Skin Reaction/Self Mutilation

Scamp went off his food at the start of October and after visiting the vet had the usual array of injections - painkiller, gut stimulant etc. he started eating again fine but one or several caused a skin reaction (much like he got with cylap) and he ended up with a nasty looking scab right between his shoulder blades which lasted until the beginning of November. He worried at it a bit but you could see it was progressively getting small/better.

A few days after the final little scab dropped off he trimmed the fur around the spot and then the day after opened a wound back up - new scab. Not as as bad as the first one and that has healed over again more quickly and by Friday it was just a slightly rough patch of skin. But he's now got a long wound running from next to the original one down one side. It started with what looked like bruising and a couple of spots where he's grazed it with his teeth but it's now a scabbed wound in a couple of spots.

Any thoughts? I would have thought anything from the original jabs that was causing a reaction should have dispersed by now. The vet gave him cortavance spray yesterday - they are trying to avoid giving him anything by injection. He doesn't seem to be in any significant pain from it, it's certainly not effecting his binky skills.

Pyoderma due to Pasteurella or Staph Aureus maybe ?

They are quite healthy looking wounds, as wounds go - dry not weepy. I tend to think of Pasteurella as gooey abscess or is that not necessarily the case?

I'll try and get some pictures later when he gets up

Tamsin said:

They are quite healthy looking wounds, as wounds go - dry not weepy. I tend to think of Pasteurella as gooey abscess or is that not necessarily the case?

I'll try and get some pictures later when he gets up

Click to expand...

It would not necessarily be gooey. Here are some photos of pyoderma in dogs.

http://www.dog-health-guide.org/pyoderma-in-dogs.html

I cannot give an "knowledgable"reply". But that seems to me a long time for an "simple medication reaction".
Yet you have had Scamps for so long, I think that behavioural causes are at the bottom of the list.

My guess is that something in the injection site is still irritating Scamps.
There is another possibility of dermoid inclusion cyst after skin perforation. A few surface cells which make skin squames, are driven into the deep layers, where they continue to make skin. In humans this can be intensely irritating especially when the wound starts to heal over, so they scratch it open again. This is called a "pick nodule"
Thumper had several dermoid cysts which grew to the size of a pea, & Benjie gets a nodule of fibrosis whenever he has an injection in his ear, but neither irritated.

Re pyoderma in dogs, Maizey has a long standing experience of this & is very knowledgable about it as an allergic phenomenon, & has some excellent non drug ways to control it, but she very occasionally has to resort to Abx & steroids. This tends to be a generalised condition with multiple lesions. It is well worth giving her a pm.

Finally some injections contain small amounts of non absorbed "stabilisers". These can irritate intensely - allergic reaction. Both vets & doctors are very unwiling to diagnose this! Excoriated dermoid "cysts"/ & allergy to stabilisers need excision of the irritant.
Skin biopsy over the injection site may be helpful to clarify the cause.
I'm sorry I can't give an answer. I hope I've offered some paths to persue.
Please keep us informed.

Which vet did you see? If you havent seen her already I would see Juliet but she only works mondays and fridays.

Poor scamp

Not sure which vet it was but she did say she'd used cortavance before.

He react to the cylap in a similar way but not the combined myxi he's had since, he then had the following jabs back on Oct 2nd

Inj 0.25 x Emeprid Injection 5mg/ml (Metoclopramide) /ml
Inj 1.00 x Zantac 25mg/ml Injection 2ml Vial (Ranitidine) /vial
Inj 0.55 x Baytril 2.5% Injection (Enrofloxacin) /ml
Inj 0.30 x Vetergesic 0.3mg/ml Injection 10ml Bottle

So it could be anyone of them.

This is the 'patch' the top part is where the original wound was which is now healed - the black bits are his fur about to grow in. That's the odd thing, a 'pick nodule' or similar would make a lot of sense if he was opening the same spot up for a third time but this is further down. Unless it is just self-harm because it's a slightly more easy to reach spot - he has to spin his head like an owl to get between his should blades :roll:





It looks a bit wet in that last one but that's because I'd just sprayed him.

Ooh that looks sore

would he keep a baby grow on? Knowing scamp Im guessing not!

It does remind me of Trevor. We used vetgold cream on her which worked really well x

You guessed right :lol:

I tried a DIY sock and he pulled it off in seconds, so I ordered one of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Medical-Pet-Shirt-XS-Green/dp/B00AUC9DME thinking being rabbit shaped it might work out better.

Came today and I just tried it out. Didn't go well, he was not impressed, just panicked a bit and oozed straight through it. He's so long and thin/flexible any gap his head will fit through the rest of him will follow.

The vetgold looks good, it sounds like it would be safer for licking too. I wonder if that would be okay to use inbetween as this spray is only once a day.

Ooh poor Scamp, that looks sore. I'd suspect Baytril burn given the list of things he has had, although potentially it could be a reaction to any of them i guess. Baytril burn can last for weeks or longer. When Heather had it, it looked very similar to Scamp's. hers scabbed over, got better, then opened up and got worse again probably for about 4 months in total, and then there was a flaky patch like they get with mites for longer still. I remember the specialist she was seeing for her eyes was both surprised at how long it lasted but also fairly relaxed about how it was looking.

Hope your little tinker is ok and doesn't bug the wound too much.

I'd say that was Baytril burn too

Oral Metacam for a few days can help reduce the inflammation and consequently may mean Scamp stops chewing at it.

Personally I find that with Baytril Burn putting nothing on it topically is preferable. So many sprays/creams etc have a preservative in them and this can exacerbate the inflammatory response in the already damaged tissue in sensitive Rabbits. It is probably the preservative in Baytril that causes the problem in the first place. The reaction is much worse if the Baytril is accidentally injected intradermally rather than subcutaneously as it pools about within the dermis. So attention to injection technique, using a new needle to inject from the one used to draw up the dose and massaging the injection site after administering a dose are also helpful in reducing the likelihood of a Baytril Burn problem. But some Rabbits appear to be very prone to the problem regardless of the amount of care given when administering an injection. Given Scamps history re the Vaccine reaction it is likely that he is always going to be more prone to the problem of local skin reactions.

I usually clip off as much surrounding fur as possible to allow a good air flow to get to the damaged skin. It also seems to prevent an attack of cheyletiella mites which tend to erupt after the onset of Baytril Burn. Clipping the fur and oral Metacam usually leads to a full recovery but it can take a good couple of weeks, sometimes even up to a month.

Just a thought - do buns get keloid?
Has the look of newly formed keloid to me.