Nursing doe with cyst - Pen G?

[igotrabbits]

Hi, my doe kindled last week. She had a smaller cyst on her tummy that I noticed while she was pregnant, but was under the impression I could not give Pen-G while she was pregnant. I figured if she didn't kindle, I would then treat. Well she kindled 2/17. Today, there was a bit of blood in the nest box and upon checking her tummy, I see that has grown immensely in size and is seriously inflamed. Under normal circumstances I would inject Pen-G and then if no change, cut her to drain it and keep her on the Pen-G. In this case, I'm not sure what to do because she is nursing 10 day old kits. Advice?

 

[squidpop]

Hopefully someone will answer soon who knows how Pen G might affect the nursing kits- I have no idea. But if the Doe is very important to you, more important than the kits? than I think she needs the injection because its only going to get worse if its not treated aggressively.

 

[BlueMoods]

I would not give Pen G to a nursing doe, it isn't recommended and, every site I found said not to do it. Tetracycaline is milder and some sites did recommend that for a nursing doe. Personally I'd shave the area, lance and dress it with New Skin (the artificial skin stuff for burn patients) if I wanted to save both doe and kits. If the doe was slated to be culled after weaning, I'd let it go and hope she made it a few more weeks. If I couldn't foster the kits to another doe and, didn't want to save them, I'd pull them and give the Pen G.

It's your rabbits so, your call.

 

[grumpy]

Blue Mood's correct....lancing it will relieve pressure and allow
that poison to drain out of her system.

THOSE THINGS ARE GROSS!! when you have to do this.
Be sure to wear latex gloves and express all that you can out of it without
damaging the tissue. It'll come out with a consistency of toothpaste.
"not-pretty" but necessary.

Is it located on one of her teats?

Just make sure you lance it where it is easy to drain while the doe is upright.
It's basically an abscess. Some small nick that closed from the outside and
trapped a small amount of bacteria inside.....where it grew...

She may even have a very, very, small piece of a foreign object in there.
It only takes some little something for this to happen. I've seen it several
times in the past. "Usually" the doe pulls out of it and never has any more
problems.

grumpy.

 

[MaggieJ]

It does sound like an abscess and lancing and cleaning it should help. We had to do this once with a doe. Since she was no longer nursing, we also treated with Pen G but I don't think with kits it is advisable, unless you put a high value on the doe that warrants the risk to the kits.

We found that flushing the abscess with hydrogen peroxide helps to dissolve the thick pus and make the abscess easier to clean. A syringe without a needle to get it into the abscess works quite well. Warm compresses also help get the infection out.

Grumpy is right: it is unpleasant and gross to deal with an abscess... but well worth it to give the doe her best chance of a full recovery.

If she is not coming along well by the time the kits are 3-4 weeks old, I would consider weaning them early and then treating her with Pen G. You can facilitate the kits' early transition to solid foods by providing them with hay and kitchen oatmeal starting when they are about 10 days old. Just put it in the nest box for them and they will begin to nibble..