sterile abscess?

[lagadvocate]

Tonight as I was making a tent to give Charlie his 12th bicillan injection, I felt a small,hard lump near his shoulder under the skin. Is this possibly what's called a sterile abscess due to the injections? My searches for sterile abscesses are coming up poorly (I'm probably just too frazzled to look properly), does anyone have a link to the info?

Thanks, I appreciate any info!

 

[maherwoman]

It may be a silly question, but it's worth asking...have you checked the Abscesses thread in the Rabbit Health section of the Lagomorph Library?

 

[ra7751]

Most likely that is scar tissue from numerous injections at the same site.What is known as a "sterileskin abscess" will appear as something like an ulcer with a loss of fur. That is a common thing when using Procaine long term. Couple of things to helpavoid this. First, do you dilute the injection with something like Lactated Ringers? If not, that will buffer the effects including the tremendous burning that penicillin causes. And, move around. Anywhere on the body you can scruff the skin will accept a SQ injection. With rabbits, we start over the shoulders and start moving back along the sides of the spinal column. The flanks also are an excellent choice for moving the injections around. If a blister is forming on the injection site....move the injections around and apply a light topical like basic Neosporin or SSD to the inflammed area.

Randy

 

[lagadvocate]

Thanks Randy, that's exactly what I was hoping to know. I've heard of sterile abscesses before, but realized after I posted that it was from EB, not here.:headsmack I also got the link I was searching for from EB.

I've tried to stagger the shots as best I can, but I'm sure that I've hit the same areasmore than once. He pulls his skin so taught when he knows what's coming. He's also one of those "thick skinned" guys so that doesn't help.

I'll have the vet check it to make sure that it's not something more sinister. From what I've read so far, if it is a "sterile abscess", it doesn't require aggressive treatment. I hope thatis the case. I would very much like to avoid any more of these in the future!

Thanks again for the quick response, I really appreciate it.

(Maherwoman: yes I checked the library, but blew through it pretty quickly since most of thereferences were for the bacterialabscess)

 

[maherwoman]

lagadvocate wrote:

(Maherwoman: yes I checked the library, but blew through it pretty quickly since most of thereferences were for the bacterialabscess)

I figured as much, since you'd mentioned you'd researched. Never hurts to ask, though!

If you find any articles, could you post the link here? For people's future reference.