Rabbits for profit… Rabbits for fun… Rabbits for just about everyone…

It is currently Tue May 22, 2012 12:10 am 






Reply to topic  [ 33 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

Previous topic | First unread post | Next topic 

  Print view

Author Message
 Post subject: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:46 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Nov 03 2011
Posts: 3493
Images: 11
Location: CA
Thanks: 316
Thanked: 292 in 273 posts
Country: United States (us)
Cash on hand:
18,515.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Online Online
Floyd has an enormous lump on the right side of his neck! I don't know how I possibly could have missed seeing it before! There is no heat, no wound, no fur loss, no loss of mobility, and it doesn't appear painful. There is no involvement of lymph nodes in neck or arm pit. It feels very round and quite firm, but I think it is filled with fluid. His weight is good, appetite okay- he had lots of pellets left over this morning, but he does that occasionally anyway.

I plan to isolate him for now. My concern is pasturella- he went to the show 9 days ago. Is incubation that short? Can it progress so rapidly? I don't know if I should aspirate it or leave it alone. :cry:

Attachment:
IMG_5666.JPG
IMG_5666.JPG [ 174.42 KiB | Viewed 216 times ]


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Years of membership
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:07 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Feb 09 2011
Posts: 2706
Images: 9
Location: Texas
Thanks: 250
Thanked: 172 in 164 posts
Cash on hand:
13,498.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
Oh sis, that looks terrible! Poor Floyd...I would definitely isolate him, just to be on the safe side. You really should isolate any animal that goes to a show as soon as you come back anyway. Who knows what they could be exposed to?

_________________
One Acre Farm Rabbits
www.oneacrefarmrabbits.com
~A micro-attempt at self-sufficiency~


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Years of membershipYears of membership
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:12 pm 
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Dec 16 2009
Posts: 7541
Images: 7
Location: South Eastern Ontario
Thanks: 51
Thanked: 507 in 453 posts
Country: Canada (ca)
Cash on hand:
24,556.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
I would lance it, put on hot compresses and then clean out as much of the gunk as possible with hydrogen peroxide. I know peroxide is not preferred, but it has the advantage of liquifying the pus, which is usually very thick in rabbit abscesses. We found that using a syringe (no needle) let us get the peroxide into the abscess. It did not appear painful to the rabbit. I suggest a triple antibiotic ointment on the wound and following up with Penicillin G with Procaine, subcutaneously for several days. You will have to calculate the dosage... There is some info in old threads. I'll see what I can find and post the links. Our Alive had an abscess last summer and with treatment made a full recovery.

topic4207.html

topic756.html

i-think-lucky-has-mastitis-t5657.html


Top
 Profile E-mail  
Post Permalink  
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:22 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Jul 22 2011
Posts: 182
Images: 2
Location: Arizona
Thanks: 17
Thanked: 3 in 3 posts
Country: United States (us)
Cash on hand:
1,178.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
We just has one on our Flemish giant a month ago and it was located in her dewlap. What we did was wrap in in a towel. Lanced it and we squeezed all the junk out. Then we use used hydrogen peroxide to rinse it out. Once we got all the pus out we put her back in her cage. Every other day we would have to relance it, continue to get any remaining pus out and re clean it with hydrogen peroxide. I can now say her dewlap is completely normal except with scar tissue. I had to go thro her cage and make sure there was no sharp things sticking out and trim her nails. It will take about a month to heal once you lance and clean it.

_________________
“Do not rely on a rabbit's foot for luck, after all, it didn't work out too well for the rabbit.”

Visit our website @ www.mabbsrabbitry.com
Breeder in New Zealands, Flemish Giants & Mini Rexs


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:26 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Nov 21 2011
Posts: 277
Location: Savannah, Georgia
Thanks: 58
Thanked: 12 in 12 posts
Country: United States (us)
Cash on hand:
1,435.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
Oh my gosh! Poor Floyd! I would lance it, like Maggie and Cmabb said. Good luck, I hope he will be okay!


Top
 Profile E-mail  
Post Permalink  
 Years of membershipYears of membership
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:35 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Dec 26 2009
Posts: 3433
Images: 0
Location: near London, Ontario
Thanks: 14
Thanked: 180 in 167 posts
Country: Canada (ca)
Cash on hand:
11,726.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
if it's thick and gooey, probably not pasturella, if it's liquidy then probably it is. (or so I've been told) I've never had to deal with an abscess but you do need to lance, flush, and keep it clean AND you need to ensure that it heals from the inside out.

_________________
ladysown

http://www.freewebs.com/athomepets
blogs/athomepets/


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Years of membershipYears of membership
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:43 pm 

Joined: Jan 07 2010
Posts: 2554
Images: 9
Location: Ohio
Thanks: 7
Thanked: 97 in 91 posts
Country: United States (us)
Cash on hand:
13,921.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
Be carefull!! he was at a show nine days ago? this lump show up suddenly? I ask because-- sometimes, a blood vessel injury, from getting hit, or bumped will result in a 'slow bleed'- If you aspirate some of the fluid first, and there is a tinge of red in it-- LEAVE IT BE!!! AS long as he can eat, drink and breathe, best to let nature run it's course.My ex kneed a former dog of mine, created a fast lump under the jaw, and I had to get the dog some surgery to reduce the squeezing on his airway-- but the blood had pooled and clotted around the broken vein,acting like a bandage to prevent further bleeding. Don;t just assume something that size, showing up suddenly, is an abcess-- abscesses tend to start small and grow a bit less quickly!

_________________
Terry


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:32 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Nov 03 2011
Posts: 3493
Images: 11
Location: CA
Thanks: 316
Thanked: 292 in 273 posts
Country: United States (us)
Cash on hand:
18,515.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Online Online
MamaSheepdog wrote:
I don't know if I should aspirate it or leave it alone.

Frosted Rabbits wrote:
If you aspirate some of the fluid first, and there is a tinge of red in it-- LEAVE IT BE!!!
ladysown wrote:
if it's thick and gooey, probably not pasturella, if it's liquidy then probably it is.


Abscesses don't scare me, I've treated a ton of them successfully and quickly in every case- but this hasn't behaved like an abscess. I've never seen one anywhere near this size, and there is no heat, fur loss, wound, etc.

I think I have a large gauge needle, so I will aspirate first. Floyd is our herd sire and we are very attached to him, but if it is anything other than bloody fluid, I am going to cull him. :cry: I don't want to take any chances if it is infectious. He has sired 7 litters, with 3 on the ground now. I have two other proven bucks out of him, and all of my other bucks are his as well, with the exception of some litters still in the nest.

I don't have an isolation ward yet, and I wasn't too worried about them being highly susceptible to infection- their breeder is a judge as well as a competitor, so I felt the line had a lot of prior exposure. I'll spray all the cages down with alcohol to be safe.

:? On the bright side at least I'm getting a hospital wing set up.


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 9:52 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Sep 07 2011
Posts: 504
Images: 68
Location: North Carolina
Thanks: 47
Thanked: 39 in 35 posts
Country: United States (us)
Cash on hand:
2,758.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
I hope it is something simple. He is a beautiful rabbit. I am going to cull Ninny. I am not looking forward to it. Hope all goes well.

_________________
Currituckbun
http://currirabbitry.webs.com/


Last edited by currituckbun on Mon Feb 06, 2012 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Years of membership
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 3:32 am 

Joined: Dec 20 2010
Posts: 1056
Location: Alaska
Thanks: 2
Thanked: 22 in 21 posts
Country: United States (us)
Cash on hand:
5,470.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
Shoot, here
http://www.nustock.com/
I lance it, use hydrogen peroxide to de pus it and then, once it's empty, I give a hefty dose of this stuff
it's basically 3% pine oil, and 73% sulfur flour, with enough mineral oil to let it flow

It dries it out, and almost mummifies the dead tissue. no going back and re lancing (you should leave a wick of steril 2x2 to keep it open)
with Penicillin they heal quickly.

_________________
Thrianta Breeder extraordinaire,
well not really, but trying damn hard.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tundra-Treasures-Rabbitry/142934279087620


Top
 Profile E-mail  
Post Permalink  
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:03 am 

Joined: Jan 25 2012
Posts: 112
Location: plattsburg, missouri
Thanks: 2
Thanked: 9 in 8 posts
Cash on hand:
625.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
it may be obvious...but lance it on the "down-hill" side. abscesses can be caused by the slightest things. Or, for no apperant reason at all.

last week, i lanced what was an obvious abscess on the hind foot of one of my better does. wrong....it turned out to be a fatty tumor. i expressed the material and the doe is doing just fine now.


Top
 Profile E-mail  
Post Permalink  
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:39 am 
User avatar

Joined: Nov 28 2011
Posts: 339
Images: 8
Location: Victoria, Australia
Thanks: 89
Thanked: 31 in 31 posts
Country: Australia (au)
Cash on hand:
1,777.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
I am wondering if it might be injury related, and filled with sabasious fluid?

_________________
:) Hearty discussion is the sharing of knowledge = and knowledge is never a bad thing :)

:pinkbunny: http://www.minilop.webs.com :pinkbunny:


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:52 am 

Joined: May 24 2011
Posts: 95
Images: 0
Thanks: 0
Thanked: 5 in 5 posts
Cash on hand:
535.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
Poor little guy i hope you are able to get him all better!


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:49 am 
User avatar

Joined: Nov 03 2011
Posts: 3493
Images: 11
Location: CA
Thanks: 316
Thanked: 292 in 273 posts
Country: United States (us)
Cash on hand:
18,515.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Online Online
Thank you to everybody that has commented so far- I appreciate your input. If I do lance it and try to express the pus, I will use hydrogen peroxide to loosen it up, do a final rinse with a weak betadine solution, and squirt some Nu-stock in it (Great stuff, huh, Jack? I've not used it for abscesses before, but it did get rid of Hub's athlete's foot!), and give him penicillin injections.

I've been up since 4am, and have been researching pastuerella and abscesses, and the prognosis is pretty poor, I think. Unlike dog and cat abscesses, which is where my expertise in the field lies, rabbits form a very thick pus with a toothpaste like consistency... one veterinary site showed what appeared to be a solid lump of it from a pastuerella case. The incidence of recurrence is very high, since the matter is very hard to remove, and there may be a finger-like tract leading elsewhere also filled with pus, and often the tissue of the abscess "wall" is infected and needs to be excised. Somehow I doubt Floyd will let me excise the walls of the abscess. (Ouch!!!)

Another factor is of great concern to me- in my research this morning, I found that pasteurella commonly presents as thick white mucous from the nose. When I picked up the rabbits initially, I noticed a very small blob of white mucous by his nostril. The breeder had traveled several hundred miles to our exchange point, and I had traveled 150 miles + myself... she said she would replace him if he died. He never progressed beyond that point, and after 2 days I never saw another symptom... but I fear the infection went dormant, and the stress of the show has caused this flare up. I realize that pasteurella is commonly believed to be carried by all rabbits, or at the least that all rabbitries have been exposed... so I am not laying blame anywhere... but it seems the best protocol is to cull any rabbits that succumb to infection and only breed those that show a strong resistance to it.

I was going to aspirate it yesterday afternoon to see if it was bloody fluid, and if not I intended to cull him. I met with great resistance from Hubs and the pups. Floyd is Hub's rabbit, and he and the pups were shocked that I could be so hasty, and not even "give him a chance". <Sigh... I am an ogre.> It was getting late at that point and I was afraid I'd lose light before I could finish, so Floyd is still safe for now. I didn't aspirate it because his isolation cage wasn't ready, and I didn't want to possibly spread infection.

I continued working on his hospital cage- the floor wire had two patches of rust to be scrubbed off, and the cage is going in the chicken run, so I had to figure a way to hang it safely, and protect it from wind and rain/snow. (We are supposed to get rain today.) It's hung now, but I still need to finish up with the protective panels. It got too dark to work, and my "trouble light" seems to have died. It is still pitch black out, and the wind is howling, or I would be out there already.

I am still leaning toward culling him to be safe... when the rest of the "pack" wake up we will discuss it further. I would also appreciate further comments from all of you regarding the decision to cull.

Thanks, everyone.


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
 Years of membershipYears of membership
 Post subject: Re: HUGE abscess? Help!
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:54 am 
User avatar

Joined: Dec 26 2009
Posts: 3433
Images: 0
Location: near London, Ontario
Thanks: 14
Thanked: 180 in 167 posts
Country: Canada (ca)
Cash on hand:
11,726.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
when talking about pasturella with the family point out how it can decimate a herd quickly should it become virulent. AND THAT is not fun to watch or partake it.

AND THAT is precisely when folks say cull don't treat. It is difficult and expensive to treat and generally not worth the price of the rabbit.

The fact is, if he has been carrying pasturella the potential is that your herd may already be infected and you'll need to be culling for white snot whenever you see it. In time your herd will build a resistance to it and you'll be fine.

_________________
ladysown

http://www.freewebs.com/athomepets
blogs/athomepets/


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Reply to topic  [ 33 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next


Similar topics

!!! Giant Movable Colony, Pasture, huge scale!!! Author: mommaebear
Forum: Rabbit Colonies, 6 Replies

Alice has mastitis and/or an abscess Author: MaggieJ
Forum: Rabbit Care, 20 Replies

Pics of Phil and her HUGE tummy! ***UPDATE *** Babies R Here Author: OneAcreFarm
Forum: Our Other Animals, 11 Replies

HUGE does Author: ladysown
Forum: Rabbit Care, 13 Replies

Abscess? Author: Half Caper Farm
Forum: Rabbit Care, 6 Replies



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: drowe005 and 0 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:


Copyright ©2009-2012 RabbitTalk.com
Website Created by MidnightCoder.ca