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Total ear canal ablation - final U/D post 56

KarenM

KarenM

Administrator
Staff member
Alfie has an abscess in front of his ear which also goes into the ear itself. The vet mentioned a referral for ear ablation surgery as a possible option but it sounds very invasive with varying degrees of success.

Just wondering if anybody has any links or can share their own experiences to help me with a decision please?
 
Do you know where they were talking of referring you to, Karen? I know that both Louise and Jill (bunnylover177) have had major ear surgery done by William for ear abscesses.
 
I didn't think to ask, they just said that it was major surgery and best done by a specialist but I assumed William would be a good choice. I might message Louise and Jill to pick their brains if they don't see this then.

The vet's removed as much of the abscess as possible and he's on depocillin so the plan is to see how he gets on for now. The op was mentioned as a possibility though so I thought I'd do a bit of research in the meantime.
 
KarenM said:
I didn't think to ask, they just said that it was major surgery and best done by a specialist but I assumed William would be a good choice. I might message Louise and Jill to pick their brains if they don't see this then.

The vet's removed as much of the abscess as possible and he's on depocillin so the plan is to see how he gets on for now. The op was mentioned as a possibility though so I thought I'd do a bit of research in the meantime.
Click to expand...

I hope the abscess removal and depocillin will do the trick and he won't need the full operation. Sending vibes, Karen xx
 
My bunny Harry had total ear canal ablation in both ears after ear infections which had been treated unsuccessfully for 18 months.For him Im sorry to say it wasn't a success but this was down to bad mistakes and lack of care at the referral vets as much as anything.(Grrr!)






Feel free to pm me.
 
Last edited:
Thanks MightyMax. :)

So sorry the op didn't work for Harry, hoppetylop, will PM you later.

Sent from my Lenovo A7600-F using Tapatalk
 
Parsley had an ear ablation following a real struggle with inner ear abcsess that was simply ENORMOUS - we tried everything there was to try and finally he had an ablation. - it was several years ago when they were much less common and at that time they stitched them up afterwards. I think this led to us not being able to check whether the abscess was growing back and sadly after a couple of months he passed away. we did not have a PM but we are pretty certain it has just grown back and we did not know it was happening. Nowadays they would keep checking with more CT scans and also perhaps marsupialise an opening to keep a check and drain if needs be.
 
Thanks parsnipbun, if we decide to go that route then I will be sure to discuss with the specialist to hopefully avoid the issues Parsley had.
 
I should add that Harry had a Lateral Ear Canal Resection before his TICA which is where they partially close the ear canal and make a drainage hole for each ear for pus etc.This was,I was reassured,the answer to Harrys problem.It was also unsuccessful as the holes were too small for the normally thickish rabbit pus to exit.Harry had to undergo DAILY reopening by the vet.Very distressing for him.This led to him eventually having to have the TICAs as the infection was still raging.
 
Hi All
My vet has referred me to a specialist as he believes that my rabbit might need to have this surgery.
From reading your posts I seem to be getting the feeling that it is not that successful? I love my little man very much, as you all do yours, and am having a really hard time deciding what will be the best thing for him. Any advice would be appreciated
 
hoppetylop said:
I should add that Harry had a Lateral Ear Canal Resection before his TICA which is where they partially close the ear canal and make a drainage hole for each ear for pus etc.This was,I was reassured,the answer to Harrys problem.It was also unsuccessful as the holes were too small for the normally thickish rabbit pus to exit.Harry had to undergo DAILY reopening by the vet.Very distressing for him.This led to him eventually having to have the TICAs as the infection was still raging.
Click to expand...

I missed this at the time. Thanks for explaining; I'm so sorry; it sounds like Harry went through a lot, poor little man.

LORBuns said:
Hi All
My vet has referred me to a specialist as he believes that my rabbit might need to have this surgery.
From reading your posts I seem to be getting the feeling that it is not that successful? I love my little man very much, as you all do yours, and am having a really hard time deciding what will be the best thing for him. Any advice would be appreciated
Click to expand...

I'm still trying to decide too. I haven't found much info (not sure whether that's just my useless googling skills :oops:) but all I know is that the surgery is very invasive and I would like to know more about success rates, recovery time, whether the op will allow him a good quality of life afterwards or just buy him some more time etc. Alfie's 8 in a couple of weeks and I'm looking at the quality of his life not just how long I can keep him alive for.

Alfie's been back in today to have some more pus removed as the lump was back. They've removed as much possible but it extends right down to his ear drum pretty much now inside his ear. :( He's still on depocillin but they've also taken a culture so that we can see if another antibiotic would be more effective.
 
Has the vet discussed things like putting beads in? and also I suspect this may be penicillin resistant (many abscesses are) so maybe some different abx?
 
parsnipbun said:
Has the vet discussed things like putting beads in? and also I suspect this may be penicillin resistant (many abscesses are) so maybe some different abx?
Click to expand...

I'm surprised to hear you say this, as a study of rabbit abscesses came up with penicillin as the main drug their bacteria were sensitive to - way above all the others.
 
parsnipbun said:
Has the vet discussed things like putting beads in? and also I suspect this may be penicillin resistant (many abscesses are) so maybe some different abx?
Click to expand...

There was no mention of beads but she's taken a swab this time to see what it's actually sensitive to.
 
Just updating this in case it helps anybody else in future really. :wave:

We're still waiting for the culture results (should be by the end of the week) but the cleaning and depocillin don't seem to be helping at all. Alfie is also starting to look a little uncomfortable and generally run down & his ear is very sore to the touch (understandably). He's still eating and pooping as normal but has never been one to be easily put off his food so I think he's probably in more pain than he's letting on.

He's on metacam and we're back to the vet on Thursday to discuss surgical options in more detail - one of the vets at the practice we use has an interest in soft tissue surgery and has performed several ablation/resection procedures on rabbits alongside William Lewis so it turns out we won't need a referral after all but I still need to weigh up pros and cons of major surgery. Will update in due course.
 
KarenM said:
Just updating this in case it helps anybody else in future really. :wave:

We're still waiting for the culture results (should be by the end of the week) but the cleaning and depocillin don't seem to be helping at all. Alfie is also starting to look a little uncomfortable and generally run down & his ear is very sore to the touch (understandably). He's still eating and pooping as normal but has never been one to be easily put off his food so I think he's probably in more pain than he's letting on.

He's on metacam and we're back to the vet on Thursday to discuss surgical options in more detail - one of the vets at the practice we use has an interest in soft tissue surgery and has performed several ablation/resection procedures on rabbits alongside William Lewis so it turns out we won't need a referral after all but I still need to weigh up pros and cons of major surgery. Will update in due course.
Click to expand...

I hope all goes well for Alfie whatever you decide to do xx
 
KarenM said:
Just updating this in case it helps anybody else in future really. :wave:

We're still waiting for the culture results (should be by the end of the week) but the cleaning and depocillin don't seem to be helping at all. Alfie is also starting to look a little uncomfortable and generally run down & his ear is very sore to the touch (understandably). He's still eating and pooping as normal but has never been one to be easily put off his food so I think he's probably in more pain than he's letting on.

He's on metacam and we're back to the vet on Thursday to discuss surgical options in more detail - one of the vets at the practice we use has an interest in soft tissue surgery and has performed several ablation/resection procedures on rabbits alongside William Lewis so it turns out we won't need a referral after all but I still need to weigh up pros and cons of major surgery. Will update in due course.
Click to expand...

What a difficult decision, Karen ..

I shall be thinking about you on Thursday, and hope it becomes clear what the way forward should be then x
 
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