I’ll try to keep this short but it’s a bit long, thankfully not so much complicated.
Two weeks ago we got a bunny from a couple who “have a large farm” and seemed to know quite a bit about taking care of animals. We looked her over and she looked good, healthy, and of course adorable!! They told us she’s 3 months old and they had a vet come out and look over all their animals. So we took her home and started getting her settled in. It was slow going the first few days but things were working out. A few days after being home I noticed a large deer tick by her eye. With no problems she let me remove it and we went on our way. She still seemed to be pretty unsure of us and would hide and didn’t really like being petted quite yet. We would get a few quick pets in before she took off to hide and watch us, everything I read said this seemed normal, rabbits are shy.
A week later I found three ticks on her face. I called around to three vets and none “work on rabbits”. So I kept calling. I FINALLY found one but they can’t see her until next Friday, a WHOLE week away. But Lucy (our bunny baby) kept digging at her face. So my husband called the vet who takes care of our cat and he said, “Well I don’t usually care for rabbits but I can at least remove the ticks and look for others.” So we took her and I went into the room with her and he began to look her over. Well, to my shock, he found not one, but TWO abscesses on Lucy. One on her back (we never noticed because she never let us pet her back) and one under her right front leg. He said there was worm larvae in them and he cleaned them out and put some solution in them to keep them clean. But then he gave us Amoxacillan to give her, twice a day. I have read all about rabbits and Amoxacillan and I am not happy. This morning I gave her half a dose and watched her and she hasn’t reacted but I don’t think I will give her any more. My problem is that Lucy has been hiding since we got home. She has come out to eat and she was out last night after we all went to bed but as soon as she saw us she took off for cover and she will NOT drink any water. It’s only been a day, and she might drink some after we all go to bed, but i’m concerned for her abscesses. I do not want to use the Amoxacillan but would something be better than nothing? Would it be okay for me to put some Manuka Honey on her abscesses? I have used it on surgical wounds and other wounds of my own and I love how it works.
Also, is there something I can do to help her while we wait for Friday’s appointment? I’m worried that the progress we made with her adjusting to us before this appointment has been smashed to bits due to the vet visit, and we have another one in a week. Any advice on how to help my bunny not hate me after all this?
Thanks.