Is this the end of the road for my bunny?

[valliesmom]

Hey y’all! Sorry in advance for the long and depressing post, but I really need advice.

I’ve had Vallie for a year, she’s 3-4 years old. She’s my first rabbit, so everything’s new to me and I don’t have any bunny-loving friends that I can reach out to. She’s free range around my apartment and a very independent lady—she doesn’t like being held, but she’ll come up and snuggle me when I’m doing homework.

A week ago Vallie developed an abscess on her jaw. They drained it at the vet, but the doc said it’s a tooth issue and I need to go to a specialist dentist for radiographs and extraction of the tooth/teeth. I have her scheduled for a preliminary examination this week. She’s on antibiotics now, it takes both of my roommates and I to catch her and hold her steady enough to take the meds and she won’t be tricked into taking them. She hates me for it, barely lets me pet her anymore. I swear her abscess is growing again already, but I might just be paranoid.

I know vet bills for everything would cost me upwards of a thousand dollars, which I do technically have, but I’m about to graduate college next semester so money might be tight soon. I know that more surgery is going to keep her absolutely miserable for a good while, and I keep reading about how abscesses tend to be a recurring problem for rabbits after they get them for the first time.

An additional component to this is that I’m leaving the country in 6 months, and I won’t be able to bring Vallie with me. She’ll move in with my brother, but she probably won’t be free range like she is at my apartment and he won’t be able to afford any big medical issues.

What do you guys think her odds are? Have your rabbits gotten over tooth root abscesses without a bunch of complications? I love Vallie so, so much. I want her to live a long and happy life but I’m worried about how the future is going to treat her. I’d appreciate any advice from bunny parents.

I attached a pic of Vallie, just so y’all can see her pre-medical problems

 

[Niomi]

So sorry about your rabbit. She is so cute! If she were my first rabbit I would want to do everything I could to save her life. But after dealing with rabbits and their teeth problems, I think differently. Teeth problems are often chronic, and expensive to treat. It is almost impossible to rehome a rabbit with expensive medical issues. If you give your rabbit to someone who can't afford the medical bills, then your rabbit will suffer. Unless I could find someone that wants to take on a special needs rabbit, I believe that I would take her to the vet and put an end to her suffering right away.

 

[JBun]

Did the vet find pus around the tooth or do xrays that showed infection in the tooth? Or is this based on just finding an abscess near the jaw? It's not completely hopeless. Yes, infections in rabbits can be difficult to clear up sometimes. But it's not impossible.

I had a rabbit that had an eye get infected that later had to be surgically removed. The eye socket then abscessed and burst. The vet initially started her on baytril and I was cleaning out the hole for several weeks. And the hole seemed to be healing, the pus clearing up, and the hole closing up. But the pus was still there and came back. The antibiotic was then switched to azithromycin, initially 30mg/kg for 20 days. It was only a few days on this and all signs of pus seemed to be gone in the first week, but the antibiotic was continued for another 2 weeks and appeared to be completely gone after that. But a few weeks later the infection was back. She was put back on azithromycin, but at 50mg/kg for a month. And it worked this time. The infection didn't return and she lived another year until she passed at 10 yrs old from old age.

There's also another member on here who's rabbit had a retrobulbar abscess.(this was several years ago) Surgery wasn't an option, so they opted to try antibiotics. They did pen g procaine/benzathine injections, I think for a month(maybe a bit longer), and it worked. They started seeing improvement with the eye looking less bulged out, and eventually was back to normal. The abscess didn't return after the treatment was finished. The treatment for this was based on this study of non surgical treatment for head abscesses in rabbits.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/jawab... penicillin,acidic environment of the stomach.
http://people.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm
So it is possible for abscesses to be treated successfully, but that also depends on the bacteria involved and the extent of the infection. I also agree with Niomi that if it doesn't appear that the infection is clearing up successfully, it may be kinder to let your rabbit go instead of subjecting her with continuing and ongoing stressful treatment. Especially not leaving her with your brother if the infection isn't completely gone.

 

[valliesmom]

Did the vet find pus around the tooth or do xrays that showed infection in the tooth? Or is this based on just finding an abscess near the jaw? It's not completely hopeless. Yes, infections in rabbits can be difficult to clear up sometimes. But it's not impossible.

I had a rabbit that had an eye get infected that later had to be surgically removed. The eye socket then abscessed and burst. The vet initially started her on baytril and I was cleaning out the hole for several weeks. And the hole seemed to be healing, the pus clearing up, and the hole closing up. But the pus was still there and came back. The antibiotic was then switched to azithromycin, initially 30mg/kg for 20 days. It was only a few days on this and all signs of pus seemed to be gone in the first week, but the antibiotic was continued for another 2 weeks and appeared to be completely gone after that. But a few weeks later the infection was back. She was put back on azithromycin, but at 50mg/kg for a month. And it worked this time. The infection didn't return and she lived another year until she passed at 10 yrs old from old age.

There's also another member on here who's rabbit had a retrobulbar abscess.(this was several years ago) Surgery wasn't an option, so they opted to try antibiotics. They did pen g procaine/benzathine injections, I think for a month(maybe a bit longer), and it worked. They started seeing improvement with the eye looking less bulged out, and eventually was back to normal. The abscess didn't return after the treatment was finished. The treatment for this was based on this study of non surgical treatment for head abscesses in rabbits.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/jawab... penicillin,acidic environment of the stomach.
http://people.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm
So it is possible for abscesses to be treated successfully, but that also depends on the bacteria involved and the extent of the infection. I also agree with Niomi that if it doesn't appear that the infection is clearing up successfully, it may be kinder to let your rabbit go instead of subjecting her with continuing and ongoing stressful treatment. Especially not leaving her with your brother if the infection isn't completely gone.

I have her scheduled to go in for an X-ray bright and early tomorrow morning! I figure the vet and I will try to sort out where to go from there--fingers crossed that her teeth aren't involved at all. I'll definitely bring up doing an antibiotic treatment instead of surgery and see what the vet thinks about that. Thank you so much for all of this, this was so helpful! I'll keep you updated as this progresses.

 

[Bunny999]

How is your bunny doing?

Last April, I asked myself the same question : is this the end of the road for my Pepper, a senior bunny?

Nope, with great support and valuable knowledge from others here, I was able to overcome my own difficulties and saved Pepper. It wasn't an easy road but I tried my best. Pepper tried too (he was so stressful as well).

After 4 months of consistency treatments, he is now a happy bunny again.

Don't give up on your bunny.

 

[valliesmom]

How is your bunny doing?

Last April, I asked myself the same question : is this the end of the road for my Pepper, a senior bunny?

Nope, with great support and valuable knowledge from others here, I was able to overcome my own difficulties and saved Pepper. It wasn't an easy road but I tried my best. Pepper tried too (he was so stressful as well).

After 4 months of consistency treatments, he is now a happy bunny again.

Don't give up on your bunny.

I'm so glad to hear that Pepper is doing well!! I haven't given up on Vallie--she ended up getting a very large abscess and four teeth removed but she's a week post-surgery now and she's up and hopping! She had a couple of rough patches, and I put her on critical care for a few days when she wouldn't eat anything, but she's back to eating and pooping up a storm (never thought I'd be so happy about that). My hope is that the infection can get cleared up and she can live a good, long life.

 

[valliesmom]

Did the vet find pus around the tooth or do xrays that showed infection in the tooth? Or is this based on just finding an abscess near the jaw? It's not completely hopeless. Yes, infections in rabbits can be difficult to clear up sometimes. But it's not impossible.

I had a rabbit that had an eye get infected that later had to be surgically removed. The eye socket then abscessed and burst. The vet initially started her on baytril and I was cleaning out the hole for several weeks. And the hole seemed to be healing, the pus clearing up, and the hole closing up. But the pus was still there and came back. The antibiotic was then switched to azithromycin, initially 30mg/kg for 20 days. It was only a few days on this and all signs of pus seemed to be gone in the first week, but the antibiotic was continued for another 2 weeks and appeared to be completely gone after that. But a few weeks later the infection was back. She was put back on azithromycin, but at 50mg/kg for a month. And it worked this time. The infection didn't return and she lived another year until she passed at 10 yrs old from old age.

There's also another member on here who's rabbit had a retrobulbar abscess.(this was several years ago) Surgery wasn't an option, so they opted to try antibiotics. They did pen g procaine/benzathine injections, I think for a month(maybe a bit longer), and it worked. They started seeing improvement with the eye looking less bulged out, and eventually was back to normal. The abscess didn't return after the treatment was finished. The treatment for this was based on this study of non surgical treatment for head abscesses in rabbits.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/jawab... penicillin,acidic environment of the stomach.
http://people.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm
So it is possible for abscesses to be treated successfully, but that also depends on the bacteria involved and the extent of the infection. I also agree with Niomi that if it doesn't appear that the infection is clearing up successfully, it may be kinder to let your rabbit go instead of subjecting her with continuing and ongoing stressful treatment. Especially not leaving her with your brother if the infection isn't completely gone.

An update on Vallie! She did, indeed, have an infection in the tooth--it had actually spread into the jaw, so part of her jaw had to be removed. In the end, she had 4 teeth and one destroyed tooth removed, part of her jaw shaved down, and an abscess the size of a tennis ball removed. I know, it all sounds pretty bad. The vet warned me that abscesses had a higher probability of coming back, but since Vallie is so young I decided to go ahead with the surgery anyway. We're a week post-surgery now and she's acting like her old self! Eating and drinking normally, regular pooping. She's on .4 ml of meloxicam once a day, and .5 ml of penicillin injected every other day. I'm hoping she keeps healing and improving, she has a lot of life ahead of her if she does!