Thor-Jaw Abcess and GI Stasis

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Must_Love_Pets

Must_Love_Pets

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 5, 2011
Messages
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Location
Willow Glen, California, USA
Where so I start?

Early last week Thor was not himself. As a worried mama of a loving flemmie I gave him a good once over to see if I can find anything out of the ordinary. Well the first day I did not and was hoping he was just having a slow relaxing day (we can always hope right?)Well the next morning I woke up to a VERY lethargic Thor and he had not touched his hay, pellets or water YIKE!!!! I decided to examine him closer. I noticed that his left side of his face what not quite the size of the right side. Ifelt him to try to see if I can find an abscess of some sort. There was certainly some swelling going on and as you may know abscesses can grow very slowly on rabbits. I took no chances and immediately gave himdose of LA-200, baby gas drops, pedyalite and force fed some crushed pellets and rejuvinator (comp to critical care)by syringe. By day 2 we have no poops and no pee. The swelling was giving him severe tilt and he was obviously in discomfort. Since I administer LA-200 every other day totalling 3 doses, the next dose I upped from 2cc to 3cc. Thisdid the trick. The next day the swelling was gone andI can now feel a very small abscess like ball which was completely gone by the end of the day it was gone. Now to deal with the stasis. I have been keeping the same regimen with the force feeding and keeping him in my room for round the clock care and observation. Thank goodness i did not hear very much from his tummy but I massaged him. He was hunched in a ball with no movement for a full day and a half. I then upped the dose of the gas drops to 1cc and it seemed to relieve him quite a bit. The next 2 days he was pooping and peeing. Last night gave him his last dose of LA-200and offered some banana and basil his 2 favorites. He had no problem eating it!! I was ecstatic, the first thing he ate on his own in 5 days. Before I went to bed I offered a willow wreath. He nibbled on 1 leaf and left it. I woke up this morning to a happy bunny drinking water and playing with his willow wreath. So I gave him his gas drops, force fed a small amount and gave him some love before I pushed off to work. I am in high hopes that he has eaten some more on his own when I get home in just a bit here. I seriously think that he was bit by a spider since all the swelling was on the outside of the mouth nothing dental. He is one strong willed bunny :)



 
Must_Love_Pets wrote:
Where so I start?

Early last week Thor was not himself. As a worried mama of a loving flemmie I gave him a good once over to see if I can find anything out of the ordinary. Well the first day I did not and was hoping he was just having a slow relaxing day (we can always hope right?)Well the next morning I woke up to a VERY lethargic Thor and he had not touched his hay, pellets or water YIKE!!!! I decided to examine him closer. I noticed that his left side of his face what not quite the size of the right side. Ifelt him to try to see if I can find an abscess of some sort. There was certainly some swelling going on and as you may know abscesses can grow very slowly on rabbits. I took no chances and immediately gave himdose of LA-200, baby gas drops, pedyalite and force fed some crushed pellets and rejuvinator (comp to critical care)by syringe. By day 2 we have no poops and no pee. The swelling was giving him severe tilt and he was obviously in discomfort. Since I administer LA-200 every other day totalling 3 doses, the next dose I upped from 2cc to 3cc. Thisdid the trick. The next day the swelling was gone andI can now feel a very small abscess like ball which was completely gone by the end of the day it was gone. Now to deal with the stasis. I have been keeping the same regimen with the force feeding and keeping him in my room for round the clock care and observation. Thank goodness i did not hear very much from his tummy but I massaged him. He was hunched in a ball with no movement for a full day and a half. I then upped the dose of the gas drops to 1cc and it seemed to relieve him quite a bit. The next 2 days he was pooping and peeing. Last night gave him his last dose of LA-200and offered some banana and basil his 2 favorites. He had no problem eating it!! I was ecstatic, the first thing he ate on his own in 5 days. Before I went to bed I offered a willow wreath. He nibbled on 1 leaf and left it. I woke up this morning to a happy bunny drinking water and playing with his willow wreath. So I gave him his gas drops, force fed a small amount and gave him some love before I pushed off to work. I am in high hopes that he has eaten some more on his own when I get home in just a bit here. I seriously think that he was bit by a spider since all the swelling was on the outside of the mouth nothing dental. He is one strong willed bunny :)
Click to expand...
excellent job/kudos/--we are the first line defense for our critters,-spiders inject a skin/meat disolving liquid--this makes a spider bite very bad/--abscess,s-unfortunately-rabbits can be prone to the visible and hidden types- behavior,weight loss,poops-appetite,-all the more important--i wish someone took as much care of us ??--wishful thinking rrrrrr,,rrr--sincerely james waller:pray::p:big wink:
 
No GI Stasis. YEAH!!!!!

However, we do have TWO abcesses. The one that I thought that went away which is in a very odd spot that was causing discomfort to swollow. It is coming to a head with the help of penicillin. Then found another abcess under his front arm which I lanced and is draining nicely. I am anxiously awaiting for the other to come to a complete head so I can lance that one as well . He is eating parcley, basil, apple, bananna, celantro, and his miracle rejuvinator. He is also still on the baby gas drops 2-3 times daily as well as poly-bac. He has a whole coarse of pen to go. He is very active now and hoping everywhere so He feels much better. He has got to be the best bunny to treat. Bunnies know when you are trying to make them feel better. He lays there on his grooming table very still not only to lance his abcess but flushing it as well. If you have ever tried to flush an abcess on a rabbit than than youknow youhave to do it very slowly so the puss does not go back into the flesh. he just lays there and closes his eyes. he gets juice as a treat when he is done, he has learned to look forward to that.He has also become a lot more affectionate. Call me crazy but I think this whole situatiuon has bonded us closer that we were before. At this point I dont think he was but by a spider because he would have shortly after being bitten. I am thinking that a neighborhood cat had gotten to him. It could have been my cat trying to play with him when I was not looking. UGG!!!! Needless to say there are a few modifications being done to his enclosure beofre he goes back in it. he is bound to my rooom until he is heeled. The BF is not so keen on it but hey, he can sleep on the couch for all I care. I treat his dog when needed so he can just get over it and relax.
 
Yay! :litterhealthy:

Not so yay about two abscesses. Do you think it's new, or was it maybe just not found before? I'm hoping those clear up with the treatments you are doing.:pray:
 
Abcesses are so much easier to deal with than stasis so I am very happy. As long as this one on his neck comes to a head with the pen injections. It really is helping so keep your fingers crossed.

Abcesses take a while on rabbits to form so they had been forming the whole time. The one on his neck is a very uncommon abcess so it was hard to tell and it did disapear to the eye and the touch for a while. This is because it sunk in deeper. Poor big guy :( He is such a trooper though. My son is caring for him while I am at work today, thank goodness. I keep pestering him for pictures and updates. LOL I am a paranoid bunny mama. But he loooooves Thor so he does not mind, he would be devistated if anything ever happened to him. He is 16 years old and has a big heart for animals just like his mom. LOL
 
Really? I guess it depends on what you're used to. Abscess are much more scary for me because they can be hard to treat in rabbits. GI stasis I know what to do, have handled many times, and frankly was a part of life when I had my dwarf hotot girls.
 
Thor is slowly getting better. I am anxious to get home form work today to see if the Pen G yesterday has brought the second abcess to a head so I can lance and flush it. From what I can tell the last Pen G has made the abcess considerably smaller, small enough to where he can swollow without any discomfort as he ate his whole willow wreath last night along with some hay and the rest of his fruits and veggies. The other abcess under his arm/side is draining nicely and he still sits still when it is time to flush and clean it. Now I have to worry about getting his whole body cleaned up witout stressing him out too much. I was thinking a hot compress followed by sponge bath. I think a bath would be much quicker than a sponge bath and a lot more affective. As you can imagine, the puss draining is starting to matt in his fur in the surrounding areas even though I give his a thourough cleaning after each flush and in between. I am a clean freak so it is hard for me to just let this go. Not to mention matts can start to pull on the skin and sometimes even rip the skin. It is also a great hiding area for bacteria and dirt. UG!!!!

Ok bath or sponge bath??

If I give him a bath, I will just lay a towel down for traction in the bathtub and only fill it up part way, maybe up to the top of his feet so I can at least let him soak so I can get the matts to loosin and get it really clean. Keep in mind this is matted with puss, not so much the fur. If you have ever delt with abcesses you know how quickly the surrounding fur can get matted with puss when it is draining at a fast pace (which is good). I have clipped him in the immidiate surroundings of the abcess and am unable to cut anymore due to the matting. Hope this is all making sense.

ANY SUGGESTIONS????
 
I'd stick with the sponge bath. Many rabbits do not like being in water and will panic at this new strangeness. If you wanted to try, you could just put a little water in so it doesn't cover the whole bath tub, then put him down in the dry part with something for traction. Then he can get away from the water if he doesn't want to be in it.

It's great he's eating again!
 
WEll the bath idea I had is exactly what you are saying. I was going to lay a towel down for traction and barely fill it which would leave room at one end withno water. I deciided to hold off. I was able to clip a little more hair around the draining abcess. The other abcesses are getting very hard now so it is only a matter of time until they turn mooshy so they can be lanced.

From last night ill this morning he ate 3 full veggie fruit plates and he is once again going crazy over his craisens. It has been over 3 weeks that he has had no interest in his favorite treat.YIPEE!!!!!

Before I went to bed last night I put down a plate of basil, mint, parsley, cilantro, apple and bananna. I woke up at 3 am to check on him to found the plate empty. YES!!!! So I filled it up again and woke up this morning to a plate licked clean and lots of healthy poops. I filled the plate again this morning and added his pellets. This is great news. This is the best appitite he has had since this has all started. This means that abcess is really close to being delt with. He now has no prroblem swollowing at all. He is once again begging and nudging for head scratches and being himself more and more. I am one happy girl but not looking forwrd to lancing TWO more abcesses. But we have lots of progress and he is still a trooper.
 
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