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Question regarding an abscess

Hello,
I am going to keep this short cause I think I could write a book writing about these last few months since becoming a new bun mom. At this time my little Oreo is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning for what I believe is an abscess on his lower right face/jaw caused by a scratch from my cat. The two really are best friends regardless. I did not realize that the kitty needed to be clipped on regular basis until after this had occured unfortunately.

Upon researching surgery and abscesses, since even if I wanted to I cannot sleep right now, I came across your forum and discovered there may be light at the end of this tunnel yet. I read about the stories and also the studt done by using bicillin.

My question is if it is thought that surgery on this could be avoided by treatment with bicillin, or if there should be a drain then treat with bicillin, or if a c&s I believe it was called should be done first to pin point the exact bacteria of this abscess, or if bicillin will even work if this is caused by a cat scratch. If this cannot be answered on here could someone please refer me to whom I could ask. I am very worried about the process of the surgery and the implications it could have on my bun bun.

I live in a small town and while the vet is not a specialist in rabbits he is willing to listen to my ideas thankfully.
 
I'm not to clever with medical stuff but I've had 2 rabbits with abscesses this year. One of the rabbits didn't have surgery. The vet cleaned her up as best he could, give her antibiotics and pain killers then left me to clean and medicate her twice a day. The other rabbit did have surgery and before had I was worried sick. He got through the op fine the, the vet got all the infection. He was given antibiotics for a week now he's ok. Sorry that I can't give any advice but there are people on here that can. Good luck with your poorly bun.
 
My old bun Daisy has quite a few facial abcesses throughout her life (first when she was 2) and she lived until she was nearly 10.

My vet, who is a very good rabbit vet, always drained the abcesses and insisted on squeezing every bit of pus (sorry!!) out every day until the wound had healed over. He would put a drain in the wound and then take it out after a couple of days. He would also use quite high doses of baytril and depicillin at these times. They always completely disappeared and unfortunately just kept coming back in different places because she had very dodgy teeth.

I think he would have treated with just antibiotics, etc., but he liked to be over cautious about it as he has seen so many that just come back if they are not aggressively 'attacked'.

Hope your little bun is okay.
 
Thank you both for your replies. Any replies are golden to me right now. I swear this is as nerve racking if not more than my own children but then I also consider Oreo another one of my children.
LaJada
 
Thank you both for your replies. Any replies are golden to me right now. I swear this is as nerve racking if not more than my own children but then I also consider Oreo another one of my children.
LaJada


I completely understand - I feel the same about mine :love:
 
i've had experience of abscesses and in your situation would go with the surgery to try and remove it all. I would also ask for a culture to be done to establish which antibiotics would work best. A long course is needed to stop it coming back and the wound will need to be kept clean. I've heard of many people having good success with abscesses and i'm sure there are other who can offer advice. Perhaps post this in rabbit chat as more people will see it there. Another anibiotic i've heard has had good success with this kind of abscess is zythromax. It's quite new in the rabbit world but i have heard good things about it.
good luck and i hope the surgery goes well.
 
First off I just want to say I am so sorry about your bunny.

I am sad to say I have experienced this with my bunny Thumper, my old cat bit him and we had no idea :( Cat teeth are full of nasty bacteria and they delivered a swift dose.....His bite was on his head but the actual abscess was on his cheek

The treatment was very aggressive, he had two lots of surgery (debriding) topical treatment which was very very stressful for him and us and we almost lost him a few times.

I will try and dig my old threads out just for your information....

All I will say is keep your spirits up, and never give up, my sweet boy is so cheeky and strong these days you would never have known we almost lost him x

Edited to add the link: http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=110857
 
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In my vets opinion, the best treatment for abscesses is a combination of surgery and long term antibiotics.

If the abscess is caused by a cat injury, then complete removal looks very hopeful...but be aware that many jaw abscesses are actually caused by infected/overgrown tooth roots.

An x-ray is advisable before surgery is attempted to see whether the infection has gone into the bone...unfortunately the prognosis isn't very good if the infection HAS gone into the bone.

The best antibiotic depends on what bacteria is cultured (from a sample taken from the wall of the abscess rather than just a sample of the pus). Pasteurella is probably the most common abscess-causing bacteria and responds very well to penicillins such as bicillin...combined with baytril if you want....Although remember that if you're in the UK then your vet won't be able to get bicillin because it isn't licensed over here.

If the abscess doesn't drain into the mouth, then your vet might want to implant antibiotic-impregnanted beads into the cavity following surgery. However be aware that many jaw abscesses DO drain into the mouth, in which case this kind of topical antibiotic is not advisable in case the rabbit ingests it.

I don't know if you are familiar with Marcy Moore's bicillin study? Here it is if not:

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

Amy
 
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bunny mad lisa
i've had experience of abscesses and in your situation would go with the surgery to try and remove it all. I would also ask for a culture to be done to establish which antibiotics would work best. A long course is needed to stop it coming back and the wound will need to be kept clean. I've heard of many people having good success with abscesses and i'm sure there are other who can offer advice. Perhaps post this in rabbit chat as more people will see it there. Another anibiotic i've heard has had good success with this kind of abscess is zythromax. It's quite new in the rabbit world but i have heard good things about it.
good luck and i hope the surgery goes well.


Thank you for the advice, Oreo is in surgery now and I am collecting all the info I can to find the best possible path to take from here.
LaJada
 
First off I just want to say I am so sorry about your bunny.

I am sad to say I have experienced this with my bunny Thumper, my old cat bit him and we had no idea :( Cat teeth are full of nasty bacteria and they delivered a swift dose.....His bite was on his head but the actual abscess was on his cheek

The treatment was very aggressive, he had two lots of surgery (debriding) topical treatment which was very very stressful for him and us and we almost lost him a few times.

I will try and dig my old threads out just for your information....

All I will say is keep your spirits up, and never give up, my sweet boy is so cheeky and strong these days you would never have known we almost lost him x

Edited to add the link: http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=110857



Oh my what and ordeal you have been through but it helps to know that it can and does work out. Oreo is having surgery now and will keep everyone updated.
LaJada
 
In my vets opinion, the best treatment for abscesses is a combination of surgery and long term antibiotics.

If the abscess is caused by a cat injury, then complete removal looks very hopeful...but be aware that many jaw abscesses are actually caused by infected/overgrown tooth roots.

An x-ray is advisable before surgery is attempted to see whether the infection has gone into the bone...unfortunately the prognosis isn't very good if the infection HAS gone into the bone.

The best antibiotic depends on what bacteria is cultured (from a sample taken from the wall of the abscess rather than just a sample of the pus). Pasteurella is probably the most common abscess-causing bacteria and responds very well to penicillins such as bicillin...combined with baytril if you want....Although remember that if you're in the UK then your vet won't be able to get bicillin because it isn't licensed over here.

If the abscess doesn't drain into the mouth, then your vet might want to implant antibiotic-impregnanted beads into the cavity following surgery. However be aware that many jaw abscesses DO drain into the mouth, in which case this kind of topical antibiotic is not advisable in case the rabbit ingests it.

I don't know if you are familiar with Marcy Moore's bicillin study? Here it is if not:

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

Amy


Thank you for your reply. I thought at first that he was suffering from a possible tooth abscess and the vet thought at first that it was Pasteurella because I had explained that when he tried to eat he was cocking his head to the side to chew. He ran a temp of 106 F when he first became sick. I noticed there was a very slight swelling to this side but the vet could not see swelling and felt and did not feel any signs of an abscess. I know that I did catch this in the very early stages. He did look like he was having a slight droop on that side of the face to the vet. He started Oreo on Baytril and also gave him an injection of Baytril as well as a warm saline solution I believe. Within a couple hrs he was feeling much better. I was unable to finish the Baytril due to his unwillingness to take it. I tried everything I could find. I mixed it with apple juice, I tried to apply small drops to all his favorite greens, I tried to mix with apple sauce but he could see it coming a mile a way and was not going there. The vet gave him one more injection of the Baytril a few days after the first one and Oreo had began to eat normally again his ear which had suddenly laid back on that side was now in its upright normal position and the face droop was gone. I could still see a very small amount of swelling and the vet rechecked and still could not feel anything and looked but all Oreo's teeth appeared to be good and no signs of infection. A couple days after this as the vet had told me to look for if it was a beginning abscess he had a very small spot that broke open. His swelling started to go slowly down over the next couple weeks to almost none at all and he was itching the underside of his chin on everything. Then almost instantly there was a huge lump and it was very hard. No doubt an abscess.

Oreo is in surgery now to have it removed and I will know more in a couple hrs. I am now gathering the info I need to give my vet in regards the best meds available for this. I live in the states so it should not be a problem there as long as bicillin is something that he carries since I live in a pretty small town I am not sure if it is commonly carried by most vets. Is there other things I should also begin to give him for recovery being a new bun mommy I am very novice about what they require after surgery.
LaJada
 
hope that the surgery went well!
One thing i would highly recomend is lots of pain killer! I gave my bunny it everyday for several months as i needed to clean her abscess twice daily and that is obviously painful. Pain can also put them off eating which you don't want.
My bunny had a few surgeries and coped very well. I think it was worse for me than her as i was a bit squeamish! to be honest though within just a few days we got into a routine and I overcome my fears.

any advice just shout and i am sending lots of vibes to you both x
 
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