Abscess behind eye - Advice on options please

Our rabbit Reggie has a suspected abscess behind his eye. I say suspected because there is a slim chance its a tumor, but the vet says its most likely abscess. We've not dont a scan yet as they are very expensive.

He is currently on his second round of antibiotics. I don't think they are working though, its been nearly a week since we started this last round and this morning the affected side of his face looks even bigger. You can see his eye is pushed out quite a bit further than the other. The abscess is in a really tricky place as its right behind his eye.

We are back at the vets on Tuesday when this current course of AB finishes. Our options then are to try another, stronger course of AB's or surgery.

We class Reggie as a "special needs" bun, his back left leg is almost completely paralysed. He can splay his toes a little but thats about it. He can still run and jump but needs help cleaning himself.
I'm concerned that if the operation ends with the eye being completely removed, his quality of life will be affected more because of his leg. The eye is the same side as the leg so it would be like losing that entire side.

I don't really know what to do. I don't want to risk another (probably useless) course of antibiotics and the abscess burst in the meantime. I think the surgery would be worth it if he keeps his eye.

Any advice?

I am sorry your Thread was missed. I am not an expert on abscesses but from what you say re your rabbit's face being even more swollen since Monday, I would take him back to your Vet for further examination. As far as the possibility of him losing his eye is concerned, that would be better than any possible pain or discomfort he might be feeling now. There has been a few abscess threads on the Forum lately, if you scan through the Health Section you will find them, you might find them helpful. Good luck with your rabbit.

We ended up taking him to a better vet on Monday. She's the savviest rabbit vet in Ireland Anyway, she did xrays and discovered that there is no abscess behind his eye as such. His tear duct is completely blocked and infected and the pus is gathering in his sinus. Obviously you wouldn't usually see a tear duct on an xray, but it was so blocked with hardened pus that it showed up! She then used some contrast fluid to see what was happening and even after trying to flush it 4 times it wouldn't clear

His teeth are ok, not perfect, but not bad enough to cause all this trouble. His bottom front teeth were a little long so she trimmed those too.

So he's now on a painkiller, a cream for the sore skin around his eye and penicillin injections. Also ear drops but they are just for whenever he ear seems itchy or waxy.

Just a quick question about the injections. When we practised at the vets we used saline solution which came out of the needle super easy, I barely had to put any pressure on the plunger. However, with the pen I had to put quite a bit of pressure on it, is this normal? I assume because the pen is quite thick and viscous, it just takes a little more effort to get it in? Other than that it went ok, nothing came back out and he's been fine since Next one Sunday!

When I had to give my rosie penicillin injections I too practiced with saline first which was easier and u do have to inject slower with the penicillin as it is thicker. If u r feeling resistance it is probably that u r injecting too high up and r injecting into the skin instead of the space between skin and muscle. If it's in the right place the needle should move freely inside once u puncture the skin. I also found putting my finger half way down the needle bit made it easier to control piercing the skin than holding onto the plastic syringe bit as I was always afraid of putting too much needle in as well!! I had to inject rosie every other day for around 2 months and I was in tears sometimes at the start as I was struggling and coulnt get the needle inbut once I made those 2 changes it was wayyyyy easier. Hope this helps.

Where in ireland r u as i am in northern ireland:wave:

Thats very helpful thanks! Were in Dublin The vet we went to is Bairbre O'Malley in Bray in Co. Wicklow.

I'm pretty sure I was injecting into the right area, I made the tent with the skin and then pushed it in just underneath, the needle went in smoothly after the initial pop through the skin (ew!). It was just when it came to checking for blood and subsequently injecting the pen, it required quite a bit of pressure on the plunger. Just more than I was expecting I guess!

How would I know if I was injecting into the skin?

Oh and heres a picture of the patient before his eye problems!

If u are having to put a lot of pressure i would say u r stilll going into the skin. I thought i was in the correct part of the tent also at times but when i felt pressure in the plunger i removed it and went a bit lower. The other thing is that u do sometimes get a blunt needle which can make u think u r far enough in when u aren't. Out of rosies needles I think I had 3 blunt needles. Just my experience. I also found wetting the fur to part it to see the tent better helped as icould see the needle going in better. U may actually not have the needle pushed in far enough and that could affect the pressure which is where i found putting my finger half way down the needle bit really helped and pushed in until the bunny skin touched my finger. Each time u inject u will become better. Glad u have found a good bunny vet. It makes all the difference x

Aw he is class! What a beautiful boy. Now they know what's causing the problem he will be fixed in no time.

Well the next one is Sunday so we will see how it goes. Hopefully I'll stop being such a nervous nelly!