What happens if my Pet is sick whilst on holiday?
Illness in Small Furries is very serious, it does not take much for a Small Furry to get sick and give up. Rabbits will disguise illness, as in the wild it makes them vulnerable so symptoms can be very subtle. It is therefore very important that the slightest symptom is noticed and acted upon.
I thought I would write this today as yesterday for the first time in a while we had a sick rabbit. Every morning my first job whilst still in my dressing gown is to check all the guests. Each pet is offered something nice like dandelions, if the pet doesn’t respond that is my first alert. If this happens a divider is put between two bonded pets so I can monitor their intake and outtake. A single pet I can instantly see the output over night.
The suspect sick pet is offered several nice bits and we see if they eat or poo. During this time we call or message the owner to alert them to a potential issue. I also contact my vet to discuss situation and form a plan.
If still not eating within a reasonable time then we are off to the vet. The sick rabbit yesterday was actually behaving differently as well. Hopping a few steps then stretching out with his belly on the floor then repeating. A slight behavioural change that I was able to spot with years of experience behind me.
In this case he was still not eating after being separated, so off to the vet. The vet examined him and we both commented that he was still an active Bunny but on examination there was some but reduced gut sounds. Good news I spotted this early which in key to a successful recovery.
Loaded with meds we head home. We start with assisted feeding and monitoring. Within four hours the bun could not resist my fresh Mint. This was a great result, any eating is a good sign. Over the next 5 hours he was monitored closely until he was eating well and finally produced some poo.
I always keep the vet and owner updated through out the process. We are 24 hours in on this episode and this bun is still partitioned off as eating well but I want to see more poos.
Other emergencies have been picked up on late night checks. One was a collapsed Giant bunny who had on – going arthritis issues. She had been to hydro therapy that day and had a run round the garden and potentially over did things. We had her to the vets within 20mins and she was fine with in two hours. Another late one was a bun with a nose bleed at first I thought is was an injury but turns out once we washed him up it was a nose bleed. Emergency vet diagnosed hay had stabled him up the nose days later it turned out it was a deep seated infection in his ear, unfortunately the lovely boy was put to sleep after treatment did not work.
Whilst your pet boards with us they are monitored from morning to last thing at night. We have several checks we like every guest to pass on inspection. This is what sets us apart from a friend popping in to check your pet once a day.
However, please remember we are not vets and don’t claim to be. We do our very best including getting up in the night to medicate and check if needed. We are not guaranteeing your pet life whilst here as that would be unrealistic however we are guaranteeing your pet will be monitored closely and if needed acted upon quickly and efficiently.
Sometimes pets come in and are fed inappropriate diets such as copious amounts of carrots and nuggets for rabbits. We will point this out to you and discuss a plan moving forwards. In some cases we are presented with pets that are not eating enough Hay and therefore not pooing correctly and in some cases obese. Again we can only advise and form a plan on feeding whilst they are here.
Another thing to consider is if you book your holiday for six months to a years time you may be unlucky like one customer I had and find out a week before your holiday that your rabbit need an op on his teeth. This is not a problem we charge for additional care but we are able to collect from vets administer medication and provide any other service your pet needs. In this case the owner was away 6 weeks by the time the owner came home bunny was fully recovered.
So we would like to think we can give you peace of mind that your can book your holiday and we will care for your pet as well as you would or in some cases we are told we do it better
We look forward to meeting you and your pet at the Hotel.
Comments