Misty Is Home!

[badly_knitted]

Finally, I have Misty home! He's still not eating properly, so he stayed a bit longer to be force fed, I had hoped to bring him home yesterday - I think the vet didn't want to give him back ;)

He's a bit scruffy and ruffled-looking (being wrapped in a towel to be force fed will do that to you), and was a bit stressed when we got home, but he's relaxing now and watching the world go by.

That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that I have to try to give him antibiotics twice a day and painkillers once a day, by mouth using a syringe. It's nothing I haven't done before (I syringe-fed a tortoise and one of my previous rabbits), but Misty is bigger and heavier than anything I've had to medicate before, the only help I'll have is my 81 year old mother, and my arthritic hands are not as flexible or strong as they used to be. Add to that the fact that Misty is always a devil to catch at the best of times and is very wriggly, and the whole process would probably be very amusing for anyone watching, but considerably less so for the participants. However, we will try our best, though I suspect Misty will try his worst. I have a very large towel to wrap him in, which might immobilise him if I can get him wrapped up well enough. It's just bad luck that our neighbour who would normally gladly help out in such situations is in Cornwall on holiday for another week.

Wish me luck - I suspect I'm going to need it! o_0

Comments

[milady_dragon]

Yay! So glad to know that Misty is home. What a relief!

But yeah, you're gonna need a lot of luck with the meds. *hugs* I know you can do it!

[badly_knitted]

Luck and about a dozen arms, I think! First attempt was sort of successful, I think at least some of the medicine went into Misty. He appears to be a contortionist though, and once wrapped (which we did very badly), he seems to grow extra legs. Afterwards, we had to vacuum ourselves. Misty is in mid-moult - seriously, there couldn't be a worse time of year to be doing this! How can so much fluff come off one rabbit without leaving him bald? My other rabbits never shed this much, they moulted quite tidily compared to Misty. He has amazingly soft fur though. I think he may have a touch of angora in his genes.

[socalrose]

Glad Misty is home. I can't think of any way other than wrapping Misty in a towel to help you control Misty while administering the medicine. Maybe the towel wrap and pin Misty between your legs??

I understand your frustration with your arthritic hands; mine drive me nuts. Hang in there sweetie!

Hugs and love from the dancing plot bunnies, pink ferret and me.

[badly_knitted]

Thank you!

We've had our first battle - Mum had to hold him while I tried to find his mouth and squirt the medicine in. We did wrap him in a towel, but we didn't do a very good job of it, he kept pulling his head down among the folds. I think I got most of the medicine down him, at least I hope I did. I don't think Misty was amused, he looked rather disgruntled afterwards!

As if all the stress with Misty wasn't enough, we have a fault in one of our downstairs sockets, no idea which one, so we can't use any of them. I lost my internet connection because my modem is plugged in down there - I thought it had broken, then realised the TV wasn't working either. Checked all the sockets... nothing, none of them work, and here we are, Saturday night... CRAP! Monday is the soonest we can get anything done. Thank goodness for extension cables! I might not be online quite so much for the next few days though. Luckily the fridge and freezer are on a different circuit.