abscess behind rabbits eye

Question
found the rabbit with blood on him whilst left in run with guinea pig, couldn't find any marks but blood on neck thought pig bit him, next day rabbit went quiet took to vets couldn't find anything wrong. over weekend rabbit got worse by monday had abscess on face, took to vets burst cleared up but rabbit still quiet and struggling to eat back to vets today to check teeth says has abscess in cavity behind eye would have to remove eye then drain but it may not be successful? the rabbit is a dwarf white with black spots been past on from relative as unwanted pet and he has been full of life until last Thursday when he was found with blood on him. he is only about 15 weeks old. we are devastated what has gone wrong? could it be bite from the pig? no wound found on him yet covered in blood? Please can you help with treatment, etc or is this the end for poor little Oscar thanks Jo

Answer
Dear Jo,

I would ask the vet about using antibiotics before you consider enucleating the eye.  This could have happened from a bit from the guinea pig, though I've not heard of this before.  It's more common for such infections to come from a cat bite or scratch, so if you have a cat who might have "visited" the animals, then that could be very serious.

If the eye is really bulging and painful, it might be necessary to remove the eye for the bunny's comfort.  But I suspect that the abscess is causing more pain than just in the eye, so I'd ask the vet about getting some strong analgesics for bun while antibiotics take effect.  We find that a combination of metacam *OR* banamine with tramadol can be very effective at making a bunny in severe pain much more comfortable.

It's very important that you have an experienced *rabbit* vet working on something this serious.  Find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Please be sure to monitor bunny's temperature carefully:

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

as an infection like this can become systemic, and potentially fatal.  Temperature is a good indicator of sudden problems.

Keep an eye on fecal output and appetite, and if you see a problem there, please read:

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

since pain like this can cause ileus and make things worse.

For more help and information, please read:

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

and

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

I hope this helps!

Dana