Two wounds - bite and (worm?)

This is why you should not let your bunnies free range.
Like I let Free Ranging Bunny do.
But that's only because he would be so sad in a cage. (No, seriously. He's the weirdest rabbit I've ever owned.)

Anyway, I noticed a small cut on one of his testicles the other day and didn't think much of it. Then, yesterday, I picked him up and the testicle was swollen and tight. The little cut is now a thick black scab. It's infected and smells... really bad. I think there might be a worm in there, too - I spent a while yesterday trying to pick it out of there, but no luck. Instead, my legs got absolutely torn up (really hoping I don't have any lasting scars).
I assume it's a worm, anyway. There's a small hole in the black scab and every so often, the smelly pink pus will rise to the top, but no worm comes out.

Then, while I was holding him for that, I realized there was a rather large lump - also hard and swollen - just behind his shoulder. Upon examination I found what appears to be teeth marks on top of this lump - as if he was bitten. He has been exposed to some other rabbits recently (under supervision) and I do recall one going at him, but I didn't think anything of it then. He also could have run in with an rat (or mouse, or squirrel?).

So what can I do? I've kept him in his cage all today. Any antibiotics, etc. that I can give him? I would have put our cure-all triple antibiotic ointment on his wounds except that I remembered reading something about the Bacitracin in it being bad for rabbits. (?)
Also - my parents have both voiced concerns about rabies. I tried to assure them that rabbits could not get rabies, but I just googled it and it appears that, in rare cases, it's possible. o_o
I'm assuming I don't need to be worried about rabies, since he shows no strange symptoms (yet) and doesn't look like he's been attacked by a predator. As friendly as this rabbit is, he has bitten me many times when I have held him against his will (in fact, he bit me yesterday when I was poking at his infection, but it didn't break the skin).

But I AM concerned about his wounds. So far the testicle looks to be the worst of the two but I know that bites can get to be bad.

Bot fly in the testicle? ewww. It's probably infection since that would be odd but plausible. If you want to go look up bot flies. You need to get those areas cleaned out somehow. Can you ask a vet or pharmacy for a curve tip syringe? It is a syringe with a little curved basically funnel on it. You can use it to squirt antibacterial solutions into puncture wounds with a fair amount of force. Betadine or chlorhexadine mixed with a little warm water are the best rinses. Peroxide can be used to bubble out debris but I probably wouldn't squirt it in to the testicle wound. There's no telling how much space is up there that it might cause issues in. Peroxide can also be used to remove scabs so you can get to the rest of the wound with a better healing solution. The problem with peroxide is that it destroys everything including healing skin so it's not a good repeat wound wash. Creams are only going to cover the surface and it sounds like you have deeper wounds with infection that could make things even worse. You need to get it open and down in to it so it heals from the inside to the outside. If you just heal the outside the bacteria will do nasty things and at minimum you'll have to cut the wounds back open to clean them out properly but it could kill the rabbit before that.

For antibiotics you can do penicillin injections in the hindquarters but if you've never done injections on an animal you probably don't want to try it now. Tetracyclines are sold at feedstores for a variety of animals. I've treated gerbils and rabbits with the ornacycline bird tabs and the tetracycline crystals for goats. I think the oral dose and the dose to put it in the water can be found here http://www.morfz.com/rx/drugcalc.html <br /><br /> -- Fri Jul 18, 2014 7:35 pm -- <br /><br /> :lol: My husband is now scarred for life after I told him the situation and he asked what a bot fly is.

Thanks! I'll see what I can do.

akane":1d1uzxs9 said:

:lol: My husband is now scarred for life after I told him the situation and he asked what a bot fly is.

Click to expand...

:laugh:

Yes, I've had to deal with "warbles" when we lived on the farm. Not fun fishing those nasty things out & then flushing the wound with peroxide. Especially when you're dealing with a bull calf.

If the wounds turn out to be puncture wound like abscesses you could try 17+ manuka honey. A lot of vets are now using it to pack puncture wounds in rabbits because it doesn't destroy tissue the way iodine and peroxide do. Manuka honey is expensive but you can use as an antibacterial ointment on other wounds as well.

I cleaned the wound on the testicle with peroxide - I had to get under that scab. I does seem to be a hole. I took photos and will post them tomorrow. <br /><br /> -- Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:57 am -- <br /><br /> I googled it and it seems that Bacitracin isn't bad for rabbits, after all. So I'll be putting some of that on the weird wound on his side/shoulder. It's really an open wound now.

Now I don't think that there's a worm in the wound in his testicle. But he is all swollen up and tight down there, and he must be uncomfortable. Should I give him an antibiotic, like Baytril?