Coco’s Liver Lobe Torsion (LLT) Experience
STORY
Coco was his usual self that morning, seeing me off at the door when I left for work. But when I came home, he didn’t come to the door (as me coming home always means treats for him.)
I found him hunched in a corner, covered with pee, which never happens because he is litter box trained. 
As it was already 7pm, our usual vet was closed for the day.
I can’t stress how important it is to have a list of rabbit savvy vets, their opening hours, and phone numbers on hand. Even though we had that, I was in a huge panic, and was lucky enough to have a huge support group to help me phone the vets.
We eventually got hold of Brighton, who had a rabbit savvy vet on duty, and we rushed down immediately. The X-ray and blood works indicated that Coco was not having GI, another common ailment. At that point it was almost certainly Liver Lobe Torsion (LLT).
We were advised to ward Coco at an overnight vet, so we rushed down to one of three overnight vets which cater to rabbits. However, again, we got a similar prognosis of “he might not survive the night”, and was even advised to consider euthanasia 😭
Not wanting to leave him in a cold metal cage with a vet that had such pessimistic view of his condition, I brought him home, and gave him lots of hugs, critical care, hay, and love. At that point, I was mentally prepared to have him pass away in my arms. 😭
But six hours of watching big bang theory together later (Coco’s favourite show), we made it to dawn! In the morning, we got to Beecroft, which was the first to respond at 7am. They too have an overnight clinic, which in hindsight, we should have went to as they have an excellent exotic team during working hours.
Miraculously enough, Coco’s liver untwisted itself during the night. There were signs of damage and bruising on his ultrasound, but the lobes untwisted themselves! 😯 Coco was spared surgery, but got a plethora of medicine, and asked to come back for in 3 days.
At the 2nd checkup, a week and a specialist ultrasound later, Coco was put on liver restorative medicines and given a clean bill of health!
LESSONS LEARNT
Emotional trauma aside, the pragmatic thing all rabbit owners should prepare is an emergency fund. We spent around 3.5k, 9 taxi trips, and one sleepless night during this ordeal. This sum is without surgery, and overnight hospitalisation. At the point of stress, you would also want to do all you can to save their lives, and money is the last thing you’d want to worry about.
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Read more about Liver Lobe Torsion (LLT) here
