need advice on sick rabbit

[nuttymeg]

This has the potential to be a very long post,just a warning.
Back a few months ago my girl who is almost 6 now,got an ulcerated eye,that healed up fine. Couple weeks later she began coughing sneezing with white discharge. Taken to vet he said he felt he heard some congestion in her chest. Shes been on multiple meds,baytril,chloramphenicol,sulfa trim and currently penG. She hasnt gotten any worse or any better. Last week i noticed she had an abscess on her right arm so we had a culture and sensitivity done and that has come back as staph aureus. What i am concerned about is the amounf of hair loss shes experiencing. Both her arms are pretty bald,her lower chest from armpits and across are bald,and im talking baby smooth bald. She is a front legged splay bunny but shes never been bald or lost any hair for that matter. I am taking her back to the vet sunday as a follow up. But i am baffled at the loss of hair. She did have cellulitis back in april on her left arm that is still healing because she had her entire arm cut open and pus and dead tissue had to be removed. Shes also got some balding going on on her head which seems to be growing back in.

So shes on the penG every other day currently,im doing 1 nebulisation session per day at minimum with just saline. She isnt eating a heck of a lot on her own,she does eat just not enough so i have ground some of her pellets and syringe feeding her about 4 times a day with that and shes very willing almost aggressive with it when she gets. I am also giving her some echinacea as the vet said she likely has a nonexistant immune system, I want to bring up putting her gentamycin sunday with the vet as shes not really improving with the meds shes on.

Can anyone offer me any advice that i could possibly bring to the vet on sunday to discuss?

 

[Mileybun]

No advice I'm afraid but just wanted to say what a lot you're both going through! Hope she's doing better soon, you're doing a great job!

 

[JBun]

Poor girl! Really does have a lot going on with her. The balding may have to do with the weakened immune system. Though I'd be worried about it being related to the staph infection, since those can end up affecting multiple areas in the body. Has she had any recent xrays or scans?

It's also possible it could have something to do with all of the medications she's had to be on because of the many issues she's had to battle.

 

[nuttymeg]

no scans have ever been recommended. She has been through the wringer that is for sure. But shes alert and still shows she wants to be around so I dont give up. The vet who recently saw her was not the one who has been treating her and he wasnt even a single foot in the door and was telling me to put her down that she looks rough etc. I told him no a few times and he kept on persisting. Shes an english angora and for some reason the ivomec i have been giving her 3 times now isnt clearing up the mites. I cut her coat off a few weeks ago so i could brush out the dander from the mites and im still brushing out dander. Im finding it all over her not just in the normal neck back and butt area. I found some today along her shoulders.Shes strictly an indoor bun kept on blankets due to her being a splay bunny. The abscess she has on her right arm is about half the size now,it was almost the size of a large grape before. I do have some kitten revolution here,but i just dosed her this morning of ivomec so not sure if she can have this too,I know its applied topically and dont know how much to give either,she is 5.2 pounds.

Shes eating the ground up pellets very well,critical care is just too expensive right now with all i have going on so i had to go this route. And she eats it voraciously and quite a lot of it,most times shes taking in 90mls in one sitting. Im feeding her 4 times a day now

 

[JBun]

I had an older bun with what I thought was persistent mites. Turns out it was sebaceous adenitis. His was related to him having a thymoma, but that isn't necessarily always going to be the case.

Medirabbit: sebaceous adenitis

Medirabbit: rabbit suffering from SA

If you're wanting to still try to treat for mites, I would wait a week at least before trying the Revolution. It's dosed at 12-18mg/kg when treating rabbits for mites, according to studies and recommendations. Though consult with your vet if unsure.

https://www.vgr1.com/revolution/

 

[nuttymeg]

I had an older bun with what I thought was persistent mites. Turns out it was sebaceous adenitis. His was related to him having a thymoma, but that isn't necessarily always going to be the case.

Medirabbit: sebaceous adenitis

Medirabbit: rabbit suffering from SA

If you're wanting to still try to treat for mites, I would wait a week at least before trying the Revolution. It's dosed at 12-18mg/kg when treating rabbits for mites, according to studies and recommendations. Though consult with your vet if unsure.

https://www.vgr1.com/revolution/

her hair has become thinner that i have noticed. Shes lost a lot of weight over 2 years slowly. Shes 5,1 now,she used to be over 9 pounds(overweight for sure)I think the balding on her belly is from her back feet rubbing against it. I did discover some hock sores tonight,one was a bit bloody so ive put antibiotic cream on that and padded and wrapped both feet up. She tends to move backwards in her cage to get around and i do leave a shallow bowl of water for her so i believe her walking in the water bowl has caused part of this issue with her back feet now. I also noticed even the pads of her toes are a bit inflamed,so ive wrapped her entire foot to the toes up. Like i said shes been battling a lot and now theres this. i can provide all the care she needs as im home all day every day. Its no bother to me to do what she needs. I know eventually she will get there I just dont know how much more her body can take. I gave pain meds too for her hocks.

 

[nuttymeg]

I had an older bun with what I thought was persistent mites. Turns out it was sebaceous adenitis. His was related to him having a thymoma, but that isn't necessarily always going to be the case.

Medirabbit: sebaceous adenitis

Medirabbit: rabbit suffering from SA

If you're wanting to still try to treat for mites, I would wait a week at least before trying the Revolution. It's dosed at 12-18mg/kg when treating rabbits for mites, according to studies and recommendations. Though consult with your vet if unsure.

https://www.vgr1.com/revolution/

so we are back from the vet,we discussed the genatmicin but he felt it was too risky with her so we opted for azythromycin. He has her dosed at 3.5ml once a day but my online calculator is saying 2.6ml per day. Its 20mg/ml the azythromycin and she weighs 2.32kg,that is the vets weigh in they got. He said the balding on her chest he feels is mechanic because of the way she has to move around. The flakes he said could possibly not be mites and something more entirely. Im not sure which dosage i should go for,i trust the vet but it seems so high.

 

[JBun]

The dose I used for my rabbits was 50mg/kg, once a day for an extended treatment period of 4 weeks. The lower 30mg/kg dose was initially very effective and I saw dramatic improvement in a couple of days, but the infection came back after the 2 week course was stopped, and was why the higher dose and extended course was used. It did clear up one rabbits retrobulbar abscess completely, and anothers respiratory infection.

A 2.32kg rabbit can get up to a 117mg dose once a day, according to the recommended dosage range in the links I posted below. Using the 20mg/ml suspension, you're at 52mg with 2.6ml, and 70mg with 3.5ml. 70mg is a 30mg/kg dose, and I wouldn't want to be giving any less than that, especially for a bun with this difficult of an infection. You may also find you need to move up to the higher 50mg/kg dose if the low dose doesn't clear it up completely.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Common_drug_dosages_for_rabbits
Medirabbit: safe antibiotics

With giving azithromycin, I do recommend keeping an eye out for signs of severe digestive upset. My rabbits only showed signs of initial stomach cramping after getting their dose, which discomfort subsided after a couple of hours and they were back to normal eating and no other digestive issues. But rarely some rabbits have developed severe upset, so the antibiotic had to be stopped immediately. So if you have any concerns, do contact your vet right away.

Making sure your bun has food in the stomach when giving the azithromycin, may help minimize the potential for digestive upset, as may a diet with plenty of hay and fiber.

 

[nuttymeg]

Shes looking much better tonight,eating hay and pellets. I gave the dose the vet prescribed at 3.5ml. I do think it upset her a teeny bit but she was pretty normal otherwise. I did give some benebac tonight too. I found an etsy seller who makes little booties for sore hocks and i requested a pair to be made full coverage so she cant scrape her front legs anymore. She doesnt need more issues than she already has at the moment.

 

[Mileybun]

Shes looking much better tonight,eating hay and pellets. I gave the dose the vet prescribed at 3.5ml. I do think it upset her a teeny bit but she was pretty normal otherwise. I did give some benebac tonight too. I found an etsy seller who makes little booties for sore hocks and i requested a pair to be made full coverage so she cant scrape her front legs anymore. She doesnt need more issues than she already has at the moment.

So glad she's feeling a bit better! What a fighter
Miley wear sore hock booties too, they were from etsy, they came from Australia, can't remember the name of the seller though!
They've been brilliant for her, hope they work for your bun too

 

[nuttymeg]

The dose I used for my rabbits was 50mg/kg, once a day for an extended treatment period of 4 weeks. The lower 30mg/kg dose was initially very effective and I saw dramatic improvement in a couple of days, but the infection came back after the 2 week course was stopped, and was why the higher dose and extended course was used. It did clear up one rabbits retrobulbar abscess completely, and anothers respiratory infection.

A 2.32kg rabbit can get up to a 117mg dose once a day, according to the recommended dosage range in the links I posted below. Using the 20mg/ml suspension, you're at 52mg with 2.6ml, and 70mg with 3.5ml. 70mg is a 30mg/kg dose, and I wouldn't want to be giving any less than that, especially for a bun with this difficult of an infection. You may also find you need to move up to the higher 50mg/kg dose if the low dose doesn't clear it up completely.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Common_drug_dosages_for_rabbits
Medirabbit: safe antibiotics

With giving azithromycin, I do recommend keeping an eye out for signs of severe digestive upset. My rabbits only showed signs of initial stomach cramping after getting their dose, which discomfort subsided after a couple of hours and they were back to normal eating and no other digestive issues. But rarely some rabbits have developed severe upset, so the antibiotic had to be stopped immediately. So if you have any concerns, do contact your vet right away.

Making sure your bun has food in the stomach when giving the azithromycin, may help minimize the potential for digestive upset, as may a diet with plenty of hay and fiber.

The dose today has put her through a loop. Its been over 4 hours and shes refusing pellets. I had to basically shove her syringe feeding in her. BUT she ate a romaine leaf no problem? Tried her with some oats,refusing those too,she did however just now pick up at eat 2 single oats. Do you think its possible to break down the dose into 2 doses or does it need to be one whole dose? I called the vet but hes busy and may not get back to me today. I did some subq fluids for her so shes good there.

 

[nuttymeg]

so her decline yesterday was due to the fact i had syringe fed her and then immediately gave her the azythromycin. Shortly after giving her it her stomach had very loud rumbles,sounded like a pot boiling. She refused all food for 8.5 hours. I had spoke to the vet today about her experience and he was shocked,he never suggested giving the meds on an empty stomach. I had to research it myself,in the oral suspension form it has to be taken on an empty stomach. So I did this tonight for her and shes just fine,eating away. She is still sneezing and coughing. Still removing white discharge from her nose,although it seems to be less than before.