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persistant foot infection

carolinej

Young Bun
hi everyone, i posted a while ago about my rabbit who had an abcess on his front paw. he had surgery to remove it but it was found to be unusual in nature and could not be removed in one go but was more of a mass of infected tissue in the foot (sorry if that isnt a very good description). it was drained as much as possible and followed up with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.the vet did comment that he had been difficult to anaethetise and had not reacted very well and that they hoped they would not have to operate again as the risks were increased because of this. however he seemed to recover well.

unfortunately i noticed him limping again today and on returning to the vets discovered the infection is back. the vet has prescribed 10 days of antibiotics and anti-inflamatories. they really dont want to operate again. ben is a really fiesty bun and in the past i have struggled to give him medication so i have arranged with the vet to take him back every day for them to give it to him to ensure he is getting the full dose. i will take his bunny mate with him for support and to reduce the stress as much as possible.

i am now worried that i will be causing him more stress by taking him in the car every day but i want to be sure that i am getting the meds into him and give him the best hope of fighting the infection because of the risk of surgery.

sorry for all the ranting but just hoped someone to give me a bit of reassurance. thanks.
 
Abcesses of the foot are notoriously difficult to treat because of their location, their proximity to bone which makes bone infection a possibility, the fact that bunny weight bears on the feet which increases pressure and friction - and thus inflammation, and also because all abcesses sadly have a habit of coming back :cry:

As far as i'm aware the best chance of curing an abcess is removal if possible including debriding the area to remove all parts of infection, but of course it will depend on whether the infection has reached the bones of the feet or not.
My feeling is that for abcesses, baytril just isn't strong enough, it might be worth getting a swab of the abcess wall to find the most appropriate antibiotic, but from what I understand you usually require something much stronger than baytril, perhaps depocillin (penicillin injectable).
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories IMO should be continued long term until all the inflammation has settled, not just for one week. I have dealt with a bun with severely sore hocks, but not abcesses so I am only really guessing here. I think if your vets are feeling a bit limited in what to do for treatment next then the best thing would be for them to make a referral to an exotic specialist for you to see the specialist either in person, or for them to get further support themselves by enquiry via email/phone etc, as exotic vet referral services will offer this service to general practice vets.

If you let us know where in the country you are someone might be able to suggest your nearest exotic expert! :wave:
 
hi, i am in stourbridge in the west midlands.
the problem seems to be that when they originally diagnosed the 'abcess' and attempted surgical removal they found that it wasnt a normal abcess that could be removed and de-brided but was more of a mix of infected and none infected tissues in the foot. they removed as much infection as they could, flushed the area and put topical antibiotics inside.
he reacted very badly to the anaesthetic apparently, stopped breathing at one point and didnt recover very well so they are very reluctant to anaethetise again.

i am taking him back today to have the medication as i explained so will ask about alternate stronger antibiotics.
 
hi, i am in stourbridge in the west midlands.
the problem seems to be that when they originally diagnosed the 'abcess' and attempted surgical removal they found that it wasnt a normal abcess that could be removed and de-brided but was more of a mix of infected and none infected tissues in the foot. they removed as much infection as they could, flushed the area and put topical antibiotics inside.
he reacted very badly to the anaesthetic apparently, stopped breathing at one point and didnt recover very well so they are very reluctant to anaethetise again.

i am taking him back today to have the medication as i explained so will ask about alternate stronger antibiotics.

Oh I see, I can understand their hesitance to redo the GA in that case. Seems stronger antibiotics might be bunny's best chance then - and ongoing pain meds too. Good luck x
 
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