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Around Thanksgiving of last year (2012), my bunny (9 months old then) was attacked by my wiener dog in the face. Her mandilla was almost fractured and the vet had to wire her mouth for 6 wks. She also had a fractured lower incisor which became infected and was surgically removed two weeks ago. The vet said because of the pus he was not able to get a few fragments, but thinks he got enough "root to bone". We had her pus cultured and it came back yesterday as anaerobic and the vet has her on two oral medicines – Metronidazle Susp 100mg/ml; SMZ-TMP 48mg/ml per 30ml-A&E, twice a day for 30 days. My question is are the "tooth fragments" he left behind going to keep causing infection and does she have a good chance of kicking this infection completely? She still has a mass under her chin which the vet said will probably have to be drained one more time, but the infection should be gone. We’ve spent thousands of dollars trying to save this bun’s life and if the infection comes back AGAIN, do we keep trying. The vet said there is one more antibiotic that we can try, but toxic to humans and we cannot get on our skin, but okay for rabit to ingest. He said that we can always go back in and try to get tooth fragments, but I am not sure I want to put her through that again. When do we say enough, she has been through sooooo very much and this is not about the money, but for her. We love dearly and want to save her, but don’t want her to keep suffering. Thanks for your help!
The tooth fragments could possibly cause infection.
But then again just because they can cause an infection does not mean that they will cause one, so this is just a possibility to keep in mind.
What is your vet’s opinion in this matter?
Typically when it is time to stop, they will let you know.
I think that you have not quite gotten to that time yet.
However, that time appears to be drawing nigh so to me the real question is do you continue to drag it out hoping for a turnaround or do you end the rabbit’s misery and the assault on your wallet.
The fact that you are asking this question at all leads me to believe that you probably know the answer already and that answer is that yes, you are very likely going to have to have this rabbit put down in the rather near future.
The ‘when’ is up to you. You have already spent a fortune trying to straighten this thing out to no avail so frankly no one would blame you for putting an end not only to the rabbit’s suffering but also to the assault on your wallet.
Honestly if this were my rabbit he would have long since gotten the needle so you have hung in there a good long time. You have nothing to regret.
In these situations the thing to remember is that ultimately this is about the other being, not you.
We had to pull the plug on our newborn son and quite honestly this is a much harder decision than it is to euthanize a rabbit (not to minimize your dilemma). When the time came we did it quickly and he was gone within a minute.
The reason for this was that if we were to prolong his life that would have been for US, so that we could have more time with him and a longer goodbye. It would not have been for him. As parents we did what was best for our baby and that was to let go.
So remember that when the time comes it is harder on you than it is on them, let go and don’t regret letting go.
Good luck and I hope I have said something useful.
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