Rabbit MRI: UD 15th May

Wishing him a speedy recovery x

I hope that he will continue to do well xx

MightyMax said:

Janey thank you so much for the update :thumb:

He's been through a lot since you last posted, and so have you! Well done to both of you.

More than anything, I am glad you went with your gut and did what you felt was right for Peter, with the vet of your choice. There's no end of advice we can give on here, much of it conflicting too I expect, but you stood by what you believed in.

I pray his recovery will go on apace and you'll worry less and less about him (and more about the bank balance, maybe :shock

Peter is a lucky boy, but it feels like he knows it and is determined to repay your kindness with his bounciness xx

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I too feel that it is good that in the end you went for what you beleived.

Sending lots of vibes for Peter and hope he continues to recover well.

Sending you and your bunny some feel better vibes.

It's been a while since I posted on this thread but am after any more advice people can offer again.

Quick recap, last year Peter had an operation on booth ears (one at a time) as they were full of puss, this was following neither baytril or depocillin being effective at treating the infection, cultures haven't been helpful and have been done twice.

So the operation on one ear worked but unfortunately on the other ear the infection came back fairly quickly, I have been trying to manage but now my insurance has kicked back in I need to decide what to do next. The vet is suggesting a repeat of the operation in the bad ear but obviously it's a big operation and it could come back again, however, I don't know what the other otions are, the meds haven't worked and I imagine he must be in pain (although his behaviour is fine).

Poor bunny has had a tough few weeks having lost his friend, I'm not sure how best to help him. Has anyone managed effectively on any other medication? If it is managed I imagine it's about keeping at bay and from getting worse rather than beating the infection, so I guess ultimately this would be the beginning of the end :-(

Sorry to hear of the latest update Such a shame that it hasn't resolved it completely.

I don't have any relevant advice with ear infections, but has your vet tried a couple of different depocillin variants and also tried administering once a day (if appropriate)? Over the time Nena has been poorly she's had at least 3 different penicillin/depocillin/somethingcillins for various reasons so that might still be a possibility. Obviously your vet will have to advise what might be best for you based off the cultures but it may be worth picking their brain.

How did he do after his last operation? If he tolerates it well and bounces back easily it would tempt me (combined with as aggressive as possible antibiotics and aftercare). I've gone for the 'let's throw everything at it' approach a few times and it has never gone badly but it is so individual to the rabbit and their problem. If he didn't do well after his operation it would be much harder to justify putting him through it with no guarantee of it not coming back. I would imagine the second surgery will be a bit more minor as your vet has already done some of the work to alter the ear canal?

It is always such a difficult call but for me a lot of it would be decided by how he did after his surgeries. Do you think he would cope well?

Janey said:

It's been a while since I posted on this thread but am after any more advice people can offer again.

Quick recap, last year Peter had an operation on booth ears (one at a time) as they were full of puss, this was following neither baytril or depocillin being effective at treating the infection, cultures haven't been helpful and have been done twice.

So the operation on one ear worked but unfortunately on the other ear the infection came back fairly quickly, I have been trying to manage but now my insurance has kicked back in I need to decide what to do next. The vet is suggesting a repeat of the operation in the bad ear but obviously it's a big operation and it could come back again, however, I don't know what the other otions are, the meds haven't worked and I imagine he must be in pain (although his behaviour is fine).

Poor bunny has had a tough few weeks having lost his friend, I'm not sure how best to help him. Has anyone managed effectively on any other medication? If it is managed I imagine it's about keeping at bay and from getting worse rather than beating the infection, so I guess ultimately this would be the beginning of the end :-(

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I am sorry to hear this. I am not going to offer any advice as my opinion about highly invasive ear surgery is not in general agreement with most people. And as Yaretzi rightly says, each case needs to be judged individually.

I hope that you can find a way forward for Peter that you feel to be the best option for him

Lots of vibes being sent xx

Dear Janey,

Although I cannot offer any advice I am anxious for you.
You are in a position that either decision can be the right one or the wrong one and you would need a crystal ball to know which is which.
That being said, I know that whatever you decide will be in the best interest of Peter.

Thank you all for your comments, it is a tricky decision and all I want is to do the best for him, if I don't go ahead I almost feel like I'm not giving him a chance but then I feel that if I do go ahead I am putting him through an awful lot and he is getting a bit old, I'm not entirely sure of his ago but approximately 6.5-7 years.

He did bounce back well after the previous operations, he had issues with his eyes but other than that he did well. Yaretzi I will ask about depocillin variants and administering daily, it is certainly worth a suggestion. Unfortunately the cultures have not been at all helpful so it's just a bit of a stab in the dark as to whether anything will work.

We are off to the vets tonight so will see what they say. Gosh it is all so stressful, especially as my vets is quite a trek away, just tackling the M25 is stressful enough.

I'm so sorry , I can't give any advice, but I'm sending lots of vibes xx

Janey said:

Thank you all for your comments, it is a tricky decision and all I want is to do the best for him, if I don't go ahead I almost feel like I'm not giving him a chance but then I feel that if I do go ahead I am putting him through an awful lot and he is getting a bit old, I'm not entirely sure of his ago but approximately 6.5-7 years.

He did bounce back well after the previous operations, he had issues with his eyes but other than that he did well. Yaretzi I will ask about depocillin variants and administering daily, it is certainly worth a suggestion. Unfortunately the cultures have not been at all helpful so it's just a bit of a stab in the dark as to whether anything will work.

We are off to the vets tonight so will see what they say. Gosh it is all so stressful, especially as my vets is quite a trek away, just tackling the M25 is stressful enough.

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I do agree with Yaretzi, that if he bounced back previously, and the vet thinks it's appropriate, then I would probably opt for surgery again. I don't view 7 years old as being beyond anaesthetic, where really necessary, as I'm sure you feel the same.

If the infection is deep, the swab may come back as "no bacterial growth" which is very unhelpful, I know. But as I gather you've already done this a couple of times, it probably won't be repeated?

There are also other injectables I would try, as a change from the one that seems to have stopped working. Perhaps you can discuss alternatives with the vet before you go down surgery route? ... and I would also think about supplementing with a good brand of echinacea, as obviously the immune system isn't up to par and fighting the infection.

Wishing you loads of good luck xx

Janey said:

Thank you all for your comments, it is a tricky decision and all I want is to do the best for him, if I don't go ahead I almost feel like I'm not giving him a chance but then I feel that if I do go ahead I am putting him through an awful lot and he is getting a bit old, I'm not entirely sure of his ago but approximately 6.5-7 years.

He did bounce back well after the previous operations, he had issues with his eyes but other than that he did well. Yaretzi I will ask about depocillin variants and administering daily, it is certainly worth a suggestion. Unfortunately the cultures have not been at all helpful so it's just a bit of a stab in the dark as to whether anything will work.

We are off to the vets tonight so will see what they say. Gosh it is all so stressful, especially as my vets is quite a trek away, just tackling the M25 is stressful enough.

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Peter's general condition and the ability of his organs to process the GA are more important than his age. Your vet may want to do blood work prior to any planned operation if that is the route you decide to take.
My vet performed surgeries on my bunnies when they were 10, 10, 12, and even 13 years old. In one case I had no real choice.

I can appreciate what you're going through as we've only today been talking to the vet about total ear canal ablation and ostectomy of the tympanic bulla for Alfie. Trying to weigh up the pros and cons of whether or not to operate is awful &, no matter which way you go, it's natural to worry about whether you've made the right choice.

I don't have any useful advice as Alfie's only fairly recently developed problems with his ear and we've decided not to go with surgery atm (mainly because of the risks of surgery and the chance that it might still recur as you've sadly found with Peter); we're still waiting for culture results as depocillin isn't really helping so we're only really at the beginning of the journey you've been on with Peter for a while now.

I just wanted to say though that I don't ever think there is a set right or wrong and wish you all the best with coming to a decision that you feel comfortable with.

Thank you all for your comments and thoughts, it's much appreciated.

I discussed with the vet again and I have booked Peter in for a repeat op next Wed, however, I will be thinking about it a lot over the weekend. My main reason for thinking it's the best thing is that it worked on the one ear so I am hoping it could work on the other, he is well in himself now, I worry if I wait longer he will start to become resistant to the antibiotics he is having that may be keeping things at bay, and then in a worse position to go through surgery. He did well under the anaesthetic last time and recovered well, I am hoping it would be the same. No MightyMax, the cultures won't be repeated as they keep coming back inconclusive, I've got a limit my insurance claim as the renewal has only just kicked back in and writhin a week I will have spent a best part of £1000 of my £2000 available.

KarenM I have read your thread, it's so hard to know what is best isn't it. Peter also lost his friend recently so our boys are in a very similar position, thankfully Peter is coping ok but I have no doubt he is a bit lonely, sadly I won't be getting him a friend as I need to stop the rabbit cycle. I think you are in a more fortunate position in that hopefully the cultures will be useful to you, I'll keep my fingers crossed, I have had no suggestion of leaving the ear open and cleaning but it seems like a good option especially with the help you will have.

Hopefully both our boys will do well, I was seriously doubting the op the first time so I can't believe I'm planning to do it again. Peter did have nerve damage during the first of his two ops but he recovered from it (and it was on the opposite side to the one he is being operated in again), so I'm really hoping it won't happen again.

Writing this I have just realised I am going away next weekend...looks like I am putting the op off for another week at least, I won't be able to leave him.

Just a little update. I decide to give the operation one last go, Peter had it on Tuesday and it went well, no nerve damage and he coped well with the anaesthetic. He's suffered from dry eyes that have resulted in ulcers in the previous ops but we seem to have avoided that this time but are doing the drops just in case. He came home on Thursday and is eating and pooing, not 100% himself but he's had major surgery so to be expected I guess, he had a check up today and the vet seemed pleased with him, he has a sore bit of skin where he has been shaved weirdly so I have put sudocrem on it (which he hated). He used to be a star with his meds but he really puts up a fight now, I guess he's just sick of months of being poked and prodded which is understandable.

So fingers crossed third time lucky, it has worked once before on the left ear (so far) so fingers crossed we will have more luck with the right this time. I asked for depocillin instead on baytril so hopefully that may help.

This is definitely the last time, I just had to give him that one last chance.

Janey said:

Just a little update. I decide to give the operation one last go, Peter had it on Tuesday and it went well, no nerve damage and he coped well with the anaesthetic. He's suffered from dry eyes that have resulted in ulcers in the previous ops but we seem to have avoided that this time but are doing the drops just in case. He came home on Thursday and is eating and pooing, not 100% himself but he's had major surgery so to be expected I guess, he had a check up today and the vet seemed pleased with him, he has a sore bit of skin where he has been shaved weirdly so I have put sudocrem on it (which he hated). He used to be a star with his meds but he really puts up a fight now, I guess he's just sick of months of being poked and prodded which is understandable.

So fingers crossed third time lucky, it has worked once before on the left ear (so far) so fingers crossed we will have more luck with the right this time. I asked for depocillin instead on baytril so hopefully that may help.

This is definitely the last time, I just had to give him that one last chance.

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Brave little man

Yes I really hope it's successful this time and that he tried hard to take his meds. Must be really difficult for you!