Bomber to ER vet.

[BrookL]

Ok, we took Bomber in because I thought it could be an abscess in his jaw.  Well it is.  They gave him Baytril, and we just gave him his first dose.  Can anyone give me some info on the abscess.  The vet (who does not specialize in rabbits) said to see our regular vet on monday and they will probably want to do a surgery immediately to remove it.  Is this standard?  Do they normally see if the antibiotic will clear it up first???  He seems to be in some pain, shaking his head a lot and just acting very sad.  It’s gonna be very difficult to pay for a surgery right now, so any info on cost would also be helpful.  Also what signs should I look for that he’s in too much pain or the condition has worsened??

[osprey]

{{{{Bomber}}}}

First off, you are a wonderful bunny parent to immediately notice that Bomber was off his game and have him checked.  Abcesses are serious business, and it is really good that you noticed his problem and got him seen right away.  Why do these things always happen on weekends?

I’ve (thankfully) never had to deal with an abcess, but I know that they can be very stubborn to get rid of.  This is probably wy the ER vet thought surgery might be called for.  Our rescue has had some bunnies with abcesses come through, and Baytril is often given along with a surgical procedure.   Does he seem to be in pain?  Rabbits can stop eating if they are in pain, and that is serious too.  Did they give you Metacam or anything for the pain?

I think from now until Monday the best thing to do is to keep him eating and drinking.  You can give more greens than you usually do if that motivates him to eat.  Don’t give too much fruit, as this has other potentially bad side effects.  He might appreciate a warm blanket or a snuggle safe to help him feel better.

Good luck and please keep us updated!

 

[MarkBun]

It depends upon the level of the abscess as to the course of treatment. However, vets are usually very careful about using antibiotics with rabbits as their entire digestive tract works with bacteria in it to aid in digestion.  However, from what I have read, the stuff you have is the least harmful to the ‘gut flora’ in your bun.  Here’s some more about antibiotics I found on the web:

Because of the sensitive gastrointestinal tract of rabbits, a limited number of antibiotics are safe to use for this species. A first-line drug is trimethoprim sulfa (Tribrissen), which interferes with bacterial folate metabolism. It is very inexpensive and very effective if the bacteria are sensitive to it. Another commonly used drug is enrofloxacin (Baytril), a fluoroquinolone type drug that prevents bacterial DNA from coiling correctly. However, Baytril is expensive and overused to the point that more bacteria are becoming resistant to it. Chloramphenicol or the sister compound florfenicol (NuFlor, ironically licensed only for non-lactating dairy cattle) are also very effective antibiotics that work on bacterial ribosomes. Antibiotics to avoid for rabbits include penicillin, cephalosporins, and clindamycin. These antibiotics will usually kill the bacteria causing infection, but will also destroy the gut flora of the rabbit and result in an often fatal colitis.

[BrookL]

Thanks for your information and support. This is just so scary…. I can’t believe I’m the one on here writing about this stuff, instead of being the one who is usually just reading about it…. Here’s an update….
He seemed to be in even more pain after we got home from the vet. shaking his head a lot and not being able to rest, just kind of doing circles like he didnt know how to make it stop. I called the vet back and they said they could give him an injection if it got a lot worse, or we could try a 1/4 of an aspirin to help ease a little bit of the pain. We did the aspirin and he calmed down pretty quickly and seems to be resting a little more. I am going to call our vet emergency line in the morning to see if they agree with everything that we are doing.
I’m just really concerned about the cost of the surgery and if it’s needed immediately that could be an issue. Is it normal to just do the surgery right away for them to just try to lance and drain it first, or is that actually the surgical procedure that the vet mentioned?

[MarkBun]

Anything dealing with cutting flesh is considered a surgical procedure (such as removing warts).  So yes, draining the abscess is a surgical procedure.  I can’t tell you how much it will be as they might need to knock the bun out in order to do the procedure.  And they will want to do it right away as all of the fluid in the abscess is filled with bacteria.  The quicker they get rid of it, the better off your bun will be.  Good news is that most abscesses are simple things to get rid of after the draining and meds. 

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh no poor Bomber.   Abcesses are definately serious business and they can get costly.  A great resource for medical info is here: http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html#abs That way you can read up and come prepared with questions for your vet.  A lot of times they have a special credit card that you can apply for in order to pay for the vet bill, you can call and ask ahead as well (perhaps get pre-approval if that is how you would like to proceed). A lot of times the beads of antibiotic are used with a high rate of success.  For more info on abcesses;

HRS: http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a=00062824-sp00000000&sp-q=abcess&user=enter+email+address

Here is a read on antibiotics; http://www.rabbit.org/health/antibiotics.html

Please keep us updated and you will probably be asked to make a quick decision about surgery or other treatment as it is serious. I hope that all goes well with the visit and Bomber makes his way out of this with flying colors.

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