Miss Hoppy's Health - New picture

[jennielynn1970]

Awe... hope the vet had some good advice for you regarding Ms. Hoppy. Hope nothing too drastic or invasive.

Good thoughts going out to Ms. Hoppy!

[Catty1]

Glad she was a good girl and the vet was such a "bunny person". Miss Hoppy deserves only the best!

I hope you have some good and viable options...I know you and Paul will do whatever is truly best for your little fluffy girl!

HUGS!

[chocolatepuppy]

Karen, I'll be keeping Miss Hoppy, you and Paul in my thoughts and prayers.

[crow_noir]

Wow; having a good vet can be so comforting in good times as well as the not so good times. It made me smile to know she'll be in good hands.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

It's nice that she has a bunny dr that really knows and loves bunnies!!!
Prayers continuing here.

[Karen]

When we saw Dr. Mayer on Saturday, he presented us with several options. If we are going to proceed with any course of treatment, we first have to determine what the mass is. If it is a thymoma it would be treated differently than a thymic lymphoma, which can mean the cancer is more places in her body. So that was new information, we hadn't even known it could be anything other than a thymoma.

The first step, then, is to do a fine needle biopsy, guided by ultrasound, and determine which of the two it is. He said he's pretty sure it is a thymoma, but wants to know for sure.

If it is a thymoma, there are several different treatments for it, not just "surgery or nothing."

Surgery is one option, but it is invasive and traumatic - they'd have to crack her chest open. We were already shying away from even considering that, considering Miss Hoppy's age. Then Dr. Mayer said that doing the surgery isn't necessarily a cure. He had one bunny that had the surgery done, and in a matter of weeks, the tumor was back, and just as big. So there's no way we'd go that route - we want to make her MORE comfortable, not less. As my Dad said "She's just a widdle bunny!"

There are two kinds of radiation treatments to consider. There's the "curative" kind, which is more intensive, every day for up to a month. It uncomfortable, and can result in burns on the bunny's skin. It's supposed to "cure" the cancer, but there's no guarantee. There are other side effects. And it is several times more expensive than the next option.

The "palliative" radiation is more focussed, and Miss Hoppy would likely not feel a thing. Its goal is to shrink the size of the tumor considerably, so it isn't pressing on her heart, and so she can breathe better and more freely, her eyes won't be bulgy, and she won't be sniffly/sneezy. He has had good results with other rabbits with this treatment, had one that lived for three years afterwards - it just died recently, he doesn't yet know what from, maybe old age. While there are no guarantees with this either, he thinks she could live a couple more years. And one good thing is, if in a year or so she begins to have breathing trouble again, confirming the tumor has regrown, it could be done again, if we chose to. It would be maybe three or four treatments, a week or so apart.

The last option is just treating the tumor with steroids. This is the least expensive option, but, while it may temporarily shrink the tumor, it will get to a point, maybe in six months, maybe in two months, where it no longer works. Then the cancer becomes resistant, and more virulent, and is not treatable. The bunny doesn't last long after the prednisone stops being effective.

The good thing is that Dr. Mayer answered all our questions thoroughly and carefully. We asked "Is it even okay to give a ten-year-old bunny anesthesia?" And he said, "Some people would say "No, you cannot anesthetize a rabbit, they die." But that attitude is outdated by 15 years, and the science of anesthesia has changed a lot in the intervening time." He described what they would do, both for the biopsy/ultrasound, and for the radiation, is put a little bitty "oxygen mask" on her, and give her an inhaled anesthetic, so she'd just breathe it in, and remain still for the procedure. As soon as they stop the gas and remove the mask, she'd be right back to normal. Paul asked if, because the tumor is pressing on the heart, the radiation would damage the heart. Dr. Mayer explained very carefully what how the radiation effects the cells, and why there would be very little damage to her heart at all, small parts of her heart would be damaged, but that her heart would still function.

There are no guarantees with any of the procedures, but he has had very good results with the palliative radiation treatment, and said that's what he'd do if it were his bunny. (By the way, he has a little boy bunny that looks very much like Miss Hoppy!)

I have called, and we will schedule the biopsy, and will keep you all updated as to how that goes, and what's next.

I am trying to be as thorough as possible, because I know we have many bunnies and bunny owners on Pet Talk. Remember, this all started because she had a case of the sniffles that wouldn't go away.

Dr. Mayer did listen to her heart, (after telling her "now, stop grunting so I can hear this!") and said it wasn't just a simple murmur, her heart is working so hard it sounds like a machine more than a heart. My poor bunny.

The Foster Veterinary Hospital at Tufts' Cummings School for Veterinary Medicine does seem like a world-class facility, and we are fortune that it is less than an hour's drive away.

[Catty1]

Oh, it would be so nice to relieve the pressure on widdle Miss Hoppy's heart! She must be pretty healthy, all told, if her heart is working that hard and well.

I hope they can do the biopsy pretty soon.

I smiled when the doc told her to stop grunting! What does it mean when she does that, if anything?

Prayers going to Paul and you and Hoppy for only good things to come.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Bunny Doc >>>

http://www.tufts.edu/vet/facpages/mayer_j.html

Wishing the BEST for Miz Hoppy, You and Paul!

[DrKym]

Miss Hoppy .............our whole house is praying......please be ok fpr you your mom and dad!

[Karen]

Oh, it would be so nice to relieve the pressure on widdle Miss Hoppy's heart! She must be pretty healthy, all told, if her heart is working that hard and well.

I hope they can do the biopsy pretty soon.

I smiled when the doc told her to stop grunting! What does it mean when she does that, if anything?

Prayers going to Paul and you and Hoppy for only good things to come.

Sometimes rabbits make little grunting noises when they are playing (she makes that noise when we are playing "toreador") or when they are angry. But even though I am sure she wasn't playing, that was the most polite she's ever been with a vet - usually she skips the grunt and goes straight to "bite first, ask questions later" mode.

He did say, except for the tumor, she is very healthy, very good lungs, her eyes are nice and clear, even though they are a bit bulgy right now, she's still "bright, alert and responsive" with just a little sign of aging along her vertebrae visible in the x-ray, teeth are good, nothing bad at all ...

[crow_noir]

I'm sniffly and teary eyed with joy at the possibilities "palliative" radiation brings. How unscary this seems to the slim options you thought you had.

*hugs*

Miss Hoppy, these nice humans are going to make sure you get better. Then again you already knew that didn't you? It's why you're being so nice to the doctor after all.

[DrKym]

Miss Hoppy our whole house says to get well............we love you and your Mom and Dad. Candles and prayers...............swift recovery little Girl

[krazyaboutkatz]

I hope that her biopsy goes well and that whatever treatment she receives will help her live a longer happy and comfortable life. I'll continue to keep her in my thoughts and prayers.

[ChrisH]

Thanks for the update Karen, the palliative radiation option sounding very promising.

Prayers continuing for dear Miss Hoppy.

[critter crazy]

I am glad to hear that you seem to have a few options. I sure hope that it is a thymoma, and that it can at least be treated enough to give Miss Hoppy some more time with you, and the rest of us