Monday, January 18, 2010

The Story of One Shallot's Teeth: Update!

Poor Shallot Bunny, he's had quite an eventful month! I don't know about other rabbits, but I think that Shallot prefers his months to be boring.

As anticipated, we were able to get him an appointment a few days after Christmas to have his back teeth ground down a bit so that he could eat more comfortably. But while he was under anesthesia a problem was found. There was some sort of growth all along his gums and the inside of his cheek on his left side. The doctor called during his procedure and asked if it was okay to clean it out a bit and take a biopsy. Of course we said yes.

Then came the hard part: waiting for the results. Normally a biopsy takes a couple of days at most to come back. Not this time! Between the holiday backlog and New Year's, we had to wait more than a week. In the mean time we worried over what the doctor had said about the possibility that it was bunny cancer. She told us that the chances were 50/50 that it was aggressive, and that not much could be done if it was.

Shallot, of course, knew nothing of this. He went back to eating his normal diet much faster than anyone expected, took his antibiotics, pain meds, and anti-inflammatories like a champ, and generally acted like his happy self.

Then, during the first week of the new year, good news: it wasn't cancer, but a rare form of gum infection caused by his wacky teeth. And this week, more good news after his check up: his weight is up quite a bit, he seems to be eating much better, and the inflammation is almost gone! Hooray for Shallot, a true bunny trooper.

7 comments:

  1. I'm glad your bunny didn't have cancer. I used to raise rabbits for 4-H as a kid (not the kind you eat, I was adamant about that!), and I had one with a messed up tooth. I agonized over that rabbit's welfare, until one day the crooked tooth just fell out, and a straight one replaced it. To my 13 year old self, it was nothing short of a miracle.

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  2. Yeah! Its always good news to hear that your pet is healthy. Do vets tell you worst case scenerios to keep you on edge, then you feel relieved when it turns out to be better than feared... Our vet scared us with our cats teeth. Then found out he just needed a good cleaning. We were too happy to be angry for the scare,

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  4. Good for Shallot--always wonderful to have a positve outcome.

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  5. Great news! The bunny's life seems to be turning around, thanks to some caring parents!

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  6. Thanks everyone! Really makes me happy to share such good news!

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