Why isn't Mochi's syphillis going away??!?

[mochi_ball]

Months ago she developed nosescabs, losing fur around the nose,which vet diagnosed was Syphillis so she had 4 shots of PenG @ 4 consecutive weeks. She got better and the fur started growing back.

After a few weeks it came back so vet said maybe it was a strong strain and gave her 5 shots @ 5 weeks (one shot a week). She got better again, fur was growing back.

Now..a month later, she started getting the scabs again (3rd time!)&her nose looks pink (loss of fur), and TODAY I noticed she has yellow discharge around her nose and sneezed a few times.

What is going on here? Does the doc need to increase the dosage? Why isn't the syphillis dying off? Has anyone heard of vent disease that is chronic? Does that mean mochi needs Penicillin shots for the rest of her life?

I've looked at all the links in the Infirmary and Ineed answers. :?

 

[juliew19673]

Here are some links to articles/sites I found on the web, that may be of help:

http://islandgems.net/vd.html

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=174689

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/rabbit-Pasteurella.htm

Good luck!

 

[pamnock]

Did the vet actually culture syphillis or assume that it is syphillis?

Pam

 

[mochi_ball]

Yes he took a scrapping off of her nose and examined it under the microscope (on the first visit). He said he saw spirochetes and didn't see any mites.

 

[naturestee]

Maybe she needs the antibiotics more than once a week. That less frequent dosage sounds like it's enough to reduce the bacteria but not kill them all off. I know they give it every day or every other day for rabbits with abscesses so it is safe to do more often. And if you haven't already, you can learn to do the injections yourself.

 

[Hazel]

Did he give you a cream to rub on it too? Hazel got a cream when they thought it was syphillis.

And I agree about the closer shots. Randy said something like that when I got home from the vet. He said we should think about giving it closer together. And then It went down the next day and we found out it wasn't syphillis and so we kept it the weekly thing.

I'm so sorry it's not going away,

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

How is Mochi? Did you speak with the vet about another antibiotic?

I hope you and Mochi are doing okay! Let us know.

 

[mochi_ball]

Hi everyones sorry for the late reply my internet was down for a week. =(

We took her to the vet and he put her on Dura Pen instead. Before she was on PenG. I asked if she needed to have the shots every other day since some of you suggested it,but he specifically said once a week at 0.5 cc, 30,000 u. He gave me 2 syringes w/ the antibiotic in there to take home and do the shots myself.

I was wondering if its okay to give her the shot...say once every 3-4 days instead of a week? I don't know if that's overdosing mochi (her poop and appetite is always superb ever since she started the shots months ago).

I just used up the syringes yesterday and her scabs are still looking the same so I'm gonna get 2 more syringes today - so she'll have a total of 5 shots.

Please advise and let me know if its medically okay to give her 1 shot/3 day or I should stick with 1 shot/week. thanks in advance!

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

I'm sorry I can't be of any help as I've never dealt with this, but I would advise you to do what the vet suggested for now.

Maybe Randy or some others with experience with this will be along with some advice for you soon.

 

[juliew19673]

Poor Mochi - is she still eating well? I'd definetly stick w/what AngelSnuffy suggested. Further, from what I've read online some cases of syphillis are just stubborn and can take along time to clear.

Hope someone logs on soon and will be able to give you some more answers, know the feeling when you just need knowledgable answers NOW - can be stressful.

Good luck and please keep updating.

 

[gentle giants]

I woul definatly suggest pming Randy, I can about guarantee you those shots are too far apart. There are two different types of PenG, one that is supposed to be every other day and one that is every day. I can't tell you if the dosage is correct or not though, I don't know enough on that one.