Hi Julie,
A little more information about using Pen G. I was using this drug before this doctor wrote this article (I also use some other drugs that are considered "off limits" to rabbits and have been for years). I would make the trip to the TSC. The product I purchased from them is called Combi-Pen-48. I think I paid a bit over $10 for a 100mL bottle. As mentioned, it does require refrigeration.
When I use this drug, I pull the amount I need into a syringe. I also buffer this drug with a sterile solution like Lactated Ringers. This does a couple of things. First, the drug is very thick. The smallest needle that you can effectively use is 21g. The Lactated Ringers will thin this drug to make it easier to inject. It will also buffer the "sting" as this drug burns like h-e-double hockey sticks.....us old folks have had penicillin injections. In severe infections, it can be administered every day but I normally do it every other day. The two components act in different ways....one is a "blitzkrieg" type operation in which it enters the blood and starts to work very quickly and the other component is a long duration drug that takes longer to establish but stays at a working level for a longer period of time.
A couple of tips on injecting....I use a little different method so you will need a sympathetic and supportive vet (or human medical person) to help with this. I do not use the normal syringe for injections unless it is a small enough dose to use an insulin syringe (U100). I use a 21g "Winged Catheter" aka Butterfly. This has a needle that has wings and a tube. This allows some "wiggle room" when doing the injections. As opposed to a stiff syringe, if the rabbit suddenly hops backward, the catheter just flexes instead of having a hard syringe possible tear the skin. It should be used with the screw on type lock...known as a "Luer Lock". There is also something called a "Luer Slip" but that requires the needle to be pushed on....the screw on is much better. You can use any size syringe you are comfortable with as long as it has the screw type lock. You would also want to move the injections around. Hitting the same area all the time will usually result in some ugly skin abscesses....most of the time they are not a huge problem but they just don't look good. If you know of anyone in the medical profession be it animal, human or even EMTs or paramedics....they can teach you how to sub-q in just a few minutes. Learning to do injections...both how and especially when...opens an entirely new world of treatment possibilities.
And a couple of final thoughts. I have has success in using the Pen G in combination with Zithromax in treating abscesses.That combination really packs a punch (and that is exactly what itdoes...punchesholes in the cell walls of the bacteria) Couple of things to watch for....some of the "tag along" infections. This is where a culture would come in handy. While these infections are not the core of the abscess, which is what to go after, a couple of secondary infections may require follow up treatment. We have seen Pseudomonas "which can be a little testy to treat) and recently, and for the first time in a rabbit that I have seen, we had a jaw abscess with a strain of Strep as a tag along. But these were "mop ups" that we worked after resolving the primary core of the abscess. In other words, this may take a while.
I would really try to find a vet that looks "outside" the box. In your vet's defense, if they don't own the practice, they might be limited by clinic policy on what they can do that is not available in their publications they use. And unfortunately, I see a lot of outdated information that is available in vet clinics as far as rabbits and other "exotics".
And the correct concentration of the drug you need is 150K units of Procaine and 150k units of Benzathine for a total drug concentration of 300K units per mL. There are other concentrations so read the label carefully.
Randy
