Swollen scent gland

[macksmom98]

My doe has dirty scent glands and as I was cleaning them I noticed that on one side she seems to have a pea sized bump. Is this a swollen or blocked gland? I have read that it usually indicates an infection somewhere, and that I can try to treat with saltwater.
Are their any other disinfectants that can be used? Peroxide? Alcohol? And can I use any human ointment such as neosporin? I will take her to the vet if I can't treat her or if what I try doesn't help, but I would like to learn how to care for small issues on my own too. Any info is helpful-thanks!

 

[EnglishSpot]

I don't know much about rabbit medicalry, so I'm not very helpful at this point.

Did the saltwater wash help?

 

[macksmom98]

Too soon to tell, but I am going to keep an eye on it and plan on repeating twice weekly just to keep it good and clean and see if it clears up. She may be pregnant and seemed in overall good health (or I wouldn't have tried to breed her) so I hope that it wont interfere with her carrying the babies to term, their health, or the birthing process. I have NO idea! Ill post updates in case anyone one else has this situation come up......

 

[Miss M]

Rabbits have scent glands in several places. I assume you're talking about the ones near the vent?

Peroxide is useful for helping clear gunk out of open areas like abscesses that have been drained, but I don't think you could get it into a scent gland to bubble the stuff out. I don't think alcohol or betadine would do it, either. I don't know if it is okay to cut the scent gland open.

I'd probably try to gently sqeeze the gunk out. Whether it worked or not, I'd then apply Nu-Stock to it. You can use Neosporin on a rabbit, but the Nu-Stock is less likely to be licked off so much. I tend to use Neosporin only when a bandage is needed.

It is good to learn to treat your rabbits on your own. Most of us on here do just that... largely because we can't afford vet bills for the purpose we keep rabbits. Many of us breed for meat, so vet bills would make the meat we raise very expensive. So what we can treat without endangering our other rabbits, we treat ourselves. You will find a lot of help here on that, and on such sites as http://medirabbit.com/ and http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ .

 

[macksmom98]

Yes I am specifically speaking of the scent glands (one of them) by her vent. Thank you for the info-the part about squeezing it and using peroxide is particularly helpful! I am worried about her being healthy enough to conceive and give birth, and will start to use preventative measures like ACV and probiotics as well. Where do you order the ointment you spoke of and probiotics?

 

[Miss M]

the part about squeezing it and using peroxide is particularly helpful!

You can try the peroxide, but I don't know if it can actually get into the gland to clean it out. I think you might be able to get some stuff from it by squeezing carefully, though.

Where do you order the ointment you spoke of and probiotics?

Both can be gotten at most feed stores, actually. The Nu-Stock comes in a tube for around $13. It's just sulphur, pine oil, and mineral oil. I think it should be able to penetrate and treat the gland. It is messy, and it smells like... sulphur and pine oil. But mostly pine oil. Shake it thoroughly, and not inside or with good clothes on. I haven't found anything to put it in that holds a good seal with the stuff, for some reason. I finally put it into a glass spice jar, and I stir it with a plastic knife. But it's great stuff, and treats all sorts of skin problems, and even open wounds. And animals usually don't like the taste of it.

Probiotics of all sorts can be found at feed stores. You probably won't find a rabbit-specific one, but you can get goat probiotics... if not that, then horse probiotics.

If you need to order, rather than go to a feed store, you can get it from Amazon and plenty of other places, I'm sure (if you look in the reviews, you'll see a lot of people use it on themselves... I treated a ringworm on my leg with it):

http://www.amazon.com/Duvet-001-0530-Nu ... s=nu-stock

Same with the probiotics, but I don't know anything about any of those companies and their products.

I am worried about her being healthy enough to conceive and give birth

I don't think you need to worry too much, as long as it's just a plugged scent gland. Keep the area clean, treat it, and it should be okay. Watch for infection. Go ahead and become familiar with the feel of and temperature of the area around the gland, so that if it changes -- becomes hard or overly warm -- you can catch it.

 

[Sagebrush]

I would have to say that you would clean out a rabbits sent glands much like you would a dogs anal glands. By gently massaging them from the back towards the opening to move that buildup out. I would be more worried about using peroxide in it since it really doesn't have a place to go when it bubbles up. Think of it like a balloon, what happens when you put to much air into a balloon?

 

[Susie570]

Kind of off topic, but... is cleaning scent glands something you have to do with every rabbit? Sorry of a... 'regular maintenance' thing? If so, how often? Or do you watch for certain signs before cleaning?

 

[Sagebrush]

I check my rabbits over each day. I check down there for any kind of buildup and a funky smell. I usually will wipe the gunk away but if persistent I will use a warm compress and message it out.

As far as the smell goes, I am talking about that kind of buck musk but on steroids. Such as if you are only looking at one rabbit in a closed room and you would swear that there were at least 5 adult bucks in there with you, type smell.

 

[macksmom98]

Great question-I have a dog but never clean his anal glands and he doesn't have any problems that I know of or that have ever shown up at his regular yearly vet checks. He's 11 and has never needed any extra cleaning. I read about the rabbits scent glands and saw a video of them getting cleaned, by a lady who said they should be done or at least checked as often as toenails get clipped. We have had our female about 5 months and I never even knew to check, but she did have waxy build up and, as prompted this post, the little swollen spot. I am brining her inside to try and wash urine stains off of her in the bathtub this afternoon, and do another saltwater bath and cleaning to be through. I will order some of the ointment mentioned in an above post and start with a light massage today to see if I can get anything to come out. By the way-they smell like a mix of skunk and coffee, and it doesn't linger long but I found the smell interesting...............I have only seen mention of the scent glands by the anus, does anyone check any other their other glands specifically for cleaning/hygene or just do an over all feel of your bunnies and that should be good enough? Sagebrush-If you were worried about infection, do not want to use peroxide, and did not have ointment yet (it's in process of getting shipped) would you recommend Neosporin? Your thoughts on peroxide are very helpful-thanks! I just really want to start combating any type of infection now-or soon the better

 

[Sagebrush]

The thoughts on Neosporin are mixed, as expressed by others here on RT. I personally will not use Neosporin on a rabbit that they can get to in order to clean. I do not feel it is safe to use on them without a way to keep them from ingesting it. Right on the package (for us humans) it says for external use only. Nu-stock, or Blu-kote, can be purchased at any livestock feed and supply store. I would stick with those personally.

The scent glands are not likely to have an infection. When they are swollen it is usually due to a blockage of some sort. If you massage it out, to move the blockage out, then it will return to normal. I would use just warm water to clean it until you get the Nu-stock or Blu-kote.

This is my personal opinion and I am sure others will chime in to help as well.

 

[macksmom98]

Excellent. What you are saying does make sense to me, so I'm inclined to go with your opinion. I understand that there are always more than one way to do things too......I checked her again, and she has small nodules on both sides. Is it possible these are normal? I checked my buck for comparison and he looks fine, and doesn't have any issues with them. Hers seem to have a longer opening too-could it be that this is a normal difference between males and females? These are my first pair of rabbits since I was a child, so I am basically learning all over again. Off topic, but I put them together twice and he was really excited to mount and try to breed, but I never saw a good lift for sure from her or a dramatic fall off from him. Now every time I put them together they are uninterested in mating. He is new to us, it's been chilly, and he's got a new cage and probably different food. In your opinion is it more likely they already bred and he understand that and is in tune with her action? She has bit him and growled a couple times but usually I put them together now and they don't argue anymore or fight but are just mellow and not even trying........I don't want to breed her twice but would love to get the job done for sure. Any experience you may have would be helpful-I appreciate it

 

[katiebear]

Now every time I put them together they are uninterested in mating. He is new to us, it's been chilly, and he's got a new cage and probably different food. In your opinion is it more likely they already bred and he understand that and is in tune with her action? She has bit him and growled a couple times but usually I put them together now and they don't argue anymore or fight but are just mellow and not even trying........I don't want to breed her twice but would love to get the job done for sure.

Sounds like she is already pregnant and they know it...I would wait..some does "show" that they are pregnant by their behavior...I have a couple that after the first week will tear up anything in their cages and scatter hay all over, then dig in the corners..all nesting behaviors...But then I also have a couple that don't start any behaviors until the last week so...rabbits will keep you guessing.. :lol:

 

[macksmom98]

Someone else suggested that too-I sure hope it's the case but am not convinced.....seems like it was too easy and not like what I have seen on the YouTube videos I have seen. She has a new cage as of yesterday and is definatly tearing it up-not messing with hay yet but scattering wood chips and acting spastic! It's a great thing their gestation period is short-not long to wait it out and see <br /><br /> -- Mon Mar 02, 2015 12:01 pm -- <br /><br /> Also, we got her a new cage that happens to have a box attached on the side. She's about 3 weeks or so from giving birth if she's pregnant, and she's popping in there now. The litterpan in her cage is untouched. She scoots it around but doesn't get inside at all. Should I remove it so she will be encouraged to use her house to give birth and not her litter pan full of wood chips? Or actually add a beatbox to the cage? She's not litter trained but is used to peeing and pooping in the wood chips in a specific corner of her old cage, so I stuck a litter pan in the new cage to see if she would use it

 

[katiebear]

Can you block off the attached nest box for a while? You don't want her to use it as a potty. If you can't block her from it maybe empty it..no bedding until a couple of days before kindling...
If the litter box is in the corner she normally potties in then I would leave it there.

 

[macksmom98]

I may let her use the box one more week (we are having colder weather here and it's the place she goes to warm up. But then yes I could empty it and block it off, and reintroduce it on day 28 or so.......it seems a bit big too-I would like to line the sides with some straw or something to create a cozier space. Thanks again for the good advice!