I aspirated Floyd's lump, and the small amount of matter I was able to withdraw was thick and white, so the Pups and I took care of him while Hubs was at a meeting.

I've never shot a bunny before. It took me a while to get a good shot, since he was nibbling happily at weeds in the crate, and I didn't want to burst the abscess. I used a pellet gun aimed at the base of his skull to sever the spinal column, and he dropped right down.

The Pups were there for moral support, but had no interest in helping as they normally do when we butcher. Skinning an older rabbit is a lot harder than a fryer- lots of connective tissue- but I got it done.

His guts looked normal to me, although the gall bladder on his liver seemed rather large to me, but I only have little rabbits for comparison.



Here is a pic of the abscess before excision:



Here is the excised abscess:



I didn't dare open it, and we have decided to not chance it with the meat (for us or the animals), even though he looked normal otherwise.

Surprisingly, I am doing okay. I didn't dare eat beforehand even though I was starving, because I feared he would be filled with lesions and I'd "lose it", so I just had "lunch" at around 3.

Poor Black Floyd. He was a good guy, and we will miss him.

Aw...so sorry. I know that stinks. When I had to dispatch Harry, I did it the same way and after I had to go lean against the shed and cry a bit. *sniff* {{{Hugs}}} for you and the pups. That was a massive abcess! Good call not opening it. I did not see his lungs, how did they look?

Oh- I forgot to add the heart and lungs to the gut pile for a photo-op. The lungs were beautiful and pink.

I am really sorry you had to do this, but with white, thick liquid inside, I would have done it too, and I've culled for a lot less.

So very sorry, MamaSheepdog. (((HUGS))) Glad the Pups gave you moral support. You did very well, handling the shooting and then the necropsy. That was a massive abscess... Poor Black Floyd.

Sending sympathy the "pack's" way! I'm sure Black Floyd will be greatly missed.

Thanks everybody. I went out and sprayed his cage down with alcohol just to be safe, and it sure was strange not to see him lounging in his bucket.

I'm very, very sorry, and you're a stronger woman than me to be able to dispatch your own rabbit. I still haven't got the guts to do it yet.

*hugs*

Thanks, Cait. Hubs always has to kill everything, so I thought I'd better take a turn. Plus it was Hub's rabbit. He doesn't feed them or anything, but he always talked to him and pet him when he came over to the bunny-barn.

I am proud of myself too, though. I've come a long way, baby! And I have something to add to your Real Cowgirl Post!

Real Cowgirls have blood speckled boots.

his liver looked mighty dark, and wow...the size of that abscess just not good. Sorry that you needed to lose poor Floyd.

Well, the more I think about it, more and more things are adding up. I noticed occasional lameness in that leg off and on, but it was so slight that I doubted what I was seeing because I'd lost those juniors to the maniacal-mousies, and thought I was being paranoid. Plus, I *think* I recall thinking "Is Floyd getting a dewlap?". His tendency to go slightly off his feed is probably another indicator.

Looking back at the photos I took, I can see why I "missed" it- he was on a bottom tier, so I normally viewed him mostly from above, or he was lounging in his black bucket. I know it wasn't protruding like this before I went to the show. He was groomed almost daily, and multiple times on the 28th- the show was just 10 days ago. I think the abscess had been progressing for a long time, and the stress of the show caused this exponential growth.

I wonder if the respiratory type can go dormant and erupt later in the abscess form? That would explain a lot. Here are some other views of Floyd on the eve of his demise:

Poor Floyd, sorry to hear. You did the right thing, and thank you for chronicling it for the benefit of others.

Off topic, MamaSheepdog, but I like your boots.

We've only butchered 4 others, so I am not as familiar with normal color as you probably are. Since there were no spots on the liver, I considered it good. The gall bladder is what looked weird to me- the sac was transparent, and the fluid was not opaque- kind of a translucent green. Plus it was very elongated, I think. Again- I'm a newbie when it comes to evaluating organs.

Totally normal gallbladder...bile is normally translucent green. It was just bigger since his liver was bigger. I think the dark color was due to the lighting...the rest of the guts coloring was darker too.