Ear base accesses

[Buzzwizz619]

Just looking for anyone in put on their experience with ear base accesses?

10-11 year old lol been with me just over 18 months, wax build up/abcess always been managed with cleaning initially every 2 weeks, but got worse recently and now needs every day or 2.

Ears were uncleanes for 5-6 days due to wanting to reduce stress due to issues flaring up with his spondylosis and now the swelling is 2-3cm I'm diameter and I just can't shift it.

Plan is to GA and flush early next week BUT worse case scenario if that still doesn't help (his ears are so narrow there's only 1-2mm gap that the waxy puss has to work it's way out of has anyone had surgery? I'm also slightly concerned it may be a mass with it refusing to budge but maybe the wax is just way to thick.

Started on Baytril and looking into depocillin Injections.

What's everyone else's experience?

 

[InspectorMorse]

Personally I would not put such an elderly Rabbit through surgery such as an Ear canal resection / ablation. It is very major surgery, with a long and painful post operative phase. Ear abscess recurrence after surgery is common

I would manage the condition conservatively - ie Analgesia and appropriate long term antibiotic cover. I have found a combination of Depocillin and Enrofloxacin to be beneficial in containing infection, but not fully resolving it.

I would be wary of doing an ear canal flush on such an elderly Rabbit too, very high GA risk and if the tympanic membrane is ruptured an ear canal flush is likely to make things worse, causing head tilt and other vestibular symptoms.

Ear canal abscesses can be opened from the outside, the abscess cavity flushed and then packed with medical grade manuka honey. This needs to be done daily. I have even seen total resolution of an ear base abscess treated this way, alongside systemic abx and analgesia. It took several months though.

 

[Buzzwizz619]

Personally I would not put such an elderly Rabbit through surgery such as an Ear canal resection / ablation. It is very major surgery, with a long and painful post operative phase. Ear abscess recurrence after surgery is common

I would manage the condition conservatively - ie Analgesia and appropriate long term antibiotic cover. I have found a combination of Depocillin and Enrofloxacin to be beneficial in containing infection, but not fully resolving it.

I would be wary of doing an ear canal flush on such an elderly Rabbit too, very high GA risk and if the tympanic membrane is ruptured an ear canal flush is likely to make things worse, causing head tilt and other vestibular symptoms.

Ear canal abscesses can be opened from the outside, the abscess cavity flushed and then packed with medical grade manuka honey. This needs to be done daily. I have even seen total resolution of an ear base abscess treated this way, alongside systemic abx and analgesia. It took several months though.

Thankyou for your response. Yeah I'm not considering major surgery, I couldn't put him through that. He had a GA 2 weeks ago for a dental and bounced back within <1 hour ( gas only GA rather than the usual dom/ket combo, as advised by the BSAVA manual for geriatric buns.) Surgery wise I was more thinking opening the abcess and flushing it, but then I'm not sure how well the daily maintencr would be tolerated and daily GA isn't really a option and the GA risk for a repeat GA does scare me but for how large the swelling is I feel like before long it will be a case of do or die

He's on Baytril now and I would love to start depocillin but vets have never used it before so are understandably cautious. He's on tramadol, gabapentin and metacam for his spongilosis so pain is controlled and he doesn't seen painful he's happy to have them massaged so I suspect pain is minimal ... he is sassy enough to deffo let me know of he wasn't happy

 

[InspectorMorse]

Thankyou for your response. Yeah I'm not considering major surgery, I couldn't put him through that. He had a GA 2 weeks ago for a dental and bounced back within <1 hour ( gas only GA rather than the usual dom/ket combo, as advised by the BSAVA manual for geriatric buns.) Surgery wise I was more thinking opening the abcess and flushing it, but then I'm not sure how well the daily maintencr would be tolerated and daily GA isn't really a option �� and the GA risk for a repeat GA does scare me but for how large the swelling is I feel like before long it will be a case of do or die ��

He's on Baytril now and I would love to start depocillin but vets have never used it before so are understandably cautious. He's on tramadol, gabapentin and metacam for his spongilosis so pain is controlled and he doesn't seen painful he's happy to have them massaged so I suspect pain is minimal ... he is sassy enough to deffo let me know of he wasn't happy ��

Once the abscess is opened daily flushing and packing would not require a GA, just good analgesic cover. Maybe your Vet could consult with an Exotics Specialist re the Depocillin.