Help and Opinions needed for rabbit with abcsess behind eye.

My family runs a small animal rescue in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. A couple of months ago, the Edmonton City Pound contacted us regarding a rabbit that was at her euthanasia date, and the city shelter was full. We took her in. She had been a stray prior to arriving at the pound. We named her Sabra. (say-bra)

A week after her arrival she went to a foster home.

They contacted us on the ninth, saying that they had to take Sabra to the emergency clinic that evening. Her eye was bulging out to the point that she couldn't close it, and looked infected. They said that they didn't notice anything amiss the day prior, so it came on quite quickly.The vet, who wasn't a rabbit vet but the only one available after hours, thought that she probably had an abscess behind her eye. They were given some Baytril, pain medication, and lubricant for her eye.

We made an appointment for her with a good rabbit vet and they took her the day after the emergency appointment. Dr.Steele agreed that it was an abscess behind the eye, but prescribed antibiotic eye drops to see if they would make a difference. She also estimated that Sabra is about 3-4 years of age.

She went for a re-check on the 12th, and unfortunately the abscess had spread a bit around the eye. She said that in order to remove it, Sabra will have to have her eye removed as well....and that it's likely a pasturella abscess. We're speaking to the vet tomorrow to book the surgery for as soon as possible.

This is what her eye looks like, as of two days ago, when we were at her foster home:





The plan was that the foster family would take her to her appointment and we would pick her up, because there is someone here 24/7 to provide her aftercare. After doing a lot of reading, most of what I'm seeing says that the abscess is contagious. We have two other rabbits in rescue but can quarantine her in another area of the house. Is it contagious via the air, as well as being able to be transferred by our hands? Is it contagious to other species, such as guinea pigs?

Does anybody who has experienced this problem before have any hints or tips for us?

Hello

I am very sorry to hear about Sabra's illness

Abscesses behind the eye can be the result of infection around an overgrown tooth root ie part of an advanced Dental Disease.
Personally I would want to get a skull Xray done to assess the degree of bone involvement (osteomyelitis) before putting my Bun through the removal of an eye.

Here is a useful link related to a case of a Bun with Dental Disease causing a retrobular abscess

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17362161

If eye removal does take place then the Vet needs to culture a swab from the abscess wall to identify the exact bacteria involved and the most appropriate antibiotic to prescribe

Is Bicillin available in Canada? It is not over here but it is in the USA and it may be a useful tool in the Vets armoury

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/cs/jack.html

If Sabra is given Bicillin it would be a good idea for the Vet to prescribe QUESTRAN ( Cholestyramine) too

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/questran.html

This can help protect the Bun from developing a Penicillin induced Enteritis/Enterotoxaemia

Obviously adequate pain relief will be needed aswell as careful monitoring of GI motility. Assisted feeding and gut motility meds may be required in the initial post surgery stages.

Most Rabbits carry one of the strains of Pasteurella. They only develop clinical symptoms as a result of another problem such as Dental Disease.
So although in theory a Rabbit with an 'active' Pasteurellosis is infectious to other Rabbits I have found that 'in contact' Rabbits dont develop clinical symptoms.
In a Rescue setting quarantine and barrier nursing might be a good idea though

Here is a link about Pasteurellosis *WARNING VERY GRAPHIC PHOTOS*

http://lbah.com/rabbits/pasteurella.htm#intro

Good luck and please keep us posted

Janex

Awww poor bunny One of my rabbits had the same condition a couple of years ago and had her eye removed - she's fine now and her treatment/drugs etc is mentioned in this thread http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=101183&highlight=metronidazole

Thanks for the information, we'll make sure that we have our vet read it before making any final decisions on the surgery.

We'll also ask about the medications.

If it's pasturella, is it contagious to any other species?

I believe Pastuerella is dangerous to Guinea Pigs.

Pasteurella is a bacteria which pretty much any species can carry.

Dogs and cats often carry it. However it only tends to be delicate small animals that it causes a problem for.

There has even been a recent case of a hunter catching it from a wild rabbit and actually dying. Don't let that scare you tho', it was a one-off case, and totally out of the ordinary.

Amy

Yes you'd have to be bitten by an animal carrying pasteurella, and then not pay any attention to hygeine either - if all cuts and bites are washed and disinfected routinely, covered with a sticking plaster etc. there's no danger.

It's bortadella that affect guinea pigs I think. Many rabbits test positive for pasteurella but never get sick with it at all - usually it causes a lung infection which is where the contagious aspect comes in as if other animals are within sneezing distance they can catch it too - although it may or may not cause them to become ill. I think in a rescue situation where many of the animals are stressed and not in the best health anyway, there is more danger of them becoming ill through pasteurella, even if they've had it years with no symptoms - it's one of those things that waits till you're laid low by circumstances.

Sabra had her surgery today. The abscess had moved down since her last checkup, and Dr.Steele was able to remove it without removing her eye. They did X-Rays prior to surgery to ensure that it wasn't being caused by a troublesome molars, and her teeth looked great. The X-Rays were so sad to look at, one side of her face is so obviously swollen and bulging visibly on the X-Ray.

She looks very gruesome right now; the abscess is an infection and although they can remove it the infection has to be fought. They took a culture to determine what antibiotic will be the best choice. We've sent her all of the information you guys provided, so thank you very much! :wave: For now she's on Baytril. She sewed her eyelid closed, leaving a small hole at one corner, and a drainage tube. Rabbit pus is thick...the tube is just to keep it open, and to help flush it. We have to flush it out with saline and her antibiotic eye drops by sticking a syringe in the corner of her eye and into the tube, to push the pus out and keep it clean. They said that if we can stomach it, to use a Q-Tip to scoop it out.

They reinforced the stitches with light plastic tubing where it came into contact with the eye to keep them from becoming irritated or even tearing the skin due to swelling. The stitches go right through the tube.

They did a wonderful job and took excellent care of her. Both Dr.Steele and Dr.Black (both women) and the vet techs were very nice and took a lot of time to answer our questions. Dr.Steele added everything up and then gave us %50 off so a huge thank you to the South Side Animal Clinic.

You can click the thumbnails for bigger pictures!





The following pictures are a bit graphic.










http://www.southsidevet.com/

This is the website for the veterinary clinic. I HIGHLY recommend them.

Awww poor bunny - sounds like you have a good vet though so I hope she's well soon

Sending healing vibes

Just realised you're in Canada :shock: :wave:

In that case, you might want to persuade your vet to treat with bicillin. Apparently it's very effective on abscesses.

Unfortunately we can't get bicillin here in the U.K. because there haven't been enough tests carried out to prove its effectiveness.

Are you a member of Etherbun? Cuz there are loads of really experienced people on there who can advise you more than we can.

Amy

ohhh poor bunny .

no advice other than what has been said ...and it looks like shes in good hands .
hope all goes well

Angie