Dance like no one's watching

Horlicks had a health scare in Nov last year.  The fur on the back of her legs and around her butt area had fallen off and the area was reddish.  My dad and I took her to the vet immediately.  Thankfully, the diagnosis wasn’t too serious – the vet suspected it could’ve been an urinary tract infection (“UTI”), which led to her not being able to pee “cleanly” (when rabbits pee, they “lift” their tail upwards and the pee shoots out, thus they don’t dirty themselves).  The UTI probably caused the urine to drip onto her tail / hind area resulting in a skin infection and the fur dropping out.

Horlicks was given antibiotics which my dad fed faithfully.  The antibiotics were sweetened so Horlicks loved to eat it.  Phew! 

Anyway, I’ve been checking on Horlicks on a weekly basis but the fur on her hind still hasn’t grown back fully (though the fur on her legs have).  We decided to take her to the vet again to ensure that the UTI wasn’t something more serious like bladder stones (which would require an operation to remove).

Ooh.. Horlicks hated the visit to the vet – she wasn’t bothered by the other cats & dogs in the clinic.  What she hated was when the vet cradled her tightly (like a baby) and did a physical examination of her bladder (to check for stones). 

In the end, the vet said he still doesn’t feel any stones and the good thing is, the skin on her backside isn’t reddish anymore.  It looked normal, except that there was no fur.  The vet said that there was a possibility that the prolonged loss of fur caused the hair follicles to go “silent” and the fur may only grow back during her next molt. 

I told the vet that the furless butt doesn’t really matter.  What’s most important is that Horlicks is healthy.  She’s about 5 years 6 or 7 months old now (can only estimate her age ‘cos pet shops seldom give you the right age) which is kind of like middle age for bunnies. 

I’ve been praying for Horlicks and my other bunnies – that the Lord will bless them with good health.  They’re such a delight to have at home.  Pinky turns 5 years old on 16 Jan 2011.  Wonder if I should buy some treats to celebrate his birthday.  Heh.