Bunny put to sleep after amputation and absess

[Jasmin.87]

Hello Everyone.
I was wondering if anyone might have some answers as to what might have happened to my bunny that led to her being put to sleep today.
About a month ago, she fractured her foot. The recommendation from the vet was to have it amputated. After the surgery, she seemed to be doing fairly well and was eating normally and able to get around. The wound cleared and the vet was happy. I continued taking her for regular cleaning as it was difficult for her to clean herself down below and on the days that I couldn’t, I would clean the area myself.
Last night, the area that was supposedly healed, swelled up. By the morning the whole area had raptured and was a mass of white puss.
I took her to the vet and upon inspection, they informed me that it was an absess and would be difficult for her to heal after this as the inside of where her leg once was had started to rot and so was advised to put her to sleep.
Im just wondering why this would have happened considering the wound had healed. She was also going for regular checkups so shouldnt this have been noticed? The vet said that it can come out of nowhere and can work its way very quickly.
Just wondering if anyone had some helpful thoughts?
Thank you!

[Bam]

I am so very sorry this happened to your rabbit.

It seems there was bacteria festering in the wound that had healed closed. Some bacteria can thrive in both oxygenated and oxygen-free environments. There are also bacteria that can only thrive without oxygen. Those types of bacteria can fester inside a closed wound. An abscess forms in an effort by the immune defence to wall off the infection. Rabbits’ immunesystems are more about walling off infections than fighting them off. This is why rabbits are so prone to the development of abscesses. The abscess can involve bone and the bone gets destroyed in the process. It’s called osteomyelitis.

An abscess can grow very quickly, it can happen in hours. The prognosis for healing is very poor when there is bone involvement. It’s awful to have to have a bun pts, but sometimes it’s the only kind and loving thing you can do for your bun.

Here is some info about abscesses in rabbits: http://sawneeanimalclinic.com/downloads/abscesses_in_rabbits.pdf

Thank you for caring so well for your bun. I’m so sorry she didn’t make it.

[Jasmin.87]

Posted By bam on 1/10/2019 9:40 AM
I am so very sorry this happened to your rabbit.

It seems there was bacteria festering in the wound that had healed closed. Some bacteria can thrive in both oxygenated and oxygen-free environments. There are also bacteria that can only thrive without oxygen. Those types of bacteria can fester inside a closed wound. An abscess forms in an effort by the immune defence to wall off the infection. Rabbits’ immunesystems are more about walling off infections than fighting them off. This is why rabbits are so prone to the development of abscesses. The abscess can involve bone and the bone gets destroyed in the process. It’s called osteomyelitis.

An abscess can grow very quickly, it can happen in hours. The prognosis for healing is very poor when there is bone involvement. It’s awful to have to have a bun pts, but sometimes it’s the only kind and loving thing you can do for your bun.

Here is some info about abscesses in rabbits: http://sawneeanimalclinic.com/downloads/abscesses_in_rabbits.pdf

Thank you for caring so well for your bun. I’m so sorry she didn’t make it.

Thank you so much for your reply. It really does help to understand why it happened and if there was something I could have done to avoid it. I spoke to the vet this evening and she said something similar- the infection had probabaly been there since the surgery but nobody could have known.
I really appreciate you taking the time to answer and giving me some peace of mind..

[Phil]

Very sad to hear about this, did the vet give antibiotics as its sounds like they didn’t, she would have died from blood poisoning, from such a bad infection. X

[Jasmin.87]

Posted By Phil on 1/10/2019 5:18 PM
Very sad to hear about this, did the vet give antibiotics as its sounds like they didn’t, she would have died from blood poisoning, from such a bad infection. X

Thank you for your reply.
She was on antibiotics for a couple of days after the surgery but not for long.
Feeling like it was probabaly for the best that she was put to sleep as it seems like it had reached the bone.

[Phil]

Yes bunnies can go down hill very quickly, she would be in a lot of pain from the bone abscess, very sad x

[Author]

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