It really is surprising how quickly these abscesses can blow up! My rabbit Jelly (now passed away) had once pop up on his lower jaw. It was a marble size lump that I felt one day that was not there the day before.
Have you looked around at some other places to see if this can be managed at a lower cost? You can also ask for a break down of the estimate you have been given, to see what you can opt with not having done. If you have a pretty good relationship with the practice, a frank discussion about what you can afford and options of managing the abscess may be worthwhile.
You may be able to manage this for some time but having the abscess opened and flushing it out at home, packing the wound to keep it open so you can continue to flush it out. It depends a bit on the abscess itself though and if it’s broken through to the mouth.
I don’t recall having the abscess opened and clean out costing so much when Jelly had this, but over time, his treatment certainly was expensive! One of his 1st medications was pricey too. Penicillin is not expensive and can be very useful for abscesses. Thats eventually what he was on. He had one episode where the area blew up really fast and I booked him appt for the next day. By morning, the abscess had burst open where the previous incision had been and healed. I was actually able to clean it out really well! Then it was back on antibiotics, and flushing out the wound until it closed up.
I aslo have a rabbit now that had abscess form on the cheek area last year, just below his ear. The vet went straight to daily penicillin. After a week, he had surgery to clean it out. He had some gel sponges put in to keep it open as I was to flush out the wound at home. But these just dissolved way to fast. In the end, I used manuka wound gel in his wound and packed it with sterile gauze that was covered in the gel also. Kind of a mess as most would have come out to the fur by morning, but it did seem to keep the wound clean. The vet was really surprised at how good it was looking.
Gooseman also developed a spasm on that side of his face that pulls up the lip. I think it’s called a hemifacial spasm. So his face looks quite asymmetrical. This hasn’t resolved but he manages eating most foods and hay. I notice some days it’s more pronounced then others. Did this resolve for Rookie after the took out the pus the first time?
I see from your profile that you are in Canada? A few years ago one of our Canadian members needed to get her rabbit spayed asap due to health issues the quotes were pretty darn expensive! I remember at the time there was an organisation that assisted for treatment of rabbits. I don’t know the name but I’ll try find the old posts about that rabbit and see if such an organisation still exists.
There is also Care Credit /Veterinary. Would that be available to you?
Sending out {{{vibes}}} for Rookie also.
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