My bunny has HUGE tumors. Please help.

Question
QUESTION: Hello Dana !! A friend of mine suggested that I ask you for some advice. My bunny, Joe Schmoe, is an indoor rabbit. He is a Californian bunny and I've had him for about 6 years. Recently he developed some knots on his hips and one between his shoulder blades. They began to grow really fast and now the biggest one is about half the size of the palm of my hand. There are about 3 of them on one hip and two on the other. I took him to the vet and the doc said that there is not a lot that he can do for him. We could take them off but rabbits are not very good when it comes to dealing with pain and surgery. The "tumors" are not attached and are directly up under his skin. You can move these tumors around. His appetite is VERY GOOD and has not changed. He does seem to be a little more lethargic than usual but the doc put him on Metacam for pain. The doctor said that he was not certain what KIND of tumors they were or if they were malignant until he did a biopsy. Do you have any idea what they might be ??? I'm going to have him biopsy them next week. Is there any hope for my baby ?? Please contact me as soon as you can. Thanks !!

ANSWER: Dear Linda,

If the vet told you that "rabbits are not very good when it cojmes to dealing with pain and surgery" then I think you might want to consult another vet who is more experienced with rabbits:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Rabbits can be downright *heroic* when it comes to dealing with pain, though it is important that strong pain management be undertaken for any post-op situation.  Metacam and tramadol together are excellent for this, so consult the vet about their use if you do opt for surgery.

That said, these lumps might not be tumors.  If they are not attached, and if they are cropping up all over, they could be abscesses.  If the vet is planning to use general anesthesia for the biopsy, I would recommend you ask about total excision of one of the "tumors", since if it is an abscess, the last thing you want to do is break the capsule, inviting the bacteria out into the rest of the body.  In rabbits, abscesses are generally excised as if they were tumors, capsule intact, to prevent further spread of the problem.

Antibiotics can be administered once the bacteria causing the problem are identified via culture and sensitivity testing:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/culture.html

The fact that the lumps are moving with the skin is promising:  the worst malignancies generally are attached to underlying tissues, and don't easily move around.  So I have to wonder if these might be abscesses.

Be sure the vet who does this surgery is *very* experienced, and knows that these might be abscesses that should not be broken open, but rather excised intact.

I hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hey Dana...thanks for the reply !! The doc said that he didn't feel that the lumps were abscesses when I first went to him. I tend to want to agree with him because they didn't seem to be tender or sore. He could lift the entire tumor up and put the tips of his fingers up under it. (They were on a part of his hip that had a lot of loose skin on it) He doesn't seem to have lost his appetite. He is rather alert and not as lethargic as he used to be, however I have him on Metacam which may be helping him greatly. I live in North Carolina (in the US). Are there any certain tumors that are common in rabbits which are directly under the surface of the skin ??? I appreciate your reply. I'm going to take him to another vet at the beginning of the week.
Linda

Answer
Dear Linda,

That's just it:  There are no common rabbit tumors that move freely with the skin.  

If the vet you saw is not very experienced with rabbits, he may not realize that rabbits lack the enzymes that liquefy pus in most species, and rabbit pus is very hard and caseous (cheeselike).  That's why rabbit abscesses can feel like tumors, and they are not always sensitive to the touch.  They are often thickly encapsulated, and you can move them around without distressing the bunny much at all.

I hope these turn out to be abscesses, because this would be more easily treatable than an unusual type of skin cancer or other malignancy.  Good luck!

Dana