It
was sad when in October, 2004, Dr. Stahl decided we had to put a collar on Ernie, but Ernie's condition was very bad. He was not moving, looked depressed, and acted very
lethargic. The collar had to be used otherwise Ernie would pick on his
wound (under his right wing) and the infection would start all over
again. With such a large collar, it was hard for Ernie to eat, drink, and preen
himself. I helped him eat by cutting his food into small pieces and hand
feeding him. I used a special spoon for feeding him paste-like foods and
for water. Doing this several times a day proved to be challenging
especially when I had to go to work...
Ernie
was depressed as you can see in the picture above. Click on any of these pictures to see a larger
view. I knew that for Ernie to be happy, I had to devise a way for him to eat and drink on his own.
I tilted the feeder rings so the dishes were at the correct angle for
Ernie's collar (as seen in the second picture.)
To do this, I made two
pieces of wood (suitably sized,) and nailed them together as seen in the
picture on the left. This wood filler is to raise the food so it is just a little below the top of the dish.
When
the wood filler was placed in the feeding dish, the deep dish became
much shallower, so we could place a small amount of food for Ernie to eat.
Sometimes we made cooked food (such as scrambled eggs,) and in such cases, we covered the
wood filler with plastic wrap in order to keep it clean. The water dish was
tilted in the same manner and filled with water to the top (no need for the wood
insert in this case.) Ernie was thus able to eat and
drink on his own. Now, several weeks later, Ernie is doing well and back
to normal...
We
would like to thank our expert vets, Dr. Scott J. Stahl for saving Ernie, and
Dr. David A. Crum who saved our rabbit, Honey Bunnie when she stopped
eating. The staff assisting these two doctors are very skilled, wonderful to
talk with, and very helpful on the phone and in person. Dr. Stahl is on
the left, and Dr. Crum on the right. Please visit the website for the Stahl
Exotic Animal Veterinary Services to find more about our excellent vets and their
great staff. In our experience, these two
doctors and their staff are the finest in the Washington, DC Area.
