Sad news about Chowder

I noticed Chowder had developed two small abscessees under her chin a week or so ago. Went straight to the vet who said best thing is conservative management. Thought I'd get a second opinion and went to another vet who said they will try surgery to lance the abscesses and see how she does, given that they are so difficult to treat because the come back so often. I was willing to give it at least one go.

So, we gave it a week on antibiotics (as per vet's instructions) I took her in for the surgery and the vet rang in the afternoon saying that after doing some x-rays, her jaw has been damaged from the pressure from the abscess and that they did not want to go ahead with the surgery because they didn't think they could get a good outcome. They referred me to the specialist in Harrogate.

I spoke to my partner about it and we decided not to go to Harrogate after all. She gets so stressed travelling and the thought of her having to go through that over and over again breaks my heart. I don't want her to suffer, especially if the chances of success are low anyway. So now we are just keeping an eye on her and giving her antibitoics and when she looks like she's going off her food and not herself anymore, then we will have to say goodbye.

At the moment she is fine in herself. Still running around and enjoying her food. Did I do the right thing? I so want her to be with us for longer but that's not the right reason to put her through the trauma is it? So now I am just watching her all the time and spending as much time with her as possible. I think she's getting annoyed with me hanging around constantly!

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Sorry to hear about Chowder

OMG that is shocking and totally, totally incorrect advice. Please, please, please do not have your bunny pts :shock::shock:

2 other forum users were in exactly the same situation with their bunnies, who had been enduring months of inappropriate treatment, and were then being faced with the prospect of loosing their buns, but I have a fantastic rabbit specialist vet, and over the years various buns of mine have developed these awful things, but all buns, and the 2 forum users that took their buns to my vet, have all made a full recovery, and believe me, they are NOT a death sentence. Only when you have got totally idiot vets involved, and even so called specialists, because one of the forum users had seen all of those as well, but they still failed to treat it correctly, so forget about your specialist (?) in Harrogate as well. Just out of interest, is your bun on Baytril??

If so, you might as well just be syringing water into her (my vets exact words). What is actually needed is very aggressive DAILY treatment with antibiotics. Every other day, and certainly 3 daily injections are not regular enough. They may well stop the infection getting any worse, but they are unlikely to cure it or certainly not very quickly, as these infections are so nasty, that too big a gap in between injections, just give the infection time to start taking ahold again. It is certainly not unusual for rabbits to be on antibiotics, even very aggressive daily ones for at least a month to 6 weeks. I am just so shocked at what you have been told and the fact that YET ANOTHER bunny ends up being pts for absolutely no need.

To be honest, if your vet has prescribed Baytril and told you to give your bunny a week, you seriously need to bring this to the attention of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, because these vets need some serious additional training in the treatment of rabbits. I am certainly going to be resuming my campaign with the RCVS for vets to receive more training, because it is just heart-breaking at all the lovely, caring owners such as yourself loosing much loved buns absolutely needlessly.

My vet prescribes daily injections of Duphapen which is a penicillin based med, but an especially effective one at treating such infections, daily oral administration of Marbocyl, and Metacam for pain relief, and ALL bunnies have made a full recovery in about 5 weeks.

yvoila said:

I noticed Chowder had developed two small abscessees under her chin a week or so ago. Went straight to the vet who said best thing is conservative management. Thought I'd get a second opinion and went to another vet who said they will try surgery to lance the abscesses and see how she does, given that they are so difficult to treat because the come back so often. I was willing to give it at least one go.

So, we gave it a week on antibiotics (as per vet's instructions) I took her in for the surgery and the vet rang in the afternoon saying that after doing some x-rays, her jaw has been damaged from the pressure from the abscess and that they did not want to go ahead with the surgery because they didn't think they could get a good outcome. They referred me to the specialist in Harrogate.

I spoke to my partner about it and we decided not to go to Harrogate after all. She gets so stressed travelling and the thought of her having to go through that over and over again breaks my heart. I don't want her to suffer, especially if the chances of success are low anyway. So now we are just keeping an eye on her and giving her antibitoics and when she looks like she's going off her food and not herself anymore, then we will have to say goodbye.

At the moment she is fine in herself. Still running around and enjoying her food. Did I do the right thing? I so want her to be with us for longer but that's not the right reason to put her through the trauma is it? So now I am just watching her all the time and spending as much time with her as possible. I think she's getting annoyed with me hanging around constantly!

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I am sorry to hear about Chowder. Whilst the Vet in Harrogate (I assume Frances Harcourt-Brown) is excellent I fully understand that for a Rabbit who becomes very distressed travelling this may not be an option

What you could perhaps do is ask your Vet to phone FHB and maybe fax her copies of Chowder's records, including any skull radiographs. She may be able to give her opinion on a conservative treatment plan that may buy Chowder more time.

I am sure that you will do whatever is in the best interests of your Bunny. Dental abscesses are so nasty and when they have also effected/damaged the bone surgical treatments are far more complicated. In some situations we have to remember that whilst a surgical procedure may be technically possible, it may not be in the best interests of the specific Rabbit to actually do it.

Well I really don't know what to make of these posts. So many people seem to struggle for so long with abscesses, only to keep having them reappear, and I've yet to see other bunnies given such aggressive antibiotic treatment as that my own vet prescribes. Given that I've kept bunnies for nearly 20 yrs now, and some especially Roger, have had the most dreadful teeth, and suffered from really bad abscesses in the mouth, but Simon's treatment has cured every one completely in on average, 5 weeks, and it has never reoccurred again. To be honest I've lost count of the number of abscesses I have had to deal with over the years, but I've never lost a bun through one, or even had one reoccur, and maybe this is why I find such posts so distressing, and really just don't understand why lots of other vets seem to view them as almost a death sentence, and something so difficult to treat.

RogerRabbit999 said:

Well I really don't know what to make of these posts. So many people seem to struggle for so long with abscesses, only to keep having them reappear, and I've yet to see other bunnies given such aggressive antibiotic treatment as that my own vet prescribes. Given that I've kept bunnies for nearly 20 yrs now, and some especially Roger, have had the most dreadful teeth, and suffered from really bad abscesses in the mouth, but Simon's treatment has cured every one completely in on average, 5 weeks, and it has never reoccurred again. To be honest I've lost count of the number of abscesses I have had to deal with over the years, but I've never lost a bun through one, or even had one reoccur, and maybe this is why I find such posts so distressing, and really just don't understand why lots of other vets seem to view them as almost a death sentence, and something so difficult to treat.

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What is always important to remember is that every single case will be unique. Yes, some Dental abscesses can be successfully treated and no-one is suggesting otherwise. But just because your Rabbits have had treatable abscesses that will not always be the case and to imply that every one else's Vet is failing the Rabbit he/she is treating is very unfair. All that does is add to the distress of the person caring for the Rabbit.
No-one can possibly know the exact situation unless they have seen the Rabbit for themselves and spoken face-to-face with the Vet. What is posted online can only ever give part of the story, so making sweeping judgments on half the story is pretty pointless.

I understand that you have had some dreadful past experiences with poor Veterinary treatment until you found your current Vet. So it is of no surprise that you would find trusting that there might just be a few other Vets equally as capable as yours who can provide excellent treatment for Rabbits. To suggest otherwise is going to do more harm than good.

To the OP- I really hope that little Chowder remains comfortable and happy for as long as possible.

RogerRabbit999 said:

Well I really don't know what to make of these posts. So many people seem to struggle for so long with abscesses, only to keep having them reappear, and I've yet to see other bunnies given such aggressive antibiotic treatment as that my own vet prescribes. Given that I've kept bunnies for nearly 20 yrs now, and some especially Roger, have had the most dreadful teeth, and suffered from really bad abscesses in the mouth, but Simon's treatment has cured every one completely in on average, 5 weeks, and it has never reoccurred again. To be honest I've lost count of the number of abscesses I have had to deal with over the years, but I've never lost a bun through one, or even had one reoccur, and maybe this is why I find such posts so distressing, and really just don't understand why lots of other vets seem to view them as almost a death sentence, and something so difficult to treat.

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OP to me your course of action sounds sensible and I hope you can keep Chowder as comfortable as possible for as long as possible

Rogerrabbit999 - every situation will be different and some rabbits stress with travelling/ treatment which could potentially cause more stress/ problems than pain relief and pts. Of my rabbits there are two in particular I would never dream of putting through a long journey or a lot of treatment as I know they just wouldnt cope with it. I have one that I know would lap up the attention.

As Jane suggestion it might be a good idea for the OP to contact FHB and have a consult rather than actualoly travel the rabbit there - especially in the current heat

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Sending lots of vibes for Chowder xx

Lots of vibes for Chowder

Sending vibes for Chowder x

Vibes for Chowder

I am very sorry to read your post. Abscesses are notoriously difficult to treat in that it's so hard to remove the abcess completely and in such cases they do regrow. Milly's had to be removed twice from her throat, I would have struggled to agree to a third time. Ithink the real problem is that xrays indicate jaw damage. I entirely agree with Jane that it would be a good idea to ask your vet to fax the xrays to FHB or another bunny specialist for their opinion. Travelling is in my experience difficult with buns especially in the heat and even more so when they're poorly. Travelling 5 mins to the vets is an ordeal for Rupert for example. Some can cope, many others can't. For many bunnies it would be extremely distressing and knowing your bunny as you do only you can make this decision.
I will be thinking of you and Chowder. xxxxx