Comic for 05/03/2012 might be delayed...

Mao · March 05, 2012, 10:03:06 AM

In case you missed the note in the updated rant, the comic for today might be delayed. The updated note contains the explanation, but essentially Amber's pet rabbit is not doing well and she is, understandably, distracted by this fact. So let's all put some well wishes in for (and Amber, feel free to correct me if I get this name wrong) Ichigo Bedlam. Hope you get better little lady!

Ignuus66 · March 05, 2012, 12:40:58 PM

I hope your rabbit will get better soon.. it's horrible when a pet dies...

Mao · March 05, 2012, 03:58:03 PM

Got some good news earlier: The rabbit appears to be ok. Bad news: The rabbit is a troll.

Lorien077 · March 05, 2012, 04:35:54 PM

Glad to hear the rabbit was just trollin' Poor Amber though, that's a lot of stress to come down on her suddenly. ;;

Reminds me of a stunt my birdy once pulled. -_-

Tapewolf · March 05, 2012, 06:50:52 PM

Glad to hear it!

Amber Williams · March 05, 2012, 07:33:30 PM

Thanks for the well-wishes everyone.

Long story of it:

Around Sunday afternoon I had noticed Bedlam acting really out of place. She's a fairly free-roam rabbit and having lived with me for a few years I'm used to most of her habits and chilling spots. So her suddenly hunkering down on the kitchen tile and her not doing little orbits around my feet when it was feeding time made me realize that something was up. But it was Sunday and there wasn't much that could be done so I topped up her food/water and kept an eye on her/gave her pettings to make her feel more comfortable.

Monday I woke up to find her in the bathroom all hunkering down behind the toilet...something I've never seen her do. She hadn't touched any of her food and possibly not even her water so I was a bit concerned. I expected that the reason for her situation was that she's been crazy shedding the past week and despite my brushings...she was still mega fluffing. Rabbits do groom themselves but they lack the ability to cough up hairballs...so if they swallow too much fur it can cause them serious constipation as well as other things.

I spent most of the morning debating if I should take her to the vet (always expensive) or if I should try to wait a bit to see if it would pass normally. The biggest risk of rabbits is that as a prey species they tend to hide their illness well so when they have health issues they tend to have them hit really hard and fast. And constipation for bunnies can lead to a lot of really bad things. So after checking up online I decided to finally take the financial plunge and take her to the vet.

She got checked out and other than the tender tummy, was healthy. So the vet gave her a shot of fluids to help hydrate her, and sent me home with some special care food(syringe feeding time!) as well as the bunny equivalent of tylenol in case her feeling sore was part of the problem. Should this not be successful and she was still having issues, they recommeded she come in tomorrow for xrays...which are always expensive.

So I carry her home and let her out of the box...and she instantly goes over to her little to go potty.

And then she tries to eat the box.

She does seem to be doing better now and mostly back to her usual antics, but I'm still keeping an eye on her just in case. I'll have the comic done likely tomorrow afternoon barring any further issue.

joshofspam · March 05, 2012, 07:45:23 PM

Hmmmmmm, just got in to hear this, sounds like you had quite the time with your bunny.

Well at least it souds like she's doing better. Hopefully she'll keep going strong.

Strange though, being a bunny, you'd think they'd be four times as lucky.

justacritic · March 05, 2012, 08:49:43 PM

Har de har

you should rabbit's feet are never lucky for the rabbit

LionHeart · March 06, 2012, 11:44:13 AM

Quote from: justacritic on March 05, 2012, 08:49:43 PM
rabbit's feet are never lucky for the rabbit

If they were, they'd still be on the rabbit.

Drakkenmensch · March 07, 2012, 07:17:40 AM

Glad to hear your little sweetie is back to being her little nimbling-munching bunny self!

Ignuus66 · March 07, 2012, 08:45:01 AM

I'm sorry to nag, but did you start your vacation already?

Mao · March 07, 2012, 08:57:21 AM

If you were sorry about it, you wouldn't do it. ;-)

Ignuus66 · March 07, 2012, 09:47:34 AM

Quote from: Mao Laoren on March 07, 2012, 08:57:21 AM
If you were sorry about it, you wouldn't do it. ;-)

curiosity got better of me, it's just that since the troll rabbit no news came.

Drayco84 · March 08, 2012, 12:45:00 PM

Quote from: Amber Williams on March 05, 2012, 07:33:30 PM

Quote removed to reduce redundancy, sorry.

AUGH... Should've seen this EARLIER...

Anyway, sounds like a fairly classic case of Wool Block. If the bunny becomes listless or just not as active or friendly (BIGGEST tip-off that something is wrong in bunnies.) and you mentioned that bunny was shedding. (Of course, it's also the most common problem we've had.) Anyway, usually what happens is that bunny's tummy becomes swollen and hard and we usually treat it via infant gas relief drops. (Yes, for humans. What do you think they usually TEST that stuff on?) If the blockage becomes bad enough, the bunny stops eating, and THAT usually ends in Gut Stasis if the bunny doesn't keep eating. (So yes, force-feeding was a VERY good idea, especially since it takes around 24 hours for it to kill the bunny.)

And yeah... Rabbits are VERY good at hiding problems. A friendly rabbit suddenly becoming "cold" and not eating are the best indicators of a problem. I'm glad to know that bunny is doing better and definitely look up Wool Block and Gut Stasis. There's actually a plethora of rabbit care info online (Especially since most vets treat rabbits as an "exotic" pet.)