# First trip to the vets!



## Guest (Sep 1, 2014)

Hi, It is Princesses first trip to the vet in the next 48 hours (as time is not definate) and I am excited because we will finally see why she is sneezing, see if she is spayed, get her ingrown hair removed and ask advice about her. If she is good, I'll pop into pets at home and get her something of her own, almost all of the things in her cage have been passed down by my late guinea-pig and rabbit. I hope that she doesn't get grumpy at the vet or there could be some trouble! Should I take some samples of her food and bedding, maybe that could be aggravating something. I feed her on the normal (not everyday value) Tesco Rabbit food because she doesn't eat enough pellets and she eats Tesco food. I think I will take some treats to help her behave, she will do anything for them, especially the P A H (pets at home) hearty nibbles. Going to give the vet a ring in the next half an hour as they said they will fit us in either today or tomorrow.


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2014)

Been to the vets, poor Princess has an abscess on the side of her chin, which the vet said has most likely been caused by a tooth root, that has irritated her nose causing her to sneeze. Even worse, the vet said the part of the abscess was hard, meaning it had infected the bone, apart from that everything is fine, she is on a prescription of antibiotics to see if it eases the pain and reduces the size of the abscess. We have to take her back on Monday evening to see whether the antibiotics have done anything (which I hope will,) If not than she will have to be referred to a rabbit specialist to drill out the abscess and get her spayed, as just found out that she is not . She was extremely good at the vets, especially when they gave her her first dose of antibiotics, stuck a thermomiter (it looked very much like one) up her bottom and checking her teeth, she was also very good when the vet checked it was an abscess. . Yay she doesn't have a respiratory problem, BOOOOOOOO (WITH A MILLION MORE O'S) that she has an abscess and even more BOOOOOOO that it has infected the bone


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

Tooth root abscess is a reasonable diagnosis.

Rabbit abscesses can be very hard to treat, but it can be done. Treatment can be long lasting or even lifelong. 

I would expect the vet would want to try and get this under control before even thinking about spay - especially if she is overweight.

Please read up about diet. She needs high quality hay (90% of her diet) plus an eggcupfull of high fibre pellets a day (not muesli, and never unlimited). Science Selective is a good pellet and is readily available.

The hay (fresh daily) will help wear the teeth down.

The abscess will be painful, so she should have a painkiller such as Metacam to keep her eating and wearing her teeth down.


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2014)

Good news about her weight, she is now a great weight, she is 2.55kg, which is amazing, yes the vet wants to get it under control before spaying but thinks it would be a good idea to spay whilst still under anasthesic (if the abscess does not go.) Unfortunately the vet was not a rabbit savvy vet but he did identify the problem which means he has done what he needs to do. He did not suggest metacam and it only causes her pain when she sneezes, which is about 3-6 sneezes with at least a 20 min breaks after each episode, sometime it can be hours until her next sneeze, but he did suggest to us that we should start using Super Rabbit pellets so she gets a fair balance of nutrients in her diet. He said if the abscess does not reduce in size after 1 week, we will be referred to a Rabbit Specialist for her. At the moment she hasn't sneezed for a while . 
Sorry to be a nuisance, but has any one on here had the same experience? She is as tough as old boots, Princess is.


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## Carrotsandhay (Aug 25, 2014)

Hi 

Have had a similar experience, as my bun has an abscess caused by tooth problems. She had an op last year to remove it which worked but unfortunately one year later it has come back and she is currently on antibiotics to try and get rid of it. She is almost done with the antibiotics though and it hasn't shrunk that much so we may need to think of a different way to get rid of it  How olds your bun?


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

binkybunny said:


> Good news about her weight, she is now a great weight, she is 2.55kg, which is amazing, yes the vet wants to get it under control before spaying but thinks it would be a good idea to spay whilst still under anasthesic (if the abscess does not go.) Unfortunately the vet was not a rabbit savvy vet but he did identify the problem which means he has done what he needs to do. He did not suggest metacam and it only causes her pain when she sneezes, which is about 3-6 sneezes with at least a 20 min breaks after each episode, sometime it can be hours until her next sneeze, but he did suggest to us that we should start using Super Rabbit pellets so she gets a fair balance of nutrients in her diet. He said if the abscess does not reduce in size after 1 week, we will be referred to a Rabbit Specialist for her. At the moment she hasn't sneezed for a while .
> Sorry to be a nuisance, but has any one on here had the same experience? She is as tough as old boots, Princess is.


Glad her weight is improving.

We also have several buns with tooth root abscesses- we have a very motley, aging crew.  All of these rabbits were already dental buns, and are fed on very good hay/Science Selective pellets, so they can't always be avoided.

Only one abscess blew right out, making poor bun look very lopsided. It came up very quickly. He couldn't eat and was very lucky to survive.

Others have only been visible on Xrays taken when they still "weren't right" following a standard dental.

A couple have had a collection of micro abscesses.

All of ours have had different treatment regimes - but all of them have had Metacam painkiller alongside the antibiotics. Imagine trying to eat when you've got a tooth abscess.

Our bun with the big facial abscess couldn't eat properly, and survived on a pellet slurry, until the abscess was more under control.

None of our rabbits have had surgery, but that doesn't mean to say that that wouldn't be right for another rabbit . Most responded to oral antibiotics/painkillers. (Metacam is also an antiflammatory). The bun with the large abscess needed daily antibiotic injections (Penicillin) for a long time, and will remain on oral antibiotics (Baytril, Metranodazole) forever.

All these rabbits are now leading a good quality life.

If an abscess is left untreated, however, the rabbit will lead a wretched life in pain. Sadly, we've seen that happen in a local rescue. That poor bun had to be PTS.

Hope that helps a little.


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2014)

She is still eating gladly, but the thing that she has just started doing is not liking her treats put in her cage or bowl, so I have to hand feed her. The thing I am a bit annoyed about is that she was given to us with this abscess, why didn't she get vet checked first??? Maybe they thought that we would not have her because of the abscess? I think she is about two (at least that's what we were told.) We got her some dust free hay yesterday and 2 bags of treats for her to enjoy so she's happy. Bit nervous about giving her antibiotics, because even the vet struggled to . She's eating (good) and staring at me at the moment. Properly digging into her food bowl .


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

binkybunny said:


> She is still eating gladly, but the thing that she has just started doing is not liking her treats put in her cage or bowl, so I have to hand feed her. The thing I am a bit annoyed about is that she was given to us with this abscess, why didn't she get vet checked first??? Maybe they thought that we would not have her because of the abscess? I think she is about two (at least that's what we were told.) We got her some dust free hay yesterday and 2 bags of treats for her to enjoy so she's happy. Bit nervous about giving her antibiotics, because even the vet struggled to . She's eating (good) and staring at me at the moment. Properly digging into her food bowl .


Most of our rabbits now come to take their medicine form a syringe eagerly (they now think most meds are a treat)

A couple still need syringing.

But others we mix the meds in a little baby food (Ellas Kitchen apples apples apples).

It's a lot less stressful - other than the fact you have to make sure the right bun gets the right meds!

She will be fine wothout treats - It might be that they hurt her mouth more.

try offering a little cut grass as a treat instead.


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2014)

We have a problem with our grass at the moment, It is growing lots of mushrooms. She took half her meds last night but spat the other half out. On Monday and Tuesday, she barely sneezed at all, which means the meds are responding! Today was a bit worse, but that was because she only took half the medicine, as we don't have any fruit baby food, the vet said you can mix it a with a small drop of blackcurrant cordial. Lets hope we don't have to go to last resorts like yesterday


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## Carrotsandhay (Aug 25, 2014)

Glad things are getting better for her. As she's on antibiotics its important she gets all the dose (I think!) In the past I have given Flapjack medicine in carrot puree I have made myself. Its very easy to make, if you have an electric mixer? If you do pop some chopped carrot into a bowl full of boiling water and leave to soften and then put the soft carrot into a mixing bowl and use the mixer on it. You can keep it in the fridge and mix the medicine into a teaspoon full of it.


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

Another way we gave meds to one bun was to make a "sandwich" of dandelion leave,s which he absolutely loved.

For weeks and weeks, he scoffed it meds and all - then he got wse, and ate around the edges, so we had to come up with something else.

Glad the sneezing has reduced - do keep up the meds though, and do avoid wood shavings/sawdust, which can aggravate any respiratory issues/sneezing.

In your bun's case though, it is possibly due to tooth root pressure and irritation triggering the sneezing.


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## Lopside (Mar 20, 2012)

Suck up the meds in the syringe then suck up a bit of something nice like pineapple juice. So the first thing they taste is nice and they think ohhhhh yum ....then you can whack the rest in quickly....sadly they may get wise to this tactic haha :thumbdown:


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2014)

She likes the black currant method, it was a bit too strong and we had to feed her bit by bit, also she likes to flick it off her tongue


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2014)

A quick update: Fed her this morning (still eating, and eating LOTS.) She looked up at me and her chin was quite puffed up, it has deflated now though . She was fine and is fine now. Still eating, pooping etc. We think she had an allergic reaction to the blackcurrant and are going to try a different tactic, unfortunately today, she'll have to take it as normal until we get the baby food tomorrow or saturday . I fed her a treat about 5-10 mins ago and she has already eaten it!. Meds are still working! :thumbup1: :thumbup1: (why did I put 2 thumbs up!)


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## Carrotsandhay (Aug 25, 2014)

Glad things are going well


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## Guest (Sep 6, 2014)

I think the medicine is working! I have only heard her sneezing a couple of times in the past couple of days! I don't want her to go under the knife, so fingers crossed it really is working! 
I have started noticing a lump under her chin that had started to appear on Wednesday. I haven't phoned the vets because it keeps on deflating at around 9am-8.30pm (when she has her meds.) Could she be allergic to them. She is in no pain at all as she is still eating and drinking well! She is still bouncing around being her usual self like, jumping off her shelf (that's about 10-15cm high,) playing hide and seek in her little cave/hiding area and chillaxing after having a good ol' play. Should I continue giving her the meds if the reaction is only her chin inflating or phone the vets asap?


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

Not sure what this is, and I'm sure the vet would like to see her.

Is there any sign of a wound/open abscess there?

Best get it checked for a proper diagnosis.


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## Guest (Sep 6, 2014)

No wound, just her chin inflates. Her next appointment is on Monday, no abscess or anything, it just inflates and it's a bit pink. Trying it with baby food. She doesn't like it but she prefers it to the others, so she'll take it. I'm not sure the vet will be too excited to see her after he had to call in assistance because she wouldn't do anything the vet wanted her to do, lol. She really hated the vets, she shook for a while afterwards and is still very nervous now but will play games and be her usual self, I don't want to put her through going to the vets just yet, so I might wait until Monday unless anything else bad happens.


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