9:36 a.m. - 2004-06-27
Loki and Yellow Jackets
Aaaah, Loki. The little angel hardly ever gives us any trouble, but when he does, it's big time.
Friday night when I fed them, I noticed he didn't want to eat. He drank some water, and then kind of collapsed.
Rabbits typically do this type of collapse when they're really relaxed and happy, and us bunny enthusiasts call it the "DNR Flop". "DNR" stands, of course, for "Do Not Resucitate", and the sick joke is that the rabbit looks like he's about to die, but is really just floating off in dreamland.
This was different though. Loki really did look as though he were about to die. It reminded me of the incident we had with him in March. Alvin's office was already closed, and I didn't know if we had time to drive to Birmingham anyway.
I called Linda, one of the HRS educators I've been training with, and she said it might be gas. She gave me some advice on what to check, and ended with the thought that if I felt at all uncomfortable I should just take him to the emergency clinic and pray there was a vet on who had some sort of clue about rabbits.
Bruce went out to get the gas medication she recomended, while I held Loki and did some searching on the internet. By the time Bruce got back, I had realised Loki's ears were getting cold, and he was going into shock. I got him in his carrier with a hot water bottle and was waiting for Bruce at the door. We gave him a dose of the gas medication and off we went.
We were lucky. The vet who was on wasn't a rabbit expert, but she was very good at creative thinking as regards to strange animals. She did some tests and found that his glucose level was at the ceiling - about 400 when it should have been about 150. His temperature was also 94, when it should have been 102.
Her assessment was that it might be diabetes or a kidney problem, and she gave him subcutaneous fluids. We decided he would stay overnight, so they could keep him heated and watch him.
Sigh. The vet and her assistant kept commenting on what a friendly bunny he was, and all I could think about was the happy little ray of sunshine that greets me every morning. I know Loki is seven, which is geriatric for a rabbit, but I think it's never dawned on me before that I really will lose him, at some horrible point.
Hopefully some horrible point far in the future.
So we left him and went home. When we got out to the car, the fireworks from the baseball stadium were going off, so we sat in the parking lot watching them. it would have been romantic if it hadn't been so sad.
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We went and got him the next morning. Alvin wasn't at his clinic Saturday so we brought him over to our cat vet, Dr. Lisa.
I love Dr. Lisa. She's game for anything.
She kept him through the morning and then at noon I went to pick him up. His temperature was 100, getting better, and Dr. Lisa showed me how to take his temperature, and how to look for signs of dehydration and shock. I know how to do this with cats, but with rabbits it's slightly different.
She sent us home with a bag of lactated ringers, in case I have to give him subcutaneous fluids. I've been taking his temperature every few hours, and right now it's at 101. He seems stable for now.
He also seems right pissed off about the rectal thermometer. Every time I pick him up he goes into a squirming fit. I can almost hear him yelling "You can't do this to me! I'm a RABBIT!! YOU CAN'T STICK THINGS UP MY BUTT!!!!!"
Yes, I can, Loki. I weigh 92.5 pounds more than you do.
We'll take him down to Alvin in the next couple of days. Say some little prayers, will ya? Please?
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In other, oh so happy news, both Bruce and I got stung by yellow jackets last night.
Every year it seems we have to contend with a yellow jacket's nest. Last year's nest was near the blackberry bushes, and the beasts were large and somewhat docile. We put diatomaceous earth on the nest and flooded it a few times and then a racoon dug it up and finished the job for us.
This years nest is right next to the strawberry patch, and the jackets are smaller and very aggressive. Bruce had been stung once before, and last night got stung again while mowing the lawn. He came running in with his leg all red, two yellow jackets buzzing right behind him.
A free-for-all ensued. Within a minute I was getting ice for his leg and telling him not to wave his arms around as it would only antagonise them, and grabbing the rabbits to put them in the bathroom because all I needed at that point was a rabbit with a sting, and Bruce was running around trying to find the bug spray and closing doors to the other rooms and trying to keep the ice on his leg.
Of course, the jackets headed for the windows, so once they settled we were able to wack them.
That finished, I got the brilliant idea that I should go and suss out the nest.
I went out the door and headed over to the strawberries. I got about twelve feet when I felt a nasty pinch on my leg.
There were about twenty of them, flying in all different directions but obviously furious.
Our neighbor was out pruning his bushes. I'm sure he really enjoyed seeing me running across the yard yelling "F*ck! F*CK!!! F**********CK!!!!!!!!!"
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