Lumps on Cheek!

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a little advice/support my rabbits been a little tricky in the health department recently.

Last week my adorable lion head rabbit Goose head a slight head tilt and his right ear was pressed against his head, I assumed it was an ear infection and set up an appointment with the vet. He was't available the next day so we took the day after. Before going to the vet he was eating less but still drinking and pooping normally. What was really weird was that the day I went to the vet he was acting fine! No head tilt and his right ear was up. The vet was just as confused as I was (he is a very experienced rabbit vet), so he said to keep an eye on him. Sure enough as soon as we got home the tilt came back and the ear came down...that little bugger. So we went back to the vet and he prescribed Goose weekly antibiotic injections. After the first injection he seemed completely normal and fine.

So a week after the injection Goose is still acting normally, energetic, eating,drinking and pooping. However Yesterday I noticed there was a large lump on his right jaw. I know this may be a sign of an abscess due to a tooth infection. I guess my question is could the head tilt and tooth infection be related and it wasn't an ear infection? and if your rabbits have had a tooth infection what is the course of treatment you've experienced...is surgery the only option? We are going to the vets on Friday so he can get his second injection shot and so the vet can take a look at his lumps.

Sorry for the long post! I'm a worried bunny parent haha!

Hope Goose will get better !

We're having a bad time with one of our pet mini-rex's. She has a cyst (closed) on her back near her shoulder. Going to the vet next Tues. as that's the earliest opening.
Wanted to squeeze it myself-- but afraid of making it worse.

An abscess can be the sign of a tooth problem like a malocclusion but most of them are bacterial and can be caused by an infection (as a secondary sign). It happens often with pasteurella, but I've known a rabbit who had gotten one after an urinary infection. So if your rabbit had an ear infection, it can have caused an abscess.
It's generally treated with surgery. If it's a dental problem, your vet might need to extract the tooth. In the case of an abscess cause by a tooth, the rabbit will often (but not always) eat less, have an eye which bulges a bit out of the orbite or / and will chew weirdly.
If it is bacterial, the vet will need to remove the abscess and analyze it so the infection can be identified and treated.
In all cases, the rabbit will have antibiotics for about 10 days. Some vets use honey (generally Manuka) to help to cure the abscess.
I hope Goose feels better soon!

Ear problems can lead to teeth problems and teeth problems can definitely lead to ear problems as well. Or they could be completely unrelated. I think my first instinct would be to say that the teeth lead to the ear issue- but definitely see what the vet says. Let us know how it goes!

After many round of draining Goose is doing great! Because he was on antibiotics for his ear infection, the abscesses when drained didnt fill back up! Lucky for us! He just needed a couple round of draining and a week later none of the areas have filled back up.

Thanks for all your replies and support!

I was hoping for a post like this! Made my day- thank you for the good news about your bun!