Abcessed tooth in a dwarf rabbit

Question
Hello, I took my rabbit to the vet because I noticed that he had a small lump on his lower cheek. The vet called me and said that they could do 300.00-400.00 dollars worth in intense surgery on my rabbit and couldn't guarantee that the rabbit would live. So the vet first lanced and flushed out the cheek from the outside and sent my rabbit home with two different medications for 21 days. Do you think this will help the abscess go away or will it return?

Answer
Dear Murlette,

A jaw abscess is a serious condition, but it is treatable.  Many vets prefer to debride and "debulk" the abscess and then administer antibiotics to deal with the rest of the problem, which is what your vets have done.  This is a reasonable approach.

The main issue now will be whether the particular antibiotics prescribed will be effective against the particular pathogens causing the abscess.  You don't say what type of antibiotics your bunny is being given, but if you can tell me that, I'll give you my impression of how useful they generally are in jaw abscess cases.

We find that injections of bicillin/duplocillin every 48 hours coupled with either twice daily amikacin injections (with fluids, to lower the insult to the kidneys) OR once daily oral administration of zeniquin (marbofloxacin) can be effective, but it can take weeks for the problem to entirely resolve.  You can read more here:

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

Jaw abscesses, like any infection, *can* recur.  But all you can do is treat the problem now, don't stop before the infection appears to be completely resolved, and then hope for the best.

I hope this helps.

Dana