Anxiety Attack

Wow. I actually had one. It was the craziest feeling to have a physical reaction to something and not be able to control it. A little frightening even!

See, I've been sick since Saturday and was feeling awful. Around the same time, I started to notice that the bunny wasn't eating her usual amount of food. By Monday, I was calling in sick and heading off to the vet. If you don't know much about bunnies, then you should know that a lack of appetite can literally be a death sentence for them. And quickly! They have toxins that build up inside them and the only way to get them out is to poop. And we all know that in order to poop, you have to eat...and eat high fiber things! Just one day of not eating can be fatal for a bunny. Yes, the toxins build up that fast! So, you can imagine why I was taking her in to the vet!

The vet said he definitely felt a clog in her little belly and sent me home with medicine to get her GI moving and "critical care" food that is basically mega fiber that you mix with water and force feed them. Well, Little Miss Thang was having nothing to do with the medicine or the force feeding. And I admit, I'm not very good at being forceful with her. She just seems so fragile! So, every day this week, I've been carting her to the vet in the morning so they can force feed her while I'm at work and then picking her up at night and watching her like a hawk. Those first few days, she actually got worse and I was literally in a full on panic! I was waking up constantly throughout the night to check on her and then feeling even more upset when I'd see that she hadn't eaten or pooped.

Then came the anxiety attack. I woke up at 2:30am on Wednesday night to check on her. I decided I had to try to give her a dose of the medicine and a force feed because she wasn't eating anything. I trapped her and wrapped her up in a towel and she took the medicine down with little resistance. The force feed was a whole other story! She was not having it and I couldn't hold her still and feed her by myself. I had to give in and let her go. I sat and watched her until 4am before laying back down to sleep on the couch. Once I laid down, I started having what I can only describe as adrenaline rushes. Ever other minute or so, I would get a rush and my heart would start pounding. I tried not to think about the bunny, taking deep breaths and telling myself to calm down, but they wouldn't stop. They probably went on for about 2 hours. I have never had anything like that happen to me before and it was quite disturbing!

Now, she is at the vet again (hopefully, her last day) and she is making progress. She is eating somewhat on her own and I'm hoping that today's doses of the force feed will clear out the last of whatever is ailing her and she will be good to go. Fingers crossed because I'm not sure I can take anymore of this! Nor can my wallet! I'm pretty sure this ordeal has cost me between $600 - $700 in vet bills. Maybe I need to look into pet insurance! All the while, I was sick through this too, but the cold finally seemed to break yesterday. All that is left is a cough that I'm sure will stick around for a bit, as they always seem to do that!

So, that is my crazy, stressful, absolutely miserable week. Let's hope my bunny is out of the woods and I can resume my regularly scheduled life!