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Urgent advice re lumps/abscesses

Lillian

Warren Veteran
Honey's dewlap has become a huge mass, two large lumps/abscesses full of thick pus. We tried treating with baytril which made no difference, is there any other drug treatment we can try that has known success in treating abscesses? If not Honey will be PTS on Friday. So if you can offer help, please do!!
 
Baytril is not really good for treating abscesses. Ideally you need to get a culture of the abscess and work out what antibiotics are best. I have successfully treated many abscesses with Ceporex injectible penicillan.

Alongside the injections, the abscess has been slit opened, as much pus taken out as possible, cleaned out with dilute iodine and packed with UMF 25+ Manuka Honey.

For any abscesses that I have treated, this treatment has totally taken them away.
 
Baytril is not really good for treating abscesses. Ideally you need to get a culture of the abscess and work out what antibiotics are best. I have successfully treated many abscesses with Ceporex injectible penicillan.

Alongside the injections, the abscess has been slit opened, as much pus taken out as possible, cleaned out with dilute iodine and packed with UMF 25+ Manuka Honey.

For any abscesses that I have treated, this treatment has totally taken them away.

The vet took samples with a needle and sent it to the labs before starting baytril.
I don't know if we could open the abscesses, they are massive! It would mean making a huge incision all along her chest :?
I've read alot about injectable penicillan and it sounds like a good option.
 
As Kermit says, being the right antibiotic is key but takes some time. Depocillin is another injectable one which can be effective.
 
If complete removal of the abscess capsule isn't possible, then you'll need to do what Kermit said and lance it to remove the pus, then clean it out thoroughly and pack with Manuka honey or antibiotics. Even if the abscesses are large, you only need to make a smallish hole...then simply squeeze the pus out. Treating with an antibiotic (injectable pencillin or even something like oral zithromax) will gradually make the pus thinner/more runny and easier to remove.
 
Yeah, just make incisions as much as you can to get the pus out. Initially the vet should do this for you, then you just keep the wound open by picking the scab off (nice!) and squeezing out the pus, cleaning and packing with honey. This usually is done daily or twice daily.
 
Now I am confused as your pm to me said they were tumours or cysts :?

There is a lot that can be done for abscesses, I certainly wouldn't give up on her yet if the only thing tried is baytril. As others have said Baytril doesn't work well on abscesses as it doesn't penetrate pus well
 
Tumours, cysts, abscesses - I don't know, large pus filled lumps. All I know is a have a couple of days to find an alternative treatment plan or she's being PTS. At the moment she's not receiving any treatment as the Baytril ran out. I've emailed the vet about trying penicillin.
 
The treatment will be different depending on what they are tho'. Like you can't just go and burst a tumor or a cyst, but you can do with an abscess.

Does your vet know exactly what it is.

To avoid PTS unnecessarily I would be trying all antibiotics available.
 
Furby has recently had abscesses - one after the other:(

My vet lanced them and then put a capsule of some antibiotic (not baytril) in the wound. I also had baytril to give him orally as well as metacam.

I don't know what was in the capsule (sorry) but it worked really well and both abscesses are now almost healed. If the capsule hadn't worked I was going to try the Manuka honey recommended on here.

Tigger (one of my cats) had an abscess on his jaw that kept coming back. It was horrid but it did eventually clear up with regular expressing of the pus and antibiotics.

Hopefully there are other things for you to try before PTS. Could you get a second opinion?
 
The treatment will be different depending on what they are tho'. Like you can't just go and burst a tumor or a cyst, but you can do with an abscess.

Does your vet know exactly what it is.

To avoid PTS unnecessarily I would be trying all antibiotics available.

I completely agree with this. You need to have a good chat with your vet about what is exactly going on with Honey. If the vet doesn't have a good idea either then you need to get a second opinion. There are many possible treatment options not just expensive surgery so there is no way she needs to be pts so quickly
 
Tumours, cysts, abscesses - I don't know, large pus filled lumps. All I know is a have a couple of days to find an alternative treatment plan or she's being PTS. At the moment she's not receiving any treatment as the Baytril ran out. I've emailed the vet about trying penicillin.

Actually I am really upset now. You have told us that you can't pay for her treatment so if we don't take her and pay for it she will be pts :cry:

As we said we don't have the funds to pay for her at the moment or the time to care for her as so many of our bunnies are sick right now she is now booked in to be pts on Friday yet you don't even know what is exactly wrong with her. Why do you only have a couple of days left to find her an alternative treatment and then it is pts? You said she is fine and happy in herself :? It doesn't make sense. If they are abscesses then there are lots of different antibiotics available to try before you even consider pts. And if she does need an expensive op then many vets will organise payment plans especially if the only other option is pts
 
There is no need to put her to sleep. Grimlock had open jaw abscesses for a few weeks and was just on baytril while I found a good vet who knew what she was doing.

If they are tumours or cysts they need to be removed. If they're abscesses they ideally need to be removed by surgery like they were a tumour, getting all the tissue and removing the whole abscess and its thick wall as one. If they're abscesses and they cannot be removed (like the ones in Grim's jaw as they were in the root canal) then they need to be lanced. As much as possible needs to be removed, the rest needs to be drained and cleaned as mush as possible. Then the best thing is usually to put the rabbit on penicillin INJECTIONS. Grim had these every three days for eight weeks to clear his jaw abscesses. Manuka honey can also be used, but I've no experience with this.

The most important thing is we are trying to help us so you need to be clear an honest with us about what's going on. Otherwise we will have no way to advise you properly.

I don't think the right thing is to email your vet. I think you need to ring up and ask to speak to the vet who treated her. You need to ask exactly what the lumps are, have the tests come back and what the vet recommends for the next course of action. Most vets will put a rabbit on baytril first. It's safe and if the lumps are being tested they use it as an intermediate treatment while they find out what's going to work best. Phone the vet and see what they recommend and then come back and let us know and we can give you our opinions on that.

If the reason you don't know what to do is because of money then just be truthful.
 
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