Big bunny sneeze fit and nose goop. – Help!

[Fosterish]

Tuppence has been rather sneezey lately and has a habit of getting hay stuck up her nose. She just had a massive sneezing fit which really distressed her, and was followed by a very odd solid lump (properly solid, like a rock or seed) accompanied by masses of whiteish snot. Took me a while to calm her down (Casper helped by lying next to her, chattering and licking her). Got her cleaned up as best I can (she’s too distressed to be picked up right now) but gave her a quick check and a cuddle.
She is now back to normal and snuggled with Casper following a quick hay snack and a check on the little ones.
It is 1:00am in the UK right now so I can’t really do the vet thing unless it’s an absolute emergency. I don’t give the bunnies anything even remotely resembling what came out of her nose. Could it have been in there for the last few weeks? I haven’t even had this bunny for a month yet!

Should I call in an emergency vet appointment tomorrow or should I leave it for a bit and monitor her? I don’t want to cause vet trip stress if it’s not necessary!

[Jessica]

White snot in a nose isn’t good at all, as far as soild mass coming out I don’t have a clue. I’d call the vet to make sure it’s not an infection.

[kmurphy]

She definitely could have had that piece of hay stuck in her nose for a while. The body will then increase mucous to try to rid the body of that foreign object. This is from the immune response. An infection could also occur so I would closely monitor her tonight and take her to the vet in the morning so they can see if she has any tissue damage or any signs of infection.

[Mikey]

A vet visit within a few days wouldnt hurt, i think. Just to make sure her nosey and tummy are ok

[jerseygirl]

Yikes! Well it’s a good thing she was able to sneeze it out and all that mucous. Hopefully that will reduce the sneezing for a bit.

Do you have yourself a good rabbit vet? I definitely would get her checked out when you can. Possibly lightly sedated so they can get a thorough look at her teeth and palate to rule out that she doesn’t have any communication going on between sinus and oral cavity.

[Fosterish]

I’ve been up all night keeping an eye on her! No more sneezes, no discharge and behaviour back to normal. Thank god!
Still needs a vet appointment so I will call them when they open.
I am terrified of this being snuffles. If it is snuffles then the babies and Casper are all at risk.
None of the bunnies have nasal discharge or any eye problems or breathing problems. Only Tuppence has sneezed at all. That’s all positive right?
Should have named the girl “Trouble”!

[Mikey]

Troublesome Tuppence  It is a good sign that shes the only one who sneezed. I wouldnt think it was snuffles unless the sneezing is more often/daily, but its always worth checking when you have more than one bun to worry about. Hope all goes well at the vet!

[jerseygirl]

I’d ask the vet about whether the babies are at risk. They may be born with immunity to anything their Mum has. I’m just not certain how long that immunity (if present) lasts for.

[Bunbun]

A visit to te vet is definitely a good idea. Hope Tuppence feels better soon!

[Fosterish]

We’ve been to the vet and everyone had a very thorough check over. Tuppence has some crackly sounds in her lungs, evidence of old marks on her forearms from wiping a snotty nose to the point that her fur fell out and also evidence of fur regrowth and scarring around her eyes. The vet(s) (plural because they wanted to check with every available vet first) have concluded that it looks as though Tuppence had pasturella at some point in the last year. She may be in the beginning stages of another case of the snuffles (what with it being chronic and all) but it is most likely that she’s run down from moving / bonding / new human / giving birth / nursing and so she has a minor flare up.
No antibiotics because she is nursing and there isn’t enough research in antibiotics and nursing rabbits (and antibiotics can seriously damage young rabbits so if it does cross the placenta there is a huge risk). But if she deteriorates at all (gets any format of nasal discharge, changes behaviour or food habits etc) we will need to take the risk with the antibiotics or hand feed the little ones for a bit.
They’ve taken swabs for testing but as there currently is no discharge it may be difficult to assess if Tuppy previously had a pasturella infection.

Babies are in excellent health (they were cooed over by all staff present) and Casper is also in perfect condition.

I am now the proud bunny mummy of 2 potential bunny time bombs!

[Bunbun]

Ohhh!!!!!! Congratulations, hope they come out healthy and beautiful! 

And hopefully Tuppence will feel better soon!

[Jessica]

Hope the little momma feels better, and hope the little ones grow big and strong and Casper is doing well also

[Author]

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