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Cellulitis.

Mudgy

Warren Scout
I have an eight year old doe, with cellulitis ( strep A) in her right foreleg. She's receiving, amongst other things, ceporex and combination analgesia. Doris isn't very lively as you can imagine but eats, poops, pee's, and hangs with her partner as normal.
She's now on her 12th day of treatment, and progress is very slow. It seems to be a case of one step forward, and two steps back.
Does anyone else have experience of treating cellulitis, or other deep tissue infection? My main concern is spread, and abscessation.
It's one of the most frustrating problems I've ever had to help a rabbit with, and apart from giving Doris her meds, and applying cold compresses to the leg, I'm beginning to feel pretty useless.
 
Wow, I did not know buns could get this

My dad was rushed to hospital a couple of years back with a suspected DVT (pain/sweling & a rash in his leg/thigh & spreading to his ankle), they diagnosed Cellulitus, They said at the time that only treatment was IV antibiotics, & they kept him in for a week on a drip, with cold compresses a couple of times a day.

I don't know about buns, but if the infection isn't going, she may need stronger antibiotics?
 
I have had 2 bunnies with this and unfortunately both ended up having to be pts after around a week.

The fact that she is on day 12 of treatment means she made it further than my bunnies.:)

Has the vet considered amputation?
 
It might be worth trying to get info about what to do in cases of humans getting it. Animal testing happens so why not use info the opposite way? Hope she gets better soon.
 
I couldn't find much info on cellulitis in bunnies but I did read about the use of hot compressess rather than cold :?
 
Wow, I did not know buns could get this

My dad was rushed to hospital a couple of years back with a suspected DVT (pain/sweling & a rash in his leg/thigh & spreading to his ankle), they diagnosed Cellulitus, They said at the time that only treatment was IV antibiotics, & they kept him in for a week on a drip, with cold compresses a couple of times a day.

I don't know about buns, but if the infection isn't going, she may need stronger antibiotics?

Ceporex seemed to be right abx for the strain of strep that Doris has, but as progress is so slow, I think perhaps a change to pen might be the way to go now.
 
I had cellulitis on one of my boobies (dont ask :oops:) and I had to have Penicillin which sorted the problem out in about 4 days.
 
I have had 2 bunnies with this and unfortunately both ended up having to be pts after around a week.

The fact that she is on day 12 of treatment means she made it further than my bunnies.:)

Has the vet considered amputation?

Did you find the initial cause in the two rabbits you treated? We think Doris was stung, or bitten whilst digging. Her leg became swollen immediately, and all I could find was a pin *****, just above her knee. Cleaned the area, and gave her anti inflams, and within a few hours the swelling was gone. By the following morning, the leg was, hot, mottled and shiny, and she was in a huge amount of pain.
Amputation has been discussed, and a final decision will be made tomorrow. She also has enlarged lymph nodes in her chest, which makes me think the infection has spread further than is apparent.
 
I had cellulitis on one of my boobies (dont ask :oops:) and I had to have Penicillin which sorted the problem out in about 4 days.

I wont ask, but it must have been a very big ouch. Still, at least you got to experience the Pamela Anderson effect, albeit briefly, and lopsided. ;)
 
Did you find the initial cause in the two rabbits you treated? We think Doris was stung, or bitten whilst digging. Her leg became swollen immediately, and all I could find was a pin *****, just above her knee. Cleaned the area, and gave her anti inflams, and within a few hours the swelling was gone. By the following morning, the leg was, hot, mottled and shiny, and she was in a huge amount of pain.
Amputation has been discussed, and a final decision will be made tomorrow. She also has enlarged lymph nodes in her chest, which makes me think the infection has spread further than is apparent.

With Charlie we think it may have been some kind of bite from a spider or insect from the hay. We never found a wound of any sort. He had cellulitis in his ear, it was totally horrific as it spread down his face so nothing could be removed to stop it. He was eating well and fairly lively during treatment then suddenly had problems breathing, started screaming and we rushed him to the vets to be PTS, his ear had completely died.

Bessie's cellulitis wasn't diagnosed until post mortum. She was treated for severe bloat for a week and seemed to be eventually responding to treatment, then the next morning she was weak and couldn't stand and her chest had swollen. We had to let her go and at that point the vet still didn't know what had happened so we had a post mortum done and her skin was completely necrotic, it just fell off her :( Yet we couldn't see it when she was still with us. They found old puncture wounds that had become infected, but we don't know what had caused them. we had only had her a few weeks and she had come from appauling conditions.I shall never forgive myself for not realising what was wrong, but she was even admitted for x-rays 2 days previously and nothing suspicious showed up.

I do believe that it does spread a lot further than you realise initially, even when you think they are responding to treatment :( has your bunny been shaved so you can see all the surrounding skin?
 
The area surrounding the sting was clipped originally, but since then the fur has fallen out, and the leg as far as her shoulder is bald. The skin across her back and chest still looks very healthy, and although the leg is badly affected, there are no areas of necrosis.
Generally, I curse this rabbit a thousand times a day, but at the moment I'm over the moon she's such a stubborn, stroppy, old bag.
 
The area surrounding the sting was clipped originally, but since then the fur has fallen out, and the leg as far as her shoulder is bald. The skin across her back and chest still looks very healthy, and although the leg is badly affected, there are no areas of necrosis.
Generally, I curse this rabbit a thousand times a day, but at the moment I'm over the moon she's such a stubborn, stroppy, old bag.

I guess that is fairly positive :) If it spreads beyond the leg then amputation isn't going to be an option.

Charlie's ear was just a little swollen at the base and didn't appear too bad until the vet shaved his ear :(

HPIM1357.jpg


I still can't look at his pictures without it making me cry :cry:

Both Charlie and Bessie had some neurological problems and other health issues so maybe that made them more susceptible to infection :?

I will be praying your bunny makes a good recovery, please let us know how they get on :)
 
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