding Speedy from our hands and giving him lots of cuddles. By 4pm this afternoon he started to eat his hay and his greens on his own.

This was Speedy eating his hay. We took away his litter box and put puppy pads in its place covered with his bedding as he is having trouble getting in and out and keeps banging his foot….which must hurt a bit so this makes things easier for him and tomorrow I will pick up a cardboard box to cut down and use as a little box in the kitchen so he can just hobble in and out without hurting himself.

So far he hasn’t tried to chew his dressing off and tomorrow we take him back to have his foot checked and a clean dressing on with a possibility of going back on Friday and every couple of days for new dressings. There is a possibility that the vets may let us change the dressings with only a check up once a week depending on how good the wound looks. This is going to be a long road to recovery for Speedy assuming it heals properly….if it doesn’t then he may lose the foot. Trying to be Honest and upfront about his chances and its 50/50 right now. I’ll update you tomorrow after his checkup.

Speedy is home

Speedy is home. He only had a sedation and local anesthetic for the surgery. The vet said Speedy was a very good bunny. We’ll give you a full update tomorrow after Speedy has a good night’s sleep