Jaw Abcess

[Kkoka1]

Our baby has a jaw abcess which in my research pretty much looks like a death sentence. I am avoiding the surgery right now and trying antibiotics until I find a competent vet here in San Diego. Any recommendations would be appreciated. He is responding to the penicillin injections but the vet made no mention of needing some probiotics. I don't know where to go to get these, what to purchase brand wise and how much to give. Please help!

 

[pamnock]

I highly recommend giving Nutri Cal for cats/dogs. High in calories and easy to metabolize for rabbits who are ill, aged, or have difficulty eating or metabolizing food. Will aid in healing and provides a good source of energy. Probiotics can be obtained online, from pet stores, and from feed stores.

 

[missyscove]

When I give probiotics I give benebac which you can usually find at petco although I ordered mine online.

 

[Kkoka1]

Thank u Pam and Missy. Can you give me an indication of how much or does he even need them?

 

[Watermelons]

Typically the dose is on the packaging and will sometimes differ depending on the bunnys weight and of coarse what probiotics you're using.
I've used Florentero as my probiotic for my bunnys and rats, that ones available from a vets, as is AcuteCare. (well here any way).
If my guys were receiving antibiotics I would personally be giving them probiotics to make sure all is well in the tummy world of things.

 

[Kkoka1]

I'm so confused and scared. Why didn't the vet tell me about this? He's been on the Penicillin for 5 days. He is eating, drinking, stools are fine, etc. He is drooling a bit in the car which is stress or the pain of the abcess. I read the probiotics can cause constipation, true? Will you guys continue to monitor this posting? I need your help and you all seem to be the sanest of them all. Going to the vet again for his daily shot. I haven't gotten the guts up to do it myself yet. I'm afraid I will do it wrong. So pretty much the probiotics can only help him, right??? Sigh

 

[JBun]

I don't know if probiotics need to be given for injectible antibiotics. I know you do for oral antibiotics. You can somtimes get a probiotic from the vet too. Bene bac and probios are the most common ones used. I have had some experience with probiotics causing a gut slowdown, or constipation, with my rabbit. If I have to give it to my rabbit, then I will start with a very tiny amount, like less than pea sized, each day, and very gradually increase the amount. This gives the rabbits digestion time to adust. But I'm not sure if you even need it with injectibles.

I came across this thread about a month ago, about someone that treated their rabbit successfully for an abscess, that you might find helpful. You could maybe try sending a pm if you have additional questions about what exactly was done for the rabbit, but it sounds what ever it was, was a success.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f27/abscess-rabbits-helpful-info-72073/

Did your vet happen to give you some metacam for the pain?

 

[tonyshuman]

Not everyone thinks probiotics are needed for injectibles, like JBun said. I personally would do it because probiotics are never bad, in my opinion.

 

[Kkoka1]

Thank you everyone. We continue the Pen shots, but they don't seem to be doing much. I am going to another vet on Monday. Tech today said that they don't need probiotics unless stools get loose (as long as they are getting enough veggies). I still don't know what to do, but I guess I will buy some to keep on hand.

If anyone knows of a quality vet in San Diego please post. We are desperating looking for one.

I have researched the bicillin, but current vet says not as good as surgery and has been around forever. I still believe in it, and hopefully the new vet will help us decide.

Thank you again! Keep the prayers coming for our Peanut and all the other bunnies here in this forum.

 

[tonyshuman]

Bicillin has been around forever, but it has had some good success. Surgery would take the abscess out more rapidly. If the abscess is very discrete (has defined edges), can be removed completely, is encapsulated, etc., and the bunny is a good candidate for surgery (age, respiratory/heart ok, no other problems), it may be best to have it removed. The antibiotic treatments would still continue after surgery. The problem with surgery is that it has to be able to get the whole thing out to be very successful--you don't typically want to open and drain an abscess on a bunny, it's better to have it removed entirely or try to heal it with antibiotics. The problem with opening and draining abscesses is that you will not be able to get all the infection out with a single draining, and as it heals up again, pockets containing infection may still remain, leading to recurrence of the abscess. It also depends on what is infected. If the infection has spread to the bone, surgery isn't as helpful.

These may be helpful to read although they have some gross pics: http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Bacterial/Abscess/skin_abscess.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Bacterial/Absc_treat/abscess_treat.htm

Here is an area for people in the West to post
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f63/
And this is our list of rabbit-savvy vets in CA. Be sure to go to the end of the thread for more current info
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f21/ca-rabbit-savvy-vets-10069/