abcess

[chelspooh]

my 4 year old mini lop (cuddles) has an abcess on his right front paw. i took to vet
they put him on antibiotic. 2 weeks later still there. they did an exploritory and said they found no foreign body but the tissues are irritated. they said 50/50 cancer or a bacteria. can anybody help me. he is the best bunny.

 

[Kipcha]

Hey there chelspooh.

We are currently dealing with the exact same thing. The two vets who have looked at Peace (You can see the whole story and pics in my Lump in Hock thread) admit that abcesses are some of the hardest things to get rid of in rabbits since they spread so easily, so what we had done was Peace underwent surgery to have the abcess drained and removed.

However, the capsule was not removed as it was discovered that it would create too big of an opening and the vet was worried about the flesh coming back, so we put some antibiotic beads into his hock to prevent the abcess from spreading and to get the capsule taken care of.

If you don't want to go the surgery route (We've spent over $600 so far) then I would suggest injections of Pennicilin. It's cheaper and I've heard it is rather effective. Remember, never EVER give a rabbit Pennicilin by mouth as it will be lethal for them.

Personally, I would bring up the Pennicilin with your vet. Do you have any pics of the abcess or anything?

 

[Kipcha]

Sorry, double post...

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

chelspooh wrote:

my 4 year old mini lop (cuddles) has an abcess on his right front paw. i took to vet
they put him on antibiotic. 2 weeks later still there. they did an exploritory and said they found no foreign body but the tissues are irritated. they said 50/50 cancer or a bacteria. can anybody help me. he is the best bunny.

abcess in rabbits seem to go hand in hand,,meaning some rabbits are more prone to them than others..--some abscesses are not visible--the ones i see are yellow toothpaste looking--this should be extracted and betadine used to treat with the proper antibiotic--please note;;my rabbit had a facial abscess it was resistant to penicillin G injections but the whole body must be treated--the abscess was removed//the area was treated with baytril--the dvm must be a exotic specialist,,-here is a link to answer in more detail--http://www.medirabbit.com ---dr.pagg is a personal friend and highly revered in her field,,--sincerely james waller--heart attack survivor-3-28-11-:halo:innocent:big wink:

 

[chelspooh]

hi kipcha
thank you for taking the time........... we noticed cuddles limping. we took to vet. they drained the abscess and put him on baytril. 1 1/2 week later no improvement. they drained again and switched meds. 1 week later no change.
the vet did an exploritory for possible foreign object. they found nothing. said the tissues look irritated but that would be expected do to the abscess. vet put him back on bayril. told me 50/50 it could be cancer or a bacteria infection. week later no change. we switched vets. dr jones took xrays to determine if infection set into the foot bones. told us the bones look fine. told us about how difficult bacteria abscess are to clear up. keep him on baytril and gave a daily pain med plus a nolvasan solution to oak paw in 2x a day. if this does not help options are to amputate or put to sleep, we are just waiting now. i have over 700 into cuddles now. i am not sure what the right thing is to do. i just dont want to see him suffer

 

[chelspooh]

james waller
glad to here u are a survivor. my mother is also. it is life changing.
thank you for responding. we are in a waiting period now with cuddles.
i dont know what we will do if the baytril and nolvasan does not work. told my options will be amputation or put him to sleep. my cuddles is such a good bunny. i just want to do whats best for him. i dont want to see him suffer

 

[TinysMom]

what about trying a stronger antibiotic like Pen G (which I use) or Zithromax? Check with your vet about this....why put down a rabbit for this? It would seem like there should be some medical way to manage it....

 

[plasticbunny]

I read somewhere that abcesses could be packed with antibiotic beads, or gauze soaked with antibiotic of some kind? May be something to discuss with your vet.

It's true, abcesses can be very hard to treat, and even once they're treated, there's no guarentee they'll always be gone. A lot of them can and do reoccur.

What I would do, is save a lot of time and money and stress, and find out the cost to amputate the foot or leg. Have a budget in your mind of what you're willing to spend, and if the operation is over that... well, it may be time to consider other options.

Don't feel guilty. It's the hardest thing to consider, but sometimes, it's the right choice. We're here for you, whatever you decide.

 

[Kipcha]

plasticbunny wrote:

I read somewhere that abcesses could be packed with antibiotic beads, or gauze soaked with antibiotic of some kind?  May be something to discuss with your vet.

I would not recommend going with antibiotic beads, they are far more trouble then they are worth. We just attempted this treatment with Peace and while I suppose they ended up doing the job, it put us through Hell.

The beads are toxic if ingested, so you need to find a way to guarantee that they can't get at it. They are highly irritating and the rabbit will constantly be at them, so unless you can do a 24 hour watch like we are doing, I really wouldn't recommend it. It may work, it just the recovery time is real hard.

That sounds pretty perplexing though, hope you find the answers.

 

[chelspooh]

thanks everybody for your input
i had cuddles at the vet again because the meds (pain,antibiotic and topical) where shutting down his system i asked the vet about pennicillin and was told that would hurt his digestive system. cuddles has been off all meds for a week. he is bouncing back to his very silly self even though he is still limping. he tucks and pulls his right paw up to his chest. i know hie is still in pain. i heard rabbits dont show pain alot because they are prey animals. i dont know if that is true. started cuddles back just on the baytril once a day. making sure he eats and drinks and goes to the bathroom normal. i just keep my fingers crossed and pray. i also give him lots of belly rubs and attention.

 

[chelspooh]

thanks everybody for your input
i had cuddles at the vet again because the meds (pain,antibiotic and topical) where shutting down his system i asked the vet about pennicillin and was told that would hurt his digestive system. cuddles has been off all meds for a week. he is bouncing back to his very silly self even though he is still limping. he tucks and pulls his right paw up to his chest. i know hie is still in pain. i heard rabbits dont show pain alot because they are prey animals. i dont know if that is true. started cuddles back just on the baytril once a day. making sure he eats and drinks and goes to the bathroom normal. i just keep my fingers crossed and pray. i also give him lots of belly rubs and attention.

 

[chelspooh]

thanks everybody for your input
i had cuddles at the vet again because the meds (pain,antibiotic and topical) where shutting down his system i asked the vet about pennicillin and was told that would hurt his digestive system. cuddles has been off all meds for a week. he is bouncing back to his very silly self even though he is still limping. he tucks and pulls his right paw up to his chest. i know hie is still in pain. i heard rabbits dont show pain alot because they are prey animals. i dont know if that is true. started cuddles back just on the baytril once a day. making sure he eats and drinks and goes to the bathroom normal. i just keep my fingers crossed and pray. i also give him lots of belly rubs and attention.

 

[chelspooh]

thanks everybody for your input
i had cuddles at the vet again because the meds (pain,antibiotic and topical) where shutting down his system i asked the vet about pennicillin and was told that would hurt his digestive system. cuddles has been off all meds for a week. he is bouncing back to his very silly self even though he is still limping. he tucks and pulls his right paw up to his chest. i know hie is still in pain. i heard rabbits dont show pain alot because they are prey animals. i dont know if that is true. started cuddles back just on the baytril once a day. making sure he eats and drinks and goes to the bathroom normal. i just keep my fingers crossed and pray. i also give him lots of belly rubs and attention.

 

[chelspooh]

thanks everybody for your input
i had cuddles at the vet again because the meds (pain,antibiotic and topical) where shutting down his system i asked the vet about pennicillin and was told that would hurt his digestive system. cuddles has been off all meds for a week. he is bouncing back to his very silly self even though he is still limping. he tucks and pulls his right paw up to his chest. i know hie is still in pain. i heard rabbits dont show pain alot because they are prey animals. i dont know if that is true. started cuddles back just on the baytril once a day. making sure he eats and drinks and goes to the bathroom normal. i just keep my fingers crossed and pray. i also give him lots of belly rubs and attention.

 

[chelspooh]

thanks everybody for your input
i had cuddles at the vet again because the meds (pain,antibiotic and topical) where shutting down his system i asked the vet about pennicillin and was told that would hurt his digestive system. cuddles has been off all meds for a week. he is bouncing back to his very silly self even though he is still limping. he tucks and pulls his right paw up to his chest. i know hie is still in pain. i heard rabbits dont show pain alot because they are prey animals. i dont know if that is true. started cuddles back just on the baytril once a day. making sure he eats and drinks and goes to the bathroom normal. i just keep my fingers crossed and pray. i also give him lots of belly rubs and attention.