Pippa's Story

Pippa, our 7 year old spayed female house rabbit, had, throughout her life, always struggled to put weight on She wasn't an eating machine like all our other rabbits; she only liked to eat hay and grass and picked at her dried food. We always thought there was something wrong, but despite blood tests and multiple veterinary check- ups, nothing could be diagnosed.

In early 2007 we noticed that Pippa was quieter than normal and as the year progressed she was so lethargic that she would no longer run around the garden trying to fight through the wire with the other rabbits which was her passion! We also noticed a slight increase in her resting respiratory rate. Another trip to the vets and x-rays revealed a mass in her chest, possibly around her heart, which was enough to worry our vet. He referred us to Liverpool University for an MRI Scan. At this stage her medication was 2ml Metocam and 1ml Frusol (a medication for fluid build up in the lungs) both twice per day and 1.2ml Engemycin an injectable antibiotic every other day.

On 2 nd July 2007 we visited Liverpool University. Pippa had a CT scan as the vet thought this would give better images of the mass in her chest. They also did an ultrasound to make sure the mass wasn't fluid, and then, took a small sample of the mass. They diagnosed a tumour. The vet offered to put Pippa to sleep but we decided against it as she was still eating, drinking and was happy, especially when we sat snuggling her. We decided to bring her home, knowing at some point we would have to make the decision to let her go.

Two weeks later the results came back as an aggressive, rapidly growing tumour, but they were not able to diagnose the type and could offer no further options with regards to treatment other than radiotherapy which we refused .We thought it was too much to put her through if she didn't have long left to live.

We discussed Pippa's condition with our usual vet and, as her breathing was rather rapid, we tried using corticosteroids. They temporarily increased her appetite and seemed to make her calmer and her breathing less rapid, but, over a period of a few more weeks in August, she appeared to be loosing weight rapidly. We eventually stopped these as we thought they were accelerating her deterioration. During this period her weight had dropped from approx. 2.2kg to approximately 1.6kg. She was skin and bone and I cried when stoking her. She felt so awful and my partner and I knew the end was near.

I discussed Pippa with our vet again to see if there was anything else that could be done. He decided to request the CT images from Liverpool University . He had recently been on a conference in the US, had been to a lecture on Thymoma in rabbits and had a strong suspicion that this could be the cause due to the shape and distribution of the mass. He said this type of tumour is very operable as it generally encapsulates so it was unlikely that there would be any cancer elsewhere in the body. Before the images arrived I was discussing Pippa with a friend who works at a specialist cancer hospital in Manchester and she mentioned a drug called Sandostatin (produced by Novartis. She said it might help as it was used at low doses in humans to treat the symptoms of Thymoma. I mentioned this to our vet and he agreed to try the drug. A few days later we started treatment.

Information on the drug can be found:

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100002340.html

It's been a couple of weeks since we began the treatment and we've noticed her behaviour changing. She is brighter, slightly more active, respiration almost normal, eating a little more and, for the first couple of weeks, I thought she was putting on weight. I questioned myself so I have started weighing her. So far her progress is slow, but I would say significant:-

Pippa is now on 2ml Metocam three times per day, 1 ml Frusol twice per day and, most importantly, 25 microgrammes of Sandostatin twice daily. We know it is not a cure, more a way of giving Pippa more quality time. The jury is out on whether this drug is going to help treat the illness long term, but I think it looks promising. The vet has said we could increase the amount injected to 100 microgrammes twice daily but so far we have decided we don't need to do this.

We store the drug in the fridge and inject the Sandostatin in an insulin needle as the amount required is so small. It comes in either 100 or 500 ug packs containing 5 vials, but we use the 500ug/1ml vials as they work out much cheaper. The injection she receives is 0.05ml of a 500ug/1ml vial.

If your rabbit has Thymoma and is strong enough for an operation please do consider it; radiotherapy can also be used. I believe Sandostatin is an option for less invasive and stressful treatment providing you are comfortable with injecting your rabbit and your vet is willing to try the drug. It is expensive but I have found that it's worth every penny.

Please note – I am not a vet – merely a pet owner trying to help a sick rabbit . I have presented my view only, and should your rabbit have this disease, please do discuss your options with your vet. Your vet might be willing to try this drug, but they would need to research it and the dose rates themselves,.If you do try it I do hope it buys your rabbit some quality time or helps ease symptoms.

Sharon and Pippa, United Kingdom