Sophie our bunny is really sick...we need vibes.

starryeyedtiger

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My mom called me just a few mintues ago. Sophie, my blue holland lop rabbit - she's really sick
My mom ran her to the vet and the vet is saying that he wants to keep her over night. He isn't sure what is causing all of the problems- so he is calling a vet that specializes in pretty much only rabbits out of state- and they're going to do a consultation on it and figure out what to do in her best interest. I am soo upset


Just a little background- When I moved in with Colin a while back, I took three of my animals and I left three for my mom (Ginger- wolf mix, Abilene- kitty, and Sophie- my rabbit) - I left those three because they were soo bonded /attached to my mom that it would have absolutely broken her heart if i took them. My mom is really attached to those little ones too- so we decided after talking it over that me taking 3 and leaving the other 3 was in everyone's best interest. So she has had Sophie for a while now.

I adopted Sophie about 2 almost 3 years ago from a local pet store. At the time i was looking to adopt- the local rescues didn't have any bunnies that looked to be in good shape- so we went there and decided to adopt a leftover Easter bunny. After I adopted her- i took her and had her spayed/ full vet check and she has been in good shape since. Until a few months ago that is- she developed really horrible allergies. It's just been downhill since then and she's getting worse and worse.

Sophie has had allergy shots gallore. Her eyes look horrible and she's ripped all of the fur under her chin out and on other parts of her body. We don't know what to do. We've kept her eyes clean with saline water and she's gone to the vet regurally just about every week for the past two months. The vets office she goes to (it's a father and son) are one of the best in our area as far as being experienced with rabbits go...but even they're stumped on what's wrong with her so they're trying to consult another vet.
They are going to keep her overnight and watch her and call us tomorrow to let us know what the other vet things/etc. Please send some "be ok" vibes you guys- i am soo upset! I don't want anything to happen to my sweet little Sophie. I also don't want her to suffer though- and frankly, she looks miserable. The regular vet things it's something else aside from allergies too. He said it could be genetic. The thing is -we have no way of knowing who bred her/ or her parents genetics/issues- so we really have no history on her health wise so that makes it even more of a guessing game.

She eats only the best food (timothy hay based pellets, fresh timothy hay, fresh veggies - limited amounts of fruits/treats- everything is measured out so she gets exactly enough each day). She is indoors only, spayed, has a massive cage Colin recently built for her a few months ago- not to mention run of the house a lot of times....and my mom's house is really clean- she doesn't let it get dusty/etc....so i honestly can't think of what would trigger this
I've read book after book on rabbits/health issues and still don't know what to think about this. I'm just hoping she makes it and she's ok. She is in really bad shape right now


The vet is supposed to call my mom before they close tonight and let her know if anything has changed- so as soon as my mom knows she's supposed to call me - so i'll update. Any vibes for Sophie would really be appreciated.
 

menasmom

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Oh, honey, I'm thinking of you. I've had two mini lops---Barney and Marcelle. They're both in Heaven now with my dogs, so I know what you're going through. Barney died of old age, but Marcelle had a cancerous tumor on her leg and when she finally stopped eating or wanting to do anything, I knew she had no quality of life and had to send her off into the great beyond. I'm praying you'll have more happy and healthy years with Sophie. Take care.
 
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starryeyedtiger

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Thankyou guys sooo much
We are really trying to scratch our heads right now and see if we can come up with anything that may have been a new "trigger" for allergies. The ONLY thing i can think of- is Colin build her a huge new cage a few months ago. It's made out of mostly pine wood and soft wire. (the vet said that was safe to use before we started building) That being said -Colin said there is a few small pieces of some sort of thick cardboard stuff he used on the backing. Does anyone know if that could cause her allergy issues? (Colin said it may be called fiber board?)

I am going to bring her old cage back to my mom's house tomorrow and take the new one out of the room and just see if that makes any difference at all. The vet said he doesn't think it's the cage- he thinks it's genetic but i figure it's at least worth a shot
I am sooo upset over this. I love Sophie to pieces- it just breaks my heart to think she's in such bad shape
 

epona

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Poor Sophie!

Has she actually been tested for allergies? Many types of allergy shots will appear to work as they suppress the immune reaction so symptoms can appear less severe even if it's not actually an allergy causing the symptoms... iyswim
I expect you've read everything there is to read already about it, but I found some info about fur-loss in rabbits here just in case.

I hope she feels better soon.
 

white cat lover

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Fiber board....if I am thinking of the right thing....dad works with it. I dunno. It is possible that could do it.
 
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starryeyedtiger

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Originally Posted by Epona

Poor Sophie!

Has she actually been tested for allergies? Many types of allergy shots will appear to work as they suppress the immune reaction so symptoms can appear less severe even if it's not actually an allergy causing the symptoms... iyswim
I expect you've read everything there is to read already about it, but I found some info about fur-loss in rabbits here just in case.

I hope she feels better soon.
Thankyou for the link Epona!
Any and every suggestion right now is worth a shot if it means it might be helpful to Sophie! I don't know for sure if she's had a complete allergy pannel/blood work done on her yet (my mom has taken her in several times in the past months so i just assumed they did one- but now that you mention it i will ask and find out for sure. It could be a thyroid or hormonal thing is what i'm thinking.)

I know without a doubt it's nothing parasitic/skin- no mites, no ringworm- nothing like that. It's also not a false pregnancy as she is already spayed (before she was spayed- she had a pseudo pregnancy and started to pull out the fur on her chin about a week before her appointment to be spayed.)

This line in the link you provided though- I really think that could be what is going on. Thankyou very much for mentioning it- this is also what the vet seems to think is going on as well.


" Hormone imbalance This is not often seen in rabbits, but is one possible cause of fur loss in any mammal. If your vet suspects this is the cause of your rabbit's fur loss, s/he may wish to take a blood sample and send it to a laboratory for analysis of thyroid function, and other endocrine balance symptoms." http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/furloss.html
 

epona

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You could try joining etherbun and asking there if you haven't done so already, apparently it's a great resource for rabbit health - although the only rabbit specialist vets they list are in Florida other members may be able to recommend in other states.

The false pregnancy thing did flit through my mind briefly but I knew it was pretty certain you'd have had her spayed so I didn't think it would be that! When I had rabbits neutering and spaying weren't an option here and one of my female pets went through it.
 

jarvis

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for your baby!!!! Best of luck Sophie!!!
 

yorda

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Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

We are really trying to scratch our heads right now and see if we can come up with anything that may have been a new "trigger" for allergies. The ONLY thing i can think of- is Colin build her a huge new cage a few months ago. It's made out of mostly pine wood and soft wire.)
My male rabbit has sensitivity to Feline Pine even though it is supposed to be the only safe pine type bedding for rabbits. We only found this out when we eliminated the bedding from his litter boxes after culture and sensitivity testing, ring worm tests and skin scrapings turned up nothing. We had used this in his boxes for a few months before symptoms showed up (his face looked like he had severe rabbit syphilis), so just something to consider if you are looking for possible causes in her environment (like the new cage).

I hope your bunny gets better soon.
 
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starryeyedtiger

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Originally Posted by Epona

You could try joining etherbun and asking there if you haven't done so already, apparently it's a great resource for rabbit health - although the only rabbit specialist vets they list are in Florida other members may be able to recommend in other states.

The false pregnancy thing did flit through my mind briefly but I knew it was pretty certain you'd have had her spayed so I didn't think it would be that! When I had rabbits neutering and spaying weren't an option here and one of my female pets went through it.
Thankyou hon- I will definitely check out that website tonight and hopefully see if i can find any potential answers / ideas as to what this could be. This is all just really frusterating- i mean she seemed fine for sooo long and then the past few months she's just been miserable and just looks worse and worse no matter how many times she goes to the vet or what they give her. When my mom calls tonight (still no word from the vet yet) i'm going to mention to her the hormone thing and see if they have done a complete blood work pannel on her or not for hormonal/other issues. I'm also planning on bringing her old cage back to my mom's house to just see if it could be the new cage making her worse or not.

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Fiber board....if I am thinking of the right thing....dad works with it. I dunno. It is possible that could do it.
Originally Posted by Jarvis

for your baby!!!! Best of luck Sophie!!!
Originally Posted by Kaylacat

I am sorry to hear that she isn't feeling well.
I hope she feels better soon.
Originally Posted by CATTYBIRD

I hope she feels better real soon.
Thanks you guys. Still no word from my mom yet- but as soon as the vet calls her she's supposed to let me know. I'll keep ya'll updated when I hear anything. As far as I know though- Sophie is staying at the vet's office until they can figure out how to help her/what exactly is wrong.
 
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starryeyedtiger

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Originally Posted by Yorda

My male rabbit has sensitivity to Feline Pine even though it is supposed to be the only safe pine type bedding for rabbits. We only found this out when we eliminated the bedding from his litter boxes after culture and sensitivity testing, ring worm tests and skin scrapings turned up nothing. We had used this in his boxes for a few months before symptoms showed up (his face looked like he had severe rabbit syphilis), so just something to consider if you are looking for possible causes in her environment (like the new cage).

I hope your bunny gets better soon.
Thankyou!!! That helps- i wasn't sure if anyone else had experience with their bunnies having pine allergies or not so that definitely tells me it could be a potential answer to what's triggering her allergies. The new cage is mostly made out of pine/soft wire and the back part if i believe fiberboard. So there is definitely pine in there. Sophie has been using pine shavings since we got her (we tried some of the more rabbit safe litters but she refused to use them) I'm going to see about taking that new cage out (i just have a bad feeling it's causing at least some of the issues) and put her old one back in there- it's wire with a soft plastic bottom.
 

catloverin_ks

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oh Nikki!! I am sorry to hear your bun bun is sick.


I am sending many HUGS and VIBES to you, your mom and Sophie!!!
 
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starryeyedtiger

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Ok- i just got off the phone with my mom and she said that they had not done blood work yet- but that they are going to do that this week supposedly.

I asked her if she remembered when Colin built that cage and brought it over because i couldn't and she said she thought it was back in May. And then she looked over her records and realized that Sophie started going to the vet back in June for these issues....so it would seem like the issues started not too long after the new cage arrived. Guys keep your fingers crossed it's just something like a pine allergy and nothing more serious. We're going to take the new cage out of the hosue completly, clean the room up and put her old cage in there and just see if it helps when she comes home. It's at least worth a try.
 

catloverin_ks

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Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

Ok- i just got off the phone with my mom and she said that they had not done blood work yet- but that they are going to do that this week supposedly.

I asked her if she remembered when Colin built that cage and brought it over because i couldn't and she said she thought it was back in May. And then she looked over her records and realized that Sophie started going to the vet back in June for these issues....so it would seem like the issues started not too long after the new cage arrived. Guys keep your fingers crossed it's just something like a pine allergy and nothing more serious. We're going to take the new cage out of the hosue completly, clean the room up and put her old cage in there and just see if it helps when she comes home. It's at least worth a try.
All fingers and paws crossed here!!! Please let us know when you know something sweetie.
 

carolpetunia

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I'm so sorry -- bunnies are such precious little things, but so nervous and so hard to read. I hope poor Sophie will be okay.
 
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