Bump above eye turning black

[lloorren]

When we first got our bunny, there was a little white bump above his eye, the doctor said it didn't appear to be anything to worry about, but it went from a reddish color to a black color and it feels crusty when I accidentally bump it when I pet him, should I be worried about this at all? What do you think it is? Will it juts fall off if it's getting crusty?

 

[Maureen Las]

I don't know what this actually is but changing colors and crustiness are a good reason to go back to the vet and possibly biopsy it

 

[Maureen Las]

The 2 bunnies together is really a cute pic

 

[lloorren]

My babies love to cuddle. I hope it isn't cancer

 

[tonyshuman]

Hmm. It reminds me a little of a skin cancer lump a bunny on here had, especially if it's turning brown. If you catch it early, you may be able to get it before it spreads. It also reminds me a little bit of rabbit syphillis (don't worry, you can't get it). It does require a rabbit-savvy vet to look at it.

I wonder how good you think your vet is, because it looks in one of those pics that had some kind of wound. Was that an abscess, or some other kind of wound? We generally don't like it when a vet opens and drains an abscess-it's not really the best way to treat a bunny, and that's one of those "signs of a non-rabbit savvy vet." Is your vet listed in our vet listings?

 

[lloorren]

It was a cuterebra and he had two large lumps in his elbow so I think they did that to check and see if it was another one or if it was pus. They told me that pus is thicker in rabbits, so rather than leaving it open to heal, they at first put a drain through and we drained it for about a week, brought it back, they took the drain out and said to drain it until it heals

The lump fell off today, I'm kinda worried but idk it wasn't bleeding or anything so that's good

 

[tonyshuman]

Ok. I think you should still have him looked at, or have them do a biopsy of the lump. It also could be the shope papilloma virus, which is what causes all sorts of strange growths on wild bunnies, and is probably where the jackalope legend comes from. I assume that he was outside for a period of time, since he had cutebera, and he may have been in an area where wild rabbits (that carry shope papilloma) had been. So basically we're looking at a diagnosis of a virus that can cause skin cancer, or skin cancer itself,I think.

Here is some slightly gross info on the shope papilloma virus, if you're interested.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Viral_diseases/papilloma.pdf
You may want to skip the last page of that article--it has a very gross surgery pic and no additional information.

If you like your vet, I guess that treatment sounds ok. I do recommend looking at our listings (http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11576&forum_id=9) though, because they are tried and true by rabbit people and rescues. There are a few really great rescues in MI, so taking their advice on what vets are good might help as well, if you're nearby.
http://www.rabbitsanctuary.org/how_to_help/thanks.php
http://www.rabbitrr.org/index.html

 

[lloorren]

Thank you, that's very possible because he was around ticks

 

[lloorren]

And yeah my vet is on there. I was hoping they'd be listed because it even says they treat exotics on the building and they knew about my sugar gliders

 

[tonyshuman]

Ok, that sounds good. Just want to make sure. I've never seen the shope papilloma come up on this forum, and only seen skin cancer once, so they're pretty rare and you'd need a specialist who knows what they're doing.