Salems Infection

[Camarie]

Here is what Salems "infection" looks like...it is not leaking pus and he is peeing normally. If anyone knows what this is please tell me. It seems to be shrinking but not that much. He does not act as if he is in pain.

here is a direct link cause the pic is a little big and i cant shrink it. http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo293/SaraMoo89/008.jpg

 

[tonyshuman]

I'm confused. Is this on his genitals? How did it get there, how long has it been there, and what are you doing to help treat it? Has a vet seen this?

 

[Camarie]

The vet has seen it and gave me antibotics. This is his penis i just recently noticed it a little under 2 weeks ago.

 

[tonyshuman]

What antibiotics? Has the lump decreased in size since he's been on them?

 

[Camarie]

i dont have them near me at the moment but they need to be refrigerated and it seems to be going down a little.

 

[tonyshuman]

Ok, well the best treatment for an abscessed would is bicillin injections. Some oral antibiotics will work, but there's a great study out there showing good results with bicillin, which can be bought cheaply at a farm supply store. Here's the study: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm

 

[Camarie]

Can u send me a link of where i can buy the bicillin?

 

[ra7751]

I see a huge red flag here. Is the drug you have an oral (given by mouth) or an injection? If it isn't an injectable drug....and it has to be refrigerated....that concerns me that it might be something like amoxicillin, clavamox or cephalexin. Penicillins and asociated derivitives are not safe when given orally. And another concern I have is that some vets that are not rabbit savvy will use the VIN to get information and there are some huge errors regarding use of cephalosporins in HGF animals like rabbits. I hope this is not the case but I have a bad feeling here. Use of one of these drugs orally can have disasterous results. I would feel better if we knew what the antibiotic is.

Randy

 

[tonyshuman]

Well, it really depends on where in Chicago you live. I know there aren't going to be a lot of farm supply stores in the big city. I checked, and the nearest Tractor Supply Co is probably too far away.

I found it here: http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=2&mscssid=4XWQK5SXHGEC8NA58T6EXP275DNL0081

You also need sterile saline or lactated ringer's solution (can't find that...)

And syringes and needles
http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc...XWQK5SXHGEC8NA58T6EXP275DNL0081&pf_id=0029429

It's probably easier to get syringes, needles, and saline from a vet. You also need to learn how to give it sub-cutaneously, because if you do it wrong it can be very painful and even deadly. I suggest having a vet or vet tech show you how to administer it according to the protocol I posted before.

 

[Camarie]

well i give him the meds twice a day orally its say "Baytril Suspenion per 1cc" on the bottle i think thats the name...

 

[tonyshuman]

Ok, Baytril is a weak antibiotic that won't cure the abscess. It is ok to give orally, but I don't think it will treat him. I would return to the vet with the article by Marcy Rosenfeld-Moore and ask to have that treatment. It is the best one we've encountered.

 

[Camarie]

ok i will go back when i have a chance...right now money is tight and i have to wait for my next check. only have to wait a week.

 

[ra7751]

Not intending to slam a vet....but any vet that is still prescribing Baytril for any species is more that a little out of touch with reality. I don't even know of any vets that use that stuff in dogs any longer. It has never been up to the task of treating an abscess....and that appears to be the issue here. I have treated many abscesses without any surgical procedures at all using a precise combination of Penicillin (safe only as an injectable) in tandem with Zithromax. The problem with an abscess is getting the meds to the core of the infection.....and once there, the drug has to be aggressive enough to control anaerobic bacteria. Baytril has no chance at all of managing that task. There is one particular version of Penicillin ( a specific combination of two drugs....Procaine and Benzathine)that I use....it is available over the counter without prescription and is not expensive at all. Zithromax does require a prescription. It is not exactly what I call cheap but not horribly expensive either.

Randy

 

[pamnock]

In the few cases of this that I've seen, it's not a pus filled infection - the area is actually fluid filled. I'm thinking this is probably not an abscess.

Pam

 

[Camarie]

Could it be a defomity? Cause it doesnt seem to bug him at all.

 

[pamnock]

The picture isn't very clear, but I don't think it's a deformity and could swell up much more without treatment.

Camarie: It helps to give as much information as possible in a new post, for those who aren't familiar with the history of the condition.

Pam

 

[tonyshuman]

Pam, it came from a bite wound initially, which is why I was thinking it's an abscess. I can't tell from the picture, and I think the best way to tell if it's fluid or pus filled would be to do a needle aspiration. Then the vet could drain it if it's just fluid as well.

Camarie, have you seen it leak "pus"? The reason I ask is because rabbit pus is very thick, like toothpaste, so if you saw stuff leaking from it that was thinner it would be fluid, like Pam mentioned. Human pus is more the consistency of this kind of fluid.

 

[pamnock]

If it is an infection due to a bite wound, then it should be lanced and cleaned out.

Pam