So, my rabbit Beau has had ongoing issues with his health. It started with a runny nose and he’s a little underweight (previous owners didn’t take care of him properly) He was on Baytril for a week, with no improvement. I also noticed he was starting to drool a little bit when eating, so my vet put him under to check his back molars. He trimmed them a little, but said they really didn’t look bad. He also took x-rays and found nothing unusual. The vet said he probably just had a minor upper respitory infection, or most likely allergies and I could give him nasal drops if it got worse. I decided to wait and see if it improved because it really wasn’t bad, and I thought I was just being overly worried (first time bunny mom)
About a week later he seems to have a lot more moisture around his mouth. I feed him a lot of greens and fresh grass so I thought maybe it was just moisture from all the fresh veggies, but I kept a close eye on him and I clean and dry his mouth at least twice a day. Then I noticed a lump. Seemingly out of nowhere, a hard lump appeared on his chin on his right side. I immediately set up an appointment but it was a 5 day wait due to a long holiday weekend. Beau went to the vet today and the vet was shocked with how much the lump seemed to grow, especially since nothing appeared on the xrays about two weeks prior. He tried to do a fine needle aspiration, but absolutely nothing came out. He also did another X-ray, but he said it was difficult to tell because Beau was fully awake and they couldn’t get a good picture. He said it was most likely an abscess, and it was possibly infecting a tooth, or his jaw bone based on the X-ray. I’m really scared about this whole situation because the vet seemed like he was really trying to remove the abscess today, but was unable to move any appointments around and he can’t perform the surgery until Thursday (two days from now). He told me he couldn’t really know how bad it was until Beau was sedated and he could get in there.
And now I keep reading about jaw abscesses and tooth root abscesses and I’m freaking myself out because all the forum stories don’t seem to end too well. Beau isn’t even a year old and I’ve only had him for a month and I’m scared I’m going to lose him to this lump. Does anyone have any success stories or advice? Could it be sometime other than an abscess?
About a week later he seems to have a lot more moisture around his mouth. I feed him a lot of greens and fresh grass so I thought maybe it was just moisture from all the fresh veggies, but I kept a close eye on him and I clean and dry his mouth at least twice a day. Then I noticed a lump. Seemingly out of nowhere, a hard lump appeared on his chin on his right side. I immediately set up an appointment but it was a 5 day wait due to a long holiday weekend. Beau went to the vet today and the vet was shocked with how much the lump seemed to grow, especially since nothing appeared on the xrays about two weeks prior. He tried to do a fine needle aspiration, but absolutely nothing came out. He also did another X-ray, but he said it was difficult to tell because Beau was fully awake and they couldn’t get a good picture. He said it was most likely an abscess, and it was possibly infecting a tooth, or his jaw bone based on the X-ray. I’m really scared about this whole situation because the vet seemed like he was really trying to remove the abscess today, but was unable to move any appointments around and he can’t perform the surgery until Thursday (two days from now). He told me he couldn’t really know how bad it was until Beau was sedated and he could get in there.
And now I keep reading about jaw abscesses and tooth root abscesses and I’m freaking myself out because all the forum stories don’t seem to end too well. Beau isn’t even a year old and I’ve only had him for a month and I’m scared I’m going to lose him to this lump. Does anyone have any success stories or advice? Could it be sometime other than an abscess?
