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Tumor or abcess?????

22 10:49:49

Question
I have a mini rex rabbit and about a year ago or 2 years ago I've noticed a little lump on let side cheek and we've took him to the vet(jules) here in tracy califonia.and they told me it was an abcess and they gave me antibiotics and I gave it to him,It didn't go away so we took him to barbi brown and she told us it was an abcess and to give him the medicine and a hot compress ...didn't work so later about a year we take him back to jules and they are not sure and want us to take hi to this place really far away but we don't we go to this animal hospital and the doctor says its an TUMOR and to give him to do surgery but we go home and think about it an about a month later we find another doctor to get another opinion and the doctor says it's something with the bone and he drained it but no pus but blood and so he wanted to do an x-ray still doesn'r know what it is and he gives us more antibiotics.still hasn't gone away I have no were else to ture so please help me!!!!

Answer
Dear Erica,

I would tend to trust the vets who suspected a jaw abscess, rather than a tumor.  Be sure you have a rabbit *expert* vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and if possible have a sample of the lesion taken and sent to a good lab for culture and sensitivity testing:

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

Please also read:

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

which explains this distressingly common rabbit disorder.  It can take a long time on antibiotics to cure this, and it must be the *right* antibiotic. So finding a good vet who can do the proper diagnostics and prescribe the right medication is the CRITICAL first step in getting your rabbit on the road to recovery.

I hope this helps.

Dana