loubylou85
Young Bun
Yesterday I spotted that Olly my 3 and a bit year old lop eared buck house rabbit has a lump just below one ear, and just above his jaw joint. Given that he loves being rubbed behind his ears, I spotted this quite easily. I was concerned so managed to arrange a visit to the vet this afternoon. My husband has taken him along and the vet has confirmed that he has an abscess and painted a potentially grim picture. She has taken a sample from the abscess for cultures and should be contacting us again this evening / first thing tomorrow morning with more info and recommendations on what treatment they could try. Initial searches on the net are providing mixed information and as soon as I have finished typing this I shall be searching old threads on this forum (so apologies if there is loads of info already on the forums!).
As thus far Olly has shown no signs of discomfort, and no obvious signs of it having affected his appetite and ability to eat, I am hopeful that he will have the best chances for recovery. Much of what I have read on the net refers to bunnies with massive lumps on the sides of their faces which affect their eating patterns and their ability to open their eyes. Olly's is nowhere near this stage as the lump is perhaps the size of a small marble and when I apply some light pressure does not cause him to show signs of being painful.
The warning from the vet that often bunnies do not always recover from facial abscesses may be quite true or may be them warning us of the worst case scenario to prepare us just in case. To date they have been great when treating our bunnies and guinea pigs and I've always understood them to be a well respected local training college (Elizabeth Smith Vetinary Centre @ Shuttleworth College in Bedfordshire if anyone knows them) so I do not doubt their ability to give good animal care. However, my husband and I are currently devastated at the news (he is and always will be my baby boy)
Can anyone give ANY info about facial abscesses or their bunnies experiences of them...good or bad?
Thanks
Claire
As thus far Olly has shown no signs of discomfort, and no obvious signs of it having affected his appetite and ability to eat, I am hopeful that he will have the best chances for recovery. Much of what I have read on the net refers to bunnies with massive lumps on the sides of their faces which affect their eating patterns and their ability to open their eyes. Olly's is nowhere near this stage as the lump is perhaps the size of a small marble and when I apply some light pressure does not cause him to show signs of being painful.
The warning from the vet that often bunnies do not always recover from facial abscesses may be quite true or may be them warning us of the worst case scenario to prepare us just in case. To date they have been great when treating our bunnies and guinea pigs and I've always understood them to be a well respected local training college (Elizabeth Smith Vetinary Centre @ Shuttleworth College in Bedfordshire if anyone knows them) so I do not doubt their ability to give good animal care. However, my husband and I are currently devastated at the news (he is and always will be my baby boy)
Can anyone give ANY info about facial abscesses or their bunnies experiences of them...good or bad?
Thanks
Claire