Speedy's Road to recovery update and little sneak peak at Hogmite

 So first we'll talk about Hogmite the Male hedgehog who over wintered with Pup the female last year. Hogmite picked his favourite box to hibernate this year, he finally woke up a couple of weeks ago and has been chowing down every night and has continued to stay....I expect when we get further into spring he will go off chasing the girls again just like last year. Anyway this afternoon I was filling the food bowls and the water bowls and I found him snoozing in the entrance of his nest box....

 a hedgehog will often do this if they get a little warm inside their box to cool off, the sun was shining on the box so after taking these I went and got something to shade his box and he promptly decided I was making to much noise filling the food bowls that he went back inside. But he is looking in great shape so all is good.

Now on to Speedy's recovery. I have continued with the daily cleaning of the wound from his abscess on his foot and this is what it looked like on Thursday....

Half the swelling has gone down and I managed to pull out some of the dead tissue so its looking more healthy now. I carried on with cleaning in daily with salt water bath and vetericyn spray and today it looks like this....

Some scabs have come off on other area's of the foot. I had to take this from another angle as I was holding Speedy but the hole is definitely shrinking size and looks to be healing from the inside out and there is even a little fur growing. Also it's not hurting him as much, Speedy is much more active now in the kitchen. He is walking on it normally and hardly hold it up now. Fingers and paws crossed it continues to heal up the right way.

Thank you for all your visits. We will try and visit some of you this week.
 

Speedy's Road to recovery update

 I was going to post this yesterday but I decided in the end to wait till today. Don't worry no photos of the Abscess today. After yesterdays cleaning and this mornings clean of the abscess I have to say it did look a little better. There was very little puss this morning which has to be a good thing. 

To start the cleaning process I mix up a little salt in very warm water and soak Speedy's foot to soften up the area so I can get in there with a cotton q-tip ,once I can clean it out properly I then dab it dry with a towel and spray Vetericyn into the hole and fill it up, using a new q-tip I clean it out again to make sure there is nothing mucky left it there and then re-spray the hole again and just leave it to dry.

Vetericyn is antibacterial and anti fungal so will help to kill of any nasty microbes in his wound. I have to say it must be working because Speedy's using his foot more, though it is sore and he holds it up at times to rest it, he is using it to balance when sitting ,eating his food and go toilet and he does walk on it too.

So for Speedy's play area in the kitchen and in his sleep den I did change his bedding to help keep the foot clean. His Litter tray in the kitchen I just line it with a puppy training pad and put some hay on one side for him to eat. In his sleep den I lined the pen with a towel and an old sheet and put some puppy training pads at one end for him to pee and poop on and at the front some hay for him to eat. Rabbits need to eat a lot of hay so he has to have hay in his sleep den and in his litter box in the kitchen, we want to keep his tummy healthy.

So far nothing is getting into the wound so this seems to be working

So I will leave you with this photo of Speedy relaxing this morning and give you and update in a couple of days time. Again thank you for all your well wishes for Speedy

Speedy's Road to recovery: Warning it's not Pretty

 Speedy went back to the Vets today and had his dressing removed and flushed out. The Nurse said that it looks like there was still some necrotic skin on the edge of the hole they cut out and there was some puss which she flushed out. she gave me instructions to keep flushing it out daily and keep it clean as possible and leave it to drain out naturally and if there are any problems to get in touch.

Now if you're squeamish the I apologize now but I want to show and keep an accurate record of where we are with Speedy's paw and the healing process. So this is how it looks today...

It's not pretty is it? Looks pretty nasty but it is nowhere near as swollen as it was and I am sure it is very sore give how Speedy lifts his paw up but it can't be as painful...I hope it's not but pain wise Speedy in on his meloxicam and CBD oil so we can't give him more than that.

Tomorrow I'll post the changes to his bedding to minimize anything getting in to the wound. Thank you for all the lovely messages, I read them out to Speedy each day and appreciates every single one.

Speedy's Road to recovery: Dressing Change day

 So Speedy had his dressing changed today. I have no idea what it looks like as with covid restrictions I'm not allowed in with him. Apparently there was some puss that had to be cleaned out so we were told Speedy needed to have his dressings changed 3 times a week. Todays was supposed to be included with the bill on Monday so I was expecting just the bill for a new bottle of meloxicam....only to be shocked to have to pay for todays visit so £306 pounds on Monday and another £56 today! To say I wasn't happy is putting it mildly especially as the abscess was misdiagnosed for 10 months and in my mind that should never have happened, Speedy should never have had to suffer with a growing abscess for that long.

Quite Frankly nearly £100 a week to have his dressings changed after the vets mistake is a hard pill to swallow so after a slightly heated conversation about it Speedy's treatment has changed. Friday the Dressing will be taken off and I will clean the wound myself with Vetericyn everyday and left to heal naturally open to the air. I have antibiotic solution here at the house which is used on rabbits and small animals and I have Manuka honey too. If it looks like the paw needs a light dressing I'll do it myself and use the antibiotic solution and Manuka Honey with the dressing and then Speedy will have the occasional check ups as he needs its.

I'm not going against the vet advice but I just can't afford £100 pounds a week on vet bills when I know I am capable of cleaning the wound and dressing it myself. Also I pick up on problems far quicker than any vet can and so can his dad and we don't make mistakes.

As For Speedy well today he is a lot brighter and a lot happier much more like himself and he is fully eating on his own now. I'll do an update on Friday after the Dressing is removed and then we can all see what we are dealing with....I'm sure it won't be pretty so if you're squeamish you might not want to see that one. Keep your Fingers crossed for my boy, You're all amazing with all your Messages that you have sent....Bless you all!

Speedy Update:The Road to Recovery

 Speedy came home last night after only having a sedative and local anesthetic for his surgery. Because Speedy is such a well behaved bunny the vet decided to on that rather than putting him out. When we got him home he would only eat from our hands and just wanted to have sleep cuddles till bed time.

Then at 3am we checked on him and gave him more cuddles in bed with us but by 4.30am we were giving him his Meloxicam as we could see he was in pain and not happy. We have spent all day feeding Speedy from our hands and giving him lots of cuddles. By 4pm this afternoon he started to eat his hay and his greens on his own.

This was Speedy eating his hay. We took away his litter box and put puppy pads in its place covered with his bedding as he is having trouble getting in and out and keeps banging his foot....which must hurt a bit so this makes things easier for him and tomorrow I will pick up a cardboard box to cut down and use as a little box in the kitchen so he can just hobble in and out without hurting himself.

So far he hasn't tried to chew his dressing off and tomorrow we take him back to have his foot checked and a clean dressing on with a possibility of going back on Friday and every couple of days for new dressings. There is a possibility that the vets may let us change the dressings with only a check up once a week depending on how good the wound looks. This is going to be a long road to recovery for Speedy assuming it heals properly....if it doesn't then he may lose the foot. Trying to be Honest and upfront about his chances and its 50/50 right now. I'll update you tomorrow after his checkup.

Speedy is home

 Speedy is home, a little dozy but he was only sedated with local anesthetic to do the surgery. The vet said that he was a very good bunny. We'll give a full update tomorrow. 

Sorry its been a while....An update from Speedy's Mum

 Sorry it been a while. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster here with lockdown then out of lockdowns....We're still on No.3 at the moment. As you know Speedy has had a bit of a poorly foot what we had been told was it was a growth as antibiotics didn't seem to work on clearing it up and when we first had it looked at his foot looked like this back last year in the first lockdown...

As it got bigger we had it looked but still told it was a growth but this morning it looked like this...

We took Speedy out for a walk after I sent these new photos to the vets and while were out it finally burst thick gluppy muck all over my coat. So we rushed home and I bathed it with warm water and was able to squeeze nearly all the puss out and then we rushed him to the vets and left him there so that it could be looked at properly....

The verdict is its an abscess so he needed to have surgery to clean it up and remove any dead tissue and try to close it up as much as possible. So Speedy is currently at the vets undergoing that surgery and all we can do it wait to hear that he is ok and then he can come home to a slow and long recovery of daily cleaning and dressing change assuming I can keep them on him.

Keep those prayers going for him, I know Marvelous and Angel Nellie Bellie has been Spreading the word for my boy for which I thank them so much for that love