There are many bacteria that can cause sneezing, if it is a URI, and many of them are curable. In my personal experience with being on online forums, most sneezing cases are not the chronic pasturella that everyone is usually concerned about because vets bring it up or it’s one of the first mentions when looking up things about sneezing rabbits. It can take one or two different tries with medication to see what antibiotic is effective with the particular infection your rabbit has. When you have one that is showing symptom relief, make sure you continue it for at least 14 days, if not longer, as stopping antibiotics too early will mean it will come back.

I’m sorry about the buns you have lost. It is so very hard to lose a rabbit.

Snuffles should be treated. How good the chances of a complete recovery are, depends on several factors. A very young bun’s immune defense isnt yet fully mature. With proper treatment and a good diet of hay and good quality pellets, the bun can recover, although it can take quite some time. Snuffles can be caused by several types of bacteria.

It is however believed that some buns have a genetic flaw that makes them susceptible to chronic pasteurella snuffles. This is why rabbit breeders dread pasteurella and euthanize all rabbits that show signs of snuffles, to get this genetic trait out of their breeding programs.

Pasteurella is a bacterium that resides in the nasal cavities of many, if not most, rabbits, without ever causing any illness. The bun’s immune system keeps the number of bacteria down.

Standard treatment for snuffles is oral antibiotics and/or sometimes nebulization. Metacam is sometimes given to help reduce swelling in the mucosa of the upper airways.

Fingers very crossed for you! It will help that he is in a great and loving environment and gets good nutritious food. It sounds like he has found himself the perfect home!

We would be happy for updates 🙂

Thanks for giving us an update! Hopefully you start seeing symptom relief soon. It is great to know he’s very active, energetic, and motivated 🙂

Thank you for the update!

It sounds like he has good energy!

It is too soon to tell, tbh.

Recovery from snuffles can take quite some time. The nasal mucosa is irritated and mucus will keep forming for a time even as the causative bacteria die off. When a human has an upper respiratory infection/ sinus infection we often treat with local corticosteroids, with or without additional antibiotics, to help calm the inflamed tissues. This is not possible with rabbits, since they are as a species very sensitive to corticosteroids.

You could call his vet and see if they want to add something else to his treatment plan. They might tell you to just keep at it for a bit, but it never hurts to ask.

How does he seem energy- and appetite-wise?

I’ve had very good luck with azithromycin. People say it may lead to a reduced appetite, but that wasn’t my experience. This particular antibiotic is recommended for difficult to treat URIs.