Painful Bunny, Please Help!!!

Question
My rabbit, "Oliver" is about 5 years old. He has had issues with his teeth since I bought him as a baby from a pet store where he was to be used as snake food. About once weekly I have to trim his front teeth, as they are not able to wear down normaly.

He occasionaly gets discharge from one eye, and can get a slight runny nose- only from one nostril. Both occur on the same side (his right.) The same eye that has discharge also will occasionaly "buldge" when he eats, grooms, or gets stressed. It causes him no pain and I have had x-rays taken of his skull that have not yeilded any findings

This morning he was normal, but when I returned home from work about 12 hrs later he seemed lethargic and painful. His head has a slight tilt to it (to the right) and he is VERY painful when I palpate around his right cheek. He is also drinking quite a bit of water... but he sometimes does that anyways.

He is being very quiet, and is only interested in food enough to smell it, not eat it... except for the small peice of banana he stole from me while I was holding him.

I know all of this can be due to dental problems, I am really wanting to know the success rate of treating this kind of problem(s) and what it entails. Is it possible to treat with anitbiotics and pain meds until I can get him to a bunny dentist? I work at a Veterinary Hospital and have been taking him there since I bought him. The vet who sees him knows a bit about rabbits but is NOT an expert and I believe this is out of her area.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks so Much!
-Kayleigh and Oliver  

Answer
FOLLOWUP:

The @!(#*&$( Allexperts site doesn't give me an option to send a private message, and I'm going to have to ask them to change that!

Against my better judgement, I'm posting this here because it sounds as if Oliver is in pretty dire straits.  But please NEVER use antibiotics or medications without consulting your vet and under veterinary supervision.  (and that goes for anyone *else* reading this, too!)

Here's the info:

Our vets usually try bicillin injections (50,000IU/kg once every 48 hours) for a jaw abscess like this, as a wide variety of jaw abscess pathogens are sensitive to penicillins.  Injectible only for a rabbit:  oral penicillins (e.g., amoxycillin) can be deadly!  

For extra coverage in a severe case, our vets often prescribe Zeniquin along with the bicillin/duplocillin at a rate of 20mg/kg once per day for the first three days, then back off (sometimes; if the infection is severe, the 20mg/kg dose is maintained for a couple of weeks, at least) to gain greater coverage, in case some bacteria in the lesion are not sensitive to penicillin.

For pain, our vets use metacam (0.1 - 0.3mg/kg Q 24 hours) combined with tramadol (2-6mg/kg Q12 hours) for excellent pain relief, especially when it's bone pain.  This works very well, and it will help Oliver tremendously just to have pain relief.

(I don't usually like to give medication dosaages over the internet, but since you say your vet isn't very experienced with rabbits, I thought I would share this information in case the vet wants to get Oliver on the meds ASAP (which is a good idea!)).


*****
Dear Kayleigh,

From the sound of things, your vet will probably want to put Oliver on antibiotics immediately, as well as pain medication.  I will send dosage information in a separate, private email, since it sounds as if Oliver is really in pain and in need of immediate medical help.

If he's not eating, the pain may be eliciting ileus, which you can read about here:

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

Please share this with your vet:

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

Pain management is essential for better recovery (a bunny in pain often loses the will to fight!), and I'll send info on that in a separate message, too.

Please read:

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

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

and

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

for more information on this condition.  I would waste no time in getting Oliver to the vet for treatment, and it would be wise to make sure of his body temperature, in case he is nursing a systemic infection:

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

I hope this helps.  Stand by for the next message!

Dana