Think Rabbits dying, any advice

sheramber

That veterinary nUrse should be reported to the RCVS. She is not entitled to treat the rabbit.

19.1 The purpose of this guidance is to explain the restrictions that apply under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 (!!!8216;the Act!!!8217;) to ensure that animals are treated only by those people qualified to do so. These restrictions apply where the !!!8216;treatment!!!8217; is considered to be the practice of !!!8216;veterinary surgery!!!8217;, as defined by the Act.

Section 19 of the Act provides, subject to a number of exceptions, that only registered members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons may practise veterinary surgery. 'Veterinary surgery' is defined within the Act as follows:

!!!8216;!!!8220;veterinary surgery!!!8221; means the art and science of veterinary surgery and medicine and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, shall be taken to include!!!8212;

a. the diagnosis of diseases in, and injuries to, animals including tests performed on animals for diagnostic purposes;

b. the giving of advice based upon such diagnosis;

c. the medical or surgical treatment of animals; and

d. the performance of surgical operations on animals.!!!8217;



18.4 Under this Schedule 3 exemption, the privilege of giving any medical treatment or carrying out minor surgery, not involving entry into a body cavity, is given to:

Registered veterinary nurses under the direction of their veterinary surgeon employer to animals under their employer's care. The directing veterinary surgeon must be satisfied that the veterinary nurse is qualified to carry out the medical treatment or minor surgery (see paragraph 18.5).

18.5 The RCVS has interpreted these as follows:

'direction' means that the veterinary surgeon instructs the veterinary nurse or student veterinary nurse as to the tasks to be performed, but is not necessarily present.
'supervision' means that the veterinary surgeon is present on the premises and able to respond to a request for assistance if needed.
'direct, continuous and personal supervision' means that the veterinary surgeon or veterinary nurse is present and giving the student veterinary nurse his/her undivided personal attention.

18.6 A veterinary nurse or student veterinary nurse is not entitled independently to undertake either medical treatment or minor surgery.

Red-Squirrel_2

sheramber wrote: »

That veterinary nUrse should be reported to the RCVS. She is not entitled to treat the rabbit.

True. If she exists, which I doubt. I don't think the poor rabbit was seen by anybody tbh.

adandem

OP I really hope you did right by this rabbit and got proper veterinary help, vets make home visits too, that's what we did for our dog when it was his time. The veterinary nurse story doesn't seem legit, they would never have access to prescription meds.
I personally could never see an animal suffer.

teddysmum

One of my dogs (a month short of 15) was booked at the vets for pts that afternoon surgery, but he did a poo which made him wee and bleed a little (bowels had not been his problem), then flopped and went to sleep. I wrapped him in his blanket, as my husband was due (he was taking Joly as I couldn't bare to be there)and he slept.


He slept when my husband took him from me and at the vets. He could have 'just died', but we had him pts as who knows what may suddenly happen or whether he was not sleeping but shut away in pain (a risk we were not going to take) ?

System

dottiedotdot wrote: »

Please please please take your rabbit to a vet or call for advice. Dribbling and wet eyes can be a sign of dental problems which are easily treatable and heavy breathing could just be stress. Please don't let it suffer over something that could be easily treated.

I'll second that. One of my sons chinchillas had to have dental surgery because he was drooling and had teary eyes.

Fireflyaway

What advice can any of us possibly give? You know the rabbit is unwell and probably suffering. Yes a car journey might be stressful but 30 mins in a car either for the bunny to be peacefully put to sleep or given pain relief or antibiotics or treated appropriately beats the poor fella hiding under the bed suffering for days. If an elderly family member stopped eating and was struggling to breath would you just leave them?
Also interested to know how did your vet nurse friends get painkillers? Did she steal them from the surgery?

MysteryMe

The OP has not posted since the 8th. I hope the rabbit is recovering well.

dingobingo123

I would call the vet

ElusiveLucy

Personally I think not taking any animal to the vets when it is suffering is cruelty. A nurse should not be giving out painkillers or diagnosing problems. That poor bunny.