Self injecting penicillin

[Veronica]

Snowy is back from the vets again tonight. As you know, he's been suffering from snuffles for the past few months.

He's been on a course of Baytril, then Septrin and then Tetracycline. He responded well on the Tetracycline...with symptoms really decreasing within a week of treatment (he was having an injection once every 2 days).

However, my vet would only allow the course of Tetracycline for 10 days for fear of upsetting Snowy's gut bacteria (he and is eating and drinking perfectly
fine).

Since coming off the Tetacycline, my vet asked to keep Snowy off the meds for 2 weeks to see how he went.
After a week, his symptoms returned full force as right in the beginning

He's now been given a 14 day course of penicillin injections (to be given every two days). I have to inject Snowy myself at home, and had to sign a consent form this evening, as its unlicensed for used in rabbits.

My vet was great in showing me what to do, and letting me try under her supervision. However, I was....and still do feel very very faint. I also feel extremely upset for Snowy, as he has been injected so so much, and yet is being so good and just putting up with it.

I'm also devastated that despite going through all this, visiting the vets twice a day, poor Snowy being used as a pin cushion....feeling like we were fiiiiinally seeing improvements......as soon as the meds stopped....back to square one

I've been warned that on the penicillin, there is a chance Snowy's eating might slow down/stop. I don't want him suffering, and I don't want to watch this happen.

I'm feeling faint, worried, exhausted, guilty and very very sad

I just want my bunny better

[Sakura6267]

Just wanted to let you know I felt the same way when I had to give depocillin injections to Yuki, (and he would have to have them for the rest of his life which turned out to be about 3 months later). But it worked wonders on him, and he showed remarkable results within a couple of days. It's difficult to do, but if it makes your bun feel better, it's definitely worth it.

[Lspacehopper]

You'll find there are a lot of people on here that have to regularly inject their buns. It's so much better than them having to go back to the vets every couple of days. I'm sure you'll both be fine

[Shel]

We have had lots of success injecting our drugs...its cheaper and most of the time less traumatic for the buns compared to trying to get oral medicines in. I was really worried about doing it but soon got used to it.

[thumps_]

A vet told me that buns tolerate injections better than meds by mouth.

The whole whisker, lip, nose area is highly sensitive, & they are totally reliant on it to know what they are eating. (They can't see what they are eating) So bunnies are often more distressed by human interference with their muzzle than by an injection.

I strongly believe that antibiotics in the blood stream are insufficient to control the infection properly. We have to get the infected mucus in the back of the nose & in the sinuses to drain properly. Top rabbit vets across the country are now advocate additional methods to try to do this. Environmental dust control is also very important.

I wonder whether your vet is prepared to discuss this with another vet at a bunny specialist center?

[purplebumble]

thats waht my vet said oddly enough too....nothing is systemic to kill off infection resp wise caused by pasturella.

im facing an uphill struggle getting additional tretament form the vets as the exoctics specvialist has recommended an xray and sinus flush under a ga...but the practice is almost two hours each way away and i have to pay £25 per hour for the travel etc..i will sell everyhting i own to do it but i dont want to as im scared hell die under the ga or itll get worse cos of the ga and stress and theyll find the flush is no use at all.

i tried to inject my first bun as she had oral syphilis soon after i got her form the pet shop...says it all eh.
i did the first one after fainting almsot...but after that i couldnt i bruised her badky and couldnt puncture the skin.....i had to stop after 3 or 4 days of trying.

im terrified of the thought of giving jabs....but the receptionist has done it before so id end up bribing her for the first few days.

my vet said she wanted to see bertie without meds to see how he really was..well meds are low and hes still sneezing and snuffly 24/7

im seeing her monday afternoon with him. the two upstairs buns are sneezing lots now too...have to take them diff day..gonna talk to the vet first.

ive read some buns need antibx till the day they die.........i can believe it...this infections a nasty one to eliminate..in fact you cant...you can only manage it

ask the vet for some metaclopramide syrup and zantac syrup..or better yet....injections as they work faster....just in case there is gi slow down.

[Daisylop]

i bruised her badky and couldnt puncture the skin.....i had to stop after 3 or 4 days of trying.

did you get plenty needles from the vet? dont use the same one time and again as it quickly goes blunt.If your drawing up from a rubber topped "bottle" I'd change the needle after drawing up as that is enough to blunt it slightly-making it all the harder to pierce the skin

[abbymarysmokey]

My rabbits definitely tolerate injections better than oral medication.

Older bucks are really easy to inject because they have thicker skin on their neck, so you can feel the needle popping through the skin...whereas it's too easy to stick a needle straight through and out the other side with young rabbits or small does.

[Happy Hopping]

This is what I learned from Penicillin G injection:

w/ Pen G, I notice the needle they pre-measure and gave me is not big enough, so I ask them to swap me the ones w/ bigger gauge. Because w/ smaller gauge, whether apply to human or animal, the white liquid is so thick that it jams at the hole, in the end, it's useless. With the needle hole bigger, the liquid goes in nicely.

Also, another trick is if you are giving Pen G which is from the fridge, make sure you let it warm up for 15 min. before inject inside her skin. One of the tech. taught me this trick as it's too cold to go inside the skin, the bun doesn't feel comfy.

Note: Pen G CANNOT BE GIVEN THRU THE MONTH, THE RABBIT WILL DIE IF GIVEN ORALLY, IT MUST BE GIVEN UNDER THE SKIN

The absolute best spot is the loose skin just behind the neck. See diagram

[Jenova]

I had to inject Grim for eight weeks at home. I had a few disasters where the whole thing exploded or he wasn't in a good mood and ran off around the house with a needle in his back. But overall I am sure it saved his life so it was worth it. It gets easier every time.