Throughout the month of September we were dealing with on and off stomach issues with Tigger. She would be on and off her diet and need gas meds, pain meds, and force feedings of Oxbow Critical Care at times and syringed water. On the 24th, we wrote that she seemed to have turned the corner. Since then she has continued to improve and the picture shows that improvement.
With bunnies, we have learned that subtle behavior changes can signal their health issues more clearly if you watch them closely. When Shadow spends a lot of time cleaning his ears or has one ear up, one ear down, we know it is time to have the vet take a look at his ears for an inner or outer ear problem.
With Tigger, a clear signal that her tummy is fine can be seen in this photo. She is kicked back with her back legs stretched out and is lying full-out on her stomach out in the open. When she starts pulling her legs underneath her and looking like a bunny hen all the time, she is starting to have some issues and doesn’t want to lay on her stomach. Especially if she does that in places where it isn’t easy to reach her, we know she needs some help.
Our key to keeping our bunnies going throughout their ten and half years is keeping a close eye on their behavior, knowing quite well what is and is not normal for them. We have learned to recognize the small changes in their daily activity that can be signals of changes in their health. Since both bunnies are elderly now, we keep a closer watch on them now than we did when they were younger and act more quickly if it seems something isn’t right.
Being able to have more pictures like this makes life so sweet.
