Penicillin injections for nearly a year

Hi my rabbit Pepper has an abscess between her eye and her nose, sort of along her tear duct. Was treated last April and eventually after a course of antibiotic beads and regular dentals shes doing great. Initially she was on penicillin injections once a week for a few months, but the last 3 months or so its been once fortightly. Just wondered if anyone knew of any rabbits takin penicillin for so long and if they are ok? Got a check up appt for her in just over a week. thanks

Is it inject under the skin? Is it Pen g? How old is Pepper?

lauramc888 said:

Hi my rabbit Pepper has an abscess between her eye and her nose, sort of along her tear duct. Was treated last April and eventually after a course of antibiotic beads and regular dentals shes doing great. Initially she was on penicillin injections once a week for a few months, but the last 3 months or so its been once fortightly. Just wondered if anyone knew of any rabbits takin penicillin for so long and if they are ok? Got a check up appt for her in just over a week. thanks

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I had a Bun with a chronic Respiratory Disease and she was on Depocillin every 2-3 DAYS for almost a year. She had no side effects from this at all

it is injected at her scruff under her skin, think that the normal place. shes about 2 and a half the now. she seem perfectly fine and is a happy wee rabbit. Not sure what kind it is, i just know its penicillin. I get them in pre drawn syringes now so no packaging I could check.
jacks Jane thats good that you had a bun on antibiotics so long and she was fine ill see whatvet says next week

I am sure you are quite verse in all the procedures, but let me point out a few tricks:

if you are giving Pen G which is from the fridge, make sure you let it warm up for 15 min. before inject inside her
skin. One of the tech. taught me this trick as it's too cold to go inside the skin, the bun doesn't feel comfy.

For the other members who's reading this thread--Note: Pen G CANNOT BE GIVEN THRU THE MONTH, THE RABBIT WILL DIE IF GIVEN ORALLY, IT MUST BE GIVEN UNDER THE SKIN

The absolute best spot is the loose skin just behind the neck. See diagram



1) You hold down the bun
2) lift the loose fur 2 inch from the back of his neck, now you form that empty air "pocket" from the diagram above
3) push the needle in, if it's a small bun, push in approx. just over 0.5 inch

yes absolutely...

but as the germ been identified thru a culture to make sure it is sensititive to Penicillin G ? because Penicillin has a very large spectrum of activity on many bacteria, but some are resistant, I had the case with Chloe where a culture was necessary as she had one of the species of pseudomonas penicillin resistant as they produce penicillias...

I try those culture sample before. Totally waste of money. They done the sample, culture the sample, then can't find anything. Waste $100 for nothing. And I thought about it, what's the point? A strong ABX kill whatever bacteria is in the bun's body, why bother care what the bacteria is?

Happy Hopping said:

I try those culture sample before. Totally waste of money. They done the sample, culture the sample, then can't find anything. Waste $100 for nothing. And I thought about it, what's the point? A strong ABX kill whatever bacteria is in the bun's body, why bother care what the bacteria is?

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Was your rabbit on antibiotics before/when the sample was taken? Or was the sample posted to a lab elsewhere? These are the main reasons for failure of bacterial growth. Typically we manage to culture and test 98% of samples taken so I don't think you can really call it a waste of money.
No antibiotic is 'strong'. Maybe you mean broad spectrum? And one antibiotic certainly does not kill all bacteria. For example penicillins are only effective in bacteria that are multiplying and have peptidoglycan in their cell walls. They will not touch others however high the dose and frequently it is given. Testing bacterial growth for sensitivity to antibiotics and selecting the safest antibiotic for rabbits that is effective against the bacteria is the best way to apply evidence based medicine and is the best method for the rabbit.
The use of an arbitrary antibiotic can be very dangerous - giving it to bacteria that aren't sensitive leads to continuation of the disease, destruction of beneficial bacteria and development of resistance in other bacteria. I would strongly suggest you look into this further before giving such odd advice.

lauramc888 said:

Hi my rabbit Pepper has an abscess between her eye and her nose, sort of along her tear duct. Was treated last April and eventually after a course of antibiotic beads and regular dentals shes doing great. Initially she was on penicillin injections once a week for a few months, but the last 3 months or so its been once fortightly. Just wondered if anyone knew of any rabbits takin penicillin for so long and if they are ok? Got a check up appt for her in just over a week. thanks

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Long term penicillin with such a long dosing interval should not casue adverse effects in an otherwise well rabbit. however, it is important that should any signs of GI disease show up that the penicillin dose is stopped until reviewed by your vet. Does it appear that the infection has been cleared or is the penicillin just holding it at bay?

I fully agree with Marie Kubiak as it happened to Chloé : if no culture had been made, she would no longer be here with all the large spectrum antibiotics she took previously and generally given to rabbits, as her bacteria "brevundimonas diminuta" is penicillin resistant like most of the other pseudomonas family (60 species) as they produce their own penicillias or have mutation within their cell and the lacto-betamines antibiotics as penicillin cannot pass the cell wall.

Cephalosporine of 3rd generation or recent fluoroquinolones are active on some pseudomonsas that's why culture is needed.. and giving the wrong antibiotics can develop resistance. And in addition one bacteria can develop resistance or sensitivity to antibiotics from the same family. Some antibiotics being active on Gram+ or Gram- or others in both with some restrictions however. It is a very complex problem.

marie_kubiak said:

Long term penicillin with such a long dosing interval should not casue adverse effects in an otherwise well rabbit. however, it is important that should any signs of GI disease show up that the penicillin dose is stopped until reviewed by your vet. Does it appear that the infection has been cleared or is the penicillin just holding it at bay?

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it appears that it is definately holding it at bay, still s small lump but never had a repeat of pus coming out or nose or hindering her breathing. that was horrendous, never want to hear her breathing like that again, it upset me so much. ill see what the vet says. she is also only on 0.25ml a fortnight