A few weeks ago I reported that my little bunny Ollie was ill and that there was little we could do about it. The later part of the phrase may be untrue. Here is what happened:

About one month ago it looked like Ollie had a mass in her chest that was pushing up on her thorax. She was having trouble breathing. The initial prognosis was grim, and the available surgical options were beyond our means.

I consulted with our vet last week. She had previously recommended that I take Ollie to Tufts for an ultrasound. In her opinion this would help to determine whether it would be possible to treat the mass in her chest cavity as either a cancer or an infection. Mind you, we could not tell at the time where the mass was. If it were in her lungs, Ollie would not likely awaken from the necessary surgery. If there were a cancer in her chest cavity, it could not be removed without great risk. the other options were other types of masses and infections. One rare option also seemed possible. Surgical options are very expensive. X-rays are notoriously difficult to read for bunnies and more advanced diagnosis is often needed for complex problems. Out vet did not think that it was a lung problem, but could not tell anything beyond that.

We thought that we had two options: treat the mass as an infection (zap it with antibiotics) or as a cancer. At first we saw no sense going to Tufts: if it proved to be a cancer we could do nothing about it. It seemed better to save the money for other treatments. However, our vet proposed that steroids could be used to shrink the size of the tumor and give Ollie comfort and time. A more precise diagnosis was critical as steroids could increase the size of an infection if that was the real problem. The vet recommended that we bring Ollie to another vet who had more experience with bunnies.

The second vet was as flummoxed as the first. He thought the prognosis was grim as well. He added new possibilities onto the first: that the mass might come from the myocardium, and that it was a manifestation of heart disease. He called the x-ray inconclusive. But listening to her lungs he felt that they were clear. New possibilities meant that different avenues to treatment might be open--at least those that involved medicine rather than invasive surgeries (even if they were only to prolong life).

To Tufts. We drove out with Ollie to Grafton (south of Worcester) to the Foster Hospital for Small Animals. Ollie received a lot of attention: two veterinary physicians, one graduate student, and another assistant. Looking at the x-ray, they felt that the prognosis was grim. But listening in, they said that the heart and lungs were clear and the mass was likely between the two. So they brought Ollie for an ultrasound. Ollie had to go under gas. They shaved her underside. The results: "a multilobulated 4x4x4 cm cystic mass." No clearly a tumor, but not all cancer. While she was still under, they stuck a needle in (guided by the ultrasound) to see what came out. They found mostly liquid with some cells. Draining the liquid had the immediate affect of relieving the pressure on Ollie's lungs. The nature of the cells are not known and will be sent to a pathologist. According to the vets at Tufts, this could be anything from abnormal lymphatic cells to fungus to bacteria.

Now there are new options. Instead of surgery to remove a tumor, chemotherapy or radiation. But the other possibilities can be approached by more aggressive regimen of medicine.

The vets gave us pain killers to give to Ollie so that she is comfortable enough to eat. However, there is a remarkable improvement in her behavior already. She is happy and bouncy and flouncy (it's a word). And we have hope.

A few notes:

• Ollie has charmed everyone. Even the big male professor from Germany who examined her fell in love. If only we could use that to pay for her treatments and exams.


• If you think that there is a complex problem with your pet, have your vet refer you over to Tufts. They are very good. The wife and I could not be happier. At no time did we lack confidence in their attention to Ollie and her problems. They were exhaustive in their examination.