Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Vicky RVN — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:37:16 GMT

Hope the article helps

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

A Little TLC — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:13:39 GMT

Manuka honey and the dressings are brilliant!! We use them both loads as seeing as we deal with wildlife the majority of the wounds we see are severely infected. Some of the results we have had have been mind-blowing!

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Rachel Jayne — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:39:26 GMT

Hmm, I did consider a dressing, although I have to consider her companion grooming her also...!

I've been looking into manuka honey & honey impregnated dressings, there are a few articles on their success in managing rabbit abscesses & best practice seems to be filling the hole with honey, htne sticking a honey dressing on the outisde too.

Thanks for replying, I'll repost updates.

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Maisy — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:08:34 GMT

If she can be supervised try a light bandage and offer her different things to keep her attention away from it. Most rabbits that I've seen with bandages (including my own) interfere more with the dressing if the soffban is poking through as they keep pulling at it but touch wood, they don't often go for the whole thing. It only needs to be very light so shouldn't be too much of a hindrance to her.

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Rachel Jayne — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:49:36 GMT

Oooh, one more thing - Has anyone any ideas how I can stop her interfering with her wound.....?

I initially thought she was just a bit itchy where I'd been bathing it, but she is wiping her face with her paws a lot & is actually starting to catch the skin with her claws now (they were clipped on sunday so are still quite rough on the tips unfortunately) and I have noticed 2 or 3 big scratch marks running down either side of the wound....

I can't put a BC on her, as not only would it be in the wrong place, but obviously BC's in buns are a big no-no because of caecatrophy... I did think about putting a sock on/bandgaing her paws, but she'll just nibble it off & then we'll have an intestinal FB to deal with too!

Any thoughts anyone....?

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Maisy — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:45:47 GMT

That news sounds a lot more positive, glad to hear it!

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Rachel Jayne — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:43:50 GMT

UPDATE:

I went out to collect her shortly after posting yesterday, she was bright & perky when they brought her into the room.
Very clean, neat & tidy for an abscess drain too - not the soggy blood stained fur I was expecting to see! (although she is black!)

It was just a single-chambered one that had spread up her jaw. The xrays showed very little bony involvement, a tiny area of lucency ventral to her molars (directly above the abscess) but it's not full thickness & the vet said he was pleasantly suprised to see it was so good.
Her teeth were all in lovely condition, some slight spurring on the left side, which they burred, but he didn't think it was related to her teeth at all, more likely an exterior injury or FB penetration..which is interesting.
She does like to chew her hutch, then scent rub her chin everywhere, so that would fit...splinter maybe.

We've gone for 25mg/kg Baytril, EOD Amox injs, 0.3mg/kg Melox & Protexin to cover her gut just incase.

She ate brilliantly when I arrived home - the best she's ever eaten after a GA! - scoffed a handful of dandelions! She's eaten all the hay/pellets in her hutch overnight & ran to the door to take her breakfast before my mum could even put it down on the floor this morning.

So.... it's all looking good at the moment. I'm going to take her back down to South Wales with me tomorrow, as my mum is too nervous about injecting her, plus I'd like to keep an eye on her too. It's gonna be fun with a demanding 6 month old baby to look after on my own at the same time! but I'll have to try & cope!

I may or may not take her back for a check-up tomorrow morning before I head home, the vet said he would leave it to my judgement whether I thought she needed to be seen again, although I do have to call back anyway to collect some more bio-lapis for her, so I might as well pop her in the car.

Thanks for all your support & words of advice

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Rachel Jayne — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:55:40 GMT

Thank you for your advice & kind wishes of support.

She's still eating really well & is still quite birght & bouncy which is a postiive sign I hope.

I've left her at the local vets practice (Bilton Vets, Rugby) this morning, they're gonna do skull xrays & lance/drain the abscess/es & I have discussed with the vet giving her high dose baytril, amox injs and metacam afterwards. He's more for the surgical approach to begin with, which I wasn't entirely keen on, but he made sense by explaining that if we did try & medically manage it & it didn't decrease in size quick enough, it would be stangling her/stopping her eat within a week or so, so ultimately we need to reduce it's size asap..
I saw a young-ish male vet who seemed a bit taken-back by my knowledge & suggestions, I initially forgot to explain I was a VN!

I can ring now from 3pm to see how she is, so I'll update again later.

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Honeybadger — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:50:43 GMT

Personally I would do an FNA first of all and then you will know exactly what you are dealing with. If she has lost weight has she been struggling to eat? Maybe offer soaked pellets/oxbow critical care in the mean time to increase her food intake. for you and Bunny x

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Nicola Smith — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:31:32 GMT

Hi, I have always found surgical removal of abscesses with debridement of jaw bone +- removal of teeth causing issue to be the best line of action and have seen many resolve. We are also now using zithromax antibioticfor most jaws, we spoke to vet at Cat and Rabbit Clinic Northampton who uses lots of it for jaw abscesses and he discussed its use and dose etc and is alwasy happy to speak to to other vets to give advice on its use, many others using it are at the uni's etc so not so easy to get hold of - we always give avipro at the same time.

Good luck!

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Vicky RVN — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 22:04:34 GMT

My friend had a bunny with a nasty jaw abscess, surgery done, it came back like they often do. She didn't want to put bun through sx again so went for medical management. She used Manuka honey and found this really really good, abscess healed to pretty much nothing and she still has said bunny today If you want to know exactly what she did I can find out and pass it on to you?

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Sal the 1st — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:50:33 GMT

[quote user="Maisy"]

An xray would be useful as if its a teeth problem, you'll be able to see the extent of the problem and some indication of what to expect but a full dental workup would be the best start. I worked with a very bunny savvy vet who would continue to surgically debulk and debride mandibular abscesses with owners keeping up daily cleaning at home. A lot of rabbits did respond to one surgery and subsequent ab's, however if it were to be an ongoing problem it seems that antibiotic impregnated beads are what is recommended now. From cases I've seen where these are used they do control the situation remarkably well compared to packing with say Antirobe, or daily injections. Manuka honey is also good wound-wise if the abscess is removed as they can sometimes take a while to heal over.

Hope she's okay and you get good news.

[/quote]

yes I used to work in a very bunny orientated practice and we used to use the septopal beads which are now impossible to get hold of quite a bit - a decent alternative is to get the genticin cement frrom vet instumentation and make your own as aseptically as possible (you will need to be very quick working the paste through the syringe - metacam syringes with the hole slightly enlarged work best unless you have a 60ml catheter tip syringe you can use). Let them harden - which happens very quickly and then store in sterile universal containers in the fridge until needed. If we were concerned that the genticin wouldnt work or the rabbit wouldnt survive the genticin we used to surgically remove as much as we could and on closure suture in the end of a scalpvein set (butterfly) with the butterfly and needle snipped off and the luer end protruding so that it could be flushed with a syringe twice a day and we did have some good results with this.

hope you have a good result

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Maisy — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:33:08 GMT

Hope she's okay and you get good news.

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

julie cozze — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:49:25 GMT

I agree it sounds like an abscess or multiple, make sure that you get her teeth xrayed to see what the roots are doing. They can often cause abscesses in this area and if she has lost weight this sounds like the most likely. Hopefully some lancing and a/bs and getting her teeth rasped down will sort her. Good luck.

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

Rachel Jayne — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:28:39 GMT

Thanks for your replies.

She's never been a big hay eater.... My other pair will get through at least 3 racks-full of hay a day, whereas this pair will barely finish one.

She's never had teeth problems before, has always been such a happy-healthy bun the only work she's ever had done to her was to be speyed & have some fight wounds stitched (when the other pair escaped & they all had a big scrap)

I know there's some exotic certificate VN's on here sometimes......? Really hope someone can give me some hope....

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

jodieandrews — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:00:46 GMT

Hi, i am so sorry to hear about your bunny:( I am also bun-mad so can understand your fears. I unfortunately can't advise or recommend in your situation, but just wanted to say that I hope all goes well at the vets tomorrow and try not to think the worst.

Re: Please help... :'( Bunny Question

A Little TLC — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:00:23 GMT

Has she ever had bad teeth? I had a bun once who got an abscess in his jawbone, poor thing, was lanced and ab's, but he lived quite happily, just didn't look very nice!