Bunny had abscess removed but still hard

[Bunny House]

Hi,

I have a 9 month old female New Zealand and 3 weeks ago I noticed she had a huge abscess under her jaw. I went to my regular vet and they told me it was nothing they could fix and she would eventually stop eating and pass so I went to another vet and she told me it was a loose tooth. I went back the next day and had her get surgery to remove the tooth and the abscess. The vet removed the entire capsule and pack it with antibiotics. It has now been a week since she did and I felt under her chin today and it still feels like it did last week. The packing is now off to the side as if it was pushed out of the pocket or fell out. Should I be concerned or is it usually hard for a couple of weeks?

[jerseygirl]

One of my past rabbits had a jaw abscess that I had to treat. I can’t quite recall what the skin felt like around it after the surgery. Their bodies do start to encapsulate the abscess and build cartilage. Maybe that is some of what you can feel?
I’d ring the vet and find out what is normal and what isn’t. It sounds like the second vet had more of a clue of what they were doing. The first vet?…. sheesh!

It’s good the tooth was able to be removed. That will go a long way to resolving this.
Did the vet send what they removed off to be cultured at all? I believe the aim is to get a sample from the abscess wall.

[Bunny House]

I don’t know what I feel, all I know is that is is hard just like it was before the entire capsule was removed. I am hoping it just built up a really thick and hard wall and that it is just going to be like that forever. I hope it is cartilage. I called them and she said since the vet isn’t in that she can’t tell me exactly what is normal since it’s a 24/7 vet and I go in the morning time. I had a app set for tomorrow morning for it to be removed packed. She does have one more molar to be pulled, but there was no culture sent out. Did the cartilage ever break down on your bun or did it stay like that forever? Here is her and you can see the side where the packing looks like it fell out. Okay well it won’t upload but you get the picture .

[Bam]

It’s more like connective tissue than actual cartilage. I’m sorry the pic wouldn’t load. It might be too big. You can upload to an external source (imgur, photobucket, flickr, picvasa etc) and link to the pic.

[Bunny House]

Bam, so is the hardNess I’m feeling like the wall of the abscess? She removed the whole capsule. I’m just wondering if it came back in the same area or if it is just inflamed wall/tissue that is still there.

[Bam]

I don’t know enough about abscesses to be able to say. here’s some info about abscesses from the RWAF: http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/RWAF_Abscesses.pdf

Abscesses frequently come back, because they are really difficult to clean out completely. Then bacteria can begin to multiply again. Systemic antibiotics can’t get in through the thick capsule, so won’t help clear the abscess – but they will prevent bacteria that might escape from the abscess into the body from “seeding”.

[LionNPumpkin]

I’m sorry to hear what is going on. I lost my own bunny Peanut to pretty much this exact same thing. Instead, he had a broken tooth that caused the abscess under the chin.

So far, it sounds like you shouldn’t be too concerned, considering the packing could probably move around. (maybe I’m mistaken, but I’ve never had that done to my own bunny) In fact, whenever I felt Peanut’s abscess after surgery it felt hard like you’re explaining, and for his length of time he was still here it always was like that, just a small little place that fur started growing around. I’m not sure if the packed antibiotics is different than what Peanut had, where we just let his abscess site drain. But so far it sounds rather normal. I suggest you keep a very, very close eye on your bun, make sure he’s (or she, sorry but I don’t see a place where you signified the gender) acting normal, eating hay and pellets or whatever you might feed him. If he’s acting mopey and lethargic, it might mean he needs the abscess drained again and his teeth examined for more broken/loose ones.

If things keep getting worse, I’ll see if I can find you the website where my mom found a cure for this sort of thing if an infection may occur. Just let me know and I’m happy to help!

[Bunny House]

Lion, I’m sorry to hear about Peanut
IT looks like it is just the scar tissue so everything is good and no sign of infection

[Author]

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