Bone Lumps where abscess used to be on rabbit

Question
Hi,

I have a six year old Mini Lop who recently had an abscess lanced and drained on her lower jaw (surgery was 2 weeks ago, so not sure if the abscess will recur). She is currently on baytril. My question is that where her abscess used to be, on the right side of her lower jaw, there is now bumpy lump that is hard and feels like bone (my vet actually said it is bone, but he doesn't know much about rabbits). It is towards the right side of her lower jaw and is asymmetrical with the left side.  It is not round and kind of flat though it has more dimension on certain parts, but overal it is about as big as half a golf ball. It may have formed while the abscess was still there, or may have formed after the surgery. Not sure. My question is what is this, is it dangerous, how did it form, does it need to be removed?  I've read many topics on abscesses online but did not find any relating to bone except for perhaps calcification and jaw cancer.  These were not elaborated upon though and i know no detail about these topics.



My other question is that my rabbit no longer lies on her stomach since her surgery(where she's stretched out, i call it 'log style'). She used to do this all the time. Could she still be experiencing discomfort, perhaps from this bone lump? She is still as fiesty as ever in every other sense and eats normally.

Thank you for your help.


Answer
Dear Nhu-y,

The lump you describe is possibly osteomyelitis, infection that has traveled into the bone.  In rabbits, this is usually due to a molar root infection.

Was a culture and sensitivity test done on the pus that the vet removed?  I hope so.  If so, please ask the vet if the bacteria in the abscess are sensitive to penicillins.  If they are, then an excellent thing to try in this case is injectible (NOT oral!) bicillin, a combination of Penicillin-G Procaine and Benzathine.  This type of penicillin is safe for rabbits, and it has excellent abscess and bone penetration.  We have had rabbits with terrible bone abscesses recover from them with a long course (in one case, it took 6 months of every other day injections) of bicillin.

If you think your vet may not be experienced enough with rabbits, please get a second opinion from a good rabbit vet, whom you can find here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Please also read:

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

for complete information about this problem.

The fact that your bunny isn't stretching out completely does suggest that she's not entirely without pain. Please also ask the vet about analgesics that will help her feel better while the other medications are doing their job.

I hope this helps.

Dana