I think Dandi has an abcess!!

[Runestonez]

Tonight while we were doing our bonding session with the boys I was rubbing Dandi's ears and I noticed a lump right at the base of his ear. It is about the size of a nickel maybe a smidge smaller. It wasn't there before. I have noticed him scratching at the area before(about a week ago)but there was nothing there. Last night we didn't do any bonding (Bummy was really cranky) so the last time I would have checked was Thursday night. If it is right at the base of the ear could it still be his teeth??? I am phoning the vet in the morning to see if we can get in tomorrow. The bump is totally colourless and feels rounded under the skin. He isn't grinding his teeth and he doesn't look like he is in any pain. He is eating like a horse and is pooping. Honestly...normal bunn behavior nothing out of wack or suspicious that would point to an abcess. Now I am totally worried. When Bummy has been grooming he has been trying to groom inside Dandi's ear...could he have known that something was wrong???

 

[naturestee]

Fey and Sprite groom inside each other's ears all the time. That's just how they like to do it. Although rabbits might pick up on another's illness.

Let us know how it goes at the vet! I hope he's okay. Give that boy a nose rub for me!

 

[Runestonez]

Our vet is totally closed today...not even an emergency vet is available. They have a number for an emergency clinic one city over from us...but the vets there don't treat rabbits very often. Our vet is open again tomorrow so after hmmming and hawing over whether or not I want to wait or take a chance with a vet that isn't saavy...we have decided to wait for our vet to open tomorrow. Tony is on holidays this week so at least we can run him in first thing. I forgot to add that the abscess is at the base of the ear that had surgery about 3-4 weeks ago. It is right at the base where the 'V' of the ear meets the canal. I am hoping agianst hope that it isn't related to the surgery and that it is just a skin abscess that can be easily removed and doesn't involve the ear canal... But then that begs the question...what caused it?

I spent along time online last night and copied and printed everything I could find on abscesses and the bicillin protocols. Our vet has dealt with abscesses before that involved a bunns ear...but I know that ended in the removal of the ear itself because the infection was so deep and involved! I know Dandi isn't suffering in anyway...mostly it is just me worrying!( I think I slept 3 hours total last night!) I still have an oral antibiotic mix Sulfamethoxazole 40mg/ml with Trimethoprim 8mg/ml. Should I wait to see the vet or start him back on the anti-inflammitory and antibiotic mix right now till he can get into the vet???:?

My poor boy...he has had such a lousy time since we brought him home! I am trying to leave him somewhat alone since all I want to do is sit and cuddle him till he is alright! he is getting tired of being molested! I keep checking every once in a while to make sure it isn't getting any bigger(since I don't know how fast they cangrow), so now he looks at me kind of strange, flicks his feet and heads for the hills before mom can start rubbing and poking him again!

 

[Bunnydancer]

You probably already have these papers, in case you don't..but more couldn't hurt right?

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html#abs

I sure hope it is not serious..and just a surface abscess...it must be awful having to wait like that.

 

[Runestonez]

Thanks Bunnydancer...that is one of the ones I already printed out, but thank you for posting the link anyway just in case!

I checked Dandelions ear this morning. It isn't red and he doesn't mind if you rub or pet it. I checked inside with a flash light and you can see yellowy hardened stuff in the bottom. I don't know what it is...I hope it is just bunny eargunk. I used a Q-tip to remove a bit to take to the vet with the bunn, and he started to whine and struggle in my hubby's arms. I didn't go deep just to where the ear meets his head.:? I am really worried that the ear canal might be involved. Abscesses can't be caused by a solely external irritation can they?? After his surgery he kept scratching his head where the abscess was found, could scratching cause an abscess or does the skin have to be broken??? Darn it I wish there was more info! I didn't think it would take this long for an abscess to show up...his neuter and ear repair was around a month ago...but we just noticed the swelling the other day and even then only because our other bunn was over grooming the area/ear. The waiting is killing me! Have my fingers crossed! :?

 

[Runestonez]

Well we called the vet this morning and he rushed Dandi in to take a look at him. He confirmed that it is an abscess. So the vet rushed him into surgery this morning. We have to call this afternoon around 3:30pm to check and see how he is doing. If it isn't too bad they are going to let us bring him home tonight so we can look after him here! I hope the xrays show it is just a skin abscess! Igave him all the info I had printed out on bicillin and he was very interested. He had heard of it but he hasn't personally used it before. So I will have to wait to see what he decides to do for post op treatment.

 

[m.e.]

ray:

 

[Runestonez]

Called the vet today...he didn't get a chance to get back to me! So I talked to the one tech I know! Dandi is awake and well! Dr. Roberts decided to keep him over night afterall. So I have to wait till tomorrow to hear the extent of the abscess. We will call after 10 tomorrow and see what time we can pick the boy up!! YAY!! My baby is OK! Fingers crossed for no more reoccurances!! :bunnyheart

 

[naturestee]

That's great! It sounds like he's doing well. Now I'm guessing you'll have some fun giving Dandi antibiotics. LOL! Hope he likes the taste!

 

[Pipp]

It's 10:05.:waiting: Any word?



sas

 

[Runestonez]

LoL Pip!! I called at 10:02...that's about as long as I could wait!! We have to do a doctor discharge so we can go over meds and the details about the surgery...So we have an appointment today at 3:30pm with our vet. And then we can bring the boy home!!!

naturestee- I am hoping the vet will allow me to do injectables. I have been reading non-stop since we found the abscess on Saturday and I like what I hear about the effects of bicillin injectables! Especially the part where it is less stresssful on the gut bacteria!! So we will see what the vet decides.

Hubby was laughing at me yesterday while we were at the vet.Dr. Robertstends to dumb things down and use laymans terms so his clients understand what's what. Tony thought listening to the two of us was a blast 'cause we went from laymans terms to full out MD! Poor hubby was lost...said it was like being in a lecture hall! So I had to go back over everything on the way home in the car for him!! Hee hee! Silly man!

I'm bringing my boy home today!!:bunnydance:

 

[Runestonez]

What is the first sign that all is not well in bunnyland?? Well the vet quoted us $165-$200 for the surgery and when we showed up it was actually $459 instead. Darn near lost the hubby for a second there!! His face went white!! He felt bad about the surgery costing so much, so he dropped the price to $300 for us which was amazing on his part!

Well if things could have gone worseI don't know how. He started the surgery and upon opening he discovered that the abscess was a lot more involved than either of us thought or the X-ray showed. The abscess does actually involve the ear canal. If you put a Q-tip into the ear canal it comes out the opening where he removed the abscess. He surgically removed the abscess and cleaned out the ear canal really well. The gunk I saw in the ear was pus afterall. So he treated the wound where the abscess was, sutured the living daylights out of it so that the wound itself was no longer open to the ear canal. The surgery went really well overall. If we hadn't noticed it when we did it could have been very bad!

The wound was cleaned and dosed with Baytril Otic (Enrofloxacin 0.5% and Silver Sulfadiazine 1.0% Antibacterial-Antimycotic Emulsion.) We are to keep putting the Baytril Otic inhis ear 3 times a day for the next 7 days (when we have another appointment to re-evaluate Dandi),and Baytril 25mg twice a day orally.

He had heard of the bicillin protocols before but hadn't used them. After reading the info I gave him he is contacting the OVC here who has access to more info on it. He wants to look into adding itas a possible treatment in cases like this. So if Dandi doesn't get it now aspart of hispost op it may be available to others whose bunns are in the same position down the road! (Or god forbid if the abscess comes back again.)<knocking on wood>

And after I survived all that (I thought I had done very well so far). The vet mentioned he was concerned that Dandi might have neurologicalproblems...the vet suspects it is related to the infection(although the X-ray didn't show any infection). Anyway...usually the anesthetic level he would use to put a bunn under is around a 5...it took a level 2 to put Dandi under. Basically this could point to some sort of neurological problem. And since Dandi was in 4 weeks ago for his neuter and wasnormal then the vet is worried. Very worried. So we are watching for head tilt, swelling, lethargy, anorexia and discharge. And anything else out of the ordinary!

I was really up this morning and it didn't take too long for the vet to bring me right back down to earth! My poor boy looks like a skinny pig now on one side...all the beautiful fur that was finally growing back in is all gone now! He is feeling really punky right now. Not his usual zippy self. But he is eating like a little piggy so he just needs a little time to re-adjust I think!

I would take a pic to post but my :censored2sister won't let me borrow her camera! They had to remove a fairly large area to get to the abscess and when they sutured ithis ear sticks straight out to the side now! Poor guy! So I guess now we just watch and wait to see what happens. The vet also said he doesn't think the abscess was related to the injury to the boys ear. He thinks this might be something else. Oh great another thing to worry about!:?

Excuse the beautiful drawing! The first one is the location of the abscess...the second is the extent of the damage...a Q-tip goes straight down the ear canal and out the wound where the abscess was removed. The third is the actual location in relation to the ear canal itself.

 

[Pipp]

Yeah, I was afraid it wouldn't be a simple one, that so oftenseems to be the case.

But it's awesome that he's "eating like a little piggy," that's such a great sign!

Sending huge major get well and stay well vibes :clover:and prayers ray: to Dandi.

:goodluck

sas :kiss1and the gang of fur :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[Runestonez]

Thanks for the encouragement Pip! I feel like I have been stretched thin over the last couple of days. I finally crashed for a couple hours tonight and woke to find Bummy hunching and looking sick. I think it is probably a bit of stasis because he is moulting right now really heavily. I don't know how much more I can take between sick bunns and my sis being a flamming jerk! Wow today has been an emotional roller coaster ride! :?

 

[Runestonez]

Well quick update on Dandi.

We had to take him in today because he had some swelling on the side of his face. It isn't the incision, but just above. The vet wasn't in but we had a tech take a look at it and she thinks it might just be because of the internal stitches. Other than that he is doing fine. He has absolutely won the hearts of all the vets and techs at the clinic! He is such a laid back little guy!! So we have to seeDr. Roberts on Tuesday for a re-evaluation. But until then we are supposed to put warm compresses on his wee head to help with the swelling. Twice a day for 20 minutes. We put one on this morning and it really did seem to help a bit. Besides that the boy loves the warmth!! He just falls over backwards and melts into the rice pack!! He had the biggest bunny grin on his face!! He def loves the extra attention!!

 

[naturestee]

What a sweet bun! I hope he continues to improve.

Love,

Angela and the crew

 

[Runestonez]

I'll be honest...I am worried about the little guy!! He is such an angel! He has been really mad at me lately since I am the medicine lady, the chick who sneaks up and gives him his ear drops, and just generally irritates him. Well one of us has to be the bad guy. When we got the call from the Humane Society telling us that they had a "dump" bun in pretty ragged shape looking for a home Tony was totally against another bunn. But Dandi has become his little buddy! If he hears Tony's voice his little ears perk up and he runs to find him! I feel horrible that he is so sick! Tonys dog was PTS April of last year for an aggressive lymphoma. He hasn't really been overly attached to anything since. He loves our bunns but isn't head over heels about them like he is about Dandi. When we lost our first bunn Butters he was heartbroken. I want so much to do everything I can to keep these two together! They love each other so much!