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Coming off depocillin

GrunBunMum

Warren Scout
Hi
Boris has now been on depocillin for 6 month. He has a lump (boney mass) under his jaw. This is due to a abcess which was caused by tooth root infection and he also has jaw bone infection. The tooth c
can't be pulled cause the risk of his jaw shattering. They are waiting till its loose enough. It wasn't 2 month ago but they did file some molar spurs down. Now our vet from the advise of a rabbit savvy vet thinks we should take him off his every 2 day Injection. I'm not sure I want too. Its obviously not bothering him being on it and what if its preventing things becoming worse. Although on the other hand we might be doing them for no reason? Help I'm don't now weather to ask if he can stay on them :-(
 
My little April has been on it since June - also due to a tooth root abcess. At our last appointment, my Vet (who I trust totally with my rabbits) and I had this same discussion but the other way round. He wants to keep her on it long term, perhaps even for life. However, in the back of my mind my thoughts are 'what damage can that be doing to her? as years ago I had another bunny with continual root abcesses; he was on a different penicillin on and off, but sadly eventually he was PTS because of liver failure. It may have been linked, then again it may have not.

I don't think there's any harm in you asking your Vet :) I'm definitely following my vets advise with this; I don't see we've got anything to lose because if we stop it just may come back, and I really don't want to put her through more surgery, especially as she's a very bright and active bunny who enjoys life.

Just one thing if you do keep Boris on it for longer you will need to renew the bottle even if you haven't finished it yet as the longer it's open and in use the less effective it is.

Whatever you choose to do, I wish you luck!
 
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as long as the guts seem fine and it seems to help the only other factor would be damage at the subcut level of the skin from the constant injections. Are you doing intra muscular or subcut?
 
If the abscess has totally cleared, there would be no need for any more depocillin. Have you had any more x-rays done to see what is happening? Is he eating everything - ie hay / grass / pellets - normally (ie not being syringe fed or on softened food) and maintaining his weight? How old is he?

My feeling from past experience is that I would be reluctant to stop the depocillin unless it had been proved that there really was no remaining infection, otherwise it will flare up again. They are so difficult to get on top of. However, you need to convince your vets if you are not happy.

I have had a rabbit on depocillin and metacam for about 18 months before with no side effects. It was maintaining his quality of life and preventing his condition deteriorating. The treatment never bothered him. We never really got on top of the infection, but you would not have known how bad his jaw was to watch him bounce round the garden.

Good luck.
 
If the abscess has totally cleared, there would be no need for any more depocillin. Have you had any more x-rays done to see what is happening? Is he eating everything - ie hay / grass / pellets - normally (ie not being syringe fed or on softened food) and maintaining his weight? How old is he?

My feeling from past experience is that I would be reluctant to stop the depocillin unless it had been proved that there really was no remaining infection, otherwise it will flare up again. They are so difficult to get on top of. However, you need to convince your vets if you are not happy.

I have had a rabbit on depocillin and metacam for about 18 months before with no side effects. It was maintaining his quality of life and preventing his condition deteriorating. The treatment never bothered him. We never really got on top of the infection, but you would not have known how bad his jaw was to watch him bounce round the garden.

Good luck.

It's gone but im assuming the jabs are keeping others appearing. We won't know but I would rather keep him on it than find out. We had a long chat with our vet and she thinks we should try longer inbetween them as having them so often mwy make him immune. We have gone to every 4 days instead of 2. We get them monthly from vets so won't have them for long. Thanks for everyone's advise. Don't know what we would do without this forum x
 
Should have said hes 6 year old and a nutter! Eats loads and his poops are something to be
proud of lol. He's got extremely deformed jaw and a tooth that hopefully will get lose enough to pull. He's probably due a molar file in next few month so I'm going to get an x ray done and see the difference. You really wouldn't know he's got all these problems x
 
I'm not sure, what's the difference?

subcut you will be lifting up the skin and injecting under with needle held almost horizontal usually, intra muscular you will be rnning your fingers down the spine or flank to find a muscle group and putting it straight in there. It is supposed to be more efficient but is much harder to do night after night unless you have a very laid back rabbit.
 
The advice of my vet was to continue with injections for two/three months after all the infection and swelling has cleared up, then to stop.
This was to minimise the risk of antibiotic resistance.

It sounds like you're doing a great job with the dreaded abscess :wave:
 
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