lets start off with some pictures!
This is Jelly. This is Zacky.
Zacky was bought by my parents from a petshop in a farm area around the end of dec, 2007. He was about 10 weeks old then- according to the shop owner; Jelly was bought by a friend in pulua ubin around feb, 2008. His age, well, unknown.
Apparently, their first meeting was when i put both of them together in the cage. I unknowingly put both males- not castrated yet- together. Surprising, or rather luckily, it was love at first sight and things got well in the past 2 years, until now.
I have to say that the one thing i ever regret so bitterly is that when i got them, i did not know how to appretiate rabbits. i did not know how to love them back then so for the first few months, i have vague memories about them. That is very sad becos i they outgrew their baby stage and i had little collection on that ):
well, i have no idea why, when i entered the library one day, i had this strong urge to visit the animal section for information on rabbits and qua-la! That was it. I read up so much, surf the net so often that i knew almost every small details on rabbits. I'm not saying that i'm qualified to be a vet -.-'', i knew how to be a responsible pet owner. how much to feed them, how often they should be let out, the kind of food they can eat etc. My parents would always say that i was a very paranoid owner, but if i can let them enjoy life to the fullest, happily and healthily, why not? ^^
life was good until we adopted a second dog, Miko.
Because she was already 2 yrs old at that time, we had little success in training her to love rabbits. Our first dog, a shitzu, joined us together with the rabbits so you can say they are good friends? Furthermore, Miko had that ' predator-prey' instinct. So whenever my rabbits were out, we had to take extra precaution not to let them near the dog. Well, that was easier said than done.
On 16 feb 2010, one not so fine day, Zacky ran past Miko and Miko instinctively bit him. I was in the room but becos the door was not close i saw everything. Unfortunately, due to human error, i could only react 2 seconds later and by the time i screamed, Zacky got bitten already. It was not the kind of bite that would make one bleed profusely but a scratch and plus the amount of fur Zacky had, i did not notice that he was scratched back then. Zacky was traumatised instantly and i immediately brought him into my room to calm him down. He needed the tranquility as he was very stressed already. I tried to talk to him in a very soft tone but he was very scared. I tried to give him some hay to eat but he rejected. Now that was weird becos my rabbits love hay alot. Anyway i tried giving him all sorts of food that he loved before, pellets, apples, vegetables. But he had none! I was very scared that he might die. My parents told me to leave him be and I did but the situation did not improve. And becos i thought nothing of it at first, i did not bring him to the vet. He w0uld only eat a few pieces of hay now (which i thought that he was getting better) and i had to syringe feed him water. He also stop defecating altogether. 4 days later i knew i had to do something. I research again and again until i came upon an article on GI stasis.
What is GI stasis? When the speed with which material moves through the rabbit system is altered, it can affect how quickly the stomach and cecum empty. This causes a lack of appetite for both food and water, causing the body to extract water from the stomach, which aggravates the situation because the contents in the gastrointestinal tract becomes further dehydrated and impacted. This causes the bunny to feel full and uncomfortable which gives the rabbit ' i dunwan to eat' thinking. This causes the rabbit to become anorexic and can die if it is not treated. It is very fatal and life-threatening.
Back to the story. Since the situation did not improve and GI stasis is so scary, i finally brought him to the vet on 24 feb. It took me a while to convince my parents as they know a trip to the vet will not be cheap and to find a rabbit-savvy vet in singapore is not easy. Nevertheless, i made thorough research from house rabbit society singapore (HRSS) and finally persuaded my parents to bring Zacky to the vet in Ang Mo Kio. It is called 'The Animal Doctors' located at block 108, amk ave 4, #01-96, S560108. I strongly recommend Dr Cathy Chan or Dr Chionh Su Lin. Anyway, Dr Chionh confirmed Zacky to be suffering from gut stasis and gave him injections and medications. Zacky was given:
- critical care (oxbow) powder
- enrofloxacin (baytril) 5% injection
- enrofloxacin 10% (baytril) solution
- metoclopromide (metomide) 5mg/ml injection
- metoclopromide syrup 1mg/ml
- ranitidine 25mg/ml injection
- fluids- subcutaneous
Of cos, Zacky did not made immediate recovery. It was a very slow recovery and stressing for me as i wanted so badly for Zacky to recover. He developed a fever the following day and my mum had to go back to the doctor to get medication for him. However, the fever subsided and i did not feed it to him in the end. I also felt a growth of lump below his chest. The vet told me that the fluid that was given to him will form a lump but will be gone in the next few hours. However the lump did not disappear and it became red.
Yes, i know its very scary but i had no experience with the fluid thing thats why i did not know how it was suppose to look like. Also, Zacky's appetite was improving and he started to poop. Zacky started to become more active and alert. Thus, i neglected the lump there, thinking that it would subside. Now here comes the complication. Becos both rabbits were not castrated then, they always er, hump each other? >.<>
Anyway, I found out that the lump on Zacky's chest was called an abscess. I brought him to the vet again. This time it was Dr Chan becos Dr Chionh was not in. Dr Chan said that the lump was very big and needed to be surgically removed. Otherwise we could try some antibiotics to see whether it would get smaller. I decided to go with the op as the abscess was too big already. And since Dr Chan knew about their fighting, she advised me to castrate them both. I agreed and an appointment was booked for the operation. Jelly would be castrated and Zacky would also be castrated but with the addition of the abscess removal. The date was set on 10 March, wed. Note: never make a rabbit fast before the operation. Rabbits should never fast and diet should be as per normal.
The following night, Zacky's abscess burst and pus was oozing out. I called the vet immediately but she told me not to worry. I was told to clean it away with a wet tissue and also to prevent the rabbit from licking the pus as it may have bacteria. The pus was suppose to dry and heal.
I prayed every night for the operation to be a success. After all, who knows what can happen? Finally, the day came. My parents allowed my to skip school in the morning to bring my rabbits to the vet. I was desperately holding back my tears and the vet assured me that all would be fine. I was so afraid that that would be the last time i see them. My parents brought me to have sushi for lunch and brought me back to school. I cried in class and for this i would like to thank yb and zann, once again for being thr for me. Yan Beng you were great (: oh zann too! and er ch, u were mia-ing. Okay here's the funny part. becos i was absent in the morning and went back to school only for afternoon lessons, I had to give a letter to my all so..hmm..dunno how to describe teacher, Mr Shafee. My mum stated that i had to bring my rabbits to the vet in the letter so when Shafee read it, he burst out laughing. I was like, hello, someone crying here!?!!? Anyway from then on he never stop teasing me about rabbits. How he loved rabbit meat. BLAH BLAH. He's a monster i tell u. Nevertheless, we still love him ^^
okok. I was a bad bad customer, patient, whatever. I kept calling the clinic to ask for the progress of my rabbits. The moment i was waiting for- their operation was a success!!! oh, how happy i was.
When i went to the clinic to "collect" my babies, the vet explain to me that during the op, she realised the abscess was very big. She concluded that it was a DOG BITE. -.- you have no idea how much i was cursing and swearing at that stupid dog back then. er, mei if you're reading this, i now love her very much so dun angry ^.^ becos it was a dog bite, i had to bring Zacky back to the vet every 2 days for an injection for antibiotics against dog bacteria or blah for 2 weeks. Boy, my daddy had to bring me to and fro until he pek chek ah. Not cheap leh. One jab cost 8 bucks every trip.
Well, life goes on, they are still fighting. Very often, their nose will have blood becos they bite each other. It was not becos i let them both out together but becos their cage have gaps in between so whenever one ran past another they will start scratching. Once, i accidentally let both of them out. It happened so fast. Jelly bite Zacky's eye and his eyelid tear. I manage to stop the bleeding and again, brought Zacky to the vet. Doctor gave him acular eyedrops 5ml and ciprofloxacin (novaflox) 0.3% eye/ear drops. So stupid right me!#$#%$$%^%.
I choose not to stitch the wound as the vet say it will heal.
Fast forward to 12 may. This time Jelly got gut stasis. I really dunno what happen. He was fine the night before and the next day, he stopped eating all together. His ears were so cold. I knew and had experience with this now. I immediately brought him to the vet and the procedure was the same. Same medication and injection. I bought all sorts of herbs to tempt Jelly but it was so hard! This rabbit is just too picky! Parsley, coriander, mint leaf etc. Anyway, he recovered well and i just had to say, Jelly's illness was a blessing in disguise. My sis was the one that said that. Well becos Jelly was very hmm.. tame? in the past he would nip me every now and then. but when he was sick he totally stop biting me. I took the opportunity to bring both of them to a neutral territory- the toilet, and let them interact with each other. It was definately a miracle. From that day, they became good friends, even now as i'm typing, they are sleeping together. I finally had the chance to put their cage back together. As a rabbit owner, the sense of satisfaction I feel, is really hard to describe. I thank God every night for this wonderful miracle he blessed me with.
Actually i got alot more to show, but i suck at using blog or something, so i had to drag one picture down at a time. so no time =x