Spider Bite?

[Sagebrush]

Hello all. I have been dealing with what I believe to be a nasty spider bite. I live in the costal hills of Northern California where I have Black Widows, Brown Widows, and Brown Recluses as neighbors unfortunately. A few days ago I was out checking on the rabbits before turning off the misters for the night as it has been really hot here lately. I found one of my 5 week old kits with a nasty abscess on her neck that I had not seen there that morning. This first pic is before I drained it. Sorry it isn't the best as she was moving quite a bit. It looked like a red and white target with 2 very small black dots in the middle that I assume to be where she was actually bit.


I got out massive amounts of thick off white puss. She stayed calm and let me work at it until the very end when I would imagine it was rather painful. I cleaned off the outer area and put her back with her mom for the night.

Fallowing morning

This last pic was after I cleaned the necrotic tissue but before I started flushing it out again. The next two pictures were taken this morning, first is prior to cleaning and second is after medication is done. The wound has been flushed 3 times a day with Diluted Chlorhexidine 2% solution and packed with antibiotic ointment. Last picture is with the ointment.

I am not selling her as I can not guarantee her health at all. She will be staying in my barn. I might be to close to this situation so I am reaching out to you all to help me make the best decision for HER. As she is still eating, drinking, and acting like a normal kit still, do I go ahead and keep treating in hopes of it healing fully or do I consider culling her? I want to treat her and see if she can make a full recovery, but I will cull if I have too for her sake. If she is likely to keep getting infected due to a persistent wound in her neck, I don't want to make her suffer. This is one of the kits that survived the Scrub Jays attacks in May.

 

[Alaska Satin]

Hello all. I have been dealing with what I believe to be a nasty spider bite. I live in the costal hills of Northern California where I have Black Widows, Brown Widows, and Brown Recluses as neighbors unfortunately. A few days ago I was out checking on the rabbits before turning off the misters for the night as it has been really hot here lately. I found one of my 5 week old kits with a nasty abscess on her neck that I had not seen there that morning. This first pic is before I drained it. Sorry it isn't the best as she was moving quite a bit. It looked like a red and white target with 2 very small black dots in the middle that I assume to be where she was actually bit.


I got out massive amounts of thick off white puss. She stayed calm and let me work at it until the very end when I would imagine it was rather painful. I cleaned off the outer area and put her back with her mom for the night.

Fallowing morning

This last pic was after I cleaned the necrotic tissue but before I started flushing it out again. The next two pictures were taken this morning, first is prior to cleaning and second is after medication is done. The wound has been flushed 3 times a day with Diluted Chlorhexidine 2% solution and packed with antibiotic ointment. Last picture is with the ointment.
View attachment 42072View attachment 42073
I am not selling her as I can not guarantee her health at all. She will be staying in my barn. I might be to close to this situation so I am reaching out to you all to help me make the best decision for HER. As she is still eating, drinking, and acting like a normal kit still, do I go ahead and keep treating in hopes of it healing fully or do I consider culling her? I want to treat her and see if she can make a full recovery, but I will cull if I have too for her sake. If she is likely to keep getting infected due to a persistent wound in her neck, I don't want to make her suffer. This is one of the kits that survived the Scrub Jays attacks in May.

Poor bunny, what a challenging start to life!

Over the years I've dealt with a few abscesses in rabbits which were due to different types of injuries, and they have all turned out fine. Cleaning out the dead tissue, and any tissue or fur that might harbor infection to allow it to become reestablished, seems to be the key. You have to be pretty aggressive, but as you say, what I've found was that the rabbit was surprisingly docile through what seemed like a horrible invasion.

I'd just keep an eye on it to make sure there's no further necrosis due to venom that might have penetrated deeper than you knew.

In a nutshell, if the animal seems to want to live, I let it keep trying. Once they're ready to go, they look it.

 

[Sagebrush]

Thank you Alaska. I'll probably end up taking her with me when I head to my mom's for her surgery July 1st so I can keep an eye on her. Though if it is closed by then I will leave her at home and not stress her with travel.

 

[Sagebrush]

So this is this morning, seems to have sealed up well, though looks like she will have a knot of scar tissue there for the remainder of her life. But better then her having to be culled.