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By Oliver Cuddles
Edison Rabbit - March 2003
November 13, 1999: A day
that will live in Edison's personal history as the beginning of a problem that haunted
him for the last 3 years of his life: Abscesses!
What exactly is a jaw abscess you ask? The best way it can be described is like collection
of dead white blood cells (what you humans call "puss", icky!) contained within
a pocket or capsule of skin.
What causes these foul things to appear? well from the research my pet human was able to
do and and from what my vet said at the time of Edison's first doctor
visit, jaw abscesses can be caused by three
different things:.
A
cut or a wound that had gone un-noticed |
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An insect bite that had gone un-noticed |
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A tooth infection ( in the case of jaw abscesses)! |
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A
series of infections which
an abscess would be the end result |
One of the big problems with
trying to cure abscesses is the contents of the abscess itself. Ok this is going to sound
a bit gross to you but puss in us rabbits is not the same as with you humans, Ours has
almost the same consistency as toothpaste. This makes it VERY difficult to clean out and
drain any abscess rupture.
Our systems try to "wall - off" abscesses. This is to try and prevent their
spreading anywhere else. The problem is, since it IS walled off from the rest of our
systems, it makes it really hard for any antibiotic treatment to work! and there are just
a limited number of antibiotics that we bunnies can tolerate.
As my pet human also discovered, the size of the abscess can be very deceptive. It may
look tiny on the outset but once it ruptures or is lanced, the abscess can be a lot deeper
into the skin tissue that originally thought. This can really make trying to drain them an
ordeal for both the human and bunny doctor trying to treat the now opened abscess and the bunny who has to
endure it!
We're not exactly sure what was the root cause in Edison's case. With jaw abscesses, its a problem
with an impacted tooth. If that were indeed the problem, the tooth would have to be
pulled, and pulling a tooth is quite an ordeal for us bunnies!
The vet had checked Edison's teeth quite thoroughly however and they all checked out fine. What
my pet human thinks is some how Edison had cut himself or may have scratched something
that had opened his
cheek and well, one thing lead to another....
Treatment of abscesses sorry to say is a long ordeal and can be
expensive. Once one of these hideous looking things have been
discovered, please visit your rabbit's veterinarian, post haste.
The vet will most likely attempt to lance the growth (if its big enough) or wait until it
is large enough to be opened up. Once it is (for lack of a better phrase)
"ripe" your vet will attempt to lance and "debride" or clean and
drain the area of the excess puss. The wound is kept open to heal from the inside out. If
its a very deep wound, a vet may use a bandage that must be changed daily. The vet may
also suture a drain around the wound to keep it open. Edison's vet used silver nitrate sticks to
cauterize the wound and keep it open to heal.
Your vet will most likely prescribe an antibiotic for your bunny. Edison was on an antibiotic
called Enrofloxacin (more known as Baytril®) for a time.
Getting him to actually TAKE the medication was a chore. After trying to hide it in
his food didn't work, my pet humans had to grind the tablet into a
powder and mix it with a little apple sauce. Then put the whole
concoction into a small syringe, and sort of squirt the stuff into
Edison's mouth! It was an ordeal, but it was helping Edison for a
while
Jaw Abscesses Part Two
Jaw Abscesses Part Three |
abbit's
Battle