Sammy's blockage scare

Little Sammy was recently rushed off to the vet a week or so ago as he wasn't at all well (not eating, etc but also not responding to the usual techniques for stasis - also, I was a little unsure of what his problem was).

It did turn out to be a stomach blockage. He had an xray to reveal food which had massed but at such an early age (11 weeks) it was very unusual to think he could have such a serious problem. He was given sub cut fluids while at the clinic and I was sent home with more bags of fluid to give him along with needles & some experimental paste of prepulsid. It turns out that Prepulsid (Australia's answer to rabbit stasis medication) is no longer going to be available in this country (for the time being anyway?!). Apparently it's a human motility drug & people have been using it either incorrectly or there have been some problems with the outcomes (who knows??). I have only thought of it as a medication for rabbits so that was a bit of a shock for me. I have heard, however, that chemists still do have bottles of the stuff so will be tracking some down for our bunny medicine cabinet.

The day after Sammy's visit to the vet, it was my turn to administer fluids. I'm afraid that I only did it the once. I was advised to warm up the liquid as it was very cold in the morning (I placed it on our heating vents when the house was warming up & it worked a treat). Working out how to get the fluids to flow & getting a needle into a little bunny was another story early in the morning before I'd really woken up! Fortunately it did all work out (apart from missing the first time & poor little Sammy ended up quite damp!). If anyone has administered fluids via sub cut before, you'll know just how iccky the whole thing is (as well as watching the liquid bulge under the skin - yuck!). However, it is totally necessary to assist with speeding up the process of rehydrating the body to remove a mass when in a life & death situation (I'm sure I'll get over it if I have to do it again).

Good news anyway - Sammy is indeed very well & back to bouncing around happily. He is very good friends with Hugo & the two of them snuggle together on top of Lily's enclosure roof.