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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Very snuffly rabbit

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    • Stickerbunny
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        Ok so Stickers seems to be developing into a very sneezy bunny as she gets older (and she’s not even that old! She was 4 months old when I joined this site, so she’s just a little over 3 years)

        Right now I am : Keeping them room swept to remove as much hay dust as possible, keeping the windows cracked for fresh air, trying to keep their area clean litter wise (but, they both INSIST the floor right outside the litter boxes is an extension of the litter box itself and Stickers likes to try to lay on top of their pee / poop! AARRGH). I also removed the brome hay from their room, so there is less dust in the air. And been shaking it out before giving them any. It’s spring, so I have been giving them fresh grass, greens and pellets without hay for two days to try to see if the hay is causing it, but she’s still sneezing, so I guess not. Have wet stuff in their room to up the humidity levels now, seems to be helping a little. 

        Any other ideas on how to help her? I called the vet again, he’s going to call me back tomorrow because our rabbit vet wasn’t in this evening. They’ll either give her another round of baytril since it’s been so soon since her last visit, or want to see her in the office again.

         I am glad my vet is so cheap, this would start to be expensive if not. November, March and now April she’s had a URI. And I cannot figure out what is causing it. Nothing has changed, no new pets or humans in the house, their room just has their normal set up in it. She started sneezing when the heat turned back on, but it’s off now and she’s still sneezy. The baytril does stop the sneezing after about 4 days on it, but it keeps coming back – last round stopped it for a week perhaps?

        Should I try to get the vet to give me a long round ? Or should we try a different antibiotic maybe? What could be causing it in the house that I should look out for and may not be considering? We haven’t even gotten any new furniture or anything. Literally nothing changed, except she just started sneezing last November and getting her to stay healthy now is proving difficult.  


      • jerseygirl
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          Frustrating and worrisome for you. : (

          Since she has improved on baytril both times, it’s likely a bacterial infection and its sensitive to baytril.
          I’d opt for a longer course.

          I remember reading a comment by a pretty rabbit savvy guy that infections can take a month of abx to really knock it out.

          You might want discuss with your vet about mode of delivery of abx also. Perhaps continuing oral baytril and adding another abx using drops or nebuliser.
          Nebuliser can be hired from drugstore.

          Just thinking out loud…because the rabbit gut operates differently to cats&dogs, I wonder how that affects the uptake of oral drugs into the bloodstream?


        • Sarita
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            Did you ever have a culture done? I don’t remember – perhaps that is the next step.


          • Stickerbunny
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              The vet hasn’t done a culture. Can they do that without any discharge (she doesn’t get discharge until she’s at the stage she’s sneezing so badly she ends up gagging and pawing at her nose at the end of the fits)?


            • Sarita
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                What most likely they would do is sedate her and do a “deep” nose culture…swab from the nose. I know there is some controversy about doing cultures and sensitivity testing but I don’t buy that myself and I think if it’s an on-going problem it’s worth talking to your vet about.


              • Stickerbunny
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                  Ok – he just called and he said he is about 99% sure from her symptoms and how it is responding to the baytril that she has Pasturella. He said he will run a culture if we want, but even if it returns negative, it doesn’t ensure that she doesn’t and given her symptoms he’ll want to see her regularly no matter what (since it can be false negatives, due to the length of time it takes to get to the outside lab and the fact we don’t want to wait until her flare up guarantees a strong presence to try it) to make sure she’s not developing more severe symptoms, such as abscesses in the lymph nodes.

                  He’s going to give us a 2 week run of baytril, without having to see her again. But, every few months he wants to give her a physical just to listen to her lungs and such to make sure everything is OK.

                  He said benebac would be OK if it’s rabbit safe, but he hadn’t personally looked into it for rabbit use. I know some of you guys use it, what did your vets say about using it in rabbits? What would be the dose for a 6lb bunny? Or is there a better rabbit probiotic? 


                • Sarita
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                    Well that seems always to be the consensus among vets – Pasturella – I guess you can just keep treating and keep treating with baytril – it certainly will not hurt and hopefully it can help. It does seem though that you continue with the problem without any satisfactory long term results….which I know can be frustrating. I do hope the baytril works but gosh, it kind of sounds like it isn’t.

                    Has the vet checked her teeth lately too? Just another thought since rabbits can start to develop dental problems at this age as well.

                    Okay, Benebac, I’ve used it and I don’t think it hurts but it’s not helpful either as far as I can see. I just give the recommended dose on the pushup container it comes in. There used to be another probiotic that was rabbit specific I tried but I don’t think they make it any longer…it was called Proviable RB (RB for rabbit)…don’t know if they are reformulating it or just didn’t sell enough.


                  • Stickerbunny
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                      He’s open to suggestions from patients – beyond the culture, do you know anything from your rescue experiences that might help a rabbit that has chronic URI issues? The probiotic I thought was mainly to help keep the gut flora alive during antibiotic treatments?

                      He checks in her mouth when he does a physical, but he doesn’t get an instrument to look deep back. Could that be causing sneezing though? She eats like a pig and hasn’t had any troubles chewing (or nipping me, or chewing my clothes, or eating our carpet, or eating the baseboards) and since it’s sneezing fits didn’t think about teeth.

                      And… does anyone know if this is cross-transmittable to parrots? All I can find about it is if bitten, a bird can become infected and die from it if not treated. Now I am paranoid, because my bird loves the rabbits. 


                    • Sarita
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                        Well, I did have one rabbit who I did have a culture done on that had a variety of issues along with the pasturella – I believe it was pseudonomas (sp?) and maybe some other bacteria that came back positive and we treated with zithromax with a nebulizer – zithromax of course isn’t without issues as it can cause kidney problems (I think) for long term use (but I guess any antibiotic or medication has it’s problems) and it seemed to work very well and the medication gets into the blood stream a different way.

                        That is what a probiotic is for but there is no proof it helps or hurts – no proof of anything and baytril is rabbit safe which means there shouldn’t be a problem with destroying good gut flora like oral peniciillin or amoxycilin does which is why it is safe. Most rabbits like the taste of the Benebac if you get that – it’s a gel type consistency.

                        It just sounds like to me that you keep giving baytril and the sneezing keeps coming back which makes me wonder if the actual bacteria is just resistant to baytril…just something to think about – do I have another answer beyond that – I wish I did.

                        Honestly most of the rescues I’ve helped with just didn’t have the money to do cultures on snuffly rabbits.

                        Dental – well it’s a stretch but it’s not that I just thought I’d throw out there – would be good though for him to look with an otoscope at those back molars which even then can be difficult to see. Maybe doing a head radiograph might show something if she keeps having sneezing problems….


                      • Sarita
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                          Another thought – azithromycin – I’ve had friends use this with success in their “snuffly” rabbits too.


                        • Stickerbunny
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                            Thanks. I will probably pay for tests of whatever kind I can after we catch up on our bills (next monthish) from the bf having to switch jobs. For now, the baytril quells it and that should keep her comfortable at least until we can afford it.

                            It seems she could infect my bird though, from everything I am reading. So … now I have to redesign my house. And figure out how to do that. Urgh.


                          • manic_muncher
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                              I don’t know much about the other stuff ya’ll are talking about… lol, but I just wanted to chime in with… has anyone considered the time of year and tree pollen?? I know for me, and now one of my dogs, anytime we spend more than a few minutes outside, we’re sneezing our heads off. I had the windows open for a full day before I realized how bad it was. Sneezing all around!


                            • Stickerbunny
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                                The windows being open actually helps for my bun, but the heater does irritate her issues. The vet said to try to keep any irritation/dust down. So, I am shaking all the dust out of their hay before I give it to them and I have it in a box in my room until night time, when they get locked away so there is less dust in their room overall (I can more easily monitor their mess in here). And just switched stuff around in the house and cleaned everything really well… but my vacuum has somehow developed chew marks in the tubes so it’s useless (gee, wonder who did that…she really is a trouble maker even when she’s sick). *sigh* lol Now I need a new one, it’s probably not worth replacing all the tubes since it was a $30 vacuum!


                              • longhairmike
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                                  see if you can get some antibacterial nose drops as well. hit it from both sides


                                • LittlePuffyTail
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                                    I’m sorry to hear that Stickers is having problems. I don’t have any other advice but I ditto Sarita about having the teeth checked. In bunnies, the teeth and sinuses are so close that if there are teeth or molar problems it can push on the sinuses and cause irritation. Couldn’t hurt to have it checked out.

                                    (((((Stickers))))))


                                  • Stickerbunny
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                                      Posted By longhairmike on 4/24/2014 2:52 PM

                                      see if you can get some antibacterial nose drops as well. hit it from both sides

                                      I didn’t know they made nose drops. I will look into that.  

                                      Thanks guys for the vibes. We got her baytril refilled and he gave us the longer round, so we’ll see how that works and then if she’s still being snuffly we’ll do the extra testing and see what other treatment options we can try.


                                    • Sarita
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                                        I think the nose drops are a smart idea! They will be off market for rabbits (but what isn’t). I know LHM has alot of good rabbit experience.


                                      • Stickerbunny
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                                          Does anyone have any idea what the nose drops would be called for rabbits?

                                          I gave her the first dose of baytril tonight and she remembers what is coming when I carry her out of her room. Lol My neck and chest are now a criss-cross of red, slightly bloody scratches. I think a nail trim is in her near future …


                                        • jerseygirl
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                                            The nose drops are often eye/ear drops but used for nose instead.

                                            Goodluck with new round of meds.


                                          • jerseygirl
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                                              Sorry, hadnt seen your last post.
                                              I think drops LHM used was gentamicin but I don’t know what other meds his rabbit was on.

                                              ETA: there’s neosporin eye drops which is a triple antibiotic but it contains a corticosteroid. You’d have to check out with your vet if safe to use.
                                              It’s the same ingredients as a veterinary drops no longer made. From memory…

                                              Re your bird, is it at risk of getting bitten or scratched? That’s only way it could be infected right?


                                            • Stickerbunny
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                                                My vet won’t use anything that has a steroid in it, unless there is absolutely no other option. So, he would say no to the neosporin…

                                                And no, the bird isn’t at risk of being bitten or scratched. The buns aren’t aggressive to him. I have no idea if he could get it from just being exposed to her sneezing though. Everything I am reading just says if a bird is bitten or scratched by a mammal, they can get pasteurella and die, so it seems to be the most common way for them to get infected – I can’t find anything that says they can be infected just by being around an animal with it (and apparently many cats/dogs have it naturally in their systems and just never show symptoms but are carriers?)

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                                            Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Very snuffly rabbit