Red Postules on Eyes and Mouth

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trentballew

trentballew

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Location
Fairview, TX, ,
I have a rabbit who has large red postules on his eyes and mouth (about marble-sized). Here are some pictures:

http://server.ballewfamily.com/familyweb/misc/rabbits/img_7784.jpg
http://server.ballewfamily.com/familyweb/misc/rabbits/img_7783.jpg
http://server.ballewfamily.com/familyweb/misc/rabbits/img_7782.jpg

My vet doesn't know what they are (city vet - not much rabbit experience). He is eating well and seems otherwise healthy. I've been applying antibiotics for a week but it doesn't seem to be helping.

Any help identifying this would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Oh bless that baby's heart! I have honestly never seen anything like it before. But we have some very knowledgable people around here and i'm sure you will get some help soon. And thank you for doing what you can to help.

In the meantime, is your rabbit a boy or girl? And name?
 
Oh wow that looks awful! I really dont have any clue on this one.

How are his genitals? Are they normal? I guess I was thinking maybe it could be something like syphillus but I really dont have any experience with it.

Hopefully someone else will chime in. How awful for your baby- have you tried getting a second opinion? If you'll tell us where you are located we may be able to help you find a better rabbit vet in your area.
 
Oh no, that really looks bad. Could be a tooth issue (could be a few things that I am not familiar with), but I am not sure. Will have to do some research. Thanks for posting, we'll get you some advice soon:hug:. Could be tumours, or abcesses.

Randy? Angela? Sas?
 
How does it feel when you touch it? Is it squishy, hard, inflamed, hot to the touch...?
 
Itcouldbe a papilloma virus.

Let me dig a bit.



sas
 
I found something but can't paste it, argh!! I had to save it as a word doc:?:?

Cant' paste it or the text here:?

Here's part of it, shucks.

II. Rabbit (Shope) Fibroma Virus

A. Etiology: Fibroma virus is a member of the leporipoxvirus group and is closely related to myxoma virus. The virus has widespread incidence in both domestic and wild rabbit populations. Few cases of virus-induced fibromas have been diagnosed in rabbits in Missouri although the majority of cases are reported from the western and southwestern United States.

B. Transmission: The natural transmission cycle is not known although arthropod vector transmission is likely.

C. Clinical Signs: Tumors occur on the legs or feet, on the muzzle, and around the eyes. The tumors are subcutaneous and not attached to underlying tissue. Metastases from the original tumor do not occur. The infected adult rabbit remains clinically normal otherwise. Tumors will typically regress after a period of months. Spontaneous and experimental infections of neonatal domestic rabbits, however, has produced cutaneous and visceral tumors.

D. Pathology: The earliest lesion is slight thickening of the subcutaneous tissue followed by development of clearly demarcated soft tissue swellings which are evident on day 6 post inoculation. Tumors increase in size until day 12. They persist for months before regressing. The earliest microscopic lesion is an acute inflammatory reaction followed by localized fibroblastic proliferation. Proliferation continues until a distinct tumor is formed consisting of spindle-shaped and polygonal connective tissue cells with abundant cytoplasm. Intracytoplasmic inclusions are present in stellate cells, and less commonly or rarely in the epidermal cells. Degeneration of the epidermis overlying the tumor may result from pressure ischemia. This leads to necrosis and sloughing of the epithelium.

F. Diagnosis: Clinical signs and lesion morphology are primary diagnostic tools.

G. Control: This is not considered to be an important problem in domestic rabbits. In outdoor rabbitries, vector control is advised.

And:

III. Rabbit (Shope) Papilloma Virus

A. Etiology: A member of the papovavirus group. This disease is seen most frequently in cottontail rabbits of the Midwest with outbreaks in domestic rabbits. Incidence of disease is low.

B. Transmission: Arthropod vector transmission of the natural disease has been demonstrated. The mosquito is thought to be the main vector in transmission from feral to domestic rabbits.

C. Clinical Signs: Horny warts are found on the eyelids and ears. The growths are well keratinized, and the upper surface is irregular and split. The growths are easily scratched or knocked off. These sites later heal without complication.

D. Pathology: The tumor has the typical appearance of a papilloma with elongated rete pegs of epithelium surrounding central cores of connective tissue. A mild inflammatory cell infiltrate is normally found in the dermal layers underlying the tumor. Failure of the lesion to resolve may lead to development of squamous cell carcinoma.

E. Diagnosis: Clinical signs and histological examination are the basis for diagnosis.

F. Control: Control of the arthropod vectors will eliminate the introduction and spread of disease. Tumors that fail to spontaneously resolve in 30 days should be removed surgically to prevent dedifferentiation into neoplasia.






This could be a possiblity...:?
 
We definitely need Trent to give us a location and answer Ivory's questions.

I'm standing by my guess that it's a papilloma virus of some kind, maybe Shope, but there's so many varieties, narrowing down the area might help.

Here's a few things for the vet to look at, as per AngelnSnuffy:

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Viral_diseases/fibroma.PDF

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Viral_diseases/papilloma.pdf

Note: These articles have the same graphic, but they're not the same ailment.

(And it's treatable, if that's what it is).

sas :?
 
We live in Fairview, Texas - just North of Dallas. The postules are pretty firm - I haven't noticed them being hot. They are crusty on the outside and seem pretty hard, but they move around quite a bit, so whatever it is seems external to the underlying tissue. I haven't really touched them much except with the Q-tip as I don't want to cause any pain or rupture anything. Sometimes I'll find blood on his cheek, so it does drain a bit. The genitals look ok.

They grew very fast - It only took about 4-5 days for them to get this bad.

His name is Cookie and he's about 5 years old. He doesn't seem to be in pain, so that's good. We've separated him from the other rabbit just in case it can be spread.

Thanks for all the concern.

 
Do you have a rabbit savvy vet you can go to?

Good thing to separate the buns for now, were they bonded? If so, you might want to give each of them a snuggle toy, a stuffed animal would help;).

Let us know if you need more advice and good luck with Cookie:hug:!
 
I just lost my loooong post. <sigh>

Anyhoo, it does sound like the pap virus, the vet should be able to do a biopsy and confirm that. They're going to have to figure out exactly what version it is, if that's what it is.

It's not painful...Even the longtubular ones are painless, they just interfere with eating, etc.

If it's avariety described in thedocs provided, they shouldgrow up until day 12, and may stick around for weeks or months after that, although surgical removal is recommended if they on much past a month.

They're thought to be spreadby mosquitoes, might want to eliminate any standing water in the vicinityand shelter the other buns. Doesn't appear to be contagious otherwise.

But again, lots of different varieties, best to print out the material provided in the lniks and take it to your vet. :)

Hope all is well, soon. Gentle nose pats for Cookie!



sas :)


 
PS: I'd keep him separate from the other bunnies, contagious or not, because judging by the way mine insist on chewingall my scratches an bumps, lord knows what they'd do to the growth. :shock:

PPS: if it's a pap wart, the blood is probably just from him scratching it.
 
I had never heard of this until now. It's really scary looking! :(

I have a cottontail in my house so it makes me shivver!

I'm guessng this is not common and in the cottontails they would get it outside.

Poor bunny :(
 
Thanks for the all the good info. It's comforting to hear that most of the possibilities presented point to something that's not fatal or painful. My 9-year old has been worried sick, so this will be good news.

We'll try to get him to one of those other vets today and will mention the recommendations here. I'll let you all know what we find out so you'll know for the future what this is.

Trent
 
Hi,

Looks like papilloma to me too. We have only had one rabbit with that here. She had a single wart on the side of her leg. Didn't seem to bother her at all. Amazing how easy it was to bleed. Didn't seem to be contagious but I would error on the side of caution. It was removed in a brief surgical procedure...and is the only time we have had external sutures in a rabbit...a single suture. Healed completely in a few days and has not returned nor have there been any other warts on her.

Randy
 
At first I thought papillomas, but then I read up on it and I don't think so.

From the Textbook of Rabbit Medicine: (yes I'm typing this by hand)

"Oral papillomatosis is manifested by wart-like growths on the ventral aspect of the tongue and on other parts of the oral mucosa. This condition is transmissable. Young rabbits are most susceptible and the papillomas grow slowly over a period of 6-9 months. The animals become immune at which point the base of the papilloma becomes inflamed causing sloughing of the tumour, ulcer formation and finally re-epithelialization. Oral papillomas of rabbits are not known to undergo carcinomatous transformation."

The fact that it popped up so suddenly suggests something else. I don't think that it is a papilloma. The growth would have been obvious over the period of time.

I will look up fibroma virus when I have a minute.
 
There are multiple kinds of papillomaviruses -- and / or multiple kinds of the Shope virus, it all escapes me unless I'm staring at the page... :biggrin2:

But it's definitely not the oral version, that one affects the tongue. However, I think it is more likely the fibroma one... which may not be a Papilloma but might be a Shope... It's all so confusing. ;)

I think the Shope Papilloma is the one with horns, and the Shope Fibroma is more like warts?

I'd better look it up, though. (I was very interested in this at one point, but even though I have a great memory, it is short!)



sas :biggrin2:
 
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