Help! Abscess with tough pus

[PrairieBelle]

My English lop buck has an abscess under his chin / on his neck.
it finally scabbed enough that I could pull the scab away and open it up.
The pus is the consistency of a kombucha scoby. Literally. It's so tough that I can't even pull it out. I flushed it with saline. But nothing comes out. I squeezed it and it just started bleeding.
Help!

 

[MaggieJ]

Rabbit pus is very thick. I have used hydrogen peroxide 3% to help liquefy it. Use a syringe without the needle and squirt it into the abscess. It will foam up, but peroxide does not sting and the rabbit I used it on did not seem to mind it. We also gave subcutaneous injections of Pen G with Procaine for several days. The rabbit made a good recovery.

 

[michaels4gardens]

make sure it is not a botfly larva.. if you rupture the larva while pulling it out the rabbit will often die...

 

[MaggieJ]

I hadn't thought of the possibility of bot fly, but Michael is right. Bit fly larvae leave a breathing hole but if the wound scabbed over and then opened, I don't know if you could see the original hole if there was one.

Michael, would the swelling be full of thick pus if it was caused by a bot fly larva?

 

[michaels4gardens]

I hadn't thought of the possibility of bot fly, but Michael is right. Bit fly larvae leave a breathing hole but if the wound scabbed over and then opened, I don't know if you could see the original hole if there was one.

Michael, would the swelling be full of thick pus if it was caused by a bot fly larva?

sometimes the botfly site gets infected, and looks just like an abscess complete with thick puss-- careful cleaning and then an inspection will tell if a breathing hole and larva are there, -- if it is, then enlarge it to about 1/2 inch [I like a hooked scalpel , as it is easy to get under the edge of the hole without damaging the larva, lift up to make a little slit on both sides of the hole] - after the hole is enlarged then hold on to the larva with tweezers or forceps, and carefully work the larva back and forth while gently pulling on it.

 

[FourRingCircus]

I hadn't thought of the possibility of bot fly, but Michael is right. Bit fly larvae leave a breathing hole but if the wound scabbed over and then opened, I don't know if you could see the original hole if there was one.

Michael, would the swelling be full of thick pus if it was caused by a bot fly larva?

sometimes the botfly site gets infected, and looks just like an abscess complete with thick puss-- careful cleaning and then an inspection will tell if a breathing hole and larva are there, -- if it is, then enlarge it to about 1/2 inch [I like a hooked scalpel , as it is easy to get under the edge of the hole without damaging the larva, lift up to make a little slit on both sides of the hole] - after the hole is enlarged then hold on to the larva with tweezers or forceps, and carefully work the larva back and forth while gently pulling on it.

Yet another thread making me hope I never have to deal with one of those things! Blech!

Hopefully whatever it is is easily treatable!!

 

[macksmom98]

Does anyone have any experience or pictures of what a bot fly site with an abscess looks like? I am going to google it, but we have a 4 week old kit with some type of growth. I was thinking mosquito bite but now reading this I am not sure.....would like to get him better sooner than later if I can.

 

[michaels4gardens]

resources/image/14342

 

[akane]

Small animal puss is very thick and often it forms encapsulated abscesses. We've removed the entire thing whole before. There's a few approaches to something that big. A curved tip syringe really gets a good spray to break the stuff up and rinse the flesh clean. It also has a point to shove into wounds. I try to keep some on hand because they can really make everything work better with that thick puss and eliminate the need for some other options. You can use peroxide originally but when you get to the live flesh it will damage it and warm chlorhexadine or betadine works better at that point. You can try to pack gauze (or sugar actually makes a good delivery method) soaked in diluted betadine and wrap it with ace bandage or vet wrap. They tend to remove it so the multiple cleaning a day is more often the approach with small animals. Warm compresses can also help either break things down or bring them to the surface for removal of puss. Watch for dryness around the edges of the wound if frequently applying antiseptics and you may want to dilute with warm water to get the warm antiseptic for rinsing. Sometimes you need something to keep a wound sealed and actually moist. Things like blue kote are most commonly used on everything. Scarlet oil is quite popular with horse owners for wire slices and ripped open skin layers that may abscess. Light application of scarlet oil after rinsing with antiseptic can help reduce oozing, promote healthy cell growth, and protect the wound without increasing drying of healthy tissue. It has downsides though. Some animals can have reactions if used too frequently. Excessive application multiple times a day can cause a burn like appearance on the surrounding skin.