Lumps on the nose

Question
Hi,

Almost a week ago my rabbit (4yr old dutch female) developed two small lumps with an indented ring around the top half of them, on her nose approx half way between her nostrils and eye level. They are identical and symetrical (and are side by side). She has had no other symptoms.

I took her to my vet 4 days after they developed, and they did not know what they were (they checked her teeth and felt her jaw). However, they did discover another lump in a similar location (partially under one of the original lumps), which they think could be an abscess, but again, they aren't sure.This lump is an oblong shape, and fairly flat, and is under the skin. They do not know whether the two different kinds of lumps are connected or not. They have advised me to keep and eye on them, and take her back in a week, unless any of these lumps get bigger, in which case she is to return straight away.

Please could you advise what any of these lumps might be, and any prognosis/ treatment etc.

Many Thanks


Answer
Dear Charlotte,

There are so many things these could be that it's hard to list them all in an email.  I'll start with the very worst case...

You don't mention where you are, geographically, but if you are in Europe or certain areas of the U.S., then the lumps could be early signs of myxomatosis.  Please see:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.kindplanet.org/thumper.gif&img...

I hope that's not it, because if so, the prognosis is very grave.  An experimental treatment using Equimune (a horse-derived immune system booster) has shown some promising results, but it's the only treatment that has ever been shown to have any effect at all on this devastating disease.

If the vets you saw were unable to determine whether these lumps are merely abscesses, then I think you need to find a vet who is more confident with rabbit medicine.  You can find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

It's a simple matter to lance one of the lumps and take a sample to see if there is pus inside, or even to remove a lump and send it to a good histopathology lab for analysis.  If there is pus, then it should be sent off for culture and sensitivity testing:

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

The lumps also could be harmless, benign fibromas, or they could be small cysts containing botfly larvae (warbles).  I certainly can't tell over the internet and without seeing them.  But I hope I've at least given you a few ideas to discuss with your new vet.

Hope this helps!

Dana