Chalk's ill again (Abscess)

[mr_mouse_chalk]

Hi everyone,

Ages since I last stopped by, has been an awful summer with Jen in and out of hospital, and obviously little Chalky also had her nasty bout of head tilt.

On the good news front she's dealing with the remaining slight symptoms of head tilt really well - he head is almost entirely corrected when she's awake, only going off at it's tilt when she sleeps.

On the downside last night we discovered a lump on her belly.
Obviously she has had a history of abscesses and nearly died when one ruptured inside her a couple of years ago.

So we took her to the specialists in Swindon who treated her for head tilt. The vet was great, gently syringed the lump and it was indeed full of puss. They've scheduled her in for an op on Monday morning to remove the abscess and assess if they need to go in further to check for others.
In the meantime they've put her on antibiotics so they're in her system before the op.

The antibiotic is zithromax and she's on 1ml twice daily.

Now earlier when we spotted this and took her to the vets she was fine, lively and eating / moving without problem. We assumed we'd caught it really early.

We gave her the first dose of the antibiotic around 4pm and she's been very quiet since, isn't really interested in food or treats, is doing classic hiding rabbit behaviour. We've just given her some metacam to be on the safe side in case she's in pain.

Does anyone here have any experience with this antibiotic? Is it possible it's causing her some upset? Or more likely that she's just starting to feel rough as a result of the abscess?

Thanks for any thoughts...

Steve

 

[JadeIcing]

I given zithromax a lot and never noticed anything like that but with her history I don't know if it could be bothering her.

 

[Maureen Las]

Zithromax can cause loss of appetite but sometimes if you can syringe food for a few days (if she is not eating enough)a bun will get over it..sometimes not
This one of the antibiotics that Randy suggests often .
I suggest a probiotic also.

 

[mr_mouse_chalk]

Thanks guys - good to hear that Zithromax is well regarded for bunnies. It's rare in the UK that we've found a vet willing to try better antibiotics, so glad that she didn't even suggest Baytrill or Septrin.

In typical Chalk fashion after I rang the vets and they had the vet we saw earlier call me (it's nearly 10pm here so I felt bad!) - Chalk started moving and nibbling a bit, and ran downstairs for a drink of water. So maybe she's just suffering a bit from the shock of the long car journey.

Hope she stays a bit perkier until the op on Monday.

On the positive front she's managed to put quite a bit of weight back on since the head tilt episode so she is a healthy size if for any reason she does slow down eating.

Thanks again for the advice

Steve

 

[tonyshuman]

I would definitely look into a probiotic for use with the zithromax as it can be hard on some buns' tummies. Fibre plex I think is what it's called over there?

 

[mr_mouse_chalk]

Thanks! Think we have some fibreplex, will hunt it out and try it

 

[mr_mouse_chalk]

Yep found some fibreplex in our tin of bunny meds - unused and in date so she's had a dose now.

Thanks for the advice.