Piano tuner scurryfunge

The piano was once the heart of the home. These days the television has mostly taken its place in the living room as the main form of family entertainment. Some say that piano tuning is a dying art.

So I think I can safely assume that I was the only one in the world who spent a Sunday afternoon dismantling parts of my piano in order to clear out the mass of hay and crushed food pellets which have slipped beneath the keys. I didn't think my piano tuner would be impressed that Mabel uses the higher notes as her seat when she eats from the bowl on top of the cage.

Not only do we have a piano, and a piano tuner, and a bunny who jumps on the keys many times each day, but we also happen to use a piano tuner whose wife is seriously allergic to rabbit fur! So this morning, before he arrived, I had to put Mabel and Dijon in the cage, move the cage away from the piano, and thoroughly vacuum the whole area. They spent a couple of hours turning the contents of their cage upside-down in protest, whilst he tuned the piano.

Needless to say, as soon as he'd finished and they were out again, they were extremely cross and set about creating extra mischief. 

Autumn rays and a bruised nose

Mabel and Dijon have been spending much of the past few days soaking up the Autumn sunshine. They follow the rays around the room, stretching out in the sun, with Mabel throwing herself over as far as possible, nearly on her back.

Mabel has also been exploring the top of the cage. She jumps up onto the piano keyboard, as usual, to eat from her bowl of pellets (out of the reach of Dijon), but then often moves further onto the top of the cage to eat the hay which is stored there. She enjoys looking down on poor Dijon, knowing that he cannot reach all these special things! 

This morning she was a little too adventurous. She knows not to try to walk on the cage where it is not covered, but decided to leap off the cage rather than going down via the piano. Unfortunately she misjudged, and somehow crashed into the dining chair on her way down. She has a bruised lip, and looked a bit sorry for herself for a while, but fortunately there doesn't seem to be any serious damage, and she was soon back up there again!

Summer Coats

Mabel has suffered from two bouts of stasis within the past week - one lasted a whole day, thankfully ending just before bed time, and today she recovered within an hour of being dosed with the medicines, as her unwellness was spotted early. 

These problems are undoubtedly linked to her current heavy moult, so this evening I tackled her with the Zoom Groom brush, as she was on the table for her evening meds. She was surprisingly tolerant, even grinding with apparent pleasure, but back on the floor gave an almighty cross thump, followed by a look of extreme disapproval. Dijon's turn tomorrow...

Hetty the vacuum cleaner made short work of the grey covering on carpet, towel, tablecloth, me... and tomorrow I'll empty it into the garden. The wildlife here makes good use of our bunny fluff - several birds were spotted collecting it at nesting time, and recently I discovered a bumble bee nest inside a clump of bunny fur and hay!

And talking of nesting, Mabel spent a couple of hours yesterday morning collecting huge mouthfuls of hay, and trying to collect any other materials, including the carpet. Fortunately this nesting phase didn't last for long, as poor Dijon was very bemused.

Birthday celebrations

Dijon and Mabel were 6 years old this week... Dijon's Birthday was on Tuesday and Mabel's is today. She is happy that it is hot and sunny for her special day, and has been going behind the curtains (drawn to keep the room cool) to bathe in the sunshine!

It's been a rollercoaster year for Mabel, which makes this landmark more significant than ever. Big thanks to our wonderful vets, in particular Alex, and the team at Anderson's for all their work and ongoing support. Mabel will be enjoying a Birthday platter for tea, as Dijon did on Tuesday!

A Fountain of Pens

A picture paints a thousand words... That's all well and good, but how can I draw when I have no pens or pencils?

Mabel Update

Back in November, when we saw the X-rays of her elongated tooth roots and the infection, Mabel's future looked very short and incredibly bleak. She was diagnosed with "quite severe osteomyelitis of the mandibular molar roots with possible root overgrowth". She was quite subdued, and the pain was making it impossible for her to eat hay. The resulting lack of fibre in her diet alone was enough to eventually cause serious problems, and this type of infection was unlikely to respond to antibiotics. We agreed that surgery was not an option, but sought further advice on palliative care for Mabel.

Following consultation with an amazing senior specialist in rabbit medicine, Mabel was prescribed tramadol and meloxicam for pain relief, and Baytril and metronidazole (antibiotics). Slowly but surely she started to return to the Mabel we knew… mischievous, always hungry, and once again paying attention to poor Dijon, who hadn't been able to understand why she'd stopped grooming him! 

Several months on, she is happy, active, playful, and even able to eat hay - perhaps not as much as she should, but it's better than nothing. She certainly enjoys her hay cookies. We know it won't last forever, but it shows that it's not always time to give up hope. 

This week we've had a possible setback: the vet informed us that there is a problem with the supplier of the tramadol oral drops, and that they won't be available for a few months. Obviously this could be a major problem for Mabel. We don't know for sure if it's a combination of her antibiotics and painkillers, or one particular drug which has been helping her. We have just a few days' worth of tramadol left, so have been gradually reducing her dose and watching carefully. So far she has been fine - although much more active, which could be the lack of the sedating tramadol, or a sense of Spring in the air?!

This morning Mabel and Dijon have been exploring 'our' side of the living, and also the hallway. Dijon bravely shot upstairs - not just one flight, but two, into the loft conversion. Of course, he only did it because they were conspiring against me. Mabel watched until I'd followed him up, then burrowed into the sofa whilst unattended.

Here is a selection of photos, showing: Mabel eating hay and grass; Mabel's supplementary eating arrangement, on top of her cage next to the piano, out of Dijon's reach; Dijon exploring upstairs; and Dijon exhausted from exploring upstairs.

Happy New Year

Mabel and Dijon would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

Well, at least Mabel would. It looks like Dijon may have stayed up a bit too late last night partying.

Mabel's New Year's resolution is to try to swallow her medicine, instead of dribbling it straight out. Dijon's resolution is not to eat any more of the towel onto which Mabel has dribbled her medicine... But only because it makes his tummy feel too full for proper food.

Hoppy New Year!

X-ray day

For several weeks, Mabel has been doing odd chewing motions almost constantly. More worryingly she has stopped eating hay or grass, which will be a problem eventually - a rabbit's diet needs to be at least 80% hay to keep the gut and teeth healthy. 

In mid-October, the vet performed a dental - there were slight spurs on one side of her molars, which he didn't think were a problem but it was worth a try. However, nothing changed. So we agreed to X-ray to see what was going on. Yesterday she was back at the surgery, and we went to discuss the findings later in the afternoon.

Sadly it is not good news. Mabel has infection in her tooth roots, mostly along the lower left jaw, but also signs of it on the right side. This is very difficult to treat in rabbits. Tooth extraction is very risky, and of course leaves the problem of not being able to eat hay. Once again, as in August with the bloat, we were advised that PTS might be the kindest option - it's just a matter of when.

She is home and on a twice daily dose of Meloxicam to control the pain. We do not intend to let her suffer. Rabbits, as prey animals, hide their pain extremely well, so we've been watching her very carefully. However, at the moment, she does not look like a rabbit who is in agony. She is perhaps more subdued at times, but this morning has enjoyed being out on the patio (she asked to come out - see first photo!), and later exploring the usually-out-of-bounds areas of the house. 

Mwahahaha...

Mabel and Dijon showed no fear of our pumpkin, and Mabel told it who was boss by chinning it all over, several times.

Hoppy Halloween!

Going grey

Since her ear crisis last month, Mabel still has two small pale patches on her slightly-ragged ear. One is a small bald line, hopefully just where the bandage was rubbing when she had the drip. The other, at the tip, was bald but has now started to grow white fur! 

She's not the only one going grey… we have a new worry at the moment, as she has started to do an almost constant chewing action with her mouth. Off to the vet at midday, and hoping it's just a piece of apple bark or hay stuck in her teeth…