Flashy wrote:
IT's probably quite important to look and see if there is a root cause for his matting and urine scald, like if he is having trouble weeing, or why he is getting matted and not grooming himself successfully, etc. If you can work out what happened and why then it should prevent it happening again
I think that we are concerned here because if this bun has urine scald and bad sores we don't know why. There are various bladder problems that can cause a rabbit to sit in his own urine and it is unclear as to whether he has a bladder infection, another disease affecting his kidneys or possibly this problem was created by not keeping his cage clean. All of this makes a difference in the treatment protocol.
if your rabbit has urine scald your vet should have given you tips to help the bun recover. A oral antibiotic is probably not going to do the trick without more intervention and the trimeoprim sulfa is not a particularly strong med but most likely will do no harm.
I am going to give you some of the info from Kathy Smith /lucille Moore's Book . I am not quoting every word and leaving out product s that would be difficult for you to get at a drugstore
"When you rabbit Needs Special care. "
I strongly believe that if your bun has sores , scald and gangrene that you MUST attempt to get pain meds for him as he most likely is suffering greatly but not showing it . ( my opinion)
this is kathy Smith on this subject
"Urine Burn (urine scald)
Urine dribbling and subsequent scald over the rabbit's genital area is a common problem with older rabbits, obese rabbits, rabbits with chronic illnesses and paralyed rabbits Diapers and/or expressing the bladder may help to prevent urine scald as may frequent butt baths. But sometimes urine scald occurs despite your best efforts to prevent it , or a rabbit may come to you already having urine burn. In minor cases the skin is slightly reddened from the irritation. In worse cases the fur will fall out and ulcers may be present and in the worse case death may occur.
Minor cases of urine burn are usually treated with a gel, cream or powder. First soiled fur is clipped away and the area can be cleaned with betadine . Remember that almost anything that you put on the rabbit may be ingested so any topical medication must be something that will not harm the rabbit if ingested in small quantities
The following products have been recommended for urine burn by veterinary professionals in practice or in texts. Some of them contain antibiotics and others contain zinc, either of which may rarely have negative side effects on a rabbit if ingested in large enough quantities
Bag balm, calendula gel, panalog cream, neosporin ,cornstarch do not have zinc
if you don't think that your rabbit will eat it you can use baby diaper rash cream and wrap the legs loosely in vet wrap.
There are other topical professional veterinary dressings that you would not be able to buy that would cover the area , have an antibiotic and help heal all at once. You would have to get them from your vet.
I wish that I had a better understanding of the extent of the problems with the sores.
Would you feel comfortable taking pics of the rabbits sore. Pics can be dowloaded to this forum through sites like photobucket. it would help a lot in us giving you advice.
How is the rabbit now???
