in which I learn to shoot my rabbit

[wendyzski]

Little Bunny SnotFace wasn't getting any better on the usual treatments so I made an vet appointment for her last week. They are doing a culture but given that she's already immunocompromised we thought it best to bring out the "big guns" so to speak.

So for the next 3 weeks we are alternating days between a nebulizer treatment with teh amakacin and .65ml of PenG injected subQ. The vet tech showed me what to do, and while I;m still a bit woogy about the idea of poking sharp things into my bunny I figured I'd pull up my big-girl panties and manage it somehow.

As expected, the hardest part is proving to be catching the little bugger!

I missed my initial grab and she got UnderTheBed. I proceeded to poke at her with a stick for some time while she snorted and growled and boxed and grrphed and squeaked and growled at me while remaining firmly lodged in place. I finally managed to lift the mattress and nab her feom above before she realized what was happening.

I wrapped her up in the towel as I was supposed to, and once I got her head all wrapped she mostly settled down. I got the skin tented up and the needle in just fine, and she only wiggled a little about halfway through the injection - I'm thinking maybe it was cold? Then after a nutriberry treat she ran off to sulk under the couch for a few hours but by evening she was out and asking for pettins again.

I was down with a nasty cold most of New Years weekend, so the two of us sounded hilariously pathetic - soggy sneezes coming from on top of as well as under the couch. After a few days of treatment she seems to have a bit more energy although she is still pretty sneezy. But she is still coming up for bedtime pets so she is seemingly willing to forgive me so far.

Comments

[katexxxxxx.livejournal.com]

Poor bun! I should think bunnies with the snivels are about as sorry as sick mogs - who make a wet week in Bognor look positively cheerful!

[stealthbunny.livejournal.com]

My Smidgeon-kitten has the sneezies right now, and I have to say, at least bunny sneezes are... cuter. They go "cheecheecheecheechee" and then have to sit up and rub their noses.

Smidgeon blasts explosions that you can hear throughout the house. Noxie has the sneezies too, but she is much more feline-dainty. Then again... Smidgeon and Dainty are two words that will never really go together well... except for maybe her teeny paws. The rest of her is tall, sleek, galumpy cat. No dignity, never will have. What can I say, she was raised by my rabbit...

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Pepper has lower-pitched "CHUFF" sneezes. Then she looks around to try and figure out what happened.

[katexxxxxx.livejournal.com]

Sugar Puff always looks startled when she sneezes. Cornflake just looks confused... But he always looks confused!

[jayene.livejournal.com]

My cat Max uses under the bed as a hiding place too.... except he burrowed into the box spring. We learned to shut him out of the bedrooms before we flea treat him or pull out the cat carriers.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I have a mattress on a platform so no box spring to hide in.

I usually try to shut the bedroom door before commencing 'Catch The Bunny', but I happened to see her nearby in a good place for a quick nab so I went for it - and missed.

[stealthbunny.livejournal.com]

I keep waiting for the day The Phooka goes flying into my bedroom on a Quest to Hide... only to discover far too late that I no longer have an UnderTheBed, as it is now the platform storage bed. So far it hasn't happened yet. I've been waiting for almost four months. I'm not even sure he knows that there's a new bed... oh, wait! I found a book on the floor in there with rabbit teethmarks that had been plucked off a shelf, so yes, he has been in there.

[salami-salome.livejournal.com]

Oh Pepperboo. Be a good girl.

Hope it gets easier! Some friends of mine had to give regular insulin shots to their kitty, and he got used to it so it became No Big Deal. But then, kitties are not the escape-masters that buns are.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Aagh - tonight was awful. Three needle stiks and i only got 1/2 the dose in. I'm wondering if I had a bad needle.

After that traume, I'm giving her the rest of the night off and will try again tomorrow.

[stealthbunny.livejournal.com]

I was afraid she'd catch on and make each one progressively harder for you. Could you try giving her a bowl of pumpkin or applesauce for her to work on while you are giving her the shot? She's so food-obsessive, that she might be so busy eating, she might not give you much struggle while you're ... um... poking.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

It wasn't that she was struggling - I just couldn't get the needle in! Tried tenting the skin in three slightly different places, and it barely went in. That's why I was wondering about a bum needle

She got a blob of organic apple-peach-sauce (laced with probiotic) with dinner. It was butt-twitching' good!

[katexxxxxx.livejournal.com]

Ugh! Poor bun!

Only times I've had to do injections, Himself was the victim! One was a flu jab and the other was a shot of GlucaGen. he said I did the flu shot better than the nurse the year before, and he was out of it for the other, but it didn't bruise, so the paramedics said I did OK!

[stealthbunny.livejournal.com]

I used to have to give myself shots of migraine medicine, but it came in a little gun thingie, so all I had to do was push a button. The noise it made however always made me jump. I'm sure doing a plunger thingie would make me a little more oozie about it.

When I was little, I had a pet duck, who got respitory infections really seriously twice. Try finding a vet who would cater to a duck in the 70s! We found one, and the end result was that we had to give her shots twice a day in the breast muscle. Which meant turning her upside down. Dad did it on the hood of our station wagon. And then snuggled her afterwards. A big 6'2' lanky farmer-type guy... snuggling a duck against his shoulder as she lovingly ran her bill up and down his neck and made little kwuckeling noises. That image will stay with me forever.