facial abcess.....not sure what to do :'(

noticed that pepper had quite a large lump on her face at the base of ear, I took her in to see the vet. She felt it & said it was most likely an abcess but to take an fine needle aspirate & examine it under the microscope to see . All we seen under the microscope was pus, the vet also checked her teeth & said her teeth had spikes & were growing into her cheek ( I was quite shoked at this as she eats as if she's starved ) I booked her in to have a ga to assess the abcess, burr molar teeth & xray. On xray there is an increased density in the tympanic bulla, they examined her ear while under ga and there is pus discharging into the vertical ear canal when pressed . The vet then called someone at the **** Vet School to discuss & they are saying the best options are to ct scan to confirm if the bulla is involved then a lateral wall resection/TECA as appropriate . The vet has gave pepper a poor prognosis for surgery .

She is still eating drinking and pooing as normal and because of this we opted not to do surgery as we could potentially make her worse...she's not in pain and not bothered by it at all atm . I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas of anything to try, have been reading about penicillin g but most of the research is jaw abcesses . I just wish she could talk & tell me what she wants so scared I'm not doing the right thing by her...


Vibes for my fearless chunky cadbury bunny ...

hello:wave:

Parsley was diagnosed with similar about 18 months ago . . and undoubtedly had the problem for longer as it was first picked up when part of his face became paralysed and 'lifted' which is a classic sign of an abcsess in the facial/ear area.

For a few months they just flushed the ear and tried to clear using various abx and ear drops. These would give temporary clearance of the puss - but it kept coming back. At that stage there was no actual visible facial lump - just inner ear.

Last Feb 2011 he had a CT scan and it all looked very bad with a very poor prognosis. The inner ear and bulla and everything around was full of abscess and the ear drum gone etc etc. the vet said he might 'go' any moment if the infection ate away at the bone and tissue between the ear and brain etc.

She did not recommend a sectioning/bulla removal as the infection was so deep and the bone that was left was so fragile.

We have subsequently tried every abx under the sun (including some not usually given to rabbits) plus depicillin injections . .

In addition it has now presented as a lump twice - and each time been cut and drained.

The only thing that seems to keep the pus under control is our present regime of Baytril twice a day (high dosage) plus genticin ear drops twice a day plus cleaning the excess pus with cotton buds . This is not a usually recommended course of treatment - as long term genticin use can apparently harm the ear and theoretically should not be used when the ear drum etc have gone - and also in Parsley's case the culturing of the pus suggests that it should NOT respond to Baytril - but it does.

All I can say is that he is still here - probably 18 months to 2 years on - and at least 16 months since we was declared about to drop any moment.

He is also amazingly lively, happy, full of beans, mad as a hatter and fantastic. Alas he now has a melanoma on his eye - but thats anther issue.

I would think very carefully about the bulla treatment - as it does not always go well and can be difficult on a bun. I would however go for the Ct scan as it will help you and the vet know where you stand.

PS presume you have had the pus cultured? We tried so many abx (and some in combination) that I forget what they all were - seem to recall rifampicin, zithromax - then both those at same time, baytril, depocillin by injection, , . . will try and look up others. Convenia was discussed but not sure if we tried it.

PPS we found that canaural made it much much worse.

Sorry to hear about your bunny. I have no experience with abcesses but did not want to read and run. I'm sure someone will be along soon with some experience with this.

Sending Pepper lots of recovery vibes.

I have no advice o'm afraid but just wanted to send huge vibes. I know penicillin is used wuite iften for abcesses & can be effective, I am sure somebody else will be able to offer advice.x.

Thanks for the vibes everyone
So sorry to hear about parsley parsnipbun he sounds like a little fighter proving the vet wrong & the lab with baytril ! Sorry to hear about his melanoma now on top of his poorly ear sending lots of vibes for your little man, I hope he's with you for many more years yet . Thanks for letting me know about the canaural !

I haven't had the pus cultured :/ no one suggested this but I had been wondering about this..have been speaking about penicillin-g injections tho no culture ? Seems silly now someone's said it . Am waiting on an estimate for a ct scan etc
I read something about someone using colloidal silver for an abcess ? Can't remember the details will try & find it again. Have read so much in the last few hours about rabbit abcesses and non surgical treatments !

Vaguely remember people treating some types of abcess with the strong manuka honey. Not sure if I am much help :?

Thanks I had read a bit about manauka, i think the people who were using this had cut the abcess away or something....& filled it with manauka ? Im so scared to do anything incase I make her worse shes absolotley fine just now, looking at her you wouldnt think she was ill. The vet was saying if we did opt for surgery that some pus could be left behind and cause a bulla abcess which could possible rupture into the brain....

thats the sort of abscess Parsley has.

its horrible just feel so useless ! wish there was something i could do for her...

sorry to hear about parsley hope he keeps fighting for you
pepper & i are sending buckets of vibes for yous...