please help - abscess advice needed - UPDATED

Can anyone help? My head is all over the place at the moment.

I found a lump on my Benny's jaw at the weekend and after reading about it here and elsewhere I found out that it was probably an abscess which meant bad news but can sometimes be cured. I took him to the vets tonight expecting them to suggest aggressive treatment & surgery right from the start but was told that it was pointless because an abscess for a rabbit is worse than cancer! she said an op could make matters worse. She more or less told me to let him carry on as he is until he gets poorly and stops eating. I was too choked to argue with her and just came away with some antibiotics.

I've now booked him in to see another vet tomorrow night for a second opinion but am now having doubts as to what's best. Should he be operated on or is there a chance the abscess could go on it's own? I know the op and subsequent treatment sounds traumatic - should I put him through that if he seems ok in himself?

Can anyone offer any advice or do you have any experiences of this??

Can anyone recommend a really good rabbit vet in the Leicester area?

Benny has been a bit of a sickly bunny as he had E Cuniculi earlier this year which made his back legs weak, but he overcame this in time with panacur and baytril. I've been told that the abscess could be a result of his immune system being poor. He isn't even two years old yet.

Hope someone can help - I want to do the right thing for him.

Thanks

hi

poor Benny - sounds like you are determined to get the best care for him so he's a lucky boy in that respect

there's a good article about abscess here but it does say that removal is sometimes not possible due to location - I would imagine it's very hard to remove one on the jawbone - It also says that unless the abscess is opened and cleaned, the other alternative is to just leave it alone and let the rabbit live with it - Your vet may be correct in her diagnosis, and antibiotics is a good start to treatment.

http://www.hrschicago.org/articleslay.html
Hope you get the help you need

Is he insured? My dog is insured with petplan when he needed a major op they sent him to the Animal Hospital in Newmarket. What about alternative medicine?

found this on the net

Recently, our vet was not able to find the penicillin G Procain/penicillin G benzathine that our bunny so desperately needed. I was extremely fortunate to find a company in New York that carried the product and graciously offered to send the antibiotic free of charge. If you think it appropriate, I would like for you to post the name of the firm on your web site so that other bunny owners will not feel helpless when they cannot find the antibiotic their bunnies need. The firm is:

Hanford Pharmaceuticals
304 Oneida St.
Syracuse, NY 13201
1-800-234-4263 ext. 2205 for Pat Romondo
email: http://www.gchanford.com

In addition, in my frantic search on the internet for information on pastuerella treatment, I came across a very informative article that addresses a specific treatment regime that may be useful to other bunny owners. The article is:

"Successful Eradication of Severe Abscesses in Rabbits with Long-Term Administration of Penicillin G Benzathine/Penicillin G Procaine" by Marcy Rosenfield.

more links

http://www.mth.kcl.ac.uk/~llandau/Homepage/Rabbit/abscess.html

http://therabbithutch.com/Health/abscesses/abcesses1.htm

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html#abs


Hope everything goes well. good luck

Hi,

You are in the same situation I found myself in at the beginning of this year.
I wasn't happy with the suggestion of leaving Peter until he stopped eating and took him to a different vet who gave me three options
1. leave it alone.
2.operate and treat.
3.Speak to a rabbit specialist (the vet knew of one and said she would phone for advice.)

I chose no. 3. He said to operate so we did.
The first time the vet stitched the area up so we ended up with another abscess forming. So another op this time she left the wound open and I had to flush the area out and keep it clean (It took two of us to able to do it)
Peter was on anti-biotics the whole time.
The vet needed to reopen the wound once more after that so we could give him the best chance to really overcome it.
It was a long and hard treatment 3 months in all and a further month on just anti-biotics.

I would go for the second opinion and see how you feel after.
An abscess is an infection that is walled off so the only way to treat is lancing it then giving anti-biotics and keeping the area clean.
If he is operated on make sure the vet leaves the wound open.

Sorry this is so long I hope I have helped.
Tracey

i suppose all cases are looked at individualy and the severaty and location of the absess could influence the treatment given BUT i would just like to say we have had 2 rabbits in our rescue who had very serious absessess and both were treated successfuly. one was left open and had to be flushed out with saline 3 times a day and the other was stiched up. both made remarkable recoveries.
i would like to say that an absess can make a rabbit very poorly and can be very painful . if you do decide to leave it a while by the time you decide to do something the rabbit might be too ill and weak for surgery.

less serious absessess can sometimes be cleared up with antibiotics but i have no experience of this.

good luck with whatever you decide its obvious you want the best for your bunny ,hope all goes well
Angie

Hi,

I had the same problem about 1 year ago and took my bunny to the vet. I think the big decider for me was if the infection had gone into the bone, in my case it had and I decided to Pts as I felt this was the best option.

However, if there is no sign of this I would fight and give the bunny a chance. Things are improving all the time and it sounds as if it is early days so I'm sure it is well worth giving it a go.

Best wishes

Maureen

abcess

Hi storm I am afraid that pen G/pen.G benzathine (bicillin) is banned in this country & has been since 1999 (cheers MAFF now DEFRA) so would not be able to be used.

My thoughts would be similiar to some of the other people on here, if the infection has not got into the bone and you feel that Benny is strong enough to fight this. Then it would be appropriate to go and have the abscess drained. It may be helpful if you considered giving Benny additional vitamins than those obtained from his diet to boost the healing process and a small amount of probiotic each day to help his digestive system whilst he is on antibiotics.

Good luck in this difficult time

Janice

I would also agree with having the abscess drained and given medication. For jaw abscesses I have found the best medications to use are Duphapen (a safer form of penecillin suitable for animals that are sensitive to it) injected daily or Engemycin as well as metacam for pain relief.
One of our resident bunnies has had 3 facial abscesses in the past, one on his jaw, one in his jawbone and one under one of his molars. All 3 times he recovered very well with the above treatment. He also has malloclusion but to look at him now he looks healthier than most of the other bunnies here

Cheryl

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement and advice. I will go to the vets tonight armed with this information and try and hold it together this time!

To those of you who decided to go for the surgery option - can I ask which vet performed the operation and where are they based? I would like to use someone who has previous experience of treating abscesses in rabbits.

Benny is insured with Petplan so I'm not worried about the cost.

I will post an update tonight after I have come back from the vets.

Thanks again everyone - and if anyone else has any of their own experiences to share (good or bad) please post them because I've found them so helpful and comforting to read.

We just got back from the vet. I feel more encouraged this time. The vet basically told us that surgery is the only real option if we want to keep him otherwise he will go downhill fast. That was enough to make my mind up.

The vet was very thorough and said he didn't think that the bone was involved. All of Benny's teeth looked okay too but he mentioned that a root was probably pushing through and this could have caused the abscess. He even mentioned bead implants (which I've read about) and that these would be used if he felt that he hadn't been able to scrape out all the pus. I asked if the wound would be left open and he said that it would not because that would cause all kinds of problems.

He's booked in for his operation tomorrow morning. I am absolutely terrified but at the same time feel as though I have to do something for him.

Is there anything I need to mention to the vet when i take him in??

Will update again tomorrow.

Fingers crossed for Benny!

Best wishes for tomorrow and we will have our paws crossed for you and Benny.

The vet sounds as though he knows his stuff so you should be in good hands.

Hope all goes well.

Maureen

Hope everything goes ok tomorrow. Don't forget to take some of your food and perhaps some treats with you so you can get Benny eating ASAP after the anaesthetic.

Janice

Any news on Benny?

Hi

Thanks for asking about Benny. I replied to a message from another well-wisher recently:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/tam/viewtopic.php?t=9577

The latest is that we are taking him to the Bristol Rabbit Clinic this Wednesday morning and we're expecting him to have the offending teeth extracted and the abscess removed. Quite a major op so I'm really apprehensive, I just want to fast-forward this week really. He's been getting lots of extra cuddles and nose-strokes from us as we're so scared of losing him.

Benny seems quite chirpy in himself though. He's eating lots of herbs and veggies but we can't get him to eat much hay. He's never really been a fan of hay and we've tried him with lots of different types. I've tried mixing it with his favourite herbs but he's not daft - he just picks out the herbs and leaves the hay. Stupid humans! Anyone have any good tips?

I will post an update again after his op. Not sure when as I'm expecting to have to stay overnight in Bristol although I would love to bring him home on Wednesday night.

Still keeping fingers crossed...!

Vickie & Benny
xx

i,ve just seen this topic . wishing him all the luck for wednesday .
let me share the experience i,ve had with abscesses .
Chico my first bunny took two absceses in his lower jaw , both were very bad and the vet decided it was all or nothing so he went in . The abscesses were removed successfully and after a long course on antibiotics , they never came back , these abscesses were in his jaw bone . Luckily tho we had no complications as chico was a very healthy rabbit otherwise .
Then we come to my darling cheekybun , he had everything that life had to throw at him , i lost him in july aged 6 and a half but he was ill for 6 months onwards on and off . Cheeky has snuffles , teeth probs etc , you name it , he got it and fought it . Like your precious baby , cheeky was in very poor health and took an abscess of his lower jaw and it was due to the teeth probs . He had a few teeth removed and a long course on antibiotics . the prognosis was not good but he made it and he lived another few years . follow your instinct , be strong for him , he will be in the best possible hands , you are giving him a chance , yes , its risky but cheekybun came through it and so will your boy . I,m sure cheekybun will be looking down over your darling during the op and will bring him home safely to you . xxx

Thanks, good luck. Snuggs was not daft either he would look at us with horror if we tried to give him hay

Hope everything goes well tomorrow and Benny is soon back home.

Give Benny a hug from us all and don't forget to pack yourself and him a lovely packed lunch to take with you.

Janice