Last week, I noticed that my rabbit, Hopscotch, was not eating his pellets or drinking any water. So, I rushed out and bought a different brand of food. Nothing. Bought another brand. Still nothing. Finally took him to the vet and was informed that he had no sound in his belly where there should be a constant gurgling noise. Panic. We were told we had 3 days to see if we could get him turned around and if not, we'd probably need to euthanize him. Deep panic.
So, I was sent home with a barrage of medicines and instructions...eye drops, medicines through needleless syringes, yogurt every 1/2 hour. After one good, hard cry, I went into mommy-mode and just did what had to be done. If these happened to be his last days, he was sadly not going to remember me fondly with all the poking and prodding. As soon as he sees me now, he hunkers down into a corner hoping I don't see him. To his dismay, I always do. I've spent the first three nights taking naps and waking to an alarm to go administer his probiotics, or better known as 'pineapple yogurt smoothies via syringe'. He also needs extra exercise so I let him into a larger play area twice a day now for at least an hour each time. However, he has now learned he can jump over the play pen area and escape. He never had a reason for this maneuver previously. So now, even play time has to be completely supervised. He is showing great signs of improvment by finally starting to eat some pellets and drink a little bit of water. I feel we are finally in the clear now and he will continue to improve.
What I've learned from this experience is how willing I was to do anything it took to make sure I gave him every chance at survival. I finally learned how to pick him up and administer meds to him as well which I was very nervous about in the past. This neighbor kid's Easter Bunny mistake has truly become a member of the family over the past 4 years. I shudder to think he wouldn't have been on this earth at all had we not rescued him the very day we did.
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