Very lethargic + giant abscess after teeth filing

[scythe7889]

Hello, to give a quick summary, over the past two years my 4.5 year old rabbit has had recurrent URI infections that started with persistent dry sneezing, refusing all hay, and then became bouts of stasis every month or so. For about five months she was back to her baseline, but got an eye infection because of a piece of hay accidentally getting stuck in her eye. It cleared up in a week or so and she was still very healthy and active. For five-six more months everything was fine again. Then about three weeks ago, she had her sneezing flare up again, and she stopped eating. Vet put her on 10 days of Baytril and pain meds, as in the past this brought her back to normal within two days. This time she didn’t improve, we took her back a week later. Vet found molar spurs and said one of her overgrown teeth were poking into her left cheek and had created a wound. After her filing she came home and ate all her Critical care. She’s only been eating critical care for about two weeks now, doesn’t want to touch lettuce or pellets. Despite only eating CC, she was pretty active. Then a few days later, her left cheek where the wound was started swelling up even though she’s on antibiotics, and we took her back in yesterday to have it inspected. Vet said she drained the abscess yesterday and asked if she’s really taking her Baytril. She definitely takes all 0.6 mL twice a day every day, so that’s not the issue. We are to bring her back for a check up next Thursday. But in the mean time, I’m very worried because Rain is hardly wanting to move. She’ll still eat CC and fruit, and im giving gas drops to keep her gut stable. Is this lethargy normal, or a sign that she’s only worsening? I’m worried she won’t make it till the next appointment and even if she does, she won’t improve much. What else can I do to help her get back to normal?
** Note: Throughout all this she hasn’t eaten hay in a year or so. I’ve tried many types in many forms, hay cubes, hay cakes from Oxbow, Small pet select. I suspect it was due to teeth issues which the vet never noticed until now.

 

[JBun]

It sounds to me like the bacteria is now resistant to the antibiotic you've used in the past, or it's a different bacteria that isn't sensitive to baytril. So you really need to get your rabbit on a different antibiotic immediately. And 10 days on antibiotics is not hardly long enough. Infections in rabbits can take extremely long to clear up completely, and stopping antibiotics prematurely will just result in the infection reemerging later on, more resistant to the antibiotic. Usually a minimum of 4-6 weeks is necessary, sometimes even several months, and at least two weeks on antibiotics past the last of the symptoms clearing up. Any good rabbit vet would know all this, which makes me think your vet may not be a really experienced rabbit vet.

(CAUTION: LINKS CONTAIN GRAPHIC MEDICAL RELATED PHOTOS)

Medirabbit: facial abscesses

Medirabbit: skin abscesses

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Abscesses
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/jawabscess.html
Also, if the vet didn't keep your rabbit on pain medication(eg. meloxicam), then I would insist on continuing it as well. Proper pain management is essential for a rabbit to regain it's appetite and recover from any painful condition. I prefer meloxicam at a higher dose, for good pain management. Narcotic pain meds tend to be too sedating, which can affect gastric function and result in GI stasis occurring.

https://rabbit.org/the-importance-of-analgesia-pain-control-for-pet-rabbits/
https://www.vgr1.com/metacam/
Personally, I wouldn't wait until Thursday to get the antibiotic changed and meloxicam refilled(if it needs to be). And if possible, I would be looking for a more experienced rabbit vet.

https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

 

[scythe7889]

Thank you...I’m afraid the issue is that I can’t really find a trustworthy rabbit experienced vet in my city. I’ve tried looking for reviews for the only one that’s listed for my city on rabbit.org but can’t seem to find any positive ones for rabbits. Vet still kept her on meloxicam, the 1.5 mg concentration. She has 0.3 mL each day. Rain is about 2.4 pounds. Should I increase her dose to 0.4-0.5 without the vet’s say? And who should I ask for a new antibiotic? The same vet or a new one? It’s really hard to know what I need to do but not have any nearby vet that I can trust or get resources from...thank you very much for the response tho. I will at least ask this one about a new antibiotic, and ring the one listed on rabbit.org tomorrow.

 

[Moonshadow]

Thank you...I’m afraid the issue is that I can’t really find a trustworthy rabbit experienced vet in my city. I’ve tried looking for reviews for the only one that’s listed for my city on rabbit.org but can’t seem to find any positive ones for rabbits. Vet still kept her on meloxicam, the 1.5 mg concentration. She has 0.3 mL each day. Rain is about 2.4 pounds. Should I increase her dose to 0.4-0.5 without the vet’s say? And who should I ask for a new antibiotic? The same vet or a new one? It’s really hard to know what I need to do but not have any nearby vet that I can trust or get resources from...thank you very much for the response tho. I will at least ask this one about a new antibiotic, and ring the one listed on rabbit.org tomorrow.

When my rabbit broke his jaw and was on meloxicam 1.5 mg/mL concentration, my vet had me give him 0.8mL every 24 hours. My bunny is a 2.6 lb netherland dwarf for reference.

 

[scythe7889]

Thank you, I appreciate the reference! I’ll give her 0.6 mL meloxicam since that seems within a safe range. Also I just did more research: the vet on rabbit.org is not even in the state anymore, and all searches for rabbit vets near me lead to the same clinic I’m going to now.

 

[Moonshadow]

I really hope the meloxicam helps your bunny recover a bit more and hope you can find a good Vet.

For my rabbit, when he had the broken jaw accident earlier this year (ran under my dad’s foot) we ended up calling a bunch of places in NH to find an exotics vet. In the end we had to go to an emergency exotics vet in Massachusetts (around 45 minutes to an hour away) because there weren’t any vets with availability in my state. Dr. Li is our rabbit vet now (from that emergency place) and she’s very knowledgeable. If you can, it might be good to call different vet places for recommendations since online might not be updated on that sort of thing

 

[scythe7889]

Update: After that day I thought she was taking a turn for the even worse, because there was clear discharge around her eye. I gave her some Ofloxacin from the last time she got an eye infection, thinking that the infection from the abscess had spread to her eye. I also called her vet asking about changing the antibiotic, but she was adamant to continue Baytril. But the day after her energy levels were pretty much back to baseline, and the swelling on her cheek was almost completely gone. There was some sticky fur around it, so I think this means the Baytril worked since the abscess burst on its own? To clarify, her abscess was only external, it wasn’t a systemic infection according to the vet. She’s almost completely back to normal, save for her diet and sneezing fits (in the past Baytril definitely curbed the sneezing). She’s still on critical care, sometimes I chop up veggies to minuscule pieces and mix them into the CC paste so she has more variety. I just ordered small pet select’s extra soft hay to experiment. But she doesn’t want to eat anything but critical care and fruits/softened treats. I won’t push her to change that this week since she’s only just coming back, but do you think this will improve on its own with continued antibiotics + meloxicam, since the abscess is noticeably healing?

 

[Moonshadow]

Definitely great news! With my bunny and his broken jaw, his eating improved on its own with the help of the meloxicam. By week two he was trying to eat some solid food (a bit of hay/crushed
pellets). He actually ate solid food before he began drinking water from his bottle/bowl again. It definitely took time though and was not in his first week. Keep us updated!