Thursday, May 20, 2010

Surgery

A year ago Dr. Heather found a lump on Clovis' chest.  It was about the size of walnut.  She tried to get some fluid out to analyze it but couldn't.  We kept an eye on it for awhile then decided to have her remove it. 

He was pretty sleepy when I brought him home after surgery but after that first night I was surprised how well he recovered. Our biggest issue was keeping him from licking the wound.  I wasn't sure if he could reach it or not but he was really trying relentlessly.  I fretted over it.  Dr. Heather said one of those plastic cones wouldn't work because he wouldn't be able eat with it on, and he could chew up an Elizabethan collar which is, I guess, made of fabric.  She suggested an inflatable collar.  So I went out and bought one.  It was heavy and pretty big for his skinny little neck. Forget that! Then I tried stuffing a piece of panty hose with cotton balls and putting that around his neck. (Remember now, this is a rabbit that doesn't want to be held so you can imagine the struggle I had getting anything around his neck. Similar to a ring toss game...) The panty hose idea lasted about one minute.

My last effort was a bandana I made from fleece.  It worked! For about an hour.  Oh, what the H E double hockey sticks. I gave up and just let him lick it. 

The lump, fortunately, turned out to be just a fatty tumor and his wound healed perfectly.

2 comments:

Barbara A. Freeman said...

Poor Clovie, I hope he has a speedy recovery!

Clovie Boy said...

Oh yes, he's fine. This was a year ago.