Jaw abcsess

[northerndancer]

Hi- wondering if I could ask some help.

My 4 year old bunny Flora has two jaw abcesses. They have just beendiagnosed. She has no front teeth for 18 months following malocclusionsurgery.

The outlook is not very good:cry2, and she is scheduled for surgery(drainage)this Wednesday. The vet is not putting beads inbecause she says she has seen a bunny die from ingesting the beads andin her opinion its not worth the risk. She plans to put her on Baytrilafter.

I think bicillin injections sound like a good idea but unfortunatelyits not licensed in the UK. I'm wondering if I should ask the vet toget a special licence for it. Has anyone in the UK done this? Or hasanyone anywhere had success with bicillin? Or any other form ofconservative treatment for head abcesses?

Lastly I was wondering if anyone has used complementary therapies (notto replace conventional surgery but to go alongside) such ashomeopathy, flower remedies, healing hands-on prayers etc for theirbunnies with difficult to treat conditions.

Many thanksfor your consideration

Liz Flora and Dancer.

 

[naturestee]

Hi Liz! I haven't seen you on for a bit. I'm sorry to hear that Flora isn't doing very well.

Has your vet done an xray of her mouth? Sometimes jawabscesses are caused by tooth root problems. Since Flora hashad other tooth problems, this would be good to check.

Is your vet able to remove the abscess, capsule and all, or can he onlydrain and clean it? Complete removal is the better option,but I know jaw abscesses in particular can be hard to remove because ofwhere they are placed. Is the vet going to do culture andsensitivity tests on the abscess? That way he can determineif Baytril is a good choice or if a different oral antibiotic would bebetter.

Would antibiotic foam be a possibility instead of the beads?Were the problems your vet has seen from the bead itself or theantibiotic on the bead?

Will your vet be leaving the abscess open after surgery for regularcleaning? I've heard of this before and it's supposed to helpa lot. Your vet would show you how to clean it, and you'dhave to do it at least once daily.

You could ask him about using manuka honey to help heal. Thisis a good article on it, and it's use with a jaw abscess. Ithas pictures which look pretty bad- just to warn you!
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Bacterial/abscess_management.PDF

I've heard lots of good about bicillin, but it's very hard to get a vetto use it in the UK because they are only allowed to prescribe medsthat are licensed for the animal. I think there are a fewvets who break the rules, but I don't know how to find them.I wonder if it's possible for them to use normal injectiblepenicillin? Bicillin is a combination drug.

More good articles on jaw abscesses:
http://www.vspn.org/VSPNSearch/VINLibrary/rabbit_abscess.htm
http://jcm.asm.org/cgi/content/full/40/3/1044?view=full&pmid=11880435(scientific article, you can print it off for your vet)

And there's more info in our Rabbit Health References thread:Abscesses

Keep us updated, and let us know how Flora is after thesurgery. Poor little girl. Give her a nose rub forme!

 

[northerndancer]

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I think my vet is going to leave the wounds open after. She said she is going to rinse them with antibiotic.

I will ask her to do culture and sensitivity. That was a very helpfularticle about cleaning wounds,I've no doubt I'll need it overthe next few days as I learn to clean the wounds.

I would definately like to try the honey, andamgoingtry and order some on the net to take with me to the vetto suggest.

She is getting an Xray when she is under the anaesthetic,

Kind regards,

Liz, Flora and Dancer