I have a lot to say about the bunnies, and unfortunately it is not very happy. I mentioned in my last posts, that we were having trouble with Ella not using the litter box, and having many accidents and that we were taking her to the vet very soon. Well, with 2 subsequent visits to the vet, we have a sad diagnosis and prognosis. Ella has a parasitic infection, E. Cuniculi, that is affecting her ability to hold her bladder, which is part of the reason why she was not using the litter box. This parasite is attacking her brain, and she is also having trouble with her back feet. Her back legs are not totally paralyzed yet by the infection but it is obvious that she is having trouble feeling and using them. Because of the frequent urination accidents, we sadly put Ella into the large cage that we bought when we first got Bennett, and put her in the bedroom with us to watch her carefully. That's when we noticed the back leg problem. While it really doesn't affect her hopping around in her normal fashion, we noticed that when she would jump in and out of the litter box we use, she would trip over her back feet as she was trying to clear the height of the wall of the box. So, we've put a new litter box in her cage, and she is using it many more times that she was using the high walled dish washing pans that we use for Bennett and that she was using just fine before. The other thing that tipped us off about the leg issues was that when we hold her, she shifts from foot to foot, like she doesn't quite have balance down, and is fidgeting to remind her where her feet are.
Because we moved Ella into the bedroom, Laurie made a huge effort to bunny proof the bedroom for Bennett and he has had full reign of the former bunny room, the entry hall, the laundry hallway and the bedroom, and has been enjoying it immensely. He especially loves to wait until the middle of the night and jump up on the bed where we are sleeping and pounce on our heads! The first night of his freedom, I think we got pounced on between 8 and 10 times, but he has settled down a lot from that and getting furry bunny butt in your face is something I find pretty funny now.
On our little vacation to CA, which I mentioned earlier, we brought the cage with us for Ella, because Bennett and Ella had started to unbond. We had a few instances where we had Ella out of the cage for some loves or for some exercise and there was much mounting and once a large chunk of Bennett's hair was removed forcibly by Ella when she mounted him. For both of their safety, Ella did not join Bennett at his perch in the car, but rode in the trunk in her cage, and she seemed very comfortable there. Over the course of the trip they did not see much of each other. When we returned home and settled them both into their normal spots, we ended up being woken during the night to some banging of the cage. Before the trip, Bennett frequently popped up and interacted with Ella, whether it was stealing some of her hay, giving her a little lick, or chewing on her cage bars, she never seemed very concerned and I didn't even think, when we got home, that there would be any problem. Anyways, the bang was Ella nipping Bennett and Bennett defending himself nipping her back. We immediately separated the two, and Ella now resides in the dining room, just around the corner from Bennett's territory. Bennett hasn't really suffered too much physical or emotional damage from the new arrangement, but Ella did get an open wound on her lip and seems sad that she's not in the bedroom anymore. For awhile, we put a little stuffed bear in with her, but she spent all the time with it either ignoring it totally or mounting it and so it was taken away.
While we were away, Ella did get a little worse. We were slightly worried that she wasn't going to make it home, but she did and seem to be a bit better. The 6 week round of antibiotics she had been on for her respiratory infection did not clear it up and she is still sneezing white mucus (which means there is pus coming from somewhere in her respiratory tract). Also, she developed a small lump on her side which turned purple and was hot to the touch. There is still a small lump there, but it seems to be getting better, which is good because we were worried that it might have been an abscess. She is still fighting the fur mites as well. Her eating habits have been a little erratic. Sometimes she won't eat at all, sometimes she will. Either way, she's stick skinny, you can feel all her bones on her back, yet her stomach is very round and full, which is a little bit of a mystery. All her blood work that was done showed a possible liver problem, so we are wondering if perhaps her liver is swollen or something like that. All and all, with the terminal E. C. diagnosis, we have decided to take care of her and make her comfortable until she passes.
Bennett is in good spirits. He was in the pen for most of our trip, and is currently most likely to be found frolicking around the house at full speed or passed out asleep between the hutch and the bookcases in the bedroom - his little nook. He has also very much been liking the full access to Laurie and I, he always wants to be where the action is :). He's such a love bug, and I thoroughly love to wake up to him hopping up on the bed for some pouncing around. He happens to be an impeccable alarm clock. I swear, every time I set my alarm, he wakes me up exactly three minutes before it goes off. He also wakes me up when he's done being patient about food being served to him. Speaking of which, he's currently trying to remind me that it's time for greens. I'm off to fulfill my bunny slave duties!
