Life In The ER

Bunny had his first trip to the ER this weekend.

At about 2 am Sunday morning, he started wheezing. At first I thought he was just mad at something (Autumn) and was making funny noises. If he feels threatened or if we change his towel out when he doesn't want it, he grunts. But we listened and it sounded like he was coughing.

Mr. H rushed over to check on him and he was still wheezing. He was sitting in the corner of his cage in his litter box, still. He picked him up and he could feel and hear a rattle in his chest. He looked to be struggling for air. He had a long string of mucus hanging from his nose and mouth and I immediately panicked.

I thought he was going to die.

Mr. H held him while I looked up an emergency clinic in the area. We knew of one, but they don't see "exotic animals" (rabbits) so they referred us to a different clinic over 15 miles away. There wasn't anything closer and I feared he would stop breathing on the way over there.

I held him wrapped up in a blue gray cotton towel and held him close to my chest the whole way there. We drove about 90 mph the whole way there til we got pulled over by a patrol. We told her it was an emergency and she let us go, only because she had taken a dog there to the same hospital that was hit by a car earlier in the day.

I kept listening to his breathing and he sounded fine. He wasn't in shock or distress. He just wanted to look outside the window. We got to the ER and they took him to triage. They assessed him and didn't see or hear anything wrong. They think it was just a mucus plug that he needed to get out. Since it was a first time occurrence, they didn't want to put him on antibiotics. Apparently, the antibiotics can upset their stomach, cause vomiting, diarrhea and appetite loss. They suggested x-rays of his lungs if we wanted them ($170). But they were pretty sure this was just a one time thing. They have a prescription on file if we need it, so we just have to watch him closely.

All I could think of was that he was going to die and this was God's way of telling me I wasn't meant to have boys.

But he is fine.