Ivan's Abcess, a Spay, Seizures and a Bunny Suit

Hey, well, went to see Dr. Pieper with Ivan today, they worked me into an 11:15. Ivan doesn't have an ear infection, he has an ear abscess. For anyone who doesn't know about abscesses in rabbits, they aren't like abscesses in other animals that you can just pop open and drain. The ooze in their abscesses is thick, like cream cheese, and is very hard to drain. Dr. Pieper did the same as I did and just shook his head at the "Baytril' that was given. It is given by vets often who rarely see rabbits as a first option, without research into other possibilities. By the time they have had a course on it, it renders any cultures useless as what started the illness is being somehow masked by an antibiotic. This should have been seen by the vet he first saw sooner. His ear-drum is still intact at the moment, but it is reddening. There are two scenario's now. I can have him on Chloremphenacol (sp?) for a very long time (he has seen one get better with a head tilt this bad after 10-12 months of medication) or it hasn't been caught in time, it will worsen, and he will lose all mobility to stand and it will be irreversible as the inner ear will all have been severely damaged, and would more than likely need to be put down as he would have no quality of life but lying there flopping around being force fed. I, of course, am going for the long term medication, I have high hopes that Ivan and I can make this happen together. The bill today was $147 for the check up, meds, a shot of steroids and a shot of antibiotics to get him started. We will also be treating the eye he hasn't been using with a topical ointment. He will have 1 ½ CC (I believe) of Chloro 2x daily. I'll be in contact with Dr. P this week, as 4 more bunnies have appointments, and we'll see if he needs another steroid shot. He's such a good boy! I'll keep you posted!

Good News! Buster tested negative for EC! Bad news, now what? Dr. Pieper will think about how we can attack this from a different angle now and we'll go from there. Cinnie had a seizure this morning, the first I have seen in over a month. Four of Tinks babies (the boys) were moved down to the Hollow yesterday, and Alise made it through her spay today beautifully. Anne Salmone and her daughter Isabel came by yesterday and brought the binders and clear pages I was looking to get for our records on each rabbit! THANK YOU! Isabel played with all the animals she could, and Anne helped out with cages. Bryne came by last night too for her 2nd Sunday at this location cleaning. Thank you all so much, every bit really helps! Well, I don't know what else to say today, so I'm going to go hang with Ivan (he's at work with me) and snuggle him up. I have to pull him through this, I just have too!

OH! ONE MORE THING!!! Guess what Linda surprised me with yesterday? A FULL BODY RABBIT COSTUME COMPLETE WITH HEAD!!!!!!! It's Brown with a little white belly and little hand-mits, it's PERFECT! YEAH!!! It's going to put the FUN in FUNDRAISING, for me any ways, I can act like an idiot and get away with it!

Brandee :o)