Update Charlie and River

Cornel said that Charlie had another seizure yesterday, but she came out of it ok.

This morning, we were off to the vet again for her injection. This time is was Ian and he gave her a longer lasting steroid. It should last for the full week now. I have booked her in for next Wednesday, but of course will be back sooner if need be.

I will also start feeding grass to her on a regular basis. I don't think she is eating a lot of hay, so I need to get more food into her. I don't think she has lost a lot of weight, but because she is already skinny as it is, she can't afford to lose any.

Other than that, she is happy and fit. She doesn't seem to mind the travelling anymore and was very lively and happy in the travelling box today - and even gave Ian a lick. :-)

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River surprised me the other day when he started to drink from the bottle again! I have no idea why because he has been drinking from a bowl for the last few weeks and months... I don't know what's changed, but he started to ignore the bowl, but use the bottle again! Makes life easier for me too.

Update

On Thursday evening, she had another fit where she threw (literally!) herself around the cage. I grabed her and held her until she calmed down... then she was back to normal and eating.

On Friday morning, Charlie was still fine, so she got her injection and has been fine since. She is due another shot on Wednesday.

Charlie Update

Yesterday, Charlie was a lot quieter again and wasn't too keen to eat in the evening. It was only day 3 since the last steroid injection. In fact, Charlie's legs were getting quite wobbly and uncoordinated again as well, so I decided to have her put to sleep today unless there was a miraculous recovery.

This morning, she still looked quiet and disinterested and I still thought the time had finally come.

But when I came home from walking the dogs, I found her much perkier, very keen to eat, hopping fine... And I have yet again, postponed the last deed. She is obviously just not ready yet to go. :-)

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment for another steroid injection. I so hope she continues to do well. Of course for myself, but even more so for Magic. They are so very close and are almost always snuggled up to each other when resting.

Some new pictures

These pictures were taken in April this year

First up is Trystane, our biggest baby

Charlie had another injection

Last night, I felt that Charlie was getting slightly worse again, but she was still eating, so decided to watch her. By this afternoon though, she wasn't eating anymore and clearly seemed in pain and was uncoordinated, so I took her to the emergency vet (yet again). It was a very quick appointment (and Jackie only charged half of the surcharge because of it) and by the time we got back home, she went straight to eat again and was fine.

I am so glad it worked again, though it did last a day less than expected. I shall take her back on Friday to "top up" this time round so I won't have to take her in on Sunday again...

Charlie is doing well

Yesterday, I was watching Charlie all day as the steroids seemed to start wearing off again. However, she never got bad enough to have to go to the vet's out of hours. This morning in fact she seemed brighter again, but I still went to see Mark who gave her another injection. He seems to think that a brain tumour or some other servere brain problem is the most likely scenario in Charlie's case! I am not sure as it is strange that she seemed to feel better this morning than she did last night before she got her shot... We'll see! I am just so pleased that she is doing so well - for however long it lasts.

Charlie still doing well on day 6 of steroids

I am so pleased that Charlie is still doing well! She is moving well, eating well and also drinking without problems. She seems in good spirit and is pretty active.

I do think though that she has lost her sense of smell as she doesn't react at all now when I put food in front of her unless I shake it or Magic is eating (she is also getting to know my voice indicating that I have put food down).

I am so happy that Charlie is doing so well!

Charlie still doing well

I was terrified to check on Charlie this morning in case she had relapsed again, but Charlie was bright and still strong. She is happy, moves well, eats well and was drinking too.

Ash, my vet, is due to call me back today so I can update him and check when I need to top up the steroids.

Vera

Charlie's relaps and nearly didn't make it

When I got up this morning, Charlie had completely collapsed! She didn't move anymore at all, the limbs didn't work and after eating a few pellets first thing, she then refused all food. I was so disappointed, she did so well last night and I was positive that we had some more time left with her. But this morning was so bad that I really thought it was the end of the road for her. She just didn't respond to anything anymore. I called the emergency vet, luckily it was Ash again, the same vet as yesterday. So he knew the story. I was sure we weren't going to bring Charlie back home! However, Cornel said we should try another round of steroids seeing that she responded so well last time. I think the vet wasn't too sure about it, but we decided to go ahead with it. I have no idea what he injected (well, obviously the steroids), but it's flipping miracle stuff. By the time we got home, Charlie was "up and running" again, drinking from the syringe and eating pellets and greens and some hay for England! I can't believe the change in her. She was quite literally at death's door this morning, and although still slightly wobbly (more a little weak than wobbly actually), she is active, well co-ordinated, seems happy and content and is eating and drinking well. So it looks like little Charlie will remain on steroids probably for the rest of her life, however long this is... may be days, perhaps and hopefully weeks even! She is such a darling and such a fighter. Here's some pictures
I just took.




And with Magic

Charlie, my brave little girl

Charlie made a full recovery from her lung infection! It was great to see her happy and healthy again.

However, last night I noticed that she was a little unsteady when hopping and although she was eating, she didn't seem as keen as usual. This morning she was a lot worse, she kept running into corners squeezing her head into the corner... her legs seemed uncoordinated at times, when she groomed herself her front legs crossed over and she'd loose balance. Twice she had something like a seizure where she shook and moved and trying to run completed uncontrolled.

I took her to my vet's this afternoon (it was Ash that saw her), who checked her over from top to bottom, let her hop on the floor (and sure enough she ran into a corner again) and when he checked her ears (as she seemed sensitive around them), she had another one of those seizure like episodes. She also tried to groom herself and the vet saw how her legs crossed over very strangely.

Ash agreed with me that it looked like she has a neurological problem of sorts, the most likely causes would be EC or a head trauma. The latter unfortunately possible as she is blind and could potentially have run into something when out of the cage without me knowing about it.

Ash gave Charlie a steroid injection and gut motility drugs (as in the morning, she wouldn't eat anymore either) as well as Baytril and Panacur to take home. He wasn't hopeful though, and I must admit, it was my gut feeling too! Although I would never continue treatment for my pets if there is no hope and they are in pain/uncomfortable, we wanted to give Charlie at least a chance and see how she was going to do over the week-end!

After I got back from the vet, I soaked some Allen & Page pellets (and wow, don't they soak well... perfect for syringe feeding). Charlie took the pellet sauce quite keenly from the syringe without me even having to constrain her!
A couple of hours later, I offered her some rocket salad, spinach and cos salad... and she ate, and ate, and ate... It was such a joy to see!

Now, just about 20 minutes ago, I gave the bunnies their dinner (pellets) and Charlie ate very keenly. She is like a different bunny, moving around the cage, eating all the time, well coordinated, not going into corners, happy in herself...

I can't believe the change in her! I know that the steroids are masking things, but right now, she doesn't look like she is going anywhere soon! She is such a brave little girl!