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Ear abcess - preventative operation or not?

Hi all, i have a 4ish year old dwarf lop bunny who is in tip top health apart from a lump at the base of her ear. As i have experience of pasturella abcesses before i whisked her straight to the local bunny guru. He got some of the gunk out of the ear and said though you cant be certain, its more likely just wax due to her lop ear shape. He showed me how to massage the gunk out of her ear cavity into her ear and said to return in 3 months. The lump went away after massaging/easing the wax up her ear canal but kept returning. So we went back to the bunny whisperer, who suggested probably the best course of action for her would be to use local anaesthetic if the lump is big enough and open up the cavity permanently to allow easy access for flushing/antibiotic in the future.

However, she can be a stressy bunny, and hates all aspects of humans and being handled. Obvs, rabbits hate car journeys, but she goes and stays completely frozen (not even moving away from human hands). She was dumped in a park, so i think this might be to do with that (possibly car ride there and to the rescue) and she doesnt tend to be food orientated unless i restrict pellets. In order to do her daily checks, massages etc and grooming i dont feed pellets every day but instead hand feed a tiny amount as if they were treats for allowing me to groom. (They have good quality hale bales and i forage for them too). However, this means getting medicstion into her repeatedly isnt necessarily going to be great for her stress levels.

Ive experience with administering medication and caring for very sick bunnies, so im not worried about that, but i am in two minds about this operation. She is fine, not in pain but it is itching her a little, no other symptoms, eating lots of hay & drinking well. I think its better for her in terms of weighing up the impact and efficacy of future antibiotic treatments, but im not sure if it is the right course of action right now when we are still unsure if there is even an infection - i mean, im no veterinary nurse i may have been massaging incorrectly and making things worse, though the vet didnt seem to think this was the case.

Has anyone had this permanent abcess opening /marsupilization done before?

And what do you guys think about this as a preventative measure on a relatively well bunny?

Thank you guys xx
 
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Dont worry peeps, ive spoken to the bunny guru and as she seems to be coping with it well and it isnt getting bigger in size, were going to leave it until her next RHD2 jab in feb, when the vet will check how things are going. Will closely monitor in meantime :D Thanks anyway guys, always fab to have a place to fire a bunny question when its causing worry xx
 
Dont worry peeps, ive spoken to the bunny guru and as she seems to be coping with it well and it isnt getting bigger in size, were going to leave it until her next RHD2 jab in feb, when the vet will check how things are going. Will closely monitor in meantime :D Thanks anyway guys, always fab to have a place to fire a bunny question when its causing worry xx

Incase this info is of any use in the future :

https://www.facebook.com/DickVetREP/posts/1536566856616755:0

http://www.exoticpetmedicine.com/article/S1557-5063(16)30173-2/pdf

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Bacterial/BacterialOtitisMediaInterna.htm
 
Dont worry peeps, ive spoken to the bunny guru and as she seems to be coping with it well and it isnt getting bigger in size, were going to leave it until her next RHD2 jab in feb, when the vet will check how things are going. Will closely monitor in meantime :D Thanks anyway guys, always fab to have a place to fire a bunny question when its causing worry xx


Hi there :wave:

Sorry not to get back to you sooner .. I have just returned from the vet with my own bunny emergency :shock:

I am glad you've found a way forward. It sounds like you have a very trusted vet? I think I would probably go along with your point of view too, as she seems to be doing well within herself x
 
Thanks Max, hope everything is ok with your bunny? Yes, I think its definitely the best plan to wait, especially since she is one of the hardiest rabbits ive ever met. Even when she was dumped in a forest/dog park, she survived and was clever enough to seek out a human (ran up to them when they were walking their, luckily friendly, dog). And she hates humans... Very clever bunny, and i swear she understands what Im saying. Shes never been ill (touching every bit of wood in the room) and despite getting very stressed, never had stasis. So if any bunny body can fight back against an abcess/wax alien, its hers. She can be a bit of a premadona/moody adolescent but thats what i love about her, she doesnt take any nonsense. One tough little fluff nugget x
 
Thanks Max, hope everything is ok with your bunny? Yes, I think its definitely the best plan to wait, especially since she is one of the hardiest rabbits ive ever met. Even when she was dumped in a forest/dog park, she survived and was clever enough to seek out a human (ran up to them when they were walking their, luckily friendly, dog). And she hates humans... Very clever bunny, and i swear she understands what Im saying. Shes never been ill (touching every bit of wood in the room) and despite getting very stressed, never had stasis. So if any bunny body can fight back against an abcess/wax alien, its hers. She can be a bit of a premadona/moody adolescent but thats what i love about her, she doesnt take any nonsense. One tough little fluff nugget x


Awww she sounds amazing :)

Some bunnies are born with good genes, and it sounds like she is one of them. We were saying this evening that some bunnies are just tough and others fall at the first hurdle.

Thanks for your good wishes for my bunny. It was a real shock at the time, but I think I can deal with it now :)
 
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