# Swollen lip



## Dragonrain (Dec 30, 2010)

*IMMEDIATE INFORMATION: *

Location: Northern NJ

Description (Breed, color, weight): Broken blue Holland lop, 4lbs

Age: 3 years

Sex: Neutered male

Concise Summary of the Rabbit's Condition: I noticed yesterday that Ziggy's face looked lopsided, while the other side looked pulled up, and his chin was a bit damp. On closer inspection, one side of his lip looked swollen. He's still eating and drinking, but had a messy bum yesterday night. I cleaned him up and today his bum was a lot cleaner, but still a bit messy again. Took him to the vet this afternoon, not his normal vet but she is rabbit savy. Vet looked at his teeth and said they looked fine, but we have no idea what's going on with his lip. There is no bruising, no wounds...it's just swollen for some reason. Ziggy is still acting and eating normally. Vet gave us Metacam to see if it helps with the swelling, and just in case there is any pain.

*ADDITIONAL INFORMATION / CHECK LIST*:

Fecal and Urinary Output 

  - are the bunny's poops and pees normal? Pee is normal. But he had a dirty backend. I think maybe he hasn't been eating his cecotropes, so they are sticking to his fur.

 - when did they last use their litterbox? Recently

 - any unusual behavior? straining to pee? unusual litter habits? No. He's not consistent with using his litter box, but that's nothing new for him.

- what litter and/or bedding do you use? I use Feline Pine, but I have grated litter boxes too so the bunnies can't get to the litter to eat it or anything like that. No bedding, but they do have fleece blankets.

Medical History  

  - spayed/neutered? Yes

- has s/he been to the vet or been sick before? Been to the vet yes, sick no

- is s/he on any medications?  Metacam now, as of today.

Diet  

  - what specifically does your bunny eat? Hay, hay,hay! Sweet Meadow Farms timothy pellets but only a very small amount. greens/salad once a day as well but since Ziggy's messy butt yesterday I've just been feeding him pellets and hay.

- when and what did s/he eat last? He's in the litter box eating hay right now.

- any changes in the way s/he eats? (ie: not eating a particular food, odd chewing motions, etc) Since I noticed the issue with his lip, he's seems to be favoring chewing with the other side of his mouth. But he's still eating everything - not refusing any foods at all. He seems to be sticking his tongue out a lot, like he's trying to lick his lips? Just seems a bit uncomfortable in the mouth area in general.


Other 

  - movement - any unusual movements? Is s/he hopping normally? Yes - completely normal

 - is the rabbit molting? No

 - any weight loss? No

- any sign of drooling? wet face? Yes - his chin fur has been wet yesterday and today. Vet said his teeth are normal though, and that his wet face is cause by his swollen lip

- runny eyes? No

- wet nose? coughing? sneezing? No 

- is s/he breathing normally? Yes

Additional 

  - any plants, chocolate or other substances within reach? No, nothing I can think of that isn't bunny safe. 

- Has the rabbit been outdoors? No

- any other pets? if so, have they been ill? Yes I have other pets, but they are all healthy. (Knock on wood!!)

So I don't know what's going on with Zigs. I guess I already explained everything, but I have some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. This is what his face/lip looks like as of like 20 minutes ago. In these pictures he's laying down on his back on my lap.












And just for reference, this is an older picture of him...






I don't know if the swelling is even that noticeable in the pictures? The weird thing is...the side that doesn't have the swelling, his face looks kind of weird to me. Like the area where his whiskers are is pulled up more than normal? It's strange.

I took him to the vet today because I was worried that maybe something was going on with his teeth, but the vet said his teeth look great. I have no idea how he could have hurt his lip, especially since it has no wounds or anything on it. The only thing that's changed lately is that the bunnies got a bunch of new toys for Christmas. I'm wondering if he could have just hurt himself playing with a new toy or something? He seems okay, he's eating and drinking and acting normal, but I'm keeping a close eye on him just in case.


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## SweetSassy (Dec 30, 2010)

I wonder if he could have an absess (sp?) in his jaw. Just a suggestion. Hope you figure it out. PoorZiggy. Hope he's ok.


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## Dragonrain (Dec 30, 2010)

Hmm...I don't think it's an abscess. It's doesn't seem to be his jaw, but actually the little flap area of his lip in the front, and seems like just some kind of a soft tissue injury there.

The thing that has us more confused is the way his whisker area is on the other side. You can see the difference in the photos I think? It's like he's holding his lip/cheek I guess it would be up all the time.

Just to clarify though - his whole head isn't lopsided. He doesn't have head tilt...it's just his mouth area that looks weird. 
:? 
My rabbits can never get anything normal wrong with them lol. It's always something weird or uncommon. I really hope whatever's going on with Ziggy, that it isn't anything too serious.


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## pla725 (Dec 30, 2010)

I believe an x-ray is needed. I'm still think it may be an abscess or tooth problem.


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## Dragonrain (Dec 30, 2010)

I have another appointment for him next tuesday, with his regular vet (that's the earliest his regular vet could get him in which is why we saw the other vet today) so if there's no improvement before then I'll request Xrays. Hopefully he's okay until then, or else I guess I'll just have to take him in to the e-vet if he gets worse.


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## pla725 (Dec 30, 2010)

I hope everything is okay over the weekend. Let us know how things go with the appointment.


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## Flash Gordon (Dec 31, 2010)

ive seen a couple bunnies who have had strokes look like this...not the swollen lip part but def the pulled up twisted unusual face ...is it stuck like that ?..,,i hope im wrong but u need to ask about that at the vet for sure....


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## SweetSassy (Dec 31, 2010)

Wow...didn't know bunnies could have strokes. I guess you learn something new everyday. 



Dragonrain...I agree with the xray to rule out an abscess. Keep us updated please.


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## Nancy McClelland (Dec 31, 2010)

Unfortunately everything with a brain can have a stroke, but it would affect more than his lip. Sounds like an abscess or a tooth problem--X-ray sounds like a good idea. ray:


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## Dragonrain (Dec 31, 2010)

Thanks...he seems fine for now. He's eating, playing, binkying around...other than his awkward looking face he's acting perfectly normal. I think he should be fine till his appointment on tuesday...if he starts showing any more symptoms or gets any worse I'll be sure to bring him in to the e-vet sooner. The e-vet unfortunately knows me very well 

Actually my other holland lop, Berry, had a stroke last January...almost a year ago now. This is NOTHING like what happened to her after her stroke.


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## Dragonrain (Jan 1, 2011)

Ziggy is still, thankfully, doing fine. The pulled up area of his lip/face seems to have improved a bit...although not fully. It was kind of a slight change to begin with though, so it's hard to be sure.

His next vet visit is on Tuesday morning. I'll update after his visit, when I'll hopefully know more!


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## SweetSassy (Jan 1, 2011)

I'm glad he's doing fine and I'llbe watching for an update from the vet


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## Dragonrain (Jan 3, 2011)

Here's Zigs as of yesterday morning. I can definitely see some improvement, although he's not looking 100% back to normal. You can kind of see in the picture that his mouth is still looking lopsided. He hasn't been drooling lately, or at least not that I've noticed, and is still eating and acting normal. 











So we'll see what the 2nd vet says tomorrow. We'll be doing Xrays to check out his teeth this time. I'll update tomorrow!


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## SweetSassy (Jan 3, 2011)

I can really tell in that first pic...I hope all goes well tomorrow and the vet can figure it out.


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## maxysmummy (Jan 3, 2011)

the first thing that i thought was "tooth problems"

get an xray or maybe ask your vet to have another look?


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## Nancy McClelland (Jan 3, 2011)

Us too--we thought tooth/abscess. One of our dogs tried to eat a bee and got stung inside his mouth, which made his whole face swell.


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## Flash Gordon (Jan 4, 2011)

*Nancy McClelland wrote: *


> Us too--we thought tooth/abscess. One of our dogs tried to eat a bee and got stung inside his mouth, which made his whole face swell.


yea i came home to an abnormal looking dog before too...startled the heck outta me seeing my dogs face so swollen ,mustve been a bee sting too. ...her eyes were tiny slits she could hardly see thru...i gave her sudafed and wallah her swollen face went away within the hour.
i hope ur vet visit brings good news tomorrow! best of luck!


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## Dragonrain (Jan 4, 2011)

Hey,

So we're back from the vets! The 2nd vet looked him over and took XRays. Once again his teeth looked fine - even on the Xray. Ziggy does not have any dental abscesses or tooth problems.

Apparently, he has a middle ear infection. There is a facial nerve that runs through the middle ear that because of the infection and inflammation, was damaged - which is what caused Ziggy's weird crooked looking face and the drooling. The vet said that depending on how badly the nerve is damaged, Ziggy's face may never go completely back to normal. But at least now we know what's going on. He's on antibiodics now and metacam still. The vet thinks that the metacam the first vet gave us helped reduce some of the inflammation around the nerve, which is probably why I saw a mild improvement the past couple of days. 

Ziggy in himself is still doing fine. He was a complete terror at the vets! He's still eating and acting normal. I would never have known something was wrong with him if he didn't get the weird lop sided face. He's in good spirits and I'm glad we know what's going on now. We may have to play around with his antibiodics to find out what works best for his infection, and it may take awhile to completely be resolved, but I'm glad we figured out what's wrong so we can move forward with treatment.

Thanks everyone for your concern! I'll probably keep my future updates about Ziggy in my blog unless I have any further medical questions. I don't want to take up space in the infirmary when I'm sure they're will be other bunnies who need help more than Zigs does.


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## Flash Gordon (Jan 4, 2011)

thats interesting ..never heard of that before...im so glad u guys found the problem ,,i hope he gets better soon ..and hes still stinkin cute ...crooked face and all


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## SweetSassy (Jan 4, 2011)

I'm glad the vetfigured it out...Hope he recovers quickly


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## tonyshuman (Jan 4, 2011)

Wow that is interesting. I had never thought of an ear infection causing damage to one of the facial nerves, but now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. It causes the same kind of look as a stroke, but with a different cause. I hope the ear infection heals soon and with the swelling down, his function returns. Since the Metacam has helped some, there may be hope that he can go back to normal.


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## pla725 (Jan 4, 2011)

I meant to chime in earlier on this. Originally I thought as others it was an abcess. But now I remember that my Dutch rescue Ruby had the same issue. Her face had that same look.When she was found as a stray shehad ear mites. I guess later on it developed into an infection. It did clear up but later she developed head tilt. I'm glad your vet found the right diagnosis and the right treatment.


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## Dragonrain (Jan 5, 2011)

Okay...this is kind of weird. I think my dog has an ear infection now too! He's been scratching at his ears all morning and I'm paranoid.

Can ear infections be contagious? If not, maybe the infections are caused by ear mites or something like that that is contagious? 

Bleh I guess I need to make an appointment for the dog now too! I'll have his vet check for ear mites and all that I guess while we're at it, just in case.


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## tonyshuman (Jan 5, 2011)

That's weird. I would think your vet would have seen mites if that's what was going on, but I guess it's possible he didn't. It would certainly be a simple explanation.


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## Dragonrain (Jan 6, 2011)

I was just over paranoid...Kit (my dog) doesn't have an ear infection afterall - no ear mites either. Vet says it's his allergies acting up. After yesterday morning he stopped scratching his ears.

I'm just paranoid lol. One of my babies gets sick and I go into crazy worry mode and start to over analyze ever move my pets make! 

:expressionless


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## tonyshuman (Jan 6, 2011)

LOL I understand. It's better to know for sure, though. Last week I got really worried about my hamsters having mites and went a bit overboard on spraying all the poor buggers down with the anti-mite spray, even the ones that didn't have signs of mites "to make sure they didn't get them". I had a bunch of wet, stinky hamsters who were not impressed with my attempts to keep them mite-free! (only one really had mites)


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## maxysmummy (Jan 7, 2011)

hahaah! thats cute. i guess its better to be safe than sorry - better to do all than to do only one at a time and keep spreading the disease!


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