URGENT Please Help - Deep Wound

Please help me.

My 4 year old female rabbit Molly has a 1cm deep and 1.5cm across hole in her - it is on her back near her left shoulder. The some of the fur around is missing and matted and hard. There is no blood and it looks like it is heeling.

Just now is when I first noticed it though the last time I checked her over was several days ago and she was fine.

I called the emergency vetline and they just asked a load of questions and said it wasn't an emergency and take her to the vet tomorrow. I don't know what to do as I am really worried.

She seems well enough in herself but you just don't know with rabbits.

She lives outdoors with a male rabbit - both are neutered and get along very well and have done for years.

What could have caused this nasty wound? There are no maggots or anything so I don't think it's fly strike. There is nothing in the hutch that could have caused it either. Its quite a large custom built thing with nothing to catch on.

I even have mosquito mesh on there to stop flies getting in though I do let them out into the garden.

What should I do now?

Thanks

Nick

Hello,
I'm sorry I don't know what you should do but there are a lot of knowledgeble people on here who will be able to help.

edit: Just a thought though. Could you call the emergency vet back and ask what they suggest?

Has she had a mxyi vacs recently and if so did vet inject in that area? This can sometimes cause a reaction ..a bald scabby looking round patch...it can look very nasty...

otherwise it could be a bite you haven't noticed..best get a vet to check it out..and perhaps make sure you check them both everyday now just in case they are taking a nip out of each other!!

Good luck and keep us posted

Do you think it could be a bite mark? If the remaining fur is matted you can't really be sure what's going on there, so I'd gently bathe the area with some mild antiseptic then put a thin layer of savlon on . Take her for a check tomorrow morning. Good luck and keep us posted.

An injection of any kind could have caused this due to a reaction - but really, you ought to get a vet to look at it.
You say it looks as though it is healing over - can you check again to make sure that there are no little maggots hatching just in case? It only takes four hours for maggots to hatch
If you are really concerned then could you bring them in for the night to assess them?
If Molly seems bright and alert and is eating etc, then as long as the wound it clean and definitely free from flystrike then a vet in the morning is alright.
This could also be a case of over-grooming.
Good luck and let us know how Molly gets on.

bathe the wound with hibiscrub if you have it, if not, make up a saline solution using a teaspoon of salt in half a pint of water. first of all, just pour the water over the wound (bunny prob wont like it tho) to flush any loose dirt out, once you have done this, you can use a syringe if you have one to squirt the solution at the wound with a bit of force, as this will also help get rid of dirt. Then, you can use cotton wool and gently wipe the wound. the idea of all this flushing and gentle cleaning is that you dont want to push any dirt deeper into the wound. DO NOT apply vaseline or any other barrier clream as this will prevent any dirt and rubbish from getting out of the wound. Also, as the wound is old, do not bandage it or apply any dressings (your vet may do this after careful consideration of type of wound etc, although i doubt this). Chances are they will leave it open rather than stitching as it is an old wound, although this depends on depth and size, as well as exactly where the wound is. As you say the wound is on the shoulder, it is an area of high mobility and so sutures may not hold. Chances are they will tell you to bathe the wound twice daily and give a course of antibiotics. If your bunny is happy and eating, i wouldnt worry too much. I wouldnt try to clip the hair around the wound as you may end up getting hair into the wound. If your vet does this, they will/should apply a gel such as intrasite into the wound to prevent hair getting in as they clip (hair sticks to the gel then you wipe it away). A wound that is a few days old isnt an emergency, as your vet says, but i understand it is worrying when you reaslise it is there. Just bathe it up with hibiscrub/salt water and then rinse the wound with plain water as the hibiscrub/salt can irritate the skin.

Thanks all.

She hasn't had any injections for nearly a year so i don't think it could be that.

It is just really deep and wide. Its like a huge chunk of flesh missing.

Definitely couldn't see any maggots. I just bathed the area with a diluted mild antiseptic so I got a really good look. The wound is already there too where as with fly strike the maggots create the wound by eating the flesh.

Could the other Rabbit (Boris) have caused such a deep horrible wound? They've never fought at all and Boris is smaller than Molly and very he is very timid. She bosses him about to be honest.

Any thoughts???

Good post Katg.. I'm going to print it off for future ref.

thank you capel!
nickgrc, rinse the area you have bathed with plain water so the antiseptic doesnt irritate the skin. could cause bunny some discomfort and she may even lick/nibble the area and make it worse. Let us know what the vet says!

other thought is has she been running out in garden? a prickly shrub or rose bush could have caught her shoulder..or even just a twig sticking out in the wrong direction
sending heal quickly vibes

Thanks all and Katg.

I feel a little better now. I bathed it in mild disinfectant that I also diluted too. I hope this doesn't make it worse. JUst feeling really worried about her. Will take her first thing to vet tomorrow.

Thank you

My little bun Smudge was discovered with a wound just like your describing, she had been bitten.

Hers was on her tummy, she was seen by a vet about an hour later and then she went in the next day for wound debridement and suturing. She bounced back great after the GA, but unfortunately the wound developed an abcess a few days later and she had to have another GA to cut it out and re-suture the wound.

She recovered from that fanastically aswell, that was 8 months ago and she's been fine since.

Good luck with your bunny,
Nicola

thx Nicola

Bitten by another rabbit?

nickgrc said:

thx Nicola

Bitten by another rabbit?

Click to expand...

Yes, at the time she was unspayed living with 2 spayed does. She was exactly 6 months old and hit puberty big time and we think she had tried humping one of the other does faces and they bit her.

She got spayed aswell whilst under GA for the first wound op, and now lives with a lovely neutured boy,

Nicola

That was my guess too. That the other rabbit did it. If the wound's muscle is not "dead", i.e., it looks fresh and red/pink, then all you need is to stitich up the wound, in 7 to 10 days, it will fully heal.

Thx

Thx all.

Molly had to be operated on. It was not only deep but infected. There was a lot of dead skin - a huge amount in fact. It looked like it was probably a small wound to start with but had got infected until the abcess burst out leaving the gaping hole. She had had all the dead skin removed and been stiched up with about 40 stitches!

That was about 3 days ago. So far so good. I am giving her pain killers and antibiotics that the Vet prescribed. Struggling a bit though - she isn't too keen!