Before we dive in, I want to mention that May is not only Mental Health Awareness Month but also National Arthritis Awareness Month. While mental health is something I am really passionate about now and need to creatively stay on top of it, arthritis is not as big a part of my current story. I am so fortunate to say that because I know that it is a painful, daily reality for many people. I don’t often talk about my own experience with arthritis because, according to my doctor, I outgrew it.
However, I’d be silly if I said that having arthritis did not impact my adolescence and the way I view health. Arthritis is thought of as a physical disease but I don’t see how you can have a physical illness and not also have that affect your overall well-being.
This is my experience with being diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis* and how I no longer have it.
Spoiler alert: this isn’t a miracle story, nor do I have any special hacks or medications that I used for overcoming JRA.
Early years
I’ve always been a girl with a lot of energy just seeking ways to let it out. So, like many kids, my favorite outlet was playing outside. Whether that was freeze tag during recess at school, riding my bike, or running through my neighbors’ orchards. Anything and everything was fun to me!
Despite being a fun-loving kid, for as far back as I can remember, my childhood was plagued by knee pain. I’d employ my parents to rub Aspercreme on my knees and wrap them in a fabric gauze to keep them warm. My dad often spent weeknights massaging my knees to help soothe the pain I felt. I wasn’t falling off my bike or doing anything to obviously hurt my knees. So, my parents said it was likely growing pains. Growing pains that lasted for years and years….
The symptoms set in
Around age 11, my sister and I joined gymnastics together. I had been looking forward to this so much but a few months in my knees began to hurt. I had knee pain pretty often but it was always for short periods and a massage or some Aspercreme would alleviate it. Yet, this knee pain felt different and it wouldn’t go away. I considered that maybe I hurt myself in gymnastics and took several weeks off, but my knee pain only worsened.
To put this into perspective, I was wrapping up my final weeks in 6th grade when the pain started to kick up. As the hot days crawled, so did the pain in other parts of my body, too. My skin developed little red blotches, like an allergic reaction. Red, hot (but not itchy) spots covered my legs and thighs, my belly and back, my arms and neck, and face. With every joint inflamed, I felt miserable. I had no energy to see friends, pursue hobbies I used to love like drawing (my hands and wrists hurt), and walking up the stairs in my house felt like a mission. It’s so weird to think of that now but I pretty much spent the majority of that summer between 6th and 7th grade laying on the couch in pain.
I had to ask my mom about this next part because I couldn’t remember when I actually saw the doctor who would change everything. Basically, I had to go through a big run-around with the pediatrician, get bloodwork, then get his referral to other specialists who had their own blood panel to request. Finally, I got referred to the Rady’s Children’s Hospital and met with a few different doctors in white coats. Each were specialists in different fields; each had unique sets of questions for me. My parents were in the room, too, and filled in the blanks for anything I couldn’t piece together.
The specialists asked me questions about my health, habits, behaviors, symptoms, and more. From that discussion alone, it was still a mystery if I had leukemia, lupus, or cat scratch disease. It wasn’t until another specially-requested blood panel that I came out positive for JRA.
The rheumatologist took over from there and the action plan was treatment with medication to get the inflammation and pain under control fast. At this time, I should also mention it was the start of my 7th grade school year. Prior to me even seeing the specialists, I had to endure walking the halls of a new school feeling decrepit, barely able to carry my own weight. My mom had made arrangements with the school to give me a little extra time to get to class in case I had a hard time walking. My backpack was heavier than I could handle so I also had some classroom accommodations made. That way, I didn’t need to carry the giant textbooks to class. I honestly felt so embarrassed even though I had a condition.
I didn’t want to think of myself as sick even though my body was unfamiliar to me and in so much pain.
Treatment hurdles and victories
Despite all this, it didn’t take long for the medication to work it’s magic. If I remember correctly, I was on prescription prednisone (steroids) and high-dose naproxen (pain killer) for several months. After my body stopped feeling like an inflammatory war zone, my doctor introduced me to methotrexate, a DMARD. DMARDs, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, are basically the non-steroidal answer to arthritis treatment because they help bring down inflammation, pain, and swelling, but also treat the actual arthritis-affected joints by slowing down their deterioration, according to WebMD.
The time I was on steroids seemed like the longest ever–I was in a transitional age and felt like all eyes were on me. I also felt additionally uncomfortable in my own body because I was gaining weight (side effect of the steroids). I was at the highest weight I’ve ever been at that time but at least I wasn’t in pain. So, by the time my body got settled on methotrexate, and I eased off the steroids, the worst was behind me. My pain stayed gone, methotrexate seemed to work without negative side effects. Some days required an extra naproxen pill on top of the methotrexate I took morning and night, but, otherwise, things were pretty smooth sailing.
The coolest part, now that I look back, was watching how I started on 7 little methotrexate pills daily and over the years was able to drop them down bit by bit. A time or two I would work with my doctor to try dropping down the amounts and my body would flair up. It wasn’t until I was a senior in high school, around 2011, that I finally got cleared of JRA.
I had reduced my medication successfully and symptoms no longer persisted.
I am so thankful for the amazing pediatric rheumatologist that I had treating me. He was patient, insightful, and helped me so much. Admittedly, he offered consistent suggestions to do things like pick up a sport or physical activity and that would help my joints all the more. The teen girl in me ignored the advice but, in later time, I’ve seen how implementing exercise helps maintain fluidity in my body, reduce stiffness, and lower inflammation. That being said, there is still one frustrating aspect about western medicine in that I never found out the root cause. Way before I ever got the chronic pain I did in the 6th grade, I was having knee pain most days out of the week. Were those early signs of arthritis? Even my rheumatologist could only say, perhaps.
While I was “in remission”, I was also concerned about symptoms coming back. There is a possibility of individuals who have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis developing other forms of arthritis as an adult. However, it is also quite possible to not have arthritis symptoms come back at all.
Years after all of that I acquired an interest in health and went on to study nutrition through IIN. Some of the takeaways I got from there made me wonder if diet and lifestyle habits could have influenced my development of JRA. It’s hard to say. Even I especially cannot say that certain things were healthy or unhealthy because that is so individual. Yet, perhaps there are genetic predispositions and certain lifestyle habits will flick on those symptoms like a light switch. All I can do is take the best care of my body that I can now and give thanks for the amazing doctor and treatment options I had available to me at the time.
I only had arthritis for about eight years in my youth but many people of ALL ages suffer from arthritis. I’m awaiting more discoveries in the field of arthritis and hopefully increased research about holistic treatments to help the millions of people dealing with arthritis today.
*While I had arthritis, it was labeled as Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis but in later years the terminology changed to Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. I use JRA for consistency and time-relevancy throughout this post.
Self-image only matters to one person. By that, I mean that self-image is purely one person’s own perception of the way they carry themselves. With May being Mental Health Month, I think it’s important to address the very real fact that the health of our mind influences the health of our body.
In my experience, I have been in situations where talking about mental self-work (be that therapy, journaling, or any sort of practice to help tend to your thoughts and beliefs) feels superior to physicalities. As if it doesn’t matter what we look like on the outside as long as our head is in good shape. Respectively, mental health is so important but I don’t think we need to dismiss our physical bodies either. Our bodies aren’t just the vehicle we use to talk, walk, and interact with the world, they are a physical manifestation of how we feel about ourselves on the inside.
Some more “intellectual” folks may snub those who care about appearances as if it is all vanity. Both the mind and the body are beautiful though. Bodily features like the size, shape, color, or any physical attributes are part of the beautiful unique masterpiece that is your body. The mind for what it can create and the body for how it allows us to present ourselves and engage with the world.
There is a mind-body connection when it comes to self-image and one helps the other. The way I see it, if our mind feels stable and peaceful, then we are able to look at our bodies through that same lens.
It’s a complex case to describe how to achieve mental peace, and it’s a case that will mean something different for everyone, but I think a big part of that is taking ownership of yourself and being true to you.
When I was growing up, I was constantly looking at myself in terms of lack. I’d feel ashamed that I didn’t have something, maybe I had less money than someone else, or I wasn’t as smart in a subject area compared to my peers. I also suffered from bouts of depression and hopelessness more times than I could count. In my young mind, I felt that all eyes were on me and everyone knew I wasn’t capable or as well-off as I wished I was.
When everything around me seemed so dreadful, I began focusing on my physical features. I couldn’t “change” how smart I was but I could put on make up to make me look prettier or wear black clothing to hide myself. I got nit-picky about everything from the moles on my skin to the size of my thighs. It was innocent banter but my girlfriends used to joke about the size of their thighs and I thought: well, I might not have much but I do have the smallest thighs out of all of us. It’s sickening to think back on that.
Yet, when all else seemed to suck, I needed to create my own merits for success–and that’s why I’m here now: to talk about ways to value yourself mentally and physically.
I have picked up a strategy that I use to improve my feelings of well-being and I see how employing it helps me in many aspects of my life.
So, remember earlier when I said I’d compare myself to my peers and some were smarter in certain subjects than I was? Here’s the thing: we’re all smart in something. We all have unique skills, talents, and strengths. Focusing on those over the shortcomings is how you can feel better about yourself.
When you spend time cultivating a skill or learning about something, you feel pretty empowered afterwards, right? Not everyone has this information but you do. For example, maybe you picked up a sport and after falling flat on your face a couple of times, you began to improve your posture and established some better techniques. You might now be at some professional athlete’s levels (or maybe you are!) but that doesn’t mean you aren’t good and don’t have skills!
The point I’m trying to get at here is that spending time with yourself and cultivating the relationship to your inner self is what gets you out of the mental ruts that impact your view of your body and all areas of your life. You don’t have time to worry about cellulite if you can launch a massive kick into a soccer ball that sends it flying 50 feet away. Okay, can you tell I know nothing about soccer? I think the biggest thing you can do for yourself is pick yourself up!
It’s great when friends or family or people you admire tell you you’re great but that isn’t everything.
At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It won’t matter if everyone in the world likes you, if you don’t like you.
The body and mind connection cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, just attending to our physical bodies cannot get us very deep in terms of improvement in self-image. We cannot neglect the underlying thoughts, beliefs, and feelings present in our mind. Yet, a stronger place of mental ability–or perceived ability–we feel more capable of tackling other problems, tasks, and ventures. Thus, we can see our body with a renewed frame of appreciation. Maybe even be more apt to make a list of 10 things you appreciate about it instead of 10 things you hate about it.
When you are driven by an internal sense of validation, mental purpose, and ability, you will find that your body is just as brave, strong, and empowered as your mind.
In my last post, I shared how judgment is the cloud that alters the way we see the world.
When you solely choose to put your sense of value in material things, people, events, situations, or anything outside of yourself, you’re setting yourself up to get hurt. I think it’s totally okay to have a favorite TV show or a candy that makes you happy.
It’s natural to like and want things but we all need to have our own system of self-validation.
If you’ve ever had to compromise some of your wants, needs, or values for something else, you won’t forget that. Those events stick out like a sore thumb in memories. Usually, because they are filled with strong feelings that keep them alive. Feelings of fear, shame, disgust, and discomfort. If you repeatedly allow yourself to compromise on your values, this creates fragmented selves. Remember we talked about this? These are aspects of ourselves that we haven’t allowed to be free.
For anyone reading who thinks: hey, I don’t have control over many of the things that happen in my life; it all started when I was younger–I’ve never had a choice. Respectively, there were likely a number of times as a kid when choice wasn’t always in your favor, or situations around you trained you to believe you did not have a choice. However, if we are ever going to attempt to change anything we need to understand that everything is a choice. It might be so uncomfortable to say NO or cancel plans or set a boundary but these are the necessary first steps to putting yourself first.
How does all of this relate to the way we feel judgment?
Subconsciously, we store all of these memories and pieces of information that then create an internal dialogue that says: I can’t have what other people have because I am unworthy. People don’t just walk around openly stating that they feel unworthy but somewhere deep down, we’ve internalized ideas that say as much. You see, when we constantly let ourselves play second fiddle, don’t speak up for ourselves, or rush to an appointment instead of giving ourselves two minutes to center, we are allowing things to happen to us.
Are you sitting passively in the passenger seat of your life while other people and things are driving the car? Remember it is your life and you’re meant to be driving the car.
In non-metaphorical terms: don’t sit by, letting things happen to you when things could be happening for you.
TLDR: the first step is always recognizing if and where you’re acting out of misalignment. Do you feel like you can’t fully be yourself in even a small way? Next, get to the root and find the trigger. When you can uncover why someone or something bothers you, you can trace it back to how you aren’t meeting your own needs. Is there something you’ve been denying yourself? Space, freedom, rest, basic needs, sleep, connection, etc. Name it.
When you respect yourself enough to give yourself the time, love, or amenities you desire, you don’t hate on other people for doing the same for themselves. Naturally, you’ll know that what they do doesn’t matter and doesn’t affect you.
It’s easier to judge than it is to accept that you want what someone else has. It’s easier to fear something than to admit you’re secretly curious to go learn more and try that thing out for yourself.
We judge other people by what we don’t accept in ourselves.
This may not make sense right away so I’ll give some examples, but first let me talk about repressed aspects of self. We all have different parts of our identity created by interests, people we spend time with, environments, and more. For some of us, these are so unconscious that we naturally slip into one version of ourselves with each changing situation. Others of us are aware of it and we’ll call it “putting on a face” when we have to act a certain way to please an external party. We can be one version of self when we clock in at the office, another version when we meet up for drinks at 6pm, and a different version entirely when we answer a phone call from our mom.
On a surface level, we can all probably imagine how we act a little (or a lot) different in different settings. Some people can be pretty consistently the same person wherever they go but there are always aspects of self that only certain people (or maybe only you) get to see. The different selves, as I call them, are very deeply conditioned by society and upbringing. To know what they are is to be in tune with your subconscious.
A whole and integrated person, without fragmented selves, will see someone else doing something or having something and not feel threatened. What someone else has or does really, truly, does not impact you or take away from you.
A surefire way to tell that you have a separation of identity is when you freak out or get upset when you see someone else disobeying the societal standards.
For example, maybe you dress very conservatively for work even though it’s not your style or you wear shoes that are uncomfortable because they meet the standards of attire. Then, in one day walks your coworker wearing relaxed attire, maybe sneakers instead of dress shoes. What’s your response? If you’re a little ticked off and wondering why they get to wear clothes outside of the dress code policy you’re not the only one.
Some people might fume in silence but the really fired up people might head to the manager’s office and alert them about so-and-so’s clothes. While, yes, technically the person might not be wearing the right attire based on company guidelines but the judgment you’d be imposing has nothing to do with them and everything to do with what you feel. Let me repeat that.
Judgment has nothing to do with another person or thing and has everything to do with what you are feeling.
It can be a number of things brewing beneath the surface that stir up the “threat alert” in your brain (aka is triggered) enough to make you upset or run over to the manager’s office. It could be as straightforward as you hating your uncomfortable shoes and thinking: if I can’t wear sneakers to work, then they shouldn’t be wearing them either! Or, it could be deeper-seated discomfort tied to other things going on.
You’ve probably heard how it’s important to talk about stuff that bothers you because it will just bottle up until you explode. It’s kind of like that. If you’re dissatisfied in any way, those emotions can cloud your views and impact your treatment of other people.
Maybe you haven’t had time for your hobbies or social life so a job or living situation makes you feel creatively castrated. Note: nothing external can make you do anything; triggers only stir up feelings. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with the job itself (I mean, there could be) but it’s the way you’re looking at it that is dissatisfying. All it takes is a trigger, like the person behaving outside of normative standards, and then you apply your frustration onto it. Will calling out someone else make you feel better? Eh, perhaps for a split second but not long-term at all. After this person or thing, you’ll need to find another situation to get upset about. And yes, find. We have to go out of our way to look for problems.
You can play the blame game and name 100 reasons why someone else is at fault but you’re still the one who is holding onto the judgment that is keeping you out of alignment with yourself.
When you stay focused on yourself and create internal sources of validation, you don’t need to search for it outside. People who are in a good mood have this. Perhaps you also know the feeling: when you’re in such a good mood that nothing anyone says or does can bother you; all else rolls right off your shoulders?
Frustration comes from looking outside and viewing others as having something you don’t have. You judge them for it, imagining that they’re somehow better than you because of certain qualities or situations you see but that’s not the whole picture. Likely, it isn’t even the right picture because you’re making assumptions or projecting beliefs based on your own insecurities.
In my next post I’ll further explain how to unpack these denied aspects of self.
She is a female, Dutch bunny who was destined to be a show rabbit at the county fair before the whole nationwide self-quarantine orders were put into place.
In my last post, you read how I had actually adopted a rabbit and had to put her down after 3 short days with her. It was heartbreaking to say the least. I cried and mourned over the soul I had only just begun to get to know and now won’t get to know. Despite all of this, I still knew I wanted a pet rabbit and started hunting around on Facebook for anyone local who may have some available.
Granted, I did jump the gun a little because the day I got my Dutch bunny was only two days after putting down my previous one. So that made it bittersweet and a little difficult to watch Millie skitter around and be cute. At the same time, I knew that through loving another pet, this would be healing for me.
When I first saw Millie all she could do was look at me with her big eyes, begging to be picked up and held.
When I first saw her, she was swamped with over 50-100+ other rabbits all waiting to be sold off. Where did I find this giant collection of rabbits you wonder? Someone local to me was selling them off because the county fair couldn’t happen and I guess the 4-H kids didn’t want to keep their rabbits. (Side note: What?! I’ve never done 4-H but I feel like I’d want to keep my pet if I spent several months raising it and getting attached.)
Anyway, Millie (was previously unnamed; Millie is the name I gave her) was in a cage just staring through the fence with her little baby face. I opened the gate and she was just READY to be pet. I’ve never had rabbits that actually enjoyed being pet so that was something I was looking for with this new rabbit I was in the market for.
I was torn between her and a white Mini Rex with black spots. Both seemed kind and friendly but something about her was funny looking but really cute at the same time. (A friend of mine later said she reminds him of pugs and now calls her a pug-bunny LOL.) Yet she had this docile look on her face that just begged: TAKE ME! So I was like, okay little one, you win.
The moment I brought her home I quickly learned she was putting on a calm front but she is actually a hyper and rambunctious bunny!
Millie wearing her harness for her first outdoor adventure!
I’m talking about electric energy: sprinting, doing little kicks and flips when she runs around, and circling my feet like a little busy-bee each time I see her. So far, she just wants to destroy her cage, mark her territory, and pretend to dig holes in the corners of rooms (she’s wacky!) but, you know, it’s okay.
Of all times, since I am spending uninterrupted hours at home, it’s an excellent time for me to bond with her, play with her, and attempt to potty train her. Fingers crossed! This is part of the fun of having a new pet.
I may not have acquired Millie under the most serene circumstances but I am thankful to have her lighting up my days. She keeps me on my toes. Even better: we’re getting through these times of self-quarantine together! 💗
This is a different post for me and it was hard to write, for obvious reasons, but I hope it is educational and informative for anyone who owns or handles rabbits.
Today’s post is about how I discovered a rabbit of mine was sick with a parasite called Encephalitozoon cuniculi, or E. cuniculi for short. I’d never heard of it myself so I want to put the information out there for anyone else who has a pet rabbit. As a forewarning, I don’t have pictures of what happened but the story is a weird one.
First, let me give you some background on my history with rabbits.
When I was younger, I had pet rabbits. My mom used to have rabbits when she was younger, too, so that’s pretty much how my family started keeping rabbits. My first one was named Buffy and I had him for about 4 years. In 2011 I got my second rabbit, Twix, who really made a lasting impact on my family and me. We had him for almost 7 years. He was a little fussy but he had a lot of character and we taught him to do tricks (like jump on and off the couch).
So, none of us were ready for another rabbit at the time we had to put Twix down back in 2017. Oddly enough, both him and Buffy suffered similar cases of bone density loss and decreased mobility. During the last approximately 6 months of each of their lives, they weren’t able to function as a normal rabbit should. Of course, we wanted them to live a full and satisfying life and needed to do what was best for their conditions. Anyway, that’s what also made it particularly hard the last time around.
I’d begun to warm up to the idea of getting another rabbit toward the end of 2018 but I had a number of my own plans up in the air that I wasn’t sure I could add a rabbit to that mix. However, I did know that whenever I did get another rabbit, I wanted to adopt. I had gotten my first two at pet shops but, with the knowledge I have now, I know there are rabbit breeders and organizations to help adopt them, just as you can dogs and cats. The trouble was, I hadn’t seen any in my area.
Now, let’s flash-forward to March 2020 when I first adopted a rabbit.
It wasn’t until I saw a posting on the website of my local paper advertising a rabbit up for adoption by the Humane Society that I thought: this is it! I was excited thinking I had finally manifested my dream of adopting a rabbit. It seemed SO timely because here in the U.S. we are under quarantine and have shelter-in-place orders. What better way to enjoy being at home than with a pet??
So, I contacted the Humane Society but received news that the rabbit advertised was just adopted. Although, they explained, there are more options for rabbits at the Humane Society and at foster homes. I decided to go to the shelter to see the rabbit they had there. I honestly wasn’t too picky about how the rabbit looked because all rabbits are cute in their own way. I just wanted to get a feel for her temperament. The rabbit they had was an adult female, probably about 3 years old, and of Californian breed. She seemed intriguing; I considered setting up meet-and-greets with some of the foster rabbit owners, but soon decided that the big beautiful rabbit needed a home and I wanted to provide that for her.
It was a process because the Humane Society wanted to get her spayed before releasing her to me. So I filled out the adoption paperwork and was set to bring her home on Tuesday, March 31st. Cool. But all that weekend leading up to her procedure I had this nervous feeling about it. Like, I was worried something bad was going to happen.
I almost couldn’t believe that I was going to get to bring her home but come Tuesday evening, I did.
I brought her home and had a little space set up for her. I knew I needed to be careful not to handle her for a few days since she was still healing from getting spayed. What was troubling was that she didn’t seem to have an appetite or want to move around much. I’ve never dealt with getting rabbits fixed so I thought perhaps she just needs a little time and, plus, this is a new environment for her.
Truly though, she didn’t mind being pet and she seemed very chill! So, I held hope she would come around as she started to feel better. When she didn’t eat her pellets or hay, I had to intercept by syringe-feeding her this supplement called Critical Care that I got from the vet’s office. The rabbit would fuss a little beforehand but if held securely, she’d start to eat from the syringe. So, this is what I was doing on Tuesday through Friday of that week. It wasn’t until right after her lunchtime feeding that things took a turn.
My mom was assisting me with holding the rabbit while I fed her but when we were done, she turned to put the rabbit back in her space. We were sitting on the floor, ground level, and it looks like the rabbit didn’t get her footing. She stood in a funny position next to her water dish. My mom picked her up to rearrange her but she started kicking wildly. “Put her down!” I shouted. My mom let go of her but the rabbit kept kicking in what initially looked to me like a seizure.
It was the craziest and most saddening thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
After seeing that she wasn’t going to be able to stand up properly, my mom quickly scooped her back up and held the rabbit tightly in her arms. Our only guess was maybe she had sprained her leg or hurt her foot and that’s why she wasn’t able to stand and that spiraled her into the seizure-like panic attack. I called the vet’s office where she had gotten spayed and explained what happened, asking if I could bring her in and they said yes, right away. My mom drove while I held onto the rabbit with a towel, firmly holding her body and legs or else she would begin to kick and move.
Again, I thought maybe she had hurt her leg and she didn’t realize what happened. But there I was sitting in the backseat of the car and my rabbit’s body was twisted and one of her eyes was rolling to the side. It was disturbing and I just prayed the vet would know how to help her because what I was seeing did not make sense. She hadn’t shown signs of weakening mobility, balance issues, or anything prior.
We get to the vet’s office and somehow I’m able to transfer her from my arms to the table. I explained what happened to the vet and what we suspected may be the issue. He takes her to get xrays, thinking she may have thrown out her back. Yet, he comes back with the news that there are no injuries. That being said, he believes she has a parasite in her brain.
There is a parasite called E. cuniculi which affects the immune systems of rabbits.
It starts in the kidneys and sometimes they can get rid of it on their own. In mild cases, the parasite can cause the rabbit to lose mobility in its hind legs or suffer from a head tilt. Though, the rabbits can adapt and live, otherwise, happy, healthy lives. The vet said there are medications to treat it but 1) he didn’t have them in stock and 2) they aren’t guaranteed–especially with the state my rabbit was in, which was far past the mild symptoms he described.
In extreme cases, the parasite crosses the blood-brain barrier and forces the rabbits to turn towards one side in a spiraling motion. If I or the vet wasn’t holding my rabbit, she would do exactly that. It was like an endless, frantic spin to one side. The vet said an option was to see if she would come out of it on her own but, again, no guarantees. I didn’t want her to suffer through that because she’d surely injure herself, or give herself a heart attack, if left to just keep spiraling the way her body was forcing her to.
Looking into her eyes and feeling her rapid heartbeat, I felt that she must have been just as confused and frightened about the way her body was contorting as I was. I couldn’t hold her in my arms forever so, unfortunately, the only option was to put her down.
The real question I was asking myself was: why did this happen?
As the vet said, this was a parasite that she must have acquired somewhere. It can lay dormant and not affect the rabbit, sometimes they can fight it off, but it all depends on their immune systems. He said the symptoms can be brought on after a stressful event. “Like getting fixed?” I asked him. While the surgery itself wouldn’t cause this, the rabbit’s immune system could have been in a compromised state post-spay that the parasite now had an advantage over. The vet said sees about three cases a year where rabbits are affected by E. cuniculi but it’s not tied to them getting fixed.
Further research on my own showed me that rabbits are most often affected by it but other animals can acquire and pass along the parasite. The parasite can also be transmitted to humans and is most concerning for individuals who are immune-compromised. It seems that the parasite is spread through urine and high urination levels is a sign that the kidneys have been affected. I didn’t realize it was a problem until then but when I first adopted my rabbit, she was peeing a lot. I thought it was just because she was a big rabbit, so bigger pools of pee.
Since I only had her for three days, it’s hard for me to say what her condition was prior. The Humane Society said she was “fine” when she was there but was she peeing a lot at the time? Was she already losing her appetite? If she hadn’t gotten fixed, is it possible that she had this parasite in her and could have fought it off? Perhaps; but that wasn’t within my power or within my knowledge at the time.
I’m sorry to write a less-than-cheery post but I think this information is important, if only so that you’re aware. Pass it along to anyone who raises rabbits so that they can be informed and look out for the signs. There’s some information online about E. cuniculi and this briefing of a study proved informative for me. The good news is that while many rabbits can contract the parasite, very few actually become disabled or develop the severe symptoms I described. If they are healthy, kept in clean conditions, they should be able to get rid of it and be just fine!
Despite things not working out, I still wanted to adopt a rabbit. Since this incident, I have added a member to my family in the form of a small, Dutch rabbit…so keep a lookout for my next post introducing her!
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