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jaw abscesses

22 10:41:34

Question
Hi,my dwarf rabbit has abscesses on her jaw that came after having her teeth removed, one of which is into her jaw bone,she is on metacam daily and Pen G injection daily, my vet agreed to use pen G as Baytrill wasn,t doing any good but he says that although her abscesses have gone smaller he doesn,t think the one in the bone can be cured, is this true ? or is there a chance it will go completely ? she has now been on daily Pen G for 32 days and has really improved, my other problem is giving the injections, I am finding it hard to lift her skin enough to get under it with the needle, i don,t know if it is because she has put weight back on now that she is getting better, or if it is because i have to try different sites as her skin became sore on the scruff of her neck which was the easiest place to inject, have you any advice about this as i am so scared of hurting her or getting it wrong, i even missed an injection yesterday because i drew blood and it scared me so much i withdrew without injecting as i know i have to avoid veins or muscle. please can you help, my vet says i am being too soft about pulling her skin up but i don,t think i am, she seems to curl up a lot tighter at home than she does on the vets table, hope you can help with these problems thanks

Answer
Dear Susan,

If the abscess is responding well to the Pen G, then I would continue it as long as possible.  If you can get bicillin, this is administered every other day, and has excellent efficacy against jaw abscesses in which the bacteria are sensitive to penicillins.

To tell you the truth, I find that injecting Pen into the muscle is far less stressful and painful for the bunny than the subQ injections.  Please ask the vet about this, and if he thinks this will work, ask him to show you how to safely inject (preferably with a short needle) into the large lumbar muscles on either side of the spine.

I hope that helps.

Dana