Dotty has scabs on her mouth?

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mouse_chalk wrote:




If it is a fungal infection, is the treatment still antibiotics?

A topical antifungal is generally used. It will be important to get an accurate diagnosis so the correct treatment is given.



Pam
 
I hadn't thought about fungal. It does remind me of some fungal infections now that you mention it. At least you now have a couple of possibilities to take with you to the vet.
 
:pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair:


SO FRUSTRATED!!!

Clara is on holiday until next week :cry1:

Saw a vet (not a regular one there) who thinks that she might have some sort of infection, or she might have got a little cut somewhere around/inside her mouth that might have got infected. She didn't really know.... :expressionless

We have......... Yep, you guessed it..... Baytril! :headsmack


I don't know what to do. I guess we just have to try it for a few days and if it doesn't work see another vet.... Vicky down at the hospital is great but we don't know if she normally works there or another branch...

When Clara leaves I'm seriously considering switching to a different vet, where they are a bit more open to antibiotics! :grumpy:
 
I would try to find another vet, Jen,

if it is a fungus ....baytril is not the appropriate med
if it is vent disease the sores can go away on there own but it doesn't mean that the disease is gone but only thatthe disease is going into another stage making one think that the disease is gone when it is only the sores that are gone.

if you do plan on seeing clara take a lot of really good photos of the scabs and sores to show her next week if the sores have disappeared
 
Couldn't he do a test to figure out what it actually is? Pam made a good point about fungal infection being another possibility. Baytril wouldn't treat either of the more likely problem.

Pam- my vet has seen a number of rabbits who don't show signs of syphilis for some time after being adopted, or their babies might show it while the parentremains symptom-free. This last one is what I have personal experience with. Perhaps it's a more common problem among rescued or mass-bred rabbits because their breeding isn't controlled and monitored like those bred for show? Jazzy came from a backyard breeder where all rabbits lived together and bred freely until being brought to the shelter. My vet's experiences with this hadmainly been with rescued rabbits.
 
:banghead


I've so had it with vets prescribing Baytril without really knowing what's wrong! If she was really confident that she knew what it was and that Baytril would be fine, then I wouldn't mind so much.

I think, what I might do is try to find out where Vicky, the vet that we saw when Dotty was sick, practises, and try and see her. I know she's in one of the group's local branches but I'm not sure which one. I'm not sure if you can just transfer between branches like that though....


Or should we just wait until Clara gets back..... :?


How is the test done? Blood test? Swab?
 
Probably a swab and then they grow it on a plate and/or look at it under a microscope. I agree, time for a new vet. :(
 
Oh Jen, I'm so sorry that Dotty has this going on.

If you founf out where Vicky was, would you be able to see her before Clara comes back? If not, it may be better to wait and see her.

I know Nadia's (Honeypot) Oliver had recurring facial scabs, which she thought may be due to stress. Not sure if Dotty is the type of girl to get stressed though - much too laid back ;)

Good luck!

Jan
 
naturestee wrote:
Couldn't he do a test to figure out what it actually is? Pam made a good point about fungal infection being another possibility. Baytril wouldn't treat either of the more likely problem.

Pam- my vet has seen a number of rabbits who don't show signs of syphilis for some time after being adopted, or their babies might show it while the parentremains symptom-free. This last one is what I have personal experience with. Perhaps it's a more common problem among rescued or mass-bred rabbits because their breeding isn't controlled and monitored like those bred for show? Jazzy came from a backyard breeder where all rabbits lived together and bred freely until being brought to the shelter. My vet's experiences with this hadmainly been with rescued rabbits.

Syphilis goes through a number of stages, including stages where there are no symptoms. It's not uncommon among breeding herds. I generally DQ at least a few showing symptoms at every show.

Because angular chelitis is a common condition with a number of causes, other possibilities have to be considered.

Pam
 
mouse_chalk wrote:
:banghead





How is the test done? Blood test? Swab?


Fungal infections will often show up green under a UV light. The vet may also do a culture. (The results may take up to a week).Bacterial infections can look very similar.



Pam
 
Suddenly I envision bunny slaves purchasing petri dishes and swabs for when the vet isn't around....... at least we could start growing the sample...... :expressionless
 
mouse_chalk wrote:
:pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair::pullhair:



We have......... Yep, you guessed it..... Baytril! :headsmack

If the lesions are due to a bacterial infection, the Baytril may help.

Has she been checked for parasites? I would have her tested since she's allowed outside. Parasites can weaken the immune system.

I had taken a friend's rabbit to the vet because of similiar crusty facial lesions (I suspected a bacterial infection). Antibiotics cleared up the infection, and the rabbit was also treated for a heavy pinworm infestation.



Pam
 
Im so sorry to hear Dotty is having trouble. I agree, you should insist on a skin scraping. It really could be anything from bacterial to fungal to syphillis.

Also, there was some talk about penicillin in the UK. If I remember correctly, vets have no trouble getting you straight up PenG Procaine injectible penicillin. It is the Bicillin (which is not only PenG Procaine but also PenG Benzathine) that is difficult to get. They should be able to get you the Penicillin (if tests show it is needed).

Hoping the vets right and it is a minor bacterial infection!
 
Thanks guys for all your comments :)

We called the hospital this morning, and we have an appointment with another vet, Vicky at 3pm today- in about 1.5hrs lol. She's who treated Dotty before when she was sick, and showed me how to do the injections for her before. I hope that she will want to do a test, so we can find out what it really is.

I'm worried about what Maureen said in that the Baytril may get rid of the sores but there may be something else still underlying. I think that if she still thinks it is just a bacterial infection that the Baytril should clear up, I'll be a lot happier. We trust this vet a whole lot more. The vet yesterday just seemed so..... wishy-washy! 'It could be a sort of kind of infection, I'm not really sure.... Baytril should help!' Like I said I have no problem with it being prescribed if it is right for the situation- but we don't really know if it is or not.

Also, I noticed when she was lying on my pillow this morning (like clockwork- every morning at 8am!) that her nose is starting to get a bit scabby as well- so it's getting worse already :?

I do feel kind of bad going straight to see another vet, contradicting yesterday's one though.... I'm TERRIBLE at standing up for myself and being pushy- after all, they have been through years of training and I haven't lol!


Hayley, yes you're right- it's Penicillin we can get over, but not Bicillin. A friend of ours, who is a member here as thumperflower, has a vet that uses it in rabbits when needed. I think that probably moreso than in the US, a lot of vets aren't keen on using it because it's not licensed for use in rabbits- I think that actually very little drugs are.

Wish us luck! I'll update when we get back.....
 
Never feel bad for fighting for what you believe to be right for yourself or those you care about. You're not doing anything wrong, just doing the best for Dotty and that's all any bunny can expect from their slave.

Good luck!
 
Those scabs looks EXACTLY like Oliver's. My vet never determined what it was (but here inToronto for some reason they don't test for Syphillis, they just treat it since it's so easy to treat).

We had him on weekly pennicillin shots for about 3 months and they just would not go away. When he got the shot, it cleared up, and then by the end of the week, they were coming back. I suspect they weren't giving the pennicillin shots close enough together, but I won't get into that drama.

Finally, I just stopped taking him to the vet because it was too much.I was sick of just pumping him full of medication that wasn't helping.

Took him to another vet who said she could do the scraping and send it awayto be analyzed... but then we looked and there were no scabs.... they just cleared up on their own.

About the time when Oliver started getting the scabs was around the time I went back out to work and he wasn't spending his entire day cuddled in my lap - instead he was being locked in his cage. Then around the time the scabs cleared up, we stopped locking him in the cage. Coincidence??? I don't know...

So then we took his cage away thinking, he wasn't in it anyway... and the scabs came back... so we put his cage back, just left the door open... and the scabs went away. LOL.

Since then we've figured out that the scabs flare up whenever we change anything and he's unhappy. *sigh* However, we still haven't figured out what it is. We've been scab free for about5 months now though....

I'd be really really interested to know what it turns out to be for your little one because seriously - that's exactly what Oliver's looked like. Both sides of his mouth. A little fur loss on his chin area. He got a couple on his cheek, then he got a few on his nose and the base of his ear. And then... poof... gone. *shrug*. He never had anything around his genitals though.

_________
Nadia
 
We are back from the vets!

Strangely, Vicky was off sick when we got there so we saw another vet, Caroline instead. We RAVED about her all the way home lol.

She completely agreed with us that 'chucking Baytril' at something without knowing what it was could be counter-productive, and much better to test first to see what it is we're dealing with, and then use the appropriate antibiotics. HURRAH!

She told us to stop the Baytril, and we will take her in tomorrow morning to have a skin scraping and swab taken. She would have tried to do it then, but Dotty was NOT having any of even having the inside of her mouth looked at, so the vet said that waving a blade around her when she's stressed like that wouldn't be a good idea. So we're dropping her off at 8.30-9am tomorrow morning, where they can sedate her if needs be, and get a good look at the inside of her mouth to see if the sores have spread in there as well. She thought it would definitely be worth doing, seeing that it's spread to her nose already overnight.


Phew! I feel SO much better now. Even if it is something really minor, we'd just really rather know, instead of just trying this and that. I'm SO glad she agreed with us as well! She said that the problem being with Baytril being the only licenced antibiotic, a lot of vets aren't comfortable using off-licence drugs, although some are. She is one that is.


 

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