elder bun help

Question
QUESTION: Hi Dr.Dana,
You may remember me from Fritz, the sinus bun, he did not survive. We took him in because his mouth breathing became worse, and he was not eating and had all that jelly in his stools. Turned out he had a tumor near his trachea.
 New bunny now to work on. BunBun is 11 years old, Holland Lop. Getting all the old lady signs, having accidents all over, laying down "very carefully" on her tum, ALOT of tropes, and some quick breathing I noticed when she is sleeping. She also sleeps with her back turned away from us in her cage now too?
 Today I noticed her stool, not the tropes, but the normal ones were being held together by some orange color slime? I really don't want to take her to vet, very traumatic for her, but would like to know what I can do here at home for her, or if any of these things I told you here are signs of her dying? Also, her eyes are bulging out too now in the corners, kind of like a cherry eye. She is eating, drinking and gets around, but little bit less every day. Please write to me soon as you can. Thank you Dana.

ANSWER: Dear Robin,

I am sorry about Fritz's passing.  He was lucky to have such a caring "mom."

The signs you describe in BunBun are pretty general.  Her refusal to eat cecotropes, the presence of mucus in the stool, her acting uncomfortable (lethargic and turning her back on her family), the bulging eyes are all signs of stress.  But they are NOT necessarily signs of imminent death.  They just mean diagnosis needs to be made of what is troubling her.

With Holland Lops, the problem is *very* often dental, as in molar spurs.  I would bite the bullet and get her to a good rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

even if you have to ask for a small dose of Valium/diazepam for her beforehand, to reduce her stress.  But she is suffering, and may well have a very treatable condition.  Please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

While she's at the vet, ask about having blood work done to check her overall health status.  That will give you a good picture of where she stands, and what you can expect.  But for now, the signs of distress need to be sourced, and the problem identified and corrected.

Hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hmm, she has never had any dental issues, and still eats grass and all just fine, Fritz def had teeth trouble, she shows no signs of it being that at all, no grinding or anything. She is 11 and unspayed, so I was thinking the blood work to see if she might have cancer, the tummy seems to be the issue from what I can see, urinary, not sure what it is.

Answer
Dear Robin,

Dental problems can appear late in life, as a bunny develops osteoporosis.  But you didn't mention she wasn't spayed.  This is definitely something to consider, and I would ask the vet to do a full abdominal exam to check for possible uterine adenocarcinoma.  If she's a reasonable surgical risk, she could still be spayed and have many years of happy life, if there is not metastasis.  

Even if she is not a great candidate for surgery, there are worse ways to go than under anesthesia.  I don't like to think of that, but it's something to consider when you're trying to decide what to do upon diagnosis.

I hope she will be fine.  But a trip to the vet is surely in order here.

Dana