rabbit teeth extraction

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I have a french lop, almost 4 years old. I just had his front teeth extracted today. The vet knew everything about rabbits and was specialized in this area.  Everything went fine the only thing that worries me is the fact that he mentioned that the removal was not as easy as usual. He told me that after giving my rabbit antibiotics he should be fine in a couple of days.  I was worried about my rabbit being able to eat right after the surgery but he said that there should not be any problem and no pain killers would be necessary after the amount he already gave him right after the operation.  However its been about 8 hours now, the vet clinic is closed right now and my rabbit has not been eating since then, which is unusual.  He barely can drink water, he tries to get close to the food and eat it but he can't, he gives up.  Im getting awfully worried, Im scared the pain is overwhelming him and I dont understand why the vet did not give me extra pain killers?
Im going to call the clinic again tommorrow morning as soon as it opens, but if  you can give me some information of what i should expect in this case, I'd really appreciate it.

My questions are, is it normal that my rabbit doesnt eat the first day after the surgery or should i panic if he doesnt eat after a certain amount of hours? around how many days should this last until he is fully recovered?  is this a serious recovery, or is he definetly going to get better 99%? (Im asking that question because being in the state that I am now, Im almost determined to stay up all night next to my rabbit until I can make that phone call again to the clinic tommorrow morning)

Thank you for everything,

gaby

ANSWER: Dear Gaby,

I'm sorry for the delay in answering.  We had several rabbit crises this week that took up all my time, and I regret that my email took backstage!

It is unusual for a rabbit to eat very soon after a dental extraction, and I'm surprised your vet's experience is otherwise.  Our vets *always* prescribe plenty of pain medication to have for several days post-op.  And if the surgery was unusually difficult, as your vet said, then I really have to wonder why s/he didn't think the bunny would be in pain.

By now, I'm sure you have visited the vet and gotten more pain meds.  And also I'm betting that your bunny is starting to feel much better.  The first two days after surgery are the worst, but then things start to calm down.

If he's still in a lot of pain and not eating, though, then you need to ask the vet to be more aggressive with pain management and possibly with treatment for GI slowdown/ileus, which can be triggered by pain and stress:

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

I hope your bunny is recovering well, and I hope this helps, though I am sorry it is so delayed!  :(

Take care,
Dana

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

QUESTION: Hi Dana,

Thanks either way for responding. I hope everything went well with the rabbit crisis you were having at work.

The next day I called the clinic and out of all the bad luck the vet had just left for a week vacation so I was given another vet to talk to.  She immediatly recommended a list of medicines to get for my rabbit:  Mylicon, Plasil, and Contramal.  They told me Mylicon was to prevent balls of gas from accumulating in the rabbits stomach, Plasil to help the digestion of the food, and Contramal for the painkiller.  (Im currently living in Italy and for that I have no idea if the medicine is the same as the one in the states)

My little rabbit immediatly improved right after that, he is eating well and going back to normal.  The only thing that is getting me a little worried is that around the 2nd or 3rd day after the surgery, his right eye began to water. I called the vet again and they told me to get Colbiocin, to be served as eye drops for his eye.  The watery eye has not improved since then and just today I took my rabbit back to the clinic. I got to see my original vet again and he noticed a lot of white pus accumulating on the upper part of the rabbits mouth where the top incissors use to be.  he cleaned it out and then checked the eye.  There was a little pus on the corner and so he cleaned it and passed a little thin tube through the corner of the rabbits eye and squirted water.  My rabbit was able to sneeze it out from his nose, so the vet told me his tear duct was cleared.  However he told me to keep on giving the rabbit the eye drops and see if theres any improvement with in the next 4-5 days.  He said that the cause of the watery eye could be because of the pus accumulation on the mouth

I got home a couple of minutes ago and I noticed my rabbit's eye watered again. I checked his mouth and there was white pus again. The vet had just removed it about an hour ago...

For now the vet told me to just continue giving my bunny Plasil until this Tuesday, Baytril until Friday (that was the only medicine he gave me right after the operation) and Colbiocin.

Just to let you know, my rabbit also sneezes a lot, he's been doing that often even before the operation, he still does it even afterwards. Ive heard pine shavings often cause sneezing but, instead I use these ecological pellets that when the rabbit pees on it disolves into little powdery grains, leaving zero odor.

My question is, the accumulation of the pus will eventually die out on its own with the medicine Im giving him or does it have to be removed every single time it gathers up?  
Is the cause of the watery eye, the white pus itself that keeps on gathering up?  

I read your article: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sneezing.html

"Dental Disorders and Chronic Runny Eyes/Nose" and I thought, could the roots of my rabbits old incisors still affect and cause this watery eye? or now they have been removed, its definetly not the cause of the teeth? my bunny never had this watery eye problem, it came up AFTER the operation...

Im sorry if Im asking too many questions! I just love my bunny to death and Im trying my best to solve these problems.  

Thanks again for your response, don't worry about having to answer back as soon as possible, whenever you have time.

Thanks,

gaby  

Answer
Dear Gaby,

It sounds as if you have very good vets working on this, and for now, the treatment is fine.  The tear duct flush was a good idea to check if this was the only problem.  But it may be that your bunny has a molar or incisor root bed infection that will need antibiotics until it is fully resolved (which it won't do on its own).  Please read:

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

which will explain (the old fashioned way) culture and sensitivity tests are done (now they use DNA sequencing and other methods, but the gist is the same).  This is vital for determining which antibiotic will be most effective against this infection.  In many cases of oral/jaw abscesses, a combination of bicillin (Penicillin-G plus Benzathine) and Zeniquin (marbofloxacin) work well, if the bacteria are sensitive to them.  Please also see:

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

I'm glad your bunny is feeling better, and I know he's on the road to recovery.  It may be that this is just the last little "clean up" of the entire dental situation, but it must be dealt with for a complete cure.  It's possible the infection was there before, but is now visible because the infected tooth was removed.  No easy way to know that now.  But what's important is to treat the present problem.

I hope your bunny will be fine soon.  It sounds as if he's in good hands, but now you're armed with things that will help you ask some questions about his treatment.

Good luck,

Dana