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Liesl\'s feeling better!
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Liesl is a white/gray English Spot bun that came in sneezing and with white discharge from her nose. We immediately started her on antibiotics. She quickly earned herself the nickname "Liesl who sneezles and peezles" as her litterbox habits also left much to be desired!
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She had a bit of an adjustment to our household as she\'s obviously never met a cat before. The first night she was here, one of our bunny-friendly cats went over to investigate the new arrival. Liesl promptly thumped at him — repeatedly. In fact, she thumped after he sauntered away; she thumped when the other cat checked her out; and she continued to thu')
document.write('mp for over a hour before she finally settled down. In fact, we were getting looks from the cats that seemed to say, "Mom, the new bunny is LOUD!"
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The next day, one of the cats laid down next to her cage and she warily snuck up on him to snuffle him. When the cat felt his fur moving, he promptly got up and left — bunny germs, ewww! But Leisl took his reaction as acknowledgement of her superiority and has since not had any fear of the cats. It is really amazing to see these bunnies transition from fearful reactions to learning that there are lots of cool things around them.
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In fact, Liesl has grown consistently more confident. In addition, the antibiotics have done their trick and she is sneeze- and discharge-free for the past couple of weeks (the litterbox issues have also improved as long as she gets two boxes — not bad for an unspayed bun!). The other night, I went to feed her and as soon as I opened the door of her cage, she made a break for it! Romping straight down the kitchen toward the dining room — where she abruptly halted.
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See, all the animals know the routine around here and they all get fed at the same time. So, when she got to the end of the kitchen, she ran smack into the two cats sitting by their food dishes waiting for their food to be served! Confident enough to taunt the cats when she\'s safely caged, apparently encountering them when free roam is an entirely different matter! She stayed right where she was (as did the cats) while I scooped her up and returned her to the safety of her cage.
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Liesl had a check-up recently and passed with flying colors. We are making arrangements for her spay surgery and then she will be making her debut on Petfinder. Yay for Liesl!!
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posted by Joanna')
document.write(' at 15:19 | path: /confiscation_2009 | permanent link to this entry')
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Update on Donny
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Donny had his follow up visit and the news was very good. His chest abscess is completely healed and his chin abscess is in good shape, but the wound is still open so we will be continuing the honey treatments for at least another few days, unless the wound closes before that.
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We did end up going to every other day honey treatments because there was just no good way to keep the wounds open and the scabs were not formed enough to be removed. I was impressed that we could easily see the change in the size of Donny\'s chest wound from one treatment to the next after the first few days. In two days, Donny\'s wound went from the size of a dime to the size of a pencil eraser; another two days and there was a very small scab, but the wound underneath was completely healed. His chin has not been quite so remarkable, but that abscess was considerably worse so that isn\'t really surprising.
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In addition to Donny, we hav')
document.write('e now treated two additional bunnies with comparatively minor wounds to the honey treatment and both have healed beautifully. We are currently testing the use of honey on a human who foolishly stuck her hand between a very amorous boy bunny and the unappreciative girl bunny he was chasing.
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posted by Tanya')
document.write(' at 16:27 | path: /confiscation_2009 | permanent link to this entry')
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A prescription for... honey?
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Our latest medical foster, Donny, had two of the worst abscesses we have ever seen; one was nearly the size of a golf ball! The vet opened up and cleaned out the abscesses as best they could, but they need to be kept clean and mostl')
document.write('y open to prevent the abscesses from worsening. We were sent home with a prescription for two kinds of antibiotics, pain meds, and instructions to apply raw honey directly to the wounds. Yes, that does say "raw honey".
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I had heard of using honey on open wounds before and knew vaguely that it was supposed to be antibiotic or something like that, but I didn\'t know that it is only raw honey that has all the "good stuff" while the stuff in the "bear" is purified, processed honey that does virtually nothing medically. We were lucky and managed to find a jar of raw honey at our local grocery store, and then I had to go do some reading so that I would know some of the reasons this stuff is different from plain old processed honey. It turns out that raw honey is not heated during processing, not filtered, and maintains (among other beneficial things) propolis. Propolis is the stuff that bees use to seal small cracks in the hive and is sometimes used in combination with beeswax to fill larger gaps. Among other effects, propolis is believed to help keep disease in the hive to a minimum since it is largely antibacterial and antiviral, and to avoid contamination of the hive when something too big to carry out gets into the hive and dies. Bees will wall off the dead invader with wax and propolis, essentially mummifying the invader rather than allowing it to decompose.
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Obviously, the antibacterial properties of raw honey should be beneficial to the healing, but I was still trying to figure out if so much sweet stuff was likely to upset Donny\'s GI system. A little more research and I found several web sites indicating that honey has been shown to have some of the good bacteria that is needed to aid digestion and is believed to be helpful in maintaining blood sugar levels. With no scientific background, I\'m not certain that I am right to assume that "maintaining blood sugar levels" means "slower to digest and therefore less likely to cause digestive issues for bunnies", but that\'s the working theory at our house right now. Something about the makeup of raw honey also makes it draw liquid to it, so it may actually help drain the abscess. If the information on the web is even close to correct, this is some pretty amazing stuff.
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Donny has been a trooper so far. I have had to reopen his wounds and pick scabs and he pretty much just lays on his back in my lap and lets me do my work. Given that his abscesses are on his chest and under his chin, this is absolutely amazing! Once the wounds are reopened, they get rinsed out (to help get hay and fur out of them), gently patted dry, and then smeared with raw honey. I try to apply the honey as lightly as possible, but this stuff is very thick and somewhat of a challenge to manage. Once Donny\'s wounds are covered with honey, he gets to spend another 15 to 20 minutes on his back, letting the honey do its work, before he g')
document.write('ets set back in his cage where he turns around and gives me a very dirty look, hops into his litterbox while shaking his head, and promptly starts cleaning the honey off his chest.
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We\'ve just begun his honey treatments so we\'ll have to post again once we know how it is working out.
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posted by Tanya')
document.write(' at 16:49 | path: /confiscation_2009 | permanent link to this entry')
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A number of firsts
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Debbie was the star of our monthly Update Meeting last night. She likely had more freedom to hop around and explore than she\'s ever had in her life. Initially, she was unsure, but before long, she was tearing around the room and doing her fir')
document.write('st binkies! It is so cool to watch a bunny discover the fun of just being a bunny. :)
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Samantha marked a first today as well — the first day she did NOT lunge at us. In fact, she seems rather puzzled by us humans that are not put off by her behavior. And confused that we keep offering her tastey stuff without harrassing her. This is good — it\'s a first step towards permanently modifying her behavior. She\'s come a long way in just four days!
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The first bunny from this group is up on Petfinder: Cleo is making her debut.
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posted by Joanna')
document.write(' at 23:27 | path: /confiscation_2009 | permanent link to this entry')
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More introductions!
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This past week has been really busy as more than half of the total group have now transferred into MCRS care. We are so thankful for the many individuals who have opened their homes and volunteered their time to help these bunnies! Some of the beneficiaries include:
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document.write('- Sookie — a black/white English Spot gal who currently has an upper respiratory infection we are treating.
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document.write('- Victoria — another black/white English Spot gal who has a very severe upper respiratory infection complicated by pneumonia. Her dedicated foster home had to syringe feed her for a few days until the meds started to relieve some of her symptoms.
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document.write('- Samantha — a tan/white English Spot gal with a very assertive attitude. She\'s in one of our Boot Camp homes to learn better manners when it comes to humans.
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document.write('- A black/white English Spot male with post-surgical neuter complications.
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document.write('- A gray/white English Spot male with a reported heart arrhythmia that needs further evaluation.
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document.write('- Several PETCO locations got new bunnies in the past few days including Highland Park, Roseville, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, Brooklyn Park, and Coon Rapids. Stop by and meet the new arrivals!
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document.write('- Two bunnies transferred to Tri County Humane Society in St Cloud: Meet Melvin and Daisy.
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In addition, the last two of the Checkered Giants (both female) are now in MCRS foster homes as well as another seven English Spots and two solid gray buns. There are 21 rabbits still waiting for sterilization surgery and transfer to MCRS.
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If you\'d like to help, we continue to seek foster homes as there can just never be too many foster spaces. Even once this group is placed in foster care, there will still be \'regular\' shelter bunnies that need assistance as well. We are also in need of a driver to transport four rabbits from this group to a humane society in Sioux City, Iowa. If you can help, please contact MCRS.
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posted by Joanna')
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document.write(' 10:48 | path: /confiscation_2009 | permanent link to this entry')
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