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…

Diamonds and Pearls..,

Dijon gave Mabel some beautiful pearls, to show his love.

Pruning time

Today Mabel and Dijon's servant risked life and limb to prune the apple tree, climbing high to reach the tallest shoots. 

Were they grateful? Well Mabel taught the thickest branch a lesson or two, but they showed little interest in the shoots. They seem to prefer the leaves when they're crispy, so perhaps tomorrow they'll show more gratitude.

Bunny meltdown

With record-breaking temperatures here over the past couple of days, the bunnies have been taking it easy and spending a lot of time stretched out. This afternoon, Dijon appeared to have melted. 

Poor Mabel's ear

Mabel's  ear has been rather scabby since the drip, but we assumed it was healing. However this morning it felt particularly dry and looked rather odd, so I picked her up to examine it. There was a line, like a scar, by the edge near the base of the ear. I'd hardly touched it when an inch long slither of her ear fell to the ground. It was completely hard.

There was no blood, and Mabel showed no sign of pain and didn't even wash the ear when I put her on the floor. Part of the ear must have died after she had the drip in it. We will be going to ask the vet for advice this afternoon. I really hope that she won't lose any more of her ear.