At 9wo, Wick began his URI treatment. It lasted 3 months, haha. A culture was not done either, and for many vets, that’s common practice. It’s a trial-and-error process to find with antibiotic(s) work against your rabbit’s URI. If the sneezing is getting worse (more frequent, more intense), and its been a week, it’s highly possible this antibiotic isn’t the right one. Wick never received eye drops, so unsure of the improvement there, though like humans, a stuffy nose results in more eye-crusties.

For your reference, Wick tried Bactrim for 2 weeks, then was put on Baytril. Penicillin (floxacillin (?); injection) was added on top of Baytril, and this is what did the trick for Wick’s URI.

Don’t hesitate to let your vet know if he’s getting worse. If he is, it’s a sign that the antibiotic isn’t the right one. Once the shots were added to Wick’s regimen, the difference was IMMEDIATE. It was fantastic. My vet and I decided to discontinue the Baytril and just do shots. Within 2 hours of his first missed Baytril dose, Wick started sneezing again, so I called my vet and we both agreed the turn around was very quick, but Wick needs both Baytril and the shots to kick this URI. So in some cases, you’ll know right away the medication isn’t right. In other cases, it may take some time. Wick was on Baytril alone for a long time, and it seemed to just plateau his symptoms than improve them, but once we took it away, it got a lot worse, so that feedback is important to a vet.

On your end, there are things you can do to help. First, if your antibiotic is AM/PM doses, make them as even, 12hr doses as possible. I always did 7AM and 7PM for Wick, on the dot. Any deviation of AM/PM dose would be noticeable in his symptoms. Additionally, help your rabbit out with grooming by wiping gently around the nose if you see it’s getting out of hand. Always use a clean, soft towel, and launder it afterwards; never reuse the same towel. It’s a bacterial infection, so repeated exposure would not help.

You can also say bless you after every sneeze… this just made Wick really familiar with my voice, haha. Wick sneezed every 5 minutes with sneezing fits upwards of 12 sneezes per, so we did a lot of talking.

I agree with Wick that his meds might need to be adjusted. His eye meds sound like theyre helping, but his oral antibiotics dont sound like they are.

When my bunny had snuffles, it got bad enough that he started choking. I had to bunny heimlich for over 15 minutes just to get him to breathe alright. Because of this, I am very inclined to say, if you feel something isnt working right, head to the vets again. Also like Wick, Baytril for about 2 to 3 weeks helped my bun

Another thing you can do are steam baths. Set your shower on high heat and close the door to let the room steam. Take your bunny into the room with you (but not into the shower/tub, just into the bathroom) and gently wipe away any snot that drips out of his nose. Youll want to do this for 10+ minutes once or twice a day. The steam should help any clogged snot in his nose, and should help open his airways to help him breath a little easier.