Oliver's Problems

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ratmom

ratmom

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Nov 25, 2005
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Location
Belleville, Michigan, USA
I just needed some info before I can get oliver into the vet. He's always had this eye leakage problem and he had his tear duct drained before, but lately he's been having more of this white gunk coming out of it with no smell. He has no other symptoms like nasal drainage either.
Also he had this lump starting growing near his jaw feels like in his cheek and there are too lumps side by side I can feel pretty sure they are attached. I have no experience with rabbit abscesses and was curious if abscesses do this. I've dealt with abscesses in rats, but I've never seen them grow side by side. He's eating fine without a problem so that is good and no smell from his mouth. What kind of antibiotics do vets usually use for this or do they drain them? I'm anxious to get him to the vet.

Sorry for all the questions ;)
 
I treat abscesses quite differently than most...including vets. If I am dealing with a true abscess, I do not open the capsule. I have found that just exposes more tissue to possible infection. I treat totally with drugs. The problem in treating abscesses is reaching the core of the infection. I use a combination of Pen G and Zithromax and have been successful in each abscess event. This combination of drugs seems to be safe (keeping in mind that all medical procedures carry risk) and it can reach the core of the abscess. The core is usually filled with anaerobic bacteria. The most commonly used antibiotics used by vets are not up to the task of treating anaerobes. I also implement appropriate pain management and husbandry modifications to provide support in all areas.

I would also suggest seeking the advice of a rabbit savvy vet. The key here is "rabbit savvy". In my opinion (non-professional), most vets are far too quick to open an abscess without fully understanding the differences in rabbits and other species. I can't really say that I would never open an abscess....but up to this point (many abscess situations)....I have not. But I think it would be prudent to get a definite diagnosis quickly.

Randy
 
Hi Ratmom,
I love rats also and we have 2 of the cutest white ones at our shelter right now. Really intelligent pets.:)

Before you take Oliver to your vet make sure that your vet is very rabbit knowledgeable. If you don't know I can give you a list of Mi. vets . The reason I'm stressing this is that it does sound like Oliver has a couple of abscesses and different vets will treat in different ways.

Some vets will want to open them and drain them or pack them with antibiotic beads >We have had a number of members of this forum whose rabbits have had jaw abscesses. These things are difficult to treat and nothing like rat problems. The reason they are so difficult is that the rabbit's body will try to "wall off" the infection creating a tough abscess wall which is difficult for many antibiotics to penetrate. Even opening them and expecting them to drain is not productive as they won't drain...rabbit pus is like tooth[paste. They are sometimes opened and scraped to remove the pus and left open and flushed

Jaw abscesses are particularly difficult to treat particularly if they are attached to the bone or teeth are involved. You need a very saavy vet to treat this.
Many of the forum memebers have had success with the use of 2 antibiotics rather than 1.

The drug called bicillin is a combination of a short and long acting penicillin. it is administered subqutaneously (under the skin) to the rabbit every other day for a lenghty period of time. In addition to this another oral drug is often given topack a synergistic punch to the infection and knock it out ( paraphrasing ra7751). A culture can be taken of the pus for culture but oftentimes many vets will prescribe baytril or ciprofloxicillin or some other 'safe" rabbit drugs when a stronger drug like zithromax or chloramphenicalis much more effective. Many vets have not been trained to give rabbits anything more than 1 or 2 basic drugs and often these drugs are not strong enough.

Your vet should take head -xrays and dental xrays to see if the teeth are involved. hopefully the teeth aren't involved as that complicates the process. You can see why you need someone who knows his stuff (which should be rabbit medicine )
One of our memebers (who owns a rabbit rescue and is a wild-life rehabber) believes that surgery is oftentimes not a necessity if the abscesss is treated aggressively with drugs.

I don't think this necessarily applies if abscessed teeth are involved.

Anyway I will give you some articles to read.

Do your homework before you go to the vet so you can ask questions..but do it fast as these things seem to spread and grow like wildffire.
You came to the right forum for this issues as we have dealt with a lot of abscess problems.


http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11791&forum_id=10

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11576&forum_id=9

 
How old is Oliver and what breed is he?

How long ago did he first have the eye issue?

Great advice in this thread already.

The tooth roots in some older rabbits can grow right into eye areas, diagnosed by head or dental x-rays, but I'm not sure if there's always infection involved and what the prognosis is.

I think aggressive drug therapy alone can conquer an abscess pretty much anywhere, but I'm not clear re: at what point a tooth root elongation requires surgery. I know the surgery is difficult and in some cases the only real option, but I'd like to see more info on this.


sas :clover:
 
It could make sense that two tooth roots right next to each other are infected--this you would have the abscess like you are feeling. He needs to go to a vet very soon to get this under control. We have a number of members from Michigan, so check our rabbit-savvy vet listing for MI and see if there's one near you. You've already gotten some good advice on abscess treatment.

I think if at all possible you may want to take him in to a university, such as State. Dental problems in rabbits can be very tricky, and so can abscesses, so a real expert may be needed. If I remember right, here in WI angieluv had a series of bad experiences with well-meaning and rabbit-savvy but rabbit-dental-inexperienced vets, and this was best remedied by checking in with an expert at UW-Madison.

Also, PM our member Haley to see which vet she used/where in MI she is. She had a bunny with severe tooth root abscesses that were treated successfully.

Good luck!
 
You guys are wonderful thanks for all the great information. I've learned so much in this thread.

Oliver is between 6-8 years old the previous owner wasn't sure on his age. He's half rex and lop. He's had the eye issue since we had him 2 years ago. When I questioned the previous owner she said she never took him to the vet and assumed it was a allergy.

Can anyone direct me to the vet threads, I thought there was one for michigan, but I can't find it lol. I want to see if this vet is on the list.

 
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