Abscess

Hello everybody,:wave:

I have just found this forum while looking for some information for my little bunny Hazel. She is a 5 year old mini lop.

About 4 weeks ago Hazel suffered from flystrike. Luckily we caught it very early & rushed her to the vets & they were able to remove the maggots & clean her up. She has a bald back end but it is healing well.

Due to the stress she went through she lost half her body weight We put her on a recovery diet & she has just started building her weight up very, very slowly. She has a full belly but lost a lot of her muscle.

Last week I noticed that she had a lot of wax in her left ear. I cleaned it out but then it was back a couple of days later. We go back to the vets every week for them to check her flystrike wound so I got them to look at her ear on friday & they said she has an abscess there.

They have said they can operate but they can't guarantee it will all be removed & could come back. She could also lose the use of her eyelid & damage to her jaw because of the nerves around that area.

We are taking her for antibiotic injections every other day now & the pus seems to have got a bit less but we need to decide whether it's worth the risk of surgery or pts now.

We don't want Hazel to suffer & she has had a good life. She is still 'Hazel' at the mo if you know what I mean & I don't know if it would be selfish for us to put her through surgery just to have a little bit more time with her. She's been through so much & I don't know if she could cope with much more trauma right now.

Sorry for the long post.

Kelly
x

:wave:

I think this has to be a case of 'you know your bunny best'. You say she's still herself now despite all the aggravation. I can only speak for myself, but I would want to give my bunnies every chance. UNLESS, they were so ill that they werent themselves and were appearing to be tired and on the verge of giving up. I suppose some things are just too much for them. Like i said, you know your bunny the best. Deep down you'll know what to do

Good luck!
Lisa and the buns xx

Hi, I agree with BwfcAngel if it was me all the time your bun seems her normal self I would keep going with the treatment. Hopefully the AB's will get rid of the abcess and it may not come back. Hope she gets better soon.

Do you know which Abx is she is on?

We discovered an abcess on Bobby's jaw last october/ november time. He is 6 years old.
He had an operation to remove the abcess and the hole was packed with antibiotics. Since then it has been drained at the vets 5 times, and he has been fine through all of this treatment. He has lost some weight, but is still himself. Ther did come a time when his eyes went dull and I thought he'd given up, but the abcess was drained again and he is fine.
It does depend on the bunny though, and you WILL know when it's time to give up. Maybe it's now, maybe next month, maybe a year down the line. It all depends on how Hazel copes with the treatment.
I know that if my Ruby had the same thing as Bobby she would go downhill very quickly, as she doesn't do poorly very well.
Best wishes to you both.

Hi,

Thank you for your replies.

I would consider operating but my hubby says he couldn't put her through it. I can see where he's coming from as, although she is still herslf, she has started to look old & slowed down a bit. I was watching her run around the garden last night & she kept stopping for a rest & lie down.

Just wish she'd never got fly strike. I lost one of my bunnies to it before & can't believe she's got past that but we might lose her to something else that developed. I think the abscess has come up because of the flystrike, stress etc.

Is there any other treatment than an operation & a/b's? The vet said she couldn't put a drain in cos the pus is like cheese & it wouldn't do anything.

Kel
x