Always Worried About Plumpkin - Update

Thank you so much for the vibes everyone! Having the RU community here for me and Plumps is honestly a huge comfort. My girl is back now with a shaved face, it looks really sore Definitely keeping her in our bedroom tonight - I feel like I shouldn't bring in Ham and Bea so she can have constant access to food? What do you guys think? One thing is for certain - our girl is a fighter!! I'm proud of her for being so brave.

20181016_162950 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

bless. It always looks terrible but I bet she feels better already. I'd keep her in alone personally, keep her eating as you say xx

Poor girl, that does look sore I would keep her inside alone if I were you.

Topping up the vibes xx

Poor girlie What exactly has the vet done?

I agree with j&b and Zoobec and would keep her in tonight. That way you can monitor how she is eating and also weeing and pooing

Has she got any meds?

Sending her lots more vibes..

Poor Plumps I think she may need to be apart from Ham and Bea, for tonight at least. Especially if H + B were to keep licking her wound. Topping up the vibes for your brave girl xx

Thank you everyone. I think Ham & Bea will do without her for now, so I'm keeping her in alone tonight. Omi, she had an abcess on the side of her cheek that was drained, so I assume they had to shave off the fur which is why she has a bare patch. The vet didn't actually talk to me (she was meant to call me so that's annoying), but the nurse told me roughly what happened during the procedure. She has two types of medication to start on tomorrow morning - Randititine and Baytril.

I wonder how the abcess started - maybe there was a cut on her mouth from her teeth or from after the dental that got infected? I only noticed it this morning but it was probably brewing under there for a while. She has been grinding her teeth on and off since the last dental which was strange to me, but this explains it. I hope things will start to improve now.

You're both brave.

Hating to overload you with more stuff to think about / do but drained abscesses often require the owner to flush the area with saline & pack with manuka honey. Its important it doesn't heal until all the infection has gone otherwise you're back to square one . Manuka honey is amazing for this kind of stuff

More vibes xxx

I agree with j&b. I think you need to clarify with the vet exactly what has been done and whether you should be doing anything. Have a look at the links for Abscesses that Jane posted as a sticky in Health, which will give you some information.

I think if it were me, I would also ask for some pain relief for her.

Thanks joey&boo and Omi, I will call up first thing tomorrow and see if I can talk with the vet. She was meant to call me during the day but I never heard anything.

I hope it doesn't seem like I haven't been thorough enough - we see a different vet almost every time and have to drive to a different surgery in a different part of the city for any procedures requiring anaesthetic. I tend to just follow the instructions they give me without question. Although for a £146 procedure (the cost of today's visit) I think it's really poor for the vet not to talk things through step by step.

I don't know if my surgery sounds rubbish with the lack of consistency regarding who we see each time, but to clarify, I cannot drive and nor can my OH - our current vet is within walking distance and whenever she needs a GA we have to get a lift from family. I hope to learn to drive next year, but on my current earnings I cannot afford lessons.

Sometimes it makes me feel irresponsible for having a rabbit like Plumpkin who needs to go so frequently, but I would never trust selling her to someone else unless I knew they were prepared to spend up to £300 a month on her and that they would check on her like 10 times a day to make sure she's okay and eating enough. (Oh plus, I would never want to sell her because I love her way too much, she's like a daughter to me)

I'm feeling quite overwhelmed by it all and have been holding in the tears all day. The £300 we have spent on her in the past month was meant for her special bunny shed. I just want her to feel better - that is what matters most to me.

Beapig said:

Thanks joey&boo and Omi, I will call up first thing tomorrow and see if I can talk with the vet. She was meant to call me during the day but I never heard anything.

I hope it doesn't seem like I haven't been thorough enough - we see a different vet almost every time and have to drive to a different surgery in a different part of the city for any procedures requiring anaesthetic. I tend to just follow the instructions they give me without question. Although for a £146 procedure (the cost of today's visit) I think it's really poor for the vet not to talk things through step by step.

I don't know if my surgery sounds rubbish with the lack of consistency regarding who we see each time, but to clarify, I cannot drive and nor can my OH - our current vet is within walking distance and whenever she needs a GA we have to get a lift from family. I hope to learn to drive next year, but on my current earnings I cannot afford lessons.

Sometimes it makes me feel irresponsible for having a rabbit like Plumpkin who needs to go so frequently, but I would never trust selling her to someone else unless I knew they were prepared to spend up to £300 a month on her and that they would check on her like 10 times a day to make sure she's okay and eating enough. (Oh plus, I would never want to sell her because I love her way too much, she's like a daughter to me)

I'm feeling quite overwhelmed by it all and have been holding in the tears all day. The £300 we have spent on her in the past month was meant for her special bunny shed. I just want her to feel better - that is what matters most to me.

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Absolutely not :shock: And I hope what we've said hasn't come across like that. Tbh I think the lack of consistency in who you see each time is probably the general situation. I can always ask to see my usual vet, who owns the practice, but if I need to go as an emergency then I have to see who is on duty. I actually share your view that it isn't really good enough for the vet who did the procedure not to have called you.

I'm not at all surprised that you feel overwhelmed by it all. I would also be feeling like that

Please post as often as you like and offload your concerns. Abscesses are really horrid things to deal with.

Sending lots of hugs.

We all know what you’ve done for Plumpkin you are doing all that you can do, and she’s very lucky to have you to care for her. Sadly at some vets there is an inconsistency sometimes. I go to a specific branch of my vets where I’m lucky that both vets are equally rabbit savvy, but I think that might be unusual.

Sending lots of hugs xx

Beapig said:

Thanks joey&boo and Omi, I will call up first thing tomorrow and see if I can talk with the vet. She was meant to call me during the day but I never heard anything.

I hope it doesn't seem like I haven't been thorough enough - we see a different vet almost every time and have to drive to a different surgery in a different part of the city for any procedures requiring anaesthetic. I tend to just follow the instructions they give me without question. Although for a £146 procedure (the cost of today's visit) I think it's really poor for the vet not to talk things through step by step.

I don't know if my surgery sounds rubbish with the lack of consistency regarding who we see each time, but to clarify, I cannot drive and nor can my OH - our current vet is within walking distance and whenever she needs a GA we have to get a lift from family. I hope to learn to drive next year, but on my current earnings I cannot afford lessons.

Sometimes it makes me feel irresponsible for having a rabbit like Plumpkin who needs to go so frequently, but I would never trust selling her to someone else unless I knew they were prepared to spend up to £300 a month on her and that they would check on her like 10 times a day to make sure she's okay and eating enough. (Oh plus, I would never want to sell her because I love her way too much, she's like a daughter to me)

I'm feeling quite overwhelmed by it all and have been holding in the tears all day. The £300 we have spent on her in the past month was meant for her special bunny shed. I just want her to feel better - that is what matters most to me.

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Poor wee soul, but these things always look quite dramatic.

I would ask the vet whether she managed to remove the abscess capsule as that's quite important to know vis a vis recovery

You are doing brilliantly well, and it's always information overload, especially on the Forum where everyone contributes. But it's all to the good as we support you too and want the best for you and the Plumps x

I am so pleased Plumpkin is back and I must confess to having a tear or two at how she looks and what she's just been through - again. I feel so upset that she has endured all this from an un-necessary start in life, and had it not been for your intervention I just don't know what would have happened to her. You really have been the angel to her that she needed.
It's clear the vet decided to go in through the external route and it will be sore for a while - but her inner strength is remarkable and she will recover quickly. One thing that I recall about rabbits is that they develop quite quickly and are a very thick creamy like substance because rabbits don't have a special protein that would help make them easier to deal with. My bridge bun Max had an abcess at the base of his ear and I had to maually flush it each day to clean the wound and it healed up quickly and perfectly.
I think you were amazing picking it up so quickly - and I guess looking back, perhaps you sort of felt something was not right when you posted at the start of the thread - you said she'd been taking her time eating and she had seemed uninterested in food. How the abcess started? Could be a number of reasons. A minor chafe inside from something - a tooth? Could even be something like an infected insect bite? But - you've identified it and done exactly the right thing for Plumpkin and I am certain she feels a whole lot better already. And give her 24/48 hours and I'll bet she will be tucking into a bowl of mashed banana and all her favorites. She is one amazing rabbit - and you are one amazing person for being so selfless with her.
As for keeping her in on her own following the op - yes I agree with Omi, Joey&Boo, Zoobec & JJ that she would be better indoors for a week or so, getting loads of TLC and warmth and human interaction. Please keep the thread updated on her progress - as I for one, adore Plumpkin and am in awe of the care and love you share with her.

You are doing brilliantly by her. I'm sorry if the advice gets overwhelming, sadly dental abscesses are something many of us have been through. I'm really grateful you found her. She is such a fighter she needs someone like you fighting her corner

Omi said:

Absolutely not :shock: And I hope what we've said hasn't come across like that. Tbh I think the lack of consistency in who you see each time is probably the general situation. I can always ask to see my usual vet, who owns the practice, but if I need to go as an emergency then I have to see who is on duty. I actually share your view that it isn't really good enough for the vet who did the procedure not to have called you.

I'm not at all surprised that you feel overwhelmed by it all. I would also be feeling like that

Please post as often as you like and offload your concerns. Abscesses are really horrid things to deal with.

Sending lots of hugs.

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Oh no, not at all Omi! I am just filled with guilt because I can't help but feel that all of this is my fault, even though I've been trying so hard with her and I know all of this comes from years of neglect from other people. Hopefully I'll feel better about it tomorrow when she is looking a little brighter. Thank you so much everyone for your kind words. I shall update you tomorrow after I have hopefully spoken with the vet

Just dropping by to top up the vibes for Plumpkin xx

How's is the beautiful Plumpkin this morning? Hope she had a warm and comfortable night and is looking to get her appetite back.
Topping up the vibes for her today. Xx

Beapig said:

Oh no, not at all Omi! I am just filled with guilt because I can't help but feel that all of this is my fault, even though I've been trying so hard with her and I know all of this comes from years of neglect from other people. Hopefully I'll feel better about it tomorrow when she is looking a little brighter. Thank you so much everyone for your kind words. I shall update you tomorrow after I have hopefully spoken with the vet

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Nobody could be doing more than you

I hope you manage to get to speak with the vet x

Thanks for the vibes everyone!

I called up the vet first thing and had a chat. She said that the abscess seemed to be caused/triggered by a molar that had lots of inflamed tissue around it. The abscess was drained and she was then given pain killers. She told me that she has prescribed just antibiotics and randititine, not metacam on top of that, because it could be too much for her liver? She said if she is eating well (which she is) then to just keep doing what we are doing and to bring her in, in 2 weeks time for a checkup.

She said her only worry is it might be a tumour/worse than just an abscess, so we will keep an eye on it. Seems likely to me that it was triggered by her last dental.

She also said I can wash it in a salt solution if it gets weepy, but right now it is looking dry and okay.

I think I'm going to keep her indoors alone for another day to make sure she is eating lots, but she does seem to be doing well and has taken all of her medication willingly mixed up with mashed banana, her favourite

Beapig said:

Thanks for the vibes everyone!

I called up the vet first thing and had a chat. She said that the abscess seemed to be caused/triggered by a molar that had lots of inflamed tissue around it. The abscess was drained and she was then given pain killers. She told me that she has prescribed just antibiotics and randititine, not metacam on top of that, because it could be too much for her liver? She said if she is eating well (which she is) then to just keep doing what we are doing and to bring her in, in 2 weeks time for a checkup.

She said her only worry is it might be a tumour/worse than just an abscess, so we will keep an eye on it. Seems likely to me that it was triggered by her last dental.

She also said I can wash it in a salt solution if it gets weepy, but right now it is looking dry and okay.

I think I'm going to keep her indoors alone for another day to make sure she is eating lots, but she does seem to be doing well and has taken all of her medication willingly mixed up with mashed banana, her favourite

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I really hope that she will continue to eat well. If the abscess is closed up do keep a close eye on it for further swelling. Unfortunately if the infection is tooth root related just draining the abscess may not resolve the problem. Hopefully Plumpkin will be lucky and the abscess wont refill. I am sure you will be watching her vigilantly and you will act quickly if you notice any worrying signs. Plumpkin is very lucky to have you to care for her xx