Started with manuka honey against aggressive inflammation

For the 5th time, the abscess returned on Bugs his left cheek. Normally the pus would come out on the top of his head, besides his left ear base but since he's got operated on the abscess (middle ear, the bulla was already destroyed by the pus).
A few weeks ago I made 2 new X rays of his head. The vet thought that there's something with his ... process (a group of nerves around his tmj.
I think that its all about trauma. Cause all of the problems are on the left side.
His left femoral head has been shattered and his original owner didn't do anything about it so it has healed on its own and thats why Bugs is walking abnormal. His left upper-lip is increased and his left eye has been removed because the eye turned blind of glaucoma.
The pus is back and he already had antibiotics for 4 months and it didn't get better so i stopped with giving that.
I now using manuka honey 550+ (the highest) and i used it 2 times after flushing in a few days. I flush when i see the pus. It was monday or thuesday when i flushed him the last time and put manuka honey in it.. and i still don't see pus.. I hope this will work, otherwise i don't know what to do els.. He already had everything else that could fix it.
Even a reconnective healing..

Hiya
I've been reading your posts with some anxiety as I think I'm about to go through the same thing as you with my two house buns! The vet has confirmed ear abscesses and we're meeting on Wednesday to discuss options. He is in contact with a guy in Italy who is an expert on all this. I found an article on the web by him which helped me understand it all (with the help of a vet dictionary)
http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/navc/2006/SAE/617.pdf?LA=1

It is just a nightmare Apparently most lop rabbits have chronic ear infections or inflammation once they are a few years old. Our bunnies have just gone one step further.

Good luck with making the right decisions for you and your bun

I've had really good results with depocillin injections for abscesses. Grimlock had two in his jaw that cleared up. I know they are so hard to treat.

He had an injection every three days for eight weeks. Is this something you could ask your vet about?

I gave him about 4 months duplocilline (antibiotics/against the bacteria) every other day!.. Everytime i gave him an injection, i felt the crusts of the other injections.
I don't know how old he is right now.. I took him away somewhere because he wouldn't be alive anymore.. But he is, i think, around 4 or 5 years old. Maybe older.
He's been through 2 operations (1 with a drain) already and 1 ct scan (i don't know if thats english). And serveral X-rays.
I've been driving for 2,5 hours, just to get him to the best rabbit vet here in The Netherlands. And another 2,5 hours for the ct scan.
I flushed him before with NaCL with 5ml 2,5% baytrill? i thought.
But that didn't work. Ive been busy with him sinds he got the abscess in March.
And its still coming back but i hope that the manuka honey will destroy the bacteria.

This is Bugs with his larger abode:







His blind eye.

Here with the drain, his left eye was removed and he's been castrated at once.
After this he got his second operation for his middle ear.

From what I can work out there are 4 options with ear abscesses:
1. Depocillin injections and hope they shrink or don't get worse ( I injected a bun with a tooth abscess for 2-3 years and it did work - he died of something else).
2. Cleaning the abscess out regularly and putting in antibiotic or honey. It will not solve the problem but will slow it down. The vet will need to repeat the procedure and the owner willhave to clear the holes out regularly. This can be done through the ear or by putting a permanent hole in the side of the ear.
3. Completely removing the ear canal and the boney structure in the ear. This operation is innovative and I still finding out about its sucess rates - does that solve the problem? This is the operation recently 'invented' by Vittorio Capello in Italy.
4. Euthanasia - when you rabbit has gone through lots of procedures but the problem is still returning. When the quality of his life is compromised and he is in permanent pain or distress. Realistically you also have to consider finances and the difficulty of nursing the bunny. Maybe you have reached this point - sometimes euthanasia is agonising for us but it means we are showing our love by putting the bunny first above our feelings of grief.

If anyone has experienced any other approaches I would be really grateful to hear from you

I know that Manuka honey can work.. I heard a lot that abscesses disappeared because of the manuka when the abscess didn't react on depocillin.
Im not gonna give Bugs 2 or 3 years injection, every other day.. Thats just insane, especially when he dies and hat he only knew a live with injections and pain..
It maybe sounds hard but euthanasia is the last thing i'll think of..
As long as Bugs is 'happy' im not put him to sleep.
It would be different when he shows me that he's in pain. But i'll do everything to make him better.. Money should not be the issue, even i don't have much.. I still managed to pay for his surgery's etc.
But.. The vet said that if the abscess is getting worse and Bugs is in pain, i should let him operate again and than they will remove everything thats infected and a piece of bone.. He already has been operated en they removed all the infected tissue but it came back.
And im not gonna get him to surgery as long as he's happy.. Thats because he had so much things (operations and xrays and ct scan) in so short time.. that isn't healthy for a rabbit.. I'll see what Manuka does with the pus.. I still don;t see pus.. And its a week ago when i put Manuka in it..

Vibes for the abscess to clear up.

I have had great results on abscesses in the past with manuka, it definately is fab!

Wednesday the pus was back. But I flushed it again and put manuka honey in it.
I made some photo's and a film of Bugs:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-0YitwX-dI

I've been talking to one of the 2 best vets here in Holland for help.
And he's gonna talk to that other vet for help, how they can help Bugs.

Since a few days i've been talking to someone who has a lot of experience with her own rabbits and other rabbits with problems and even brought out a book about it.
She has some contacts that could help me and im very glad i found her.
I hope she can bring a positive turn to the life of Bugs.

That sounds promising, I hope that you can get this sorted, he does seem like a wee fighter, so at least he has that on his side

Here's a xray of Bugs that has been made on the 27th of October '10.

Dunno much about x-rays, but really intresting to see that.

How is he doing today?

im sorry i dont have any experience on this but i just want to say how gorgeous is your bun. i really hope you get everything made right for himx

Thank you Jackfinn, I do my best

@Kermit:

The x-ray looks maybe strange because my fingers are also visible on that photo.
I didnt want Bugs to have a sedation just for the photo so I held him.

Today he's doing fine.. You don't see that he has an infection.
He eats good, stays on weight, he's just healthy as far he can be..
The only thing thats weird is that he sneeze's when he's relaxing or sleeping.
Maybe he does that because the nerves on the left side are destroyed or the pus is irritating him but i hope that the pus won't go to his nose or mouth..
So far, i don't see any pus on his face other than the fistula.

I'm still waiting for the answer of the 2 vets..
Someone told me about pmma.. 1 vet don't want to use it again because his experience/results were poor.
But I heard that in the UK pmma is often used by abscesses and with positive effect. But the opening of the fistula is very small and i can't put a sponge in it so they have to operate him and open/widen up the fistula but i don't like the idea of operate him again. He had 2 heavy operations a few months ago and the location of the infection is full of risks. But its maybe his only chance.