Week 1

Making Rabbit Anaesthesia Safer

Pre-op advice for clients

ASA grading – what increases the risk?

Monitoring under general anaesthesia

Post-operative care

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Recap rabbit anaesthesia and how you can help build up your confidence, including pre op, intra op and post op care

Identify signs to be monitoring under anaesthesia – including CO₂, SPO₂, reflexes, HR, RR and BP readings

Use the ASA grading system, to look at why rabbits may be at a higher risk, compared with dogs and cats when placed under GA

Understand the options for intubation and maintaining an airway

Week 2

Analgesia – Taking the Pain Away

The signs of pain

Causes of pain

Knock on effects of uncontrolled pain

Analgesia options

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Identify the signs that rabbits show when in pain – these can be easily missed!

Learn how to use with the ‘Rabbit Grimace Scale’ in conjunction with clinical signs

Appreciate the secondary problems that pain can lead to, when it is not managed correctly

Know what analgesia options can be used in rabbits

Week 3

Preparing for an Emergency

Preparation at the practice

Triaging rabbits

Obtaining a capsule history

Assessment

Managing owner expectations

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Appreciate that when the phone rings it is important to be prepared for the emergency rabbit case. Know what to do and what equipment to set up to be ready

Understand how to triage rabbits and when continuing to do so may be detrimental

Obtain a quick and useful history from the owner to enable treatment to commence

Conduct a full assessment of the rabbit – from head to toe

Communicate with clients, managing their expectations and keeping them informed

Week 4

Critical Care – Keeping them Alive!

What is and what isn’t an emergency

What to do when faced with a rabbit emergency

Stabilisation and oxygen therapy

Learning objectives
After completion of this week, participants should be able to:

Identify rabbit emergencies – they are not always obvious, and knowing what is and what isn’t an emergency is important

Understand the health conditions which are emergencies in rabbits, including gastrointestinal stasis/blockages, flystrike, liver lobe torsion and respiratory distress

Achieve the important goal of keeping stress to a minimum

Identify the signs of improvement and deterioration