Our Options

I wanted to get the bunny healthy enough to have her eye surgically removed. I wanted to fix her, find her an amazing home where she could live happily ever after, and never have to suffer the cruelty of some humans again. ...that is what I wanted for her. Not for me. Not for you. For her. She deserved at least that.

Unfortunately, I can't give her that...I mean, I can...and I will...and I have...but, it isn't as long as I had hoped for her.

As you know, her eye socket is shattered...absolutely demolished. They eye, within that socket, needs to be surgically removed as it is a constant source of infection for her body. However, the area we were most concerned about was her jaw. I got the news a few days ago and it was...heartbreaking, to say the very least.

She has a fracture, from what I can understand, in the 'hinge' of her jaw on the right side. This is why her teeth don't line up. How she eats hard pellets and hard food is absolutely a mystery...anything to survive; animals are such amazing beings.

So, how do we fix that? Unfortunately, the only fix for this type of fracture is...to put it plainly, not recommended by any specialist that has seen her case thus far. It would be an incredibly risky surgery and would require complete removal of the mandible (the entire lower jaw bone). She would only be allowed to eat mush and would need to be sedated every two months to have her teeth filed down to avoid abscesses and other dental problems resulting from the surgery. This would have to be done by a specialist and would likely cost a few grand.

If we opt to not remove the mandible (which I have decided we are not doing), we have a few options.

Option 1 : Euthanasia. The final kindness. Her face is smashed, she took a serious blow to the face, and we should just end the suffering.

Option 2 : She eats. She explores. She grooms. She's on pain medication and antibiotics and is an otherwise completely normal bunny. Leave her be. No surgery, keep her maintained on medication until either the infection is no longer kept under wraps with the antibiotics or until the jaw bone fuses (through the healing process) and her jaw locks. (This will happen if the mandible is not removed. There is no way around it.)

Option 3 : Same as Option 2, however...we gather up about $700 (currently her account is $500 short) and remove the eye, do nothing for the jaw, but simply remove the eye. We get the infection under wraps, but cross our fingers that it will be a long time for the jaw to fuse. I cannot give a 'time frame' for how long until that happens. Could be weeks...months...could be a few years. There is also a high possibility that she would not make it through surgery. Rabbits are delicate and sensitive to anesthesia; surgery to remove the eye may kill her, even with an experienced rabbit doctor. If she survives surgery, she will still need to be sedated every two - three months to have her molars ground down, as her jaw does/will not meet and therefore her teeth are/will not stay filed down.

Where am I sitting...? Option 2, honestly. I cannot cut her short...not just yet. Not today. She has been shorted once before by a human; I won't be the second so soon. Crazy weird things happen in the animal world every day. I'm not saying her jaw isn't going to lock, it will...it absolutely will. But, what if it goes on another year or so? ...of course, this doesn't take into consideration the filing of the teeth...I would like to cross that bridge then, if we get to it.

I am not made of money. I do a job that I love and wouldn't trade for the world, but it doesn't pay very much. I have my own problems...my own worries...other animals who require in-depth special care. Take that into consideration if you decide to tell me that I am horrible for not rushing her to a specialist right now. If you would like to donate a few grand to do a surgery that she will likely not wake up from, be my guest. She has everything she needs; and she is living a heck of a lot better life than what I imagine she had.

I hope that with the information provided, you guys can make educated decisions on what you think I should do. I am torn between Option 1 and Option 2, but am certainly leading more towards Option 2. Thoughts?

THE Bunny

Have you seen the new critter filling up Tad's Facebook page? If not, no worries...you're about to learn all about her and her story.

Last Friday, a picture came across my personal news feed from the county shelter director. A bunny had come into the shelter earlier in the day that had severe trauma to the right side of it's face. The 'finder' said they found the bunny in a field this way. The shelter vet, I believe, popped the bunny's eye back into the socket for the time being, as is usual care for this sort of thing.

Regardless, the bunny needed out...fast. This shelter is mainly for dogs and cats, not exotics. I messaged her and said I could be there as soon as I left the clinic to pick it up. We did some back and forth messaging, and she told me someone would wait for me.

I arrived to the shelter about 10-15 minutes after closing, and sure enough, a lady was waiting for me. You rock, Barbara. I apologized, of course, but let's be honest...I'll be late for my own funeral. I just can't help it. It's horrible, I know.

She gave me some antibiotic drops for the bunny's eye that the shelter vet prescribed, but we still had concerns about the severity of the trauma. Throughout the night, the bunny's breathing got progressively worse. It was hard, it was labored, it was loud...like a dog going through the end stages of heart failure. She definitely had some bleeding into her chest that was affecting her breathing. Whatever hit her...hit her HARD. I felt that for sure, she would die overnight. She was constantly seeping blood from her face and her breathing...it just would not let up.

She remained in a dark room, in a warm box, until the morning. The less stress on her the better for her junky lungs. I went to check on her and sure enough, she was still kicking.

Once I arrived to work on Saturday morning, I started messaging an exotics vet who I worked for in the past. I explained the situation and sent pictures and we talked about the best options for the bunny. She had me get some prescriptions to hold the bunny over until she could see her on Monday. We gave her SubQ fluids (fluids underneath the skin) to keep her hydrated, antibiotics, pain medication, and eye ointment. The swelling was so severe that she could not close her eye to keep it lubricated.

We were set for the weekend. I had to be in Dallas that evening and the next day, so...we loaded up the bun's medications and off we went. She had SubQ fluids in the Bucee's parking lot and I'm quite sure we got about 10 'WTF!?' looks.

Throughout the weekend, we struggled to get her to eat. She seemed interested in fresh vegetables, but she would pick it up and chew and chew and chew and it would just fall right back out. Every piece she picked up came out exactly the way it went in. No chew marks, no pieces missing. This is a big deal...pretty serious. If a bunny does not eat, their gut will stop moving and they will die. Just like that. She's more apt to die from the stopped gut than from the trauma to her face at this point. She has peed, hasn't pooped...and isn't eating. We had a problem on our hands.

We discussed baby food, Critical Care (even though I couldn't find a single vet in the Dallas area that was open and carried it), and even talked about smashing rabbit pellets in water and syringing it to her. A light bulb went off about this time, late Saturday night. We could puree the vegetables and syringe those down. She had no trouble swallowing medications, so surely this would work, right?


I had set down our little bun to refill the syringe with mush. In the few seconds she was on the ground, she found the bowl of mush and attacked it. She was so hungry...she was slurping up the green mush like she'd never eaten before. We tossed the syringe, poured the mush into a bowl, and viola...we have an eating bunny!

While, this gets food in her belly...it is not enough roughage to get her gut cleared out and moving regularly. The next few times we made the mush, we added hay to it...she needs roughage. We noticed though, she would stop eating when she came to a hay pieces. She would pick them up...spit them out. She simply can't get anything solid chewed small enough to swallow...even though it could be life or death at this point.

Monday rolls around and we're finally at our appointment with the exotics vet. She explains some pretty serious concerns regarding her jaw and facial bones. She also prescribes new medicine and explains that we need to keep the bunny on anti-inflammatories AND antibiotics for at least a month. In the mean time, we need to figure out what's wrong with her jaw and face. She is more worried about her jaw than her eye, as removing the eye will be less traumatic than if she requires any kind of bone surgery for her jaw. If we're going to put her under anesthesia, we want to be as prepared as possible.

Tuesday morning, we take some xrays and send them to a board certified radiologist. Her eye socket is annihilated...absolutely destroyed. If you look at the photo to the right, I have highlighted the eye socket area. Compare it to the left side of her face to see what 'normal' is.

The radiologist didn't really say anything about her jaw and possible breaks there, unfortunately. It is also possible that we weren't able to get proper views as we didn't want to sedate the bun for her rads. I sent the rads and the report to the exotics vet as soon as I got them back, and she's been busy looking at them and into fixes and trying to figure out the next step.

There's the bunny's medical end. How is she otherwise? What is she like? Are you keeping her?  What happened to her? Does she have a name? What does Tad thing? Do you need anything? Tons of questions hurled at me, and I try very hard to answer them...if I've missed some, I don't mean to.

The bunny is very sweet, very patient considering her face is basically smashed. She's quiet, calm, and extremely soft. I've never felt a bunny quite as soft as her.

I am not sure if I'm keeping her, currently she is under Tad's account at the clinic until we can get her sorted and get her on the right track to a healthy and happy start. I don't want the added stress of finding a suitable home for her right now while we're stressed about getting her well.

In the beginning we felt like maybe she'd been hit by a car/tractor or something. However, the more we thought about it...typically, when bunnies get hit by something like that...they are flattened. Rarely survive, and she doesn't seem to have enough trauma for something that big to hit her. Our bunny merely has a smashed face on the right side and a displaced jaw currently. A car or big tractor seem unlikely. Considering her symptoms and the xrays, I do believe she's been kicked. Intentional? I don't know...but definitely a hard blow to the face.

Currently, she doesn't have a name. You guys know me...she can't have anything common and it has to be just...spectacular! We're still working on a name.

Tad likes her. He thinks she smells weird, but he certainly loves putting his nose in her fur. I don't blame him...she's crazy soft!



In time, she will need a few things that I am am able to provide for her. A fancy house, bunny toys, and other bunny things...but, currently...she has everything she needs. My only concern is her medications and potential surgery. In the beginning, she had some donations and those enabled us to get the best of the best for her at the time. Her xrays, her doctor visit, and prescriptions. However, we are still looking at the eye needing to be removed and whatever her jaw needs. IF you would like to help out in that aspect, please click the donate link below.

 

The reason for the PayPal and not calling the clinic is because the bunny's vet is not here at this clinic. She see's a vet in a different town as Dr. Holliday doesn't see bunnies.