Taking Baxter to the Vet


For the past few days, Baxter’s been a little lethargic and not her usual self. She’s been eating a little less too, although she’s still been eating. When rabbits stop eating, it’s a danger sign that they might be going through Gastrointestinal Stasis – something that can be fatal to rabbits, given how delicate their systems are.

Baxter had a recent bout of stasis, so we were a little concerned. When dinnertime came around and we saw that Baxter was fully uninterested in her food, we decided it was time to take her in to the vet.

Our vet is at Chicago Exotics, and they have an adjoining business that handles emergency cases during the off-hours. We took Baxter in and were able to get her checked out.

The vet found that Baxter’s heart was not doing so well, and that there was a good deal of build-up in her lungs. Baxter was having difficulty breathing, so they put her in an oxygen-cage (where they were pumping in pure oxygen). This extra bit of oxygen in the air helped reduce the effort she needed to breath, and according to the vet… Baxter was more at ease once she was inside the cage.

We were aware of Baxter’s heart issues prior to this, but had been under the impression that it hadn’t yet come to actually getting her on heart medication. We’d been feeding her a fish oil concoction each night, which was supposed to help remedy her slightly enlarged heart.

The vets recommended that we leave Baxter overnight for observation, and that they’d let her calm down for a few hours before trying to do x-rays. So we went in to see her before heading home, and Liz got to pet her a little… to help calm Baxter down some.

All we could do is let her stay there, and let the vets treat her overnight. In the morning, when our normal vets began their days, they’d look in on Baxter and give us a call.

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