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Pippin has an abscess behind his eye

halon

Warren Scout
Hello, earlier this week I discovered that Pippin has developed an abscess behind his eye. He's on various medicines (baytril, metacam, metronidazole) and we're waiting for a second opinion on his CT scan before the vet decides how to operate - it's quite likely they will need to remove his eye and a tooth (as they think the tooth root may be causing it).

So basically I was just wondering if there's anything extra I should be doing while we wait for the surgery, and whether anyone had bunnies that had successfully had their eye removed? Is the abscess likely to come back?

He seems very happy and is eating and running around like normal. He has lost some weight so I've started giving him a small amount of pellets (but not too much to upset his digestion). He's 7 years old.

This has just appeared out of nowhere and I'm terrified he won't make it through the operation, so please don't tell me about any rabbits that didn't make it.

Here is Pippin a few months ago (that's the eye - it's now bulging out of his head)
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And here he is, chilling with Frodo yesterday (on the left - you cant see the eye)

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Hello, earlier this week I discovered that Pippin has developed an abscess behind his eye. He's on various medicines (baytril, metacam, metronidazole) and we're waiting for a second opinion on his CT scan before the vet decides how to operate - it's quite likely they will need to remove his eye and a tooth (as they think the tooth root may be causing it).

So basically I was just wondering if there's anything extra I should be doing while we wait for the surgery, and whether anyone had bunnies that had successfully had their eye removed? Is the abscess likely to come back?

He seems very happy and is eating and running around like normal. He has lost some weight so I've started giving him a small amount of pellets (but not too much to upset his digestion). He's 7 years old.

This has just appeared out of nowhere and I'm terrified he won't make it through the operation, so please don't tell me about any rabbits that didn't make it.

7 years old isn't too old for a rabbit imo, so he has a good chance! Is the abscess still quite small? If so, that increases his chances.

If they managed to remove the entire abscess capsule and all infected tissue etc, and your vet is able to come up with a good treatment plan (whether that be inserting impregnated antibiotics beads into the hole or flushing it out etc), then he has a good chance.

In terms of anything extra it might be worth putting him on some more effective antibiotics but he's on painkillers which is fantastic.

Good luck :D
 
I've no direct experience of eye removal but I have seen many threads with successful outcomes.

I too would not consider 7 old as regards surgery. My Artie had complex kidney stone surgery then only a month later kidney removed at age 7 and he did extremely well.

Wishing you good luck for a successful outcome.
 
My first bun Miffy had an eye removed due to an abscess/tumour behind it. He recovered quickly and coped fine with just the one eye. Hope it all goes well for Pippin. Sending lots of vibes xx
 
Hi, I just thought I'd update this thread. Pippin has had his operation and is recovering really well. They got a specialist vet (he's been awesome) to do the surgery and they didn't need to take his eye out after all. The vet decided to leave his tooth because he couldn't see any sign of infection, so hopefully it was just a splinter or thorn that worked it's way into his gums. He's on the same antibiotics for now, but they're doing a culture to identify the best antibiotic for him. I'm not sure if they put any antibiotics into the wound (I think that was the plan at one point, but then the vet said the eye fell back into place, so I'm a bit confused). If the abscess does re-occur, then we'll probably have to look at a more aggressive plan, but I'm really hoping this won't be necessary.

So I'm just trying to get him to put some weight on at the moment. He doesn't like porridge so he's having pellets, and lots of extra herbs and forage, and I'm going to try him with a little alfalfa hay.

Here he is looking better, 2 days after the op:
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and here he is with Frodo - sorry for the terrible phone photos. I had Pippin in my bedroom earlier, so that he could eat his food in peace without the others stealing the food (they definitely don't need it!). When he went back out, Frodo came over and did this binky dance around him, and then groomed him. It was probably some form of dominance thing, but I'm choosing to interpret it as Fro being really happy to see him looking better. They've both been binkying around today (while Merry has been all sulky because he had to endure having eyedrops - oh the horror).
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Pleased to hear Pippin's operation went well and he is recovering nicely. He looks a good weight from the photo!
 
I forgot to update this. Pippin's abscess came back again, underneath his eye rather than behind it, possibly due to infection in his tearduct. So the vet removed it and left the wound open, and then I put Manuka honey on it til it healed. The infection in his tearduct has now finally cleared up, so hopefully he'll be off antibiotics in another week. We've decided not to remove his tooth as it's too healthy (even though the CT shows there might be something in the tooth root), so there's obviously a chance the abscess could return.


Bulgy-eyed Pippin with the first abscess:
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Second abscess:

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Pippin all happy and healed today:
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and a bonus picture of Frodo yawning:
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Sorry to hear that his abscess reoccurred, but glad to hear that he seems to be on the mend :love:
 
I'm so glad he seems to have beaten this :thumb: they are beautiful, I love agouti rabbits :love:
 
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