Lump on rabbit back

[Sahar]

Hi guys,

Just noticed a lump on my bunny’s back – does anyone have any idea of what it could be? Could it be cancerous – if so what treatment do I get him.

I can’t get a photo of it to attach but please let me know if anyone has any experience in this situation 

Btw, he is a 2 year old male dwarf bunny 

Thanks,

Sahar 

[Q8bunny]

Hi Sahar,

As you may have guessed, it virtually impossible for us to say based on the very limited information we have. Lumps could be just deposits of fat, and not dangerous in any way. But they could also be abscesses (infection) or malignant tumours.

Your best bet would be to take bunny to a vet and check.

[jerseygirl]

Adding photo for Sahar.

[Sahar]

Okay so I realise I’ve been quite vague lol – it’s around the size of a blueberry and is soft and squishy when I touch it, it’s just a round kinda thing bobbing out of the skin – he doesn’t seem to get hurt when I touch it

For the past few weeks he’s been fighting with our other rabbit non-stop so we’ve had them separated. I’m just thinking maybe he’s been angry because he’s in pain from this…? We still haven’t figured out the cause of their fight and how to get them to be friends

[jerseygirl]

I did wonder if there was another rabbit because it looks like a spot when one oulls out a tuft of the others fur. There’s no puncture wounds near the lump? I just wonder if could be an abscess. Rabbits don’t always react badly when you touch those.
The skin looks healthy, at least.

What age are the 2 rabbits? Have they been together okay up until now?

[LBJ10]

I’m wondering if it’s an abscess too.

[Sahar]

Ok so I checked it again today and noticed it was more visible, so some of the fur in that area had fallen off

I’m going to upload another photo which shows it again and there’s something else I noticed – when you look above the pinkish lump thing, there is this thing sticking out of his back, which kind of looks like a fingernail but isn’t and i have no idea what it is – when I pulled this thing to look under it (I didn’t pull it out as I was scared it would hurt him) I noticed there was a white gooey substance underneath which I also have no idea about

Does anyone have any ideas?

Btw the bunny with the lump is 2 years old and the other one is 1 – they have had their fair share of random fight outbursts particularly I think because the 1 year old is quite dominant and sometimes the 2 year old lashes out or the dominant one tries to reassert his dominance, but that rarely lasts more than a few hours – this time however, their fight has not stopped and is ongoing since the start of August

I will send the photo that shows the white nail looking thing to JerseyGirl to please upload

[Sahar]

Have also just noticed that there are a few more of these things sticking out of his back

[jerseygirl]

Hi Sahar
I received the photos. I’ve forwarded them to another forum leader because I only have my phone at the moment.

From what you describe, I think you might be seeing some pus. Rabbit pus is very thick. The bit standing up look like some pus stuck in fur. You might be seeing some dried skin tags also.

If you squeeze this lump, does some of this white goop come out?

[Bam]

The new photos:

It seems reasonable to me that the nail-like thing is skin that has dried. It will most likely just fall off. But the gooey stuff is most likely pus, meaning there’s an infection that the rabbit’s body is trying to wall off (=make into an abscess). As Jersey says, rabbit’s pus is thick like tooth paste. An abscess needs to be cleaned out thoroughly and the wound should be left to heal from the inside and out (so it must be kept open.). A vet would most likely prescribe antibiotics. The rabbits should be separated so they can’t hurt each other. They can (and preferably should) still be near each other, but separated so they can’t reach to bite. 

[Sahar]

Thanks guy;

In response to jerseygirl: the bit standing up is quite hard though, like even texture wise it felt like a finger nail, could this still be dried up pus? And I haven’t tried squeezing the lump as I’m scared to hurt him but will give it a go in the morning – but in general, the white goop is under the nail like thing when I pull on it

In response to bam: like I said to jerseygirl, can it still be dried up skin if that hard? And yeh the gooey substance was like toothpaste to be honest – so in that case should I take it to the vet to be cleaned out? – And yep they’ve been separated and we let them out alternatively to run around so they still come near eachother every day its just the hutch is in between them

[Sahar]

Also would anyone know the approximate cost of having the abscess removed by a vet in Australia, more specifically Sydney?

[Author]

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