Ophelia is a beautiful 9 month old Rex bunny who visited us recently to have her desexing operation (spey). On the morning of her operation, Ophelia's mum brought along some of her favourite food to have before and after her operation. Unlike cats and dogs, rabbit are not required to fast prior to their anaesthetic. In fact, it is very important to keep their stomach and intestines working or it could cause a serious post operative complication.

When we first met with little Sootica, her owners had brought her in for a routine vaccination and check-up, they were also very keen to find out if Sootica was a boy or girl. Sootica, as we discovered, is a little female rabbit. During her initial consultation, we discussed ideal housing, a balanced diet, vaccination regimes and most importantly desexing. Her owners were also provided with some take home information about caring for rabbits.

Milo is a little bunny who sometimes has trouble with his intestinal system. He is prone to a disease in rabbits called Gut Stasis. This means that he stops eating and pooing and his intestines stop moving as they should. This is very serious in a rabbit as they need to be constantly eating and defecating to keep their intestines moving. If they stop it can be fatal. Unfortunately in some cases it is too late to save them by the time the rabbits are brought to the clinic, so early recognition and prompt treatment are very important.

This month we had a special little friend staying with us at the clinic. After being bought on a school excursion to the Victoria Market, little "Ducky" had a hard time fitting into his new environment. His new family found that he had very specific and different needs to that of the furry kind of pet.

On Easter Sunday we had a very amused client come into the clinic with a gorgeous little white bunny she had found wandering the streets. (No doubt the bunny had just finished her rounds delivering all the easter eggs in the neighbourhood).

Minnie is a very cute and friendly seven year old guinea pig. She came to visit our hospital as she had a very big lump growing on the side of her face that was starting to cause her some worries. We were a little concerned about putting Minnie through a general anaesthetic and surgery as she is a very old patient for a guinea pig.

Early one morning a rainbow lorikeet was brought into the clinic that had been hit by a car. We could tell the bird was still very young as his beak was only just beginning to change from black to orange. He was in severe shock, was breathing heavily and had a lot of missing feathers.

Eric is a cheeky little five year old ferret. He came to see us this month as he had experienced a few episodes of becoming very weak, rather than being his usual energetic self.

Sometimes we are not quite sure what will come through the door at the Essendon Vet Clinic next, and on a busy Tuesday morning we were never expecting this. Across the road there was a mini explosion, with sparks flying everywhere, then something fell from the powerlines. Simone and Tania ran across the road to see what had happened, while the rest of the clinic tried to sort out the computers that had stopped working with the momentary loss of electricity. The rescuers returned with a very stunned and charcoaled magpie, blinking at us, unsure what to do.

Misty is a one year old dwarf bunny who came to see us at Essendon Vet Clinic as she had stopped eating that day. She was much quieter than usual at home, not getting up to her usual antics.