Long term penicillin injections

I got a mixture of good and bad news at Yuki's vet appointment on Saturday. The good news is that the depocillin is working. He doesn't have as much discharge in his nose anymore. He got some more head x-rays done and not much had change, but the vet noticed that he didn't have so much bone inflammation in this one spot on his jaw where a few tooth roots were digging into his lower jaw (most of them are growing upward) that he had in the last x-ray so the depocillin was treating that as well. The bad news is that because of that inflammation, he might have to get depocillin injections for the rest of his life. The vet thinks if we stopped, the inflammation from the tooth roots might start up again. If we kept giving him the shots, it might prevent future infections caused by the tooth roots growing into his skull. Does anyone have, or have had a bunny they had to treat with depocillin for long term, or for life? Right now he will be getting shots twice a week, but after Christmas we're going to try once a week and hopefully that'll work. My vet explained that the depocillin stays in the bloodstream for up to 3 days, and then starts wearing off, but the bacteria doesn't have time to grow again before the next shot, so once a week should suffice. She said she has a lot of rabbits on once a week shots and they're all doing fine. I hope it'll be the same with us. It'll be much easier if it's only once a week.

I still haven't been able to do the injections myself, but since he's going to be getting it for much longer than I had expected, I don't want to bother my local vet with it, even when we only do it once a week. They're already doing this for free, and I don't want to be a burden to them. Plus the vet trips are stressful on Yuki. So today when I go there, I'm going to practice with them and hopefully be able to do it on my own.

Another bit of bad news I got is that we did another culture last week and the results came in on Saturday, and apparently there's a new bacteria growing in his nose now. This one was so uncommon that my rabbit expert vet had never heard of it, so she sent it in to the lab and they will tell us what antibiotic is best used to treat it. I forget the name of the bacteria, but I'm pretty worried about it since it's uncommon, and I don't know how dangerous it is. I will hopefully get a call today or tomorrow from the clinic telling me if the penicillin will work to treat it, or if he has to have another antibiotic. I just don't understand why he's having so many problems with bacteria infections now.

I hope that the Depocillin continues to hold the infection and prevents any further spread. With a bit of luck the Depocillin will be effective against the newly identified bacteria too.

I have had Rabbits on longterm Depocillin injections, usually given every 3 days. The longest duration of treatment was one year.

I really don't want to give it to him for the rest of his life. I'm wondering if there could be side effects from it if given for too long. Even a year seems too much for me, especially since I haven't successfully given him an injection by myself yet. I hope at least once a week injections will be good enough. I don't know if I'll be able to do it twice a week for a long time. I just get this nervous feeling in my stomach whenever I think about giving him a needle, and I'll dread the days I have to give him a shot.

I have a bunny who is on a different antibiotic; Duphapen, she's on it for 3 months (injecting every second day), this is because of her dental problems (roots and all) :wave:

Sakura6267 said:

I just don't understand why he's having so many problems with bacteria infections now.

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I had a discussion with my dad about my rabbits penicillin injections yesterday. The vet told me that my buns might get the runs because of it and I said to my dad that I didn't understand why they'd get it with penicillin but not 'gut friendly' Baytril. Dad explined that penicillin kills all kinds of bacteria - even the good kind, and that then effects the immune system. I wonder if maybe Yuki's getting some side effects from some of the good bacteria being killed off?! I could be utterly wrong of course! :lol:

georgie_f said:

I had a discussion with my dad about my rabbits penicillin injections yesterday. The vet told me that my buns might get the runs because of it and I said to my dad that I didn't understand why they'd get it with penicillin but not 'gut friendly' Baytril. Dad explined that penicillin kills all kinds of bacteria - even the good kind, and that then effects the immune system. I wonder if maybe Yuki's getting some side effects from some of the good bacteria being killed off?! I could be utterly wrong of course! :lol:

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Penicllin kills the gram negative bacteria afaik! so understandable :wave:.

georgie_f said:

I had a discussion with my dad about my rabbits penicillin injections yesterday. The vet told me that my buns might get the runs because of it and I said to my dad that I didn't understand why they'd get it with penicillin but not 'gut friendly' Baytril. Dad explined that penicillin kills all kinds of bacteria - even the good kind, and that then effects the immune system. I wonder if maybe Yuki's getting some side effects from some of the good bacteria being killed off?! I could be utterly wrong of course! :lol:

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Actually the culture was taken before we started the penicillin so it couldn't be from that. I think it's because the oral medication we had him on before wasn't doing it's job and the bacteria was able to get worse and probably caused a new strand. That's just my guess, though. :|

Edit: Just wanted to add that I got a phone call from the vet and apparently the uncommon bacteria that showed up on the culture is a secondary bacteria to the first one he had, and hopefully will clear up with it. The doctor told me the penicillin should take care of it too.

I had a rabbit on depocillin injections for over 18 months. Initially it was every 3 days. I too was concerned about the long term effects and after discussion with my vet we decided to slowly reduce the frequency to twice a week for a month, so it was 3 days then 4 days between shots. Then we went to every 4 days for a month, after that adding an extra day until we reached once a week. This was fine for about 2 months and then the abscesses started to re-appear so we went back to the twice a week schedule.

Overall I feel that this drug is only effective for 3 days and too long a gap between renewal allows the bacteria to start re-establishing. One of the main problems with pus in rabbits is its consistency is like that of toothpaste which makes it difficult for the abs to penetrate to the core of the infection. Additionally we are dealing with gram negative bacteria which present a similar scenario.

We have to weigh up the pros and cons of this type of long term treatment. On one hand always having abs in the system must have some detrimental effect on the gut micro-flora, which may be able to be somewhat offset by probiotics. On the other hand, left untreated it will cause irreparable damage with corresponding pain and loss of life quality to the rabbit.

I really do understand the dilemma you are faced with having gone through it myself. My little boy lived to just short of nine, mostly pain free. We always knew that it was ultimately a battle we could not win but it offered us the opportunity to lavish him with total affection for a lot longer time than we initially though possible.

I wish you all the best. Triumph over that fear of injecting by telling yourself that it is a way you can show your love to your little friend.

Sorry to hear that your little guy had so much problems with abscesses. I know abscesses are really tricky to treat. Luckily Yuki has no abscesses, and I think that's the reason my vet said once a week would be ok. Once the main bacteria he has is knocked out, there's little probability of it coming back. The reason she wants him to be on the penicillin long term to life is because of the inflammation in his lower jaw. She wants to prevent it from getting any worse, and once a week injections should be enough to keep it at bay. Right now I want to do it twice a week, then go once a week and see how he does on it. I can always switch back to twice a week if we don't think once a week is helping enough.

I tried doing the injection at the vet today, and even though I managed it, I don't know if I can do it alone. It really freaked me out how thick his skin is and whether the needle was in or not. I'll try it by myself on Thursday and hopefully all goes well.