Update on Recent Zooh Bunny Vet Visits

WOOLLY WHOOO had an exam, bloodwork, and x-rays. Her bloodwork looks good, x-rays showed an enlarged heart and a moderate amount of arthritis. Arthritis is to be expected at her age, and it doesn’t seem to be bothering her.

Also of concern is the black skin you see around her eye in the photo. Unfortunately, pathology confirmed that it is indeed suspicious for malignant melanoma. Our best path would be enucleation, because we need to get rid of all that black, with decent margins to get all of the cancer. There are other less radical routes we could go, but they all require anesthesia, and all but the enucleation would also require radiation therapy.

From the specialist: “From the limited data in the literature, it seems that malignant melanoma can be rather metastatic in rabbits, so doing a CT scan to fully stage isn’t a bad idea. Even if we don’t see spread and we are able to handle the local disease by the eye, it may still spread months down the road. “ Not good news, a lot to consider. But whatever decision we will make, we will make with her best interest at heart.

Also of concern is that she currently has an enlarged heart, which may indicate heart disease. We’re a little unsure if the heart is large because she’s a little on the tubby side, or if she is indeed having heart problems, so we have scheduled an ultrasound for her on April 19; a full body scan because we need to check to see if the melanoma has spread. She may need to go to see Dr. Kanfer again between now and then to have her heart reevaluated, but that will be based on her behavior and breathing.

Just one example of why it’s so important to take your rabbits in for frequent exams, and annual or biannual blood work and x-rays.

BABY JASPER was in for his biweekly molar trim. This week there was a little sore on his cheek from the offending tooth. Some weeks there is a small ulceration, other weeks there is none. And that is only two weeks between each trim. Otherwise, he’s doing well for an old dude. Dr. K put a bandage on his foot again, one of his toes gets a pressure sore sometimes, and he pulled it off almost as soon as she put them back in the day cage. That’s our Baby J! Little butthead. I bandage his foot a couple times a week hoping he’ll keep it on just for a day, just to give the toe a break, but he will have none of it. Right now his toe is doing OK.

TILTAMUS THUMP III ESQ went along for the ride, but he had an exam not too long ago and doesn’t need one till later in the year. Still, we praised him for being a good boy and told him he had quite a day. We didn’t want him to feel left out.