Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A 9YO Bunny – mouth abscess & mass in abdomen

Viewing 7 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • k8mccart
      Participant
      3 posts Send Private Message

        Hi All,

        Thank you for your advice in advance. I’ve never been a member of the forum, but I feel like I have a really tough decision ahead of me and was hoping for some of your advice.

        A little background – I’ve had Bianca, my white, deaf, blue eyed Netherlands Dwarf for almost 9 years now (I got her when she was 11 months). She came from a breeder as part of her show stock, but was too small to breed, and deaf, so she became my little girl. She’s had a pretty good life (I think it’s natural to wish you’ve done more when you get to the end) and has lived with other bunnies and piggies at times, but is our last surviving little one.

        She has e. cuniculi which she’s had since I first brought her home (she had an apparent seizure) but after a few rounds of antibiotics has been symptom free. She once lacerated her eye on what we believe was her cage, and after a lot of orthopedic treatment has been pretty healthy ever since. Though, she has terrible molts.

        Anyway, she began another terrible molt and wasn’t looking great, but I just assumed it was the molt and continued to brush her out when I noticed a lump on the top right portion of her cheek. When I touched it she winced in pain, so off to the vet we went. Though they said her teeth look good, they believe it’s a dental abscess which we’ll need to have surgically scraped. However, upon further examination (though her weight is stable) they found a mass in her abdomen, possibly a swollen uterus, and believe she either has an infection or uterine cancer. She’s never been spayed because of her size and the e. cuniculi – so they thought it was more of a risk unless she was going to be around un-neutered males.

        So here’s my question – she’s old and fragile so what do we do? The options we were given are: We can put her under to lance the abscess. We can put her under to lance the abscess and do an abdominal Xray with a dental Xray, we can put her under to lance the abscess and have her spayed (plus Xrays). They said she wouldn’t survive exploratory surgery at this point to see what the swelling is which is why the spay came up (a quick fix). The doctor said her risks are great, just going under – and it’s heartbreaking to think of her recovering from surgery at this age. Of course the cost of doing it all is well over $1000 US dollars, as it’s about $400 each for the surgeries. Oh, she weighs 1lb 12oz.

        So what would you do? Just looking for opinions before I state even part of mine (I’m completely undecided though I have some stronger feelings). Thank you.


      • Sarita
        Participant
        18851 posts Send Private Message

          Honestly if I felt that the risk was great and she was suffering and she has had a good long loving life at this point and she didn’t have a good quality of life, I would probably just euthanize her because it would be the kindest thing to do.

          I’ve had to make many of these decisions for my senior rabbits and I just couldn’t imagine continuing putting my seniors through procedures that weren’t really going to cure them and I didn’t want them to suffer.

          I know it’s a tough decision to make and I wish you luck in whatever you decide.


        • Elliriyanna
          Participant
          588 posts Send Private Message

            They BELIEVE its an abscess … Can’t you have the xray done while she is awake and that will let them look at the area where the abscess is as well? I have never had xrays done but it seems like an x ray may be able to rule out other possibilities and help you with what the mass is without any risks.


          • LittlePuffyTail
            Moderator
            18092 posts Send Private Message

              I’m sorry to hear your bunny is unwell.

              I’m not sure which option, I would go with but I definitely wouldn’t have her spayed. That is a pretty major surgery. I would maybe go the route of having the abscess taken care of as well as Xrays, but I would have the vet do pre-anaesthetic bloodwork to make sure she was able to handle it.

              I would also consider Sarita’s advice. If you feel she has had a long and happy life, it may be the kindest decision (but the hardest) to let her go.

              Only you can decide. You obviously love her very much so I’m sure you will put her well being above all else.

              Best of luck to you.


            • gingerg
              Participant
              123 posts Send Private Message

                If it’s not uterine cancer, but instead it’s an infection, what’s the treatment? If the treatment is non-surgical, I’d put her under to lance the abscess and do the x-rays.

                If the treatment for an infection is surgical… I honestly don’t think I would do it, and ditto the spay. I would be afraid to have a rabbit of that age, size, and state of health go in for s significant surgery. I think, in that case, I’d make her as comfortable as possible (which hopefully lancing the abscess would do), and monitor her condition, enjoying my time with her and looking out for signs of pain or impairment (which would cause me to consider letting her go peacefully).


              • k8mccart
                Participant
                3 posts Send Private Message

                  Thank you everyone. I said orthopedic meant optometrist care for her eye earlier.

                  Anyway, that’s really where I’m was leaning too then the vet called again last night after consulting other vets. All of them agreed the spay is too much for her, but since she’s maintaining her weight & is still eating & active, they all think there’s a chance she can recover from the abscess surgery.

                  I think what a lot of you have said makes sense though, lance & clean the abscess, X-ray it, but perhaps no further surgery from there. This way she’ll have a happy little mouth for a little while longer & the abdominal issue (which the doctor is nearly certain is cancer) will likely take over. @ that point we’ll send her to the Land of Nod peacefully.

                  If it’s a uterine infection it’s surgery too.

                  They did talk about removing a tooth/teeth if they are infected, but I feel like that would also be too much. Typically there is a long recovery from that, syringe feeding & I just want her to live out the rest of her days comfortably & happy.

                  I really appreciate your advice & helping me feel sane thinking about possibly putting her to sleep.


                • Sarita
                  Participant
                  18851 posts Send Private Message

                    I have a netherland dwarf who sounds alot like your little girl. He was dropped off at a guinea pig rescue and I suspect it was because he was not eating. He had a severe abscess in his mouth and lost all the lower left molars (not all at once but eventually) – what might happen with the dental surgery is that they may have no choice but to take out any infected molars because they are just going to be lose and come out anyway. Yes, he did stop eating after the surgery. However he was about 1 year old (we think). So you cannot always make the decision about the teeth – sometimes the decision will come when the vet actually looks at the mouth under anesthesia and it may have to be done anyway.

                    Please keep us updated on your little one.


                  • Bleach
                    Participant
                    1 posts Send Private Message

                      if you are going ahead with the surgery to lance the abscess then I would suggest having an x-ray whilst she’s under anaesthetic, lancing and cleaning the abscess and getting the tooth removed (if they can see which one is causing the problem). From my experience, the abscess will keep coming back if the problem tooth is still there and if that happens then you’ll just keep having it lanced and cleaned and it will put her through more stress.
                      I am no rabbit expert but just to give you my personal experience – my bunny had a dental abscess under his chin, I was told to put him on antibiotics and see over a week – it then swelled to the size of a golf ball and he had an operation to get it lanced. I cleaned and flushed it every morning and night and kept giving him antibiotics but within a fortnight it had come back, he had another operation to get it lanced and lanced once whilst awake too before they sent me to a specialist where he had a further operation and his teeth removed. I was also injecting him daily with penicillin. If they had just given me the penicillin and removed his teeth in the first place I could have saved ~£1000 and him the stress of all those extra operations.
                      Good luck with your bunny

                  Viewing 7 reply threads
                  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                  Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A 9YO Bunny – mouth abscess & mass in abdomen