She's a he!!!

I got one big shock tonight when I noticed that Lily was starting to hump Hugo. I pulled her off him and when I checked her undercarriage (just for curiosity!), it turns out that Lily is a boy (a very excited boy).

I had been meaning to get "her" spayed soon as "she" had been spraying Hugo & their run for quite a while (explains a bit actually - though females can still spray) & Hugo has been getting quite annoyed with this behaviour (not to mention turning a strange shade of yellow). So, thinking that the operation for Lily will now mean a different arrangement, it does churn up some problems (such as lack of visible testicles). His little dangly bits have never popped out for the world to see which means the operation will be a bit more difficult than usual.

Dingle Update

It's been a week & a half and Dingle is still a pretzel. She went a bit backwards over the week and was rolling over constantly. However, her eyes have stopped shaking & her tummy is moving better now so she's going to the toilet a bit more regularly. She's a very difficult patient and does not take her medicine very easily (in fact it is a battle). I gave up giving her the Baytril after a few days as she absolutely hated it but now I'm back to giving it a go for a week no matter how much she fights me as I really want to try all the drugs (just in case!).

Getting water into her is also a bit difficult but we've figured out a sneaky solution. When I rub her tummy she licks her left foot. So, we've got a routine worked out where we squirt water into Nimal's cupped hand under her mouth, I rub her tummy & she licks the water. I works for us!!

Dingy went off for another acupuncture session yesterday and Dr Nicole made her into a pincushion to try a few more points. She really hadn't improved from the last session so Dr Nicole tried pressure on her bladder & a few more points around her neck. The last experiment was to inject a small amount of water into the pressure points near her ears to try and prolong the acupressure point for a few days. Ding didn't like that at all & nearly took off like Superbunny.

Dingle's Acupuncture

Two days after Dingle came down with her head tilt, we took her to the acupuncturist for her first session. I was a bit unsure about how quick we should start doing this but the vet told us that the quicker you get started with this procedure, the better the chance of a quick recovery.

As you can see, the needles are placed in pressure points around the head, neck & back. The procedure took around 30 minutes and Dingle seemed to really enjoy it (though I think the needles in her back were a bit annoying). She relaxed and almost fell asleep as the whole experience is supposed to make them feel a bit fuzzy inside.

We visited the Prahran Veterinary Clinic & saw Dr Nicole Hoskin. She was very gentle & has had lots of experience with bunny acupuncture. I would totally recommend this procedure for rabbit head tilt.

Other other thing that Nicole did for Dingle was to attempt to stimulate her stomach with a laser to encourage her to eat more & get her tummy moving (she's having a bit of a problem going to the toilet). She has been getting a bit better and I'm guessing that she's very stressed with this disability at the moment and her insides are a bit clogged up (we're having to administer Prepulsid for gut motility but ideally we'd like her to get a bit more fibre & get things moving on her own).

After the acupuncture, Dingle went a little bit backwards (this is supposed to happen which means the pressure points were stimulated). We had to move her back into a smaller padded area so she wouldn't fall over. After a few hours though she was able to stand up again & was eating.

Dingle's Head Tilt

We woke up this morning to find our beloved Dingle with a severe head tilt. She was perfectly fine the night before and was running & playing as usual, eating her dinner, & going to the toilet. This morning she's unable to stand, rolls over, eyes are darting, head twisted to the ground and she's obviously scared and confused.

Finding one of our regular vets on duty was a bit of a chore, however we received medication advice over the phone and were able to administer correct dosages before we reached the clinic. Her examination was fine and it does look like E Cuniculi, however we are administering Baytril (antibiotic) for one week just in case it could be an ear infection.

Ding has been eating a little bit if we put it near her mouth and we've been syringing water into her mouth but she so far hasn't been to the toilet yet. She tries to move around but just can't stand so we have put her in between two pillows for support on her favourite soft blanket.

There's so many things we will need to do for her now until she gets better - make sure her eyes are okay, feed her ceacals for her stomach, hydrate her with liquids and encourage her to eat & go to the toilet.