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Infected Flea Bites on Feet

villager

New Kit
I have today discovered that about 5 of my young rabbits have swellings on the upper parts of some of their feet. In a few cases pus is evident, both dried and fresh. I checked the bedding in their nest box and found some fleas. I am guessing that the fleas have bitten the rabbits, and the bites have become infected. (It is a puzzle as to why only their feet, particularly the back ones, have been affected, and not other parts of their bodies.)

I am not quite sure how to treat the swellings on their feet. I have the injectable antibiotics penstrep (penicillin procaine G and dihydrostreptomycin sulphate) and oxytetracyclin. From Medirabbit, I see that these can all be safely injected into rabbits. Does anyone have any suggestions as to treatment:

- Do nothing and hope the swellings go away on their own.
- Presumably, topical application of gentian violet and antibiotic will have no effect, since the problem is under the skin. Does that seem right?
- Inject with penstrep or oxytetracyclin, and leave the swellings themselves alone.
- use a syringe needle to puncture the swellings, and squeeze out the pus, and also give antibiotic injections.

I am trying to avoid puncturing the swellings, because I cannot figure out how I am going to be able to hold the squirming little patients as I do that.

I am writing this from Malawi, and do not have easy access to a vet.
 
How old are the rabbits? (Months? Weeks?)

Without access to a vet, this is going to be very complicated.

I would strongly recommend AGAINST using penicillin based meds without consulting a vet, as they can cause GI issues in rabbits if any is orally absorbed.

I'll have to leave you to wait for someone more experienced, but as we are not vets, i don't know what to say :(
 
Pen and strep injections aren't recommended in rabbits due to the risk of destroying the normal and essential bacterial populations of the intestines.
Flea bites in rabbits tend to be around the face and ears, not the feet so it may be a separate problem causing the foot swellings.
I would still get rid of the fleas as best you can as they act to transmit many viral and bacterial diseases- move the rabbits to another enclosure and manually comb or pick out any adults you can see on them. If you have access to parasite treatments for other species then some of these can be used on rabbits too but not all so seek advice from vets if possible before using anything.
I would clean and remove any visible pus but not actually open any intact swellings for now and try and get in touch with a vet somewhere near you. We can't advise you well on treatment as range of diseases in the UK is very different.
Marie
 
Thanks for those replies. The young rabbits are 7½ weeks old.

We definitely found fleas in one nest box, but we could not find a single flea on the rabbits themselves. That, together with Dr Marie's remark that flea bites in rabbits tend to be around the face and ears, set me wondering, and I think now that this morning I have the answer. A certain obnoxious fly has laid its maggoty young on the rabbits feet, and these have buried themselves under the skin. After a few days of nourishment and growth they have departed, leaving behind small open wounds. Those will have become infected, perhaps from urine and faeces.

Unusually for this time of year we had a single day of blowing rain, which must have wet the floor of the cage. After the rain had stopped the rabbits will have come out of their shelter and got their feet wet. The obnoxious fly likes to lay its maggoty young on wet things. Wet rabbit feet must have made a nice change to people's laundry, so the fly laid its young there.

Before coming up with that solution, we put the rabbits into temporary housing, and sprayed in and around all the cages. As a precaution we have dusted the animals with a certain pesticide. I applied gentian violet to the swellings, but will hold off on antibiotic injections in the meantime. Thanks for the warning on penstrep; presumably oxytetracyclin is OK.

I made a bit of a boob in my first post, implying that I might apply penstrep topically. Graham L is quite right that it could be ingested orally by accident, and cause tummy trouble.

It is a quite a problem here in Malawi going anywhere these days, because there is a severe fuel shortage. I have not been able to get petrol now for 2 weeks. That is why it is awkward going to Town to consult with the veterinary department. If those feet get worse, then the animals will be put into a basket, and taken to Town by bicycle.
 
Let me wrap up this thread by saying that the swellings were not due to fleas, but to those maggot things which I mentioned before. I was cleaning one of the wounds, and squeezed out a grown maggot 3-4 mm in diameter, and 10 mm long. On a small rabbit's foot, that makes quite a bump. When they are laid by the fly, the maggots are tiny, maybe 1 mm long.
 
Unfortunately, there are still some maggots left in the rabbits' feet. I can see one which I cannot yet squeeze out. In a couple of swellings the skin is still intact, so the maggots must still be inside. I am tempted to take a scalpel and cut slits to remove them, but I am worried that the patient might not sit still and cooperate, or that I may make things worse.

The mother fly laid her maggots in a really stupid place, because there is no room on a small rabbit's foot for the maggot to grow properly, and they have died there.
 
Poor bunnies :cry: Do you have suitable anti-inflammatory pain relief to give them? I expect these bites are pretty painful :cry: Have you found something to clean the wounds with to prevent infection? Is there any way you can speak to the vets over the phone and discuss covering antibiotics to prevent further infection of the wounds?
 
I decided to slit open some of the swellings, and found more dead maggots inside them. The little patients cooperated very well, however.

Prettylupin, I have been flooding with gentian violet and oxytetracyclin any swelling which is open. Everything now seems to be healing up nicely.

I will be going to Town tomorrow, driving on the fumes still in my petrol tank, and will call in at the Veterinary Department. These maggots could well become a problem during the rainy season, and I want to check with them about slitting the skin to remove them, and what antibiotic is safe to inject in rabbits.

"anti-inflammatory pain relief" Erm ... I did not give the patients anything for that, primarily because I do not know what it is; paracetamol? ointment?
 
I decided to slit open some of the swellings, and found more dead maggots inside them. The little patients cooperated very well, however.

Prettylupin, I have been flooding with gentian violet and oxytetracyclin any swelling which is open. Everything now seems to be healing up nicely.

I will be going to Town tomorrow, driving on the fumes still in my petrol tank, and will call in at the Veterinary Department. These maggots could well become a problem during the rainy season, and I want to check with them about slitting the skin to remove them, and what antibiotic is safe to inject in rabbits.

"anti-inflammatory pain relief" Erm ... I did not give the patients anything for that, primarily because I do not know what it is; paracetamol? ointment?

Yes paracetamol is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug but not well tolerated by rabbits apparently. They seem to respond best to the other group such as ibuprofen, ketofen etc.
A good article that might help http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=500
We have oral suspensions of meloxicam/metacam over here designed for dogs/cats but work fine with rabbits too. Rabbits have an unusually good ability at metabolising this drug and can tolerate higher levels per kg body weight than cats and dogs as a rule. Again, your vet can help you with this. :wave:
 
Prettylupin, thanks for that link to the article on pain control in rabbits. It is most useful. The best which I give here in Malawi is aspirin.

I did visit the veterinary department in Town. There are no "real" vets there, but only veterinary assistants, a position which takes 2 years training after O-grades. They are not used to dealing with rabbits, and wanted me to use an orally administered cocktail of furazolidone &, kaolin. The drug's label, and Wikipedia, tell me that those are for GI problems, so I decided not to use it, and instead to inject daily with oxytetracycline.

To be fair to our veterinary department, they are much more experienced dealing with useful animals such as cattle, goats, and chickens.
 
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