Nightmare Part One.

Annie, back when life was so relaxing.

A couple of Sunday’s back I posted Annie’s Troubles which was a diagnosis of an abscess. Unfortunately, the Penicillin didn’t get rid of the abscess, there was some reduction but not a lot.  Annie had to have an operation to lance it. One of the things the operation revealed was the extent of Annie’s abscess & unfortunately it is an abscess behind the eye, this is called a Retrobulbar abscess. These are notoriously difficult to cure & has cut Annie’s chances down to slim, it is likely we are not going to get rid of it. That said I have to give her a chance.

The arrow points to Annie’s abscess. You can see what a big lump it is.
The abscess was causing milky tears in Annie.
You can see what an awkward place the abscess is.

Annie coped well with the operation & was very pleased to be back home. Normally, with these kind of operations, the wound would be left open because it has to heal from the inside out & keeping the wound open allows you to empty any build up of pus. In Annie’s case it was too dangerous to leave hers open due to it’s position. It would have meant that there was access through the wound for any other bugs that could potentially have got to her brain, like meningitis. Inside the wound the vet implanted some antibiotic beads which will slowly release the antibiotics.  This gives her the best chance of successfully getting rid of the abscess.

Annie just after her op recovering.

When Annie arrived home she spent the night in the house, in a warm room, not too hot though. She immediately had a good drink of water which is want you want, it helps get the anaesthetic out of their system better.  By the end of the evening she had been munching a little on a cabbage leaf. The following morning Annie was allowed back out to the shed but had to be separated from her husbun, Thumper. I knew Thumper would mess with her wound plus I needed to be able to monitor exactly what she was eating & what was passing through her guts. As soon as Annie got back in her pen she had a wee!!! Which was great as it meant she was feeling better. The difference in Annie when she went back out to the shed was huge, she soon became her usual self.  Although, the day after the op she did suffer with a lot of pain but the painkillers did the job allowing Annie to show some interest in food. To get Annie back eating I tempted her with all her favourite food, within 3 days she was more or less back to her normal self & 5 days after the op she was eating & drinking normally.

This Tuesday just gone was a week after her op & it’s been a very anxious time wondering if the abscess would return. Unfortunately, it has returned but is smaller than before so we are hoping that the Penicillin is doing it’s job. Not only is she getting it from the antibiotic beads but she is on daily injections too. She has to have a probiotic to counter act the antibiotics as we don’t want all her good bacteria killing off in her guts as this would result in diarrhoea, gut stasis etc  & she also has an eye drop every day. The next two weeks will be just as nerve wrecking as the week just gone, if the abscess grows or doesn’t go then there will be some tough decisions to make. But for now Annie is back to her usual happy self with her husbun Thumper by her side. Such happiness!

Annie had been enjoying a good groom from Thumper.

No such happiness for me though, the day before Annie’s op I found a huge lump on Teddy & knew immediately it was an abscess, it was devastating.   I haven’t had a serious abscess hit the bunny shed for 20 years & I get 2 within a week of each other! What is going on?  I shall post Nightmare Part 2 shortly.

 

 

 

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