Dotty has scabs on her mouth?

[JennJenn]

Oh don't even get me started on vets and their addiction to prescribing Baytril! I used to have pet rats, and one of my girls named Normie got sick with a respiratory infection. The vet gave me Baytril and I gave it to her twice a day for 2 weeks. It didn't work. I took her back and she told me to keep giving it to her and it would eventually work. My poor girl got so sick and was to the point that she was sneezing 20-30 times per minute all day long. Well 6 months, athousand vet trips, and a couple thousanddollars later I finally stood up for myself and for Normie and told the vet that it wasn't working! She finally switched and Normie was better within a couple weeks. :X!

I am glad that you found a vet you are happy with and I hope that you find out what is wrong with Dotty soon! She sounds like a very smart vet.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Thank you!

Yeah, I'm so glad I followed my instinct and went for a second opinion. Hopefully it wont turn up anything, but if it does at least we'll know what we're dealing with.


We forgot to ask if we need a packed lunch for Dotty tomorrow- we don't know how long she'll be there. I think we'll take her one down just in case. If she does need to be sedated then at least they can see that she's eating when she comes round. I'd imagine we can pick her up early afternoon...

Let's hope she does ok! :cry2

 

[Flash]

Good Luck with Dotty tomorrow I'm curious to find out what it is too.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Poor baby girl! I hope she feels better soon and you get a definite diagnosis. The scabs must hurt, I've had broken skin in the corner's of my mouth (thankfully due to stress or a vitamin deficiency and not syphilis!) and it stings. You're such a good bunny mommy Jen, so many people wouldn't notice!

 

[mouse_chalk]

Thank you!

We dropped Dotty off earlier. Vicky is the vet there today and she will be looking after her. The nurse looking after her is the one who was in all weekend looking after Chalk when she was sick. She asked us how Chalk was doing, bless her. And the nurse originally didn't think Vicky would be in, so it would be someone else. About half an hour later she left us a voicemail message to let us know that Vicky was in after all and would be seeing Dotty.

We should be able to pick her up this afternoon....

She only ate half of her breakfast this morning which is really unlike her, so I wonder if the sores are starting to irritate her a bit. We let them know, and she has food with her to eat in there.

 

[Maureen Las]

I hope they get to the bottom of this ; I'm sure they will if they culture

 

[thumperflower]

Any news yet Jen ?

Please let me know what it is.......I'm curious!

Fingers crossed it's nothing too bad. ray:

 

[Flashy]

Any updates? Hope she is ok.

 

[mouse_chalk]

We spoke to the vet. We can pick her up in an hour, so we're leaving soon.

She ended up going under fully, because she wouldn't let the vet near her to look at her mouth properly. They filed down some beginnings of spurs on her molars (lower I think), and took x-rays just to be sure (we're on a direct insurance claim so she said she did the 'works' just to be sure), which were fine, they couldn't see any of the sores inside her mouth, which is good. They took samples of the scabs, the skin around them, and unaffected skin and hair samples as well. Some of the tests can be done at the hospital and some will have to be sent to the lab for testing, so it could take about 7-10 days to get them all back.

For now, she just wants us to use hibiscrub daily to keep the area clean, and make sure it's dried completely afterwards. She doesn't want to put her on any antibiotics yet until the results come back so we know if we need them or not. She said that it doesn't appear to be anything seriously infected though, so we may have caught it early, or it could just have been an irritiation of some sort....


It's nice to know that it's all been done throughly, so even if the tests come back clear, it wont have been a waste because we will know that there is nothing horrible underlying I am sure though that they will put a big red alert next to our names on the computer to say 'WARNING! PARANOID PARENTS!' lol......

 

[Flashy]

Aw, poor Dotty. Is she going to be on painkillers too? I hope the results come back quickly and whilst I don't want anything to be wrong with her, at least if something easy to fix shows up, then you can sort it easily and quickly, which is the least stress for all of you.

I bet she will be glad to come home.

 

[mouse_chalk]

I'm not sure if the vet mentioned painkillers or not- it was Steve who spoke to her, but I'll ask when we collect her if she needs any. We probably have more Metacam here than they do lol, so it'll just be a case of getting the dosage in case we need it....

I can't wait to have her back! The house has been quiet without her galloping up and down all day lol

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Awww

I hope they figure it out!

 

[tonyshuman]

That sounds like they're really playing it by the book there, which is good, but I would hope they could figure it out sooner than 7-10 days. Anyway, I hope they can figure out what's wrong and get her some treatment soon. For now, metacam is probably good. The dosage here: http://www.med.yale.edu/yarc/vcs/drugs.htm is 0.2mg/kg for an injection and 0.3mg/kg for an oral dose(every 24 hrs). So you'll have to figure out the concentration in the stuff you have to figure out how much to give her.

I would worry that the hibiscrub might irritate the skin more, so keep an eye out for that if you can. Good luck!

 

[mouse_chalk]

Thanks guys

She's doing great since we got back! I laid on the bedroom floor watching her for ages when we got back, and all she did was sleep in the corner, so I ended up falling asleep on the floor too. When I woke up she was munching tons of hay, and she's been galloping up and down ever since!

They said that they didn't think she would need pain meds, since it wasn't particularly invasive, but we have some that we can give her later if we think she needs it. The vet also shaved the area around her mouth and the sores, to make it easier to clean and keep dry. We've used hibiscrub a lot before on Chalk's abscesses when they were open, and on various other cuts etc, and the buns have never even flinched over it, but of course we'll keep an eye on whether it irritates her skin or not

Claire, thanks for that link on the dosing! I couldn't find it earlier, but I'll bookmark it now. One of these days, what I need to do it write down everybun's weight, and then the appropriate dose of Metacam in both strengths, and then stick that to the inside lid of my bunny supplies tin, so I have it on hand for future....

I don't know why the tests take that long to come back either- but I know that they have to send some of them away to a separate lab. I think that some of the tests they do are in-house, so will be quicker, and sometimes the lab is quicker at returning them, but I guess they also have to allow time for things to potentially grow as well :expressionless


I'm not sure that they would have done all of those tests had we not been claiming directly through the insurance company- perhaps the x-rays weren't entirely necessary, but since it's all going to them, we aren't even having to pay upfront, so I guess she thought it would be better to stay on the safe side, while they had her in.

 

[DeniseJP]

I hope it turns out to be something simple for Miss Dotty -sorry that this happened to her but she has the best bunny parents and sounds like the latest veterinarian has her best interests at heart. Give her a nose rub from me!

Good luck!

Denise

 

[mouse_chalk]

Just to update- we're getting all the test results back slowly!

So far nothing has shown up- they're still waiting for the fungal culture to come back- she doesn't have mites, ringworm, syphilis or anything else nasty. A very slight trace of infection in the skin samples but nothing known or concerning.

Meanwhile, the scabs have all healed up completely! Her fur is growing back too. Scabby Dotters is no more!

I'm glad it wasn't anything too bad. I know that not many things are transferable but she's SOOOO licky with me I'd hate to think of anything nasty being that near my mouth LOL! She certainly wouldn't approve of me trying to stop her either

 

[tonyshuman]

Huh that's interesting. It's great that it has gone away though! Do you still have to wash her every day?

 

[mouse_chalk]

We had been, but we stopped a few days back because the scabs had healed and the area looks really healthy again. The vet said that unless she calls us to say that the fungal culture has grown anything, we don't need to follow any more treatment- unless she gets the scabs again, of course.

It's very strange. I could attribute it to maybe just an irritation, but it was odd that it was one both sides of her mouth, and that she had small scabs on her nose and her ears....

Either way, it all looks normal again now, so we'll just keep a close eye on it!

 

[tonyshuman]

Yeah it is weird. Maybe it was a viral infection or small bacterial infection that went away with the cleanings. I know sometimes I get dry cracked skin at the corners of my mouth when the air inside is dry. Good to hear all's well and the big love is back to her bouncy self!

 

[pamnock]

mouse_chalk wrote:

Just to update- we're getting all the test results back slowly!

So far nothing has shown up- they're still waiting for the fungal culture to come back- she doesn't have mites, ringworm, syphilis or anything else nasty. A very slight trace of infection in the skin samples but nothing known or concerning.

Well, at least you know what it's NOT.

Pam