An update on our bun, Daisy.

[RetroSquid]

My wife, Ouisie posted in House Rabbit Q&A a couple of weeks ago as we just weren’t sure what to do about a dental abscess our older bun, Daisy had developed.

We spent a long time on the decision making. Not sure what would be best for her, at her age. (She’s about to turn 9.)

We didn’t know if we should consider putting her through the somewhat large, invasive procedure and all of the stress that entails, or consider palliative care and just make her as comfortable as possible as the abscess starts to affect her quality of life…

Because of her otherwise impeccable health, all her bloodwork and everything came back great, she’s a prime candidate for doing very well with the procedure, we decided to go ahead. We need to give her a chance. But we’re only going to put her through this once. If she comes out the other side and it starts to come back and affect her quality of life, we won’t put her through it again. Not at her age.

We dropped her off for the procedure this morning, and she’s very likely right in the middle of it right now. I hate this moment. The wait… Knowing what’s happening to my wee Daisy.

We know they need to clean out necrotic bone from her mandible, very likely need to remove the tooth root, and the actual abscess itself. And the after care is going to be uncomfortable and stressful for her.

A piece of me can’t help but think that we have made the wrong decision. That her quality of life is now going to decline with the post op after care and beyond.

When we first joined Binky Bunny many years ago, it was during a similar situation with our first bun, Zelda. Who unfortunately went through so much during his dental abscess treatment, but he wasn’t able to pull through…

(Apologies for any typos and autocorrects, I’m on my phone and I’m notoriously bad at proof reading my messages)

[DanaNM]

Sending some vibes for Daisy!

When my dental abscess bun got treated it was clear that he felt much much better after it was cleaned out. He started eating hay immediately after he had a molar extraction, so it must have been causing him a lot of pain. Hopefully Daisy bounces back too!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Wick & Fable]

Hoping all the best for Daisy. It does indeed sound like she is really set-up to thrive and succeed after all is said and done. You have done the best you can to support her to this point and am looking forward to a positive update.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[LBJ10]

Good luck Daisy! I hope all is well now. I know it sucks, but try not to second guess yourself.

[RetroSquid]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>We had the post op call last night, at around 5pm.</p>
The surgeon was very, very surprised. When they got in there and cleaned out the necrotic bone and ask the pus, they found absolutely no evidence that it was affecting a tooth root at all.

Honestly, I was already convinced that a tooth/root want affected, as I found the abscess through a physical examination myself, just while paying close attention to our furry family, there was absolutely no change in her behaviour at all. No sign of any dental discomfort or anything, just the small limo on her mandible that started out about half the size of a grain of rice.

With it not being dental, it honestly feels like a better outcome than even the vets “best case scenario” that they laid out before the surgery.

It means our old bun will have an easier recovery, and just in general, be in less discomfort.

Originally, because of her age and the plan for dental surgery, too. It was likely she was hoping to be in their hospital until maybe Monday, but as it was significant less invasive, it seems like she might be home on Saturday instead! Just waiting on the call this morning for an update on how she was overnight. 🤞

[DanaNM]

That’s wonderful news!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[LBJ10]

That’s great news!

[RetroSquid]

So, Daisy has been home with us for a few hours now. And oh my, she’s in a grim state.

I’m finding her very difficult to look at properly. The wound is huge, and inside you can clearly see the exposed bone of her mandible. She’s in a very, very sorry state.

But there’s a class difference in how she’s feeling after having some time in her quiet corner behind the sofa. She’s been eating little bits. She had some herbs, pellets, oats, a little critical care herbivore good and she’s had one of the cats, Bubblegum, join her. He would frequently join the bunnies on the floor, anyway, so I do believe she’s taking a lot of comfort from his presence. He actually won’t leave her. Sitting just generally in her vicinity. I definitely think he’s missed her, too.

We have a long list of painkillers and medications to administer multiple times a day, I’ll just copy/paste the contents from the email we got when she was discharged:

——————————-

Medications to Continue at Home: 

Loxicom (NSAID pain relief) – Give 0.94ml by mouth every 12 hours until seen next. 

Tramadol (opioid pain relief) – Give 0.6ml by mouth every 12 hours as additional pain relief until seen next. This can cause drowsiness. 

Emeprid (Gut motility stimulant) – Give 1.18ml by mouth until eating and passing faeces normally.

Enrocare (antibiotic) – Give 0.9ml by mouth every twelve hours until finished. We may change this antibiotic when we receive Daisy’s culture results.

Activon (surgical grade manuka honey) – Please place a small amount into the surgical wound once daily – you may need to clean away any residual material or discharge with a warm flannel prior to doing this. Continue until seen next.

Hyabak (eye lubrication): Place 2 drops onto the left eye up to four times daily until seen next.

Isathal (ocular antibiotic): Place a small amount onto the left eye once daily until seen next or finished.

——————————-

And the breakdown of the procedure she underwent, also from the discharge email:

——————————-

Procedure: Daisy was given a dose of pain relief medication and gut stimulant medication preoperatively. The sides of both ears were clipped and local anaesthetic cream was applied to these areas. An intravenous catheter was then placed into an ear vein. Daisy was then given their pre-medication which provides a sedative effect prior to the general anaesthetic drug being given via the intravenous catheter. Once anaesthetized, an endotracheal tube was placed and the anaesthetic was maintained using anaesthetic inhalation agents and oxygen. The abscess and unhealthy bone on Daisy’s lower jaw was debrided as much as possible. A sample of this material was sent to the lab for culture and sensitivity – we will let you know when the results are returned. A large amount of infection was removed and the area was flushed with copious amounts of sterile saline. The surgical site was sutured as an open wound to allow topical treatment and further drainage of infection. Then an intra-oral exam was performed – there were no mobile teeth to extract, pockets appreciated or dental spikes present. Daisy was carefully monitored during the procedure using specialist equipment and was watched closely on recovery.

 

Daisy has continued to recover as most rabbits typically do after an invasive procedure such as this. Despite very good eye lubrication during her surgery, Daisy does have a superficial corneal ulcer on her left eye. We have begun treatment for this and hope that it is resolved by the time we see her for a recheck appointment.

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She’s been though so much. It’s so hard seeing her like this, knowing that three days ago, she was binkying and running circles around me in the morning, looking to lick my face in exchange for a breakfast handful of pellets… 😥

[DanaNM]

It must be very hard to see her that way, but it is really really good news that she’s eating a bit on her own! My dental abscess bun also looked really shocking when he came home. 🙁

I’m sure the pain meds (esp the opiod) on top of everything are making her a bit out of it. Overall it does sound like things went well, hopefully she starts feeling better soon!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[LBJ10]

Dana is right. I know it’s shocking to see, but leaving the wound open like that is not unusual. It does sound like the procedure went well, so that’s good news. The opioid is probably making her sleepy and that’s OK. After a few days, hopefully she will start to perk up again.

[Bam]

Thank you for this very detailed report. It must look horrible, but its for good reasons. You have the best vets. Rabbits as a species are “primitive” in that their first line of defense is to wall off infections, i e form abscesses. Their pus is thick and wont drain through a tube, which is why the wound isnt closed. (I know you know this, but in case other members are wondering).

Opioids do tend to make buns drowsy. That too can seem very scary, but its a “normal” side effect.

Its wonderful that there didnt seem to be any rotten teeth 💗

[jerseygirl]

Sending hugs to Daisy! I love that her feline friend is keeping her company.

It is a rude shock to see them after facial abscess treatment. I hope she rallies soon. Sometimes I think they cope better then us.

The vets gave good feedback and kept you so well informed of everything that was done. It does sound like she was in good hands.

Are you to flush the wound site at all? I recall doing that and I would syringe the medical honey into the site the plug it with gauze. Of course it’s way out along with gauze by morning but it really seemed to keep wound tissue healthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RetroSquid]

Sorry in advance for typos and autocorrects… On mobile and I’m terrible at proof reading.

 

Nope, we’re not to flush the wound, or dress it. Just apply the medical grade manuka honey twice a day (the email said once, but when I collected Daisy, they said twice) and occasionally give her a wipe around the site before applying more of its gunky. But honestly, Daisy is still very much keeping on top of her grooming, even with half a face, so it isn’t getting gunky around the wound at all.

 

She hasn’t had a great day today. Very glum, not really interested in us, but she’s picked up this evening after her tramadol.

We’ve emailed the vets to see if we can maybe add a third, smaller dose of the tramadol in the middle of the day, as it’s seeming that the people’s she’s on just now aren’t quite enough.

When me and Ouisie were discussing if we should put Daisy though this or do palliative care because of her age, we opted for this hoping she would get the longest, best quality of life after having it removed, but honestly, morale is at an all-time low just now.

The regular bunny burritos to Medicare her multiple times per day and apply the honey, it’s bringing all the worst memories of losing Zelda, and when Link was going through the worst, too.

I feel like it’s also affecting our relationship with Daisy, which is another big problem.

The bun you had to do similar treatment for, how long did you have to continue with the antibiotics, painkillers, honey and the likes for? I just need to feel like there’s an end in sight and we can let her relax again, as just now, it feels like she’s on edge with me all the time, and to be honest, in not really coping with that…

 

We had to reschedule her check-up from Wednesday until Friday, so we’re not going to get proper information from the vets until then, but some anecdotal reports from similar experiences would help.

[Bam]

I only have one anecdotal story – a British bun that was bit by a fox and one of the bite wounds developped into a facial abscess. He was prescribed manukka honey in the wound (the wound had penetrated the cheek so the honey leaked into his mouth, which he apparently appreciated). The owner had to keep the wound open- which was difficult because it really wanted to heal over, so she had to re-open it to get the honey in there.

The owner did wound care twice daily for about 2 weeks. She also had to give him antibiotic shots and metacam. He got a probiotic every day to help his tummy.

It was a lot of work for the owner, but all worth it because the bun recovered 😊

[DanaNM]

I’m sorry this is such a rough time for you and Daisy. I don’t have any of the exact same experiences, but I’ve cared for some chronically ill and very sick little buns. It helped me to always remember that we are doing it out of love, and sometimes tough love is necessary. My buns would not be pleased with me during treatment, but afterward I did feel like they had grown closer to me.

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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