Antibiotics Vs Gut Flora

[Floppy]

My vet told me rabbit has Pastuerella and prescribed eye drops. I can find no evidence the eye drops treat Pastuerella. My poor rabbit sits in a corner most of day and sneezes all the time.

I spoke to the RWAF who said the only way to know a rabbit has Pastuerella is a C&S test.

I emailed my vet complaining that they are cutting corners and putting my rabbits life at risk. I am going on holiday on the 2nd and i am meant to be boarding my rabbits. I asked for antibiotic.

The vet replied:

Dear Miss ——–.

With regard to the treatment that was given, I placed your rabbit on the Isathal to treat any possible infection which may have been causing the conjunctivitis. As I had discussed with you, Pasteurella is an organism which occurs normally within the nasolacrimal ducts of rabbits and with infections/stress/inflammation, there can be an overgrowth which is the white discharge that was seen at the tear ducts. I did not know what the cause was as there may have been another source of infection which caused this.

However, I do know that you cannot diagnose without a culture but your rabbit needed to be treated at he time and a sensitivity and culture which is sent to the lab can take more than a week for a diagnosis. Isathal is the only licensed treatment that we can used for conjunctivitis in rabbits. At the time that he was seen, your rabbit was still eating and drinking which was why I chose not to place him on a systemic antibiotic such as Baytril as this can have adverse effects with a rabbit’s sensitive gut flora.

I would hope that if you felt that your rabbit was getting worse that you would have contacted the surgery and I would have been happy to see your rabbit again and discuss further investigations and treatment. As I had stated at the time of initial consult, I would have wanted to see your rabbit again if there was no improvement.

Regards,

Mrs N. Hill BVetMed., MRCVS
Tay Veterinary Centre

Am I right to be annoyed? She’s not even apologised and she lied. She said “your rabbit has Pastuerella” she should have told the truth and given me option of CS test! My rabbits sneezing has shown no improvement. What would you do? He’s only 12 weeks.

[Bam]

If you’ve seen no improvement, or if symptoms have gotten worse, go see another vet.

Pasteurella multocida is a type of bacteria that occur in the tear ducts and nasal cavity of practically all healthy rabbits. Overgrowth can occur as a result of f ex environmental stress, as your vet says (stress can cause a dip in the immune defense). If eyedrops get rid of the overgrowth so the bacteria go down to a normal level, it’d be really good – systemic antibiotics do change the gut microbiota in rabbits as well as humans, esp in young individuals whose GI microbiota isn’t fully diversified. A very common side effect of Baytril is loss of appetite, but there are also other other things that can happen, f ex overgrowth of bad bacteria in the intestines (they seize the opportunity when the field is left open by loss of good bacteria that are susceptible to Baytril). So from what I can understand from your vet’s letter is that she’s tried the least invasive treatment first, targeting the most likely culprit bacteria, and that’s not a bad thing, honestly. Test results do take some time to come back, and that delays treatment, so many doctors, both human and vets, choose to start treatment, before they know for sure what is really causing the problem. Delayed treatment can enable an infection to really take hold. 

But if this eyedrop treatment hasn’t helped, I think your vet is saying she wants to see your bun again. Since you’re not happy with this vet, I’d try to find another vet. It’s important that you feel your bun is in good hands.

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