He had only wood pellets in his foster home. I’ll try taking YN out of his litterbox and see what happens.

Okay, that’s convinced me to call the vet! I just started keeping a log of when he sneezes and what he was doing before he sneezed, so maybe this can help figure out what the problem is when I take him in.
I can’t tell what kind my pellets are. It just says that they’re made of sawdust. They’re pretty light in color, so I’ll see what other kinds are at the store. In the meantime, maybe it would be useful to switch to newspaper or carefresh. Thoughts?

He had been examined by a vet before adoption, and had a clean bill of health, so I thought it would be okay to start bonding right away I called my vet, and they said that since he doesn’t have other symptoms like nasal discharge or wheezing, and the sneezing is a totally new thing for him, that I should switch his litter and hay to see if that makes a difference. I have an appointment early next week for him- their rabbit vet is only in a few days a week.
I’m wondering if I should stop the bonding, and keep him separated from Bailey (hard to do in a dorm room, but I can at least put him on the opposite side of the room) in case it’s something contagious. They’ve already had so much contact, with being in the carrier together, having close cages, and touching noses, so I’m worried.

Yesterday afternoon I switched to carefresh in his litterbox, and misted his hay before feeding, and this morning he was still sneezing. I cleaned everything out of his cage- towels, hidey house, toys, all the bits of hay- wiped the bottom down, moved his cage to a vacuumed and hay-free corner, and I’ve been observing him for the past three hours. He sneezed once right after I put him back in his cage, but he was sneeze-free for at least an hour in his totally empty cage (this is the longest he’s gone without sneezing since he got here). After an hour of no sneezing, I put a handful of hay (I took it out of the hay box far from his cage, let it sit for 5 minutes so the dust could settle, and sprayed it once with water before giving it to him) in his cage. Lo and behold, the sneezing returned 5 minutes after I put the hay down, and he’s sneezed another 4 times in the 45 minutes he’s had hay in his cage… although the sneezing now is definitely better than it was yesterday and the day before (last night he was sneezing about 10 times every hour). After I took the hay out, he was good about half an hour, but now he’s back to sneezing. I vacuumed right before he started sneezing again, so I’m wondering if the dust from that might be bothering him- or possibly that he’s just sensitive to dust. I noticed that my asthma flared up a bit around the time he started sneezing again, so maybe we’re sensitive to the same thing!
He looks miserable sitting in his empty cage, so I’m going to put his litterbox and a little hay back in his cage, and try isolating him again tonight to see what happens.

I’m 90% sure the problem is hay. He went over to Bailey’s pile of hay, and started eating it through the pen, and boom- lots of sneezing. I pulled hay out of the bin, and he was nearby- boom, more sneezing. He’s been good all day except when he’s exposed to hay, especially when I haven’t misted the hay. He obviously needs something to eat, so I’m sticking with handfuls of misted hay until I get the chance to pick up something else. Any ideas on different types of hay that might be better for him? The hay I have now is from a nearby stable. It’s horse-quality, grass mix (not sure what kind- no timothy or alfalfa in it).

I’m still checking him for other symptoms, but so far, so good. I’m snowed in, so I can’t pick up new hay until the roads are cleared. For now, he’s doing better when I take the hay out away from him, mist it, let it settle for a few minutes, then give it to him. He still sneezes when I put the hay out, but not as much as before- and when the hay is gone, the sneezing stops. I didn’t get any of the hay he was eating at his foster home, though in retrospect, I really should have. Maybe I’ll try getting the same hay that she uses…

I’ve already ordered a few samples of different types of hay online, and since they’re not here yet, I’m going to the store this evening to see what they have so I can stop using the hay I have now. We’re trying organic orchard, meadow, and 2nd cut timothy, plus whichever type of samples they have at the store. Thanks for all of the help!

I take a big handful of hay, put it in their box, and mist it once from a bottle of water, so it’s not actually getting wet. They eat the handful pretty quickly, usually within a few hours, so I don’t think it’s wet enough or out long enough to get moldy. I know that sometimes horse owners dunk their horse’s hay in water before feeding, and as long as the horse eats it within a few hours, there aren’t any problems.

So, I tried pet store timothy, and for one, both Logan and I were sneezing like crazy, and two, the stalks of hay were all really short, so Bailey and Logan weren’t really interested in eating it. They like the long pieces. Also, the hay was really, really green. It doesn’t list coloring or additives on the ingredients label, but I don’t think hay is usually that… green. I used that hay for their morning feeding and decided to ditch that bag, because none of us liked it. Then I found this cute little country farm store (Sweet Meadow farm- for anyone near Boston, MA, and I think they ship, too) that sells hay by the bag, the box, and the bale. I brought Bailey and Logan to the store, and they let me grab a handful of hay and stick it in the carrier to see if he had any reaction. Their only reaction was to eat it I brought home a small bag of their second cut timothy, and they both love it. Logan sneezes when I take it out of the bag, but right now he’s sitting in their hay box with his head buried in the hay and he’s doing just fine.
However… his sneezing still isn’t gone. Actually, he’s out of the hay box and he’s sneezing right now. He still doesn’t have any other symptoms. Maybe the old hay is still bothering him- lingering spores or something, or maybe dust from the old hay is still in his fur?? My room is carpeted, so that’s probably not helping the problem either. I still have a vet appointment for him on Wednesday, so I think I’ll take him in. Anyone have ideas on what they might check for, or any tests they might want to run?

The sneezing has returned- he just had a sneezing fit, and I’ve heard a few sneezes today and yesterday. His nose is also wet again. Today is his last day of antibiotics, and I know for sure that he’s swallowed every single dose. He’s running around, doing binkies, and looks bright-eyed and bushytailed. Bailey still doesn’t have any of his symptoms (thank goodness!). I just don’t know what’s going on with him! His vet isn’t in the office until Wednesday (she’s the only rabbit vet at our clinic), and the receptionists/nurses can’t suggest anything except to make another appointment. I know the vet mentioned something about pasteurella, but she didn’t think that was the problem. Is pasteurella something the vet can test for? Shouldn’t antibiotics help with pasteurella? I’ve been reading up on it and it sounds so nasty- and scary! The other thing she suggested was allergies… I know with my own allergies, they’re pretty much impossible to totally control as I’m allergic to so many things, so I constantly have a sniffle. Could he have something similar going on? For now, I’m waiting until I can talk to his vet (which will be in 2 days), but I wanted to get input from BB so I can have a better idea of things to ask the vet. Ideas?? Poor Logan! I’m going to be a rabbit sneezing expert if he keeps this up.

Thanks Sarita. The vet is calling me tomorrow, so hopefully she’ll have some ideas.

No word from the vet yet. The receptionist said she would call me yesterday, but she must’ve been busy or didn’t get the message. I’ll be calling today.
He’s actually getting… worse. His last day of Baytril was Monday, and it’s been steadily getting worse, so now he’s sneezing the same amount he was before I took him in. I’m getting an air filter off Craigslist, and it gets really good reviews, so I’m going to plug that in and see how it goes (I figure even if it doesn’t do anything for Logan, at least it will help my allergies!).
Also- yesterday, Bailey sneezed, so now every time I hear a sneeze I’m trying to see which bun it came from. I think I’m going crazy!