An update on Indy the Bunny:

Got a call from the vet on my cellphone during work today. Another doctor was handling the case until tonight. He filled me in and suggested that we come to visit to evaluate her condition. We got there at 7 o'clock. A tech brought Indy into one of the exam rooms and we stayed with her for about 45 minutes.

She started walking around the room without any problems at all. She looked bad - she lost weight and some of her skin was just hanging. She had just been force fed, so she was a bit messy. Her paws are almost black from the bedding they use in the cages. She went under a table in the corner of the room. I reached under for her and started to pet her, when she pressed her head into my hand - one of her signs that she really enjoyed what I was doing. I petted her for a while and she ate it up. Then she grunted at me and walked away. Yep - she was pissed at us.

She kept walking around the room, collecting dust bunnies in her whiskers. Still another doctor walked in (by now, I think we've met the whole staff) and showed us new x-rays. Though she hasn't been eating, except the force feedings, she *may* have eaten some hay and there were fecal pellets in her colon, just not much. Her bladder was much smaller and emptier. She asked if we wanted to take her home tonight. We said no - we want to get her going in the right direction first. The doctor left and we continued paying attention to Indy.

Eventually, she was just walking around just to get away from us. I grabbed her and made her stay in front of me. I just tried to control her and pet her.

Carol brought with an entire selection of food that we normally feed her. She grabbed a leaf of green leaf lettuce and threw it on the floor in front of her.

Indy immediately started eating - her eyes lit up and she started plowing through the leaf. She left it alone, walked around the room a bit, and then came back to the lettuce and ate more. She then became disinterested in everything (and everybody) and just walked around the room exploring.

I grabbed her and put her on the exam table, I picked up what was left of the lettuce and put it in front of her. She ate more. She turned around to look at me and I put my head down to her level. She licked my nose, just like she would do at home when we were having one of our bounding sessions. Carol pulled of another leaf of lettuce and Indy started eating that, too.

Then she stopped, backed-up into my arm... and peed on my arm and the table. She had no pain and didn't struggle to urinate at all. She moved around a bit more, ate a bit more, then backed-up toward Carol and peed on the table. When we wiped it up, you can easily see the "sludge" that the doctors were talking about.

Eventually, the office closed. We could hear the techs locking up and checking out the animals when we heard "Hey, where's Indy?"

The staff forgot about us. We had to yell to let the tech know which rooms we were in. The first tech that brought Indy into us came back to pick her up to put her back in her cage. She was very pleased to see that Indy ate and peed. We left a head of green leaf lettuce for the staff to feed to her.

When we left to go out, the front office staff didn't know we were still back there and had already locked the door for the night.

All in all, Carol and I are both very relived. We both have the sense that Indy is in much better shape and has turned the corner. We hope to have her home real soon.