pasteurella

A rabbit that I rehomed a few weeks ago has developed an abscess which was surgically removed and now has pasteurella! she has had been on antibiotics for three weeks and been getting the would cleaned daily. There is still puss in the wound but the vet has now said to leave it for two weeks to see what happens with it, in the meantime she is on oral antibiotics. The rabbits new owner is upset at the thought of maybe losing her does anyone know of anything else we can do for her? has anyone had a rabbit with this kind of problem?

Thanks. x

I have evry limited experience with abcesses, the one boy we did have with one was caught early and cleaned while he was neutered. He was on baytril for a week and that was the end of it (except he has a slighlty deformed lip now).

Where is the abcess located?

i had 3 dumped on my doorstep at 6am in last winter with it but it had already got into their lungs so unfortantly they had to be put to sleep

Sooz22 said:

I have evry limited experience with abcesses, the one boy we did have with one was caught early and cleaned while he was neutered. He was on baytril for a week and that was the end of it (except he has a slighlty deformed lip now).

Where is the abcess located?

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On her shoulder, it may have started of with a nip from her boyfriend

This was anip from his brother.

Im guessing then its the pasteurella you are worried about?

Is the rabbit on Ceporex or Baytril? We have a bun with Pasturella here but it has been dormant for several weeks now. I believe the key is to catch it before it spreads to the lungs where it causes real damage.

I also notice many buns who are 'chesty' have very lack lustre coats :?

be careful it is very highly contagous to other rabbits

Actually it is less prevalent than once thought provided the other rabbits are healthy. Recent research suggests most rabbits are born prone to it and that the majority who do not develope it as babies will not go on to develop it as adults even when in contact with an infected rabbit.

Also it never truly leaves a rabbit, its one of those 'for life' illnesses but it can be controlled with anitbiotics and a good lifestyle.

Remember most rabbits carry pasturella in their lungs anyway (one of the keystones of why rabbits and Gpigs cannot live together) but only those with poor immune systems or under stress go on to develope side effects from it.

As far as I know abscesses need to be kept open and cleaned daily, or whenever there's pus there (some fill up quicker than others). I have heard that as it walls itself off from the body, antibiotics orally can't touch it, so you need to clean all the pus out, drip a drop of antibiotic onto the wall of the abscess, and then you can leave it or put manuka honey in the cavity as it stops bacteria growing. If it's on his shoulder it should clear up fine as it's easy to get at I guess?

I would follow the vets instructions but keep a very close eye on it. A lot of vets advise manuka honey over the wound as it acts like a poultice and draws the pus out. I would keep a close eye on it and if not take the rabbit back to the vets. As for pasturella a friend of mines rabbit has chronic pasturella and baytril did not have any effect on it. Her rabbit is now on subcutaneous penicillin injections which have been the best treatment so far. The steroids they gave her had no effect.

Thanks, I really don't want her to loose the rabbit

hunnybun said:

Thanks, I really don't want her to loose the rabbit

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It's not nice. I had to take one of our buns to the vets today and unfortunately we decided enough was enough for him.

He'd developed an abcess on his penis (of all places), and he'd been through one course of injections of antibiotics.

It had appeared to clear up and he was kept in Iso for a wee while longer until he was ready to be put out. On the day, we noticed the swelling was back and it was back to the vets for another triple course of antibiotics. He was due to have his third on Friday, but this morning he'd taken a real spiral downhill so we got him into the vets. He had developed really bad diahorrea (probably due to the antibiotics). It was literally running out of him. Overnight he'd developed razor spine and his coat had gone all shabby and his whole demeanour was so sad to see. It was as if the fight had gone out of him.

The vet managed to squeeze some of the pus out of the abcess and it was so hard and thick and rancid, but as I said, we decided enough was enough.

I was in bits....I'm too soft for my own good sometimes

It's a shame abcesses take such a hold of buns

One of mine had dreadfully congested lungs and made really loud wheezing noises every time she took a breath. A course of an antibiotic called Ronoxan (sp?) cleared it up nicely. She still has slightly snuffly breathing and runny eyes, but hasn't been really bad for over a year now.

Not sure if it was Pasteurella though, we couldn't culture it 'cos it was on her lungs.

Amy

And back I go to the vets today too! Charlie has been sneezing again since his last lot of anti b's and the white discharge is back. Going to take him to see if he needs any more anti b's but I know he will have to live with this now. See what the vet says this aft - apart from that he's really bouncy and healthy, good coat etc...

Been to vets but he didn't give Charlie anything else. Didn't charge me for the consultation either Basically, he has to live with it - which he has been doing for months anyway and I've just to keep my eye on him. He has lots of fresh air anyway, lots of exercise and eats really well so for the time being all OK!

I hope your rabbit is ok hunnybun, please keep us posted

Have u tried septrin as I have my giant on it at the moment and she is really improving

Hi there, the wound needs to be kept open, and the pus gently squeezed out on a daily basis. This happened to one of my bunnies. He developed an abscess, I took him to the vets and the abscess was surgically removed. However they stitched it back up again, within a few days the pus was basically pushing itself out through the stitches, so I returned him to the vets, and they said that the wound should have been left open :? so that the pus could be extracted. I kept extracting the pus, and the wound started to heal over naturally, and the pus eventually stopped. However, another abscess cropped up practically next to the site of the original one. I took him back to the vets, and the vets made a tiny incision in the abscess to extract the pus, and told me to keep extracting the pus on a daily basis again, which I did, and gradually it naturally healed up again.

A third abscess then appeared, so I made a tiny incision like the vet did, and kept extracting the pus. Finally, within a week or two, we'd beaten it! The abscesses were all gone, and my bunny was back to his usual self.

Over the years, the occasional abscess did crop up, but I just treated them in the same way, and my bun is still doing ok.

Carol x

I don't think I would have been able to make an incision by myself!

Elaine - can you get Septrin without going to the vets? My Charlie has had two lots of anti biotics, Baytrill and Duphamox but nothing has worked.

i have had several rabbits over the years with recurrent abcesses.
the most notable being dahlia.
the most important thing is to keep it open and flush it. if it scabs up you MUST pick the scab off and extrude ALL loose pus at least once a day. i would be doing it twice to begin with and then see whats necessary. i have done it 3 times a day in serious cases for a short while.
flush the wound out with saltwater using a large syringe. you can be quite rough with the flushing as it shouldnt be too sore. (they are sore for a day or two after surgery but then it shouldnt be painful after that)
my vet recommended flushing 20+ syringe fulls at each session. i would then drip on a couple of drops of topical antibiotic like tiacil if you can get it. then finally the magic blob of manuka honey.
follow this routine for weeks or even months if necessary. DO NOT GIVE UP!
Dahlia was meant to have died over a year ago as the abcess on her jaw was so agressive but she is still here. it has been going on for well over two years but is pretty dormant right now. i know it will come back but she leads a perfectly normal life.
please persevere:thumb: