Bunny Snot?#### UDATED WITH NEW PROBLEM

[Barrett]

I was preparing to put Patton to bed tonight when I noticed what appears to be a gooey white mucous around his left nostril.

 

I’ve never seen snot in a bunny’s nose before, though only one of my bunnies ever let me carry him on his back which is the only reason I noticed tonight. He’s been acting perfectly normal and had a lot of running/binkying tonight. If I had to guess, I’d say he has a cold though. It’s very white though and I think infections are always greenish. 

 

Anyway, let me know if any of you have heard of this before. Thanks!!

[LongEaredLions]

I would get him to a vet when you can. Runny nose could pasturella or tooth problems, or something as simple as dusty hay. Your vet can help you determine how to best deal with the situation.

[Bam]

I agree with LEL, white snot sounds like the snuffles, a bunny cold caused by bacteria, commonly pasteurella. It needs treatment because it can spread to the ears via the ear trumpet. Baytril is first choice antibiotics.

[Barrett]

Thanks! There is an exotic animal (including rabbits) vet just down the street. Gonna call in the morning.

 

I was researching pasteurella. Wow. Sounds like it can be really scary. One page showed me some lesions in the sample rabbits eye. http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Tof_case/Tof_en.htm

I never considered this a lesion, but take a look at this picture of Patton- He’s been like this since I got him. It’s like a membrane that comes across his eye sometimes not visible, sometimes covering about 25% of the exposed eyeball. The changing shape is what makes me think it’s NOT a lesion, but I still want to hear someone SAY it’s not a pasteurella lesion(?). I shrugged it off saying it’s just a normal part of his eye (same membrane on BOTH eyes).

Also- I HAVE noticed in the last couple of days he has a stinky eye mucous around his eyes which makes a small area of the fur in front of his eyes wet. I’ve seen that sooner or later on all my previous rabbits, so it didn’t alarm me. Telltale of pasteurella??

 

EDIT- I also read that sneezing can be a sign of pasteurella. We’ve noticed Patton sneeze a lot! This is easily treatable, correct???

[Barrett]

The good news is that I think we’re catching this early. I just looked at the popsicle picture from last night and there doesn’t seem to be any mucous visible. I hold him upside down every day and tonight is the first time I’ve noticed it. That said, he’s been a loud sneezer for at least a week or more…

 

 

[Bam]

Pasteurella is treatable!! Don’t let the Internet scare you into thinking it isn’t!

It used to be thought that it wasn’t, but it is. It can be stubborn though, so you often need a longer course of antibiotics than just one week. It can become chronic in the sense that the bunny needs a course of abx from time to time, but many, many buns live full and happy lives despite that.

I can’t say if the appearance of his third eyelid is abnormal or not, it is quite prominent as you say, but as you also are saying, it’s rare that both eyes are equally affected if it’s sth infectious. But an unpleasant-smelling discharge from the eyes can very well be a sign of a bunny cold. Then again, many buns get perfectly non-pathogenic “eye-boogers”, of course.

Sneezing can be from hay-dust. It’s the white snot that makes me think pasteurella. And it’s great that you’ve caught whatever it is early =)

[Merle]

I love it.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Zou’s third eyelid comes into play when she’s scared or wary.. or if I’m grooming her and I’m bothering her ‘quiet’ time. Sorry Madame!
It can appear quite quickly and disappear quite quickly too.

[Barrett]

Thank you everyone! I never had this kind of resource with my previous bunnies! Makes me wonder though since Chester and Halsey never let me carry them on their backs.

 

I made an appointment for Wednesday at 11am with the senior bunny doctor at the animal clinic. I think we’re in good shape!

[Sr. Melangell]

Like bam said….’Pasteurella is treatable!! Don’t let the Internet scare you into thinking it isn’t!’
Some things on the internet are very silly, I Google a lot of things, funny thing is with all my medical conditions I should have been dead and buried years ago, my Olly sneezes a lot, he has a lot of allergies and sadly not a lot can be done, but don’t take internet stuff seriously and I hope that you see a vet very soon and get bunny back to normal and you can relax

[Sr. Melangell]

Posted By Barrett on 10/03/2016 10:24 AM

Thank you everyone! I never had this kind of resource with my previous bunnies! Makes me wonder though since Chester and Halsey never let me carry them on their backs.

 

I made an appointment for Wednesday at 11am with the senior bunny doctor at the animal clinic. I think we’re in good shape!

Great! Remember to take a towel or thin blanket to cover bun bun’s carry case in case there are dogs there, if he is the senior bunny doctor he’ll have bunny sorted in no time

If he does a good job remember to send a thank you card in the post after, addressed from your bun bun

[Bam]

That sounds like a good plan, Barrett! Keep us updated!

[Barrett]

I might also add that he destroyed the pile of timothy hay I left in there when I went to bed last night. I’ve been giving him mostly pellets with occasional hay until now. I always used to think that was the norm  but apparently it needs to be the other way around. Disappointing because it’s so much harder to keep a hutch clean with hay than pellets.

 

But on the subject of hay, what can be done about ‘dusty’ hay? I mean it is timothy hay straight out of the bag. 

[Dface]

It’s a link to an old thread on dusty hay, hope its helpful;

https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/143008/Default.aspx

[Q8bunny]

Some buns have hay fever so do better on orchard grass, for example.

Nose and eye boogers are not unheard of and can have a number of relatively inoffensive causes. Just make sure to ask the vet to do a culture prior to starting antibiotics – more effective.

[Odette]

I have a pretty nasty hay allergy. I’ve found that changing out her hay in the morning and evening keeps the dust down. We go through 15 oz of Oxbow a week, but I get a $2 Oxbow each week with purchase, so I only pay $2 per week too.

I hope Patton is fine and his vet visit goes well.

[Sr. Melangell]

There is something called Hay cookies, you buy them from pet shops, they look like a shredded wheat biscuit, the big ones.

[Barrett]

Posted By Charlies Angel on 10/04/2016 8:14 AM

There is something called Hay cookies, you buy them from pet shops, they look like a shredded wheat biscuit, the big ones.

Thanks! I’ll look for them, especially if the doctor feels like it’s dust.

[Barrett]

Just got done with the vet. We’re calling it a sinus infection. Couldn’t see past the ear wax to be sure if there is an inner ear infection. He doesn’t act like there is though.

 

Got some Baytril and some drops to loosen up the ear wax. 

 

He was a brave bunny and the doctor said he was extremely relaxed about being held but he was pretty shook up by the time it was over. Breathing heavily and not wanting celery. He’s definitely fine now though.

 

Oh yeah- 7.8 pounds already! Woohoo!

[Dface]

Oh my god he’s going to be a giant!!
I love how despite being the same species of animal rabbits manage to exhibit such extreme diversity. I mean your Bun isnt even full grown, yet my girl at her heaviest is about 3 pounds

[Q8bunny]

Good boy, Patton.

[Vienna Blue in France]

This is what my vets sell and what they gave to Henry for the 2 days he was there as he ate the other stuff they gave him .
It’s an expensive way to go if that’s only what a bun eats… but there’s no dust !!

They’re like the bunny equivalent of Mars Dentastix for dogs – as CA says, with a sort of Weetabix texture.

http://www.supremepetfoods.com/fiba-first-2/

[Vienna Blue in France]

Found an image of the sticks – it’s not rocket science – they’re sticks of hay ….  LOL

[Barrett]

Thanks Vienna!

 

I forgot to ask the vet about dusty hay. I mean we mentioned it, but the vet didn’t address it directly. I will keep an eye out for those sticks. 

 

Oddly, while I hadn’t seen any snot since Sunday night, when I brought Patton inside the house after the vet visit (about 4 hours later) he had some snot again. Medication ongoing…

[Q8bunny]

I thought these were food? Like pellets but bigger??

[bluepaws]

you can order the oxbow timothy stacks, as it eliminates most dust and keeps you bunny busy the bunny could have also had snuffles though!

[Barrett]

Unfortunately, I’m having to update this because the thing about his eye is getting worse instead of better.

Since sometime today, there has been a development. For days, we’ve had matted hair around the eye with secretions. I never noticed him spending any special amount of time scratching his eye. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about his grooming.

 

Then I see THIS in the bare skin near his eye! It’s actually pretty red, as if he has been scratching it. Please note, I brushed some of the fur aside to get a better view for the camera!

The weird thing is he doesn’t seem uncomfortable in the slightest! Still normal behavior.

 

The vet this week said “Sinus infection” but I’m still thinking about pasteurella because I saw stuff like this in the descriptions.

I don’t want to have to make 2 vet trips in as many weeks! Is there any kind of home therapy for something like this? Some kind of household medicinal product I can try? I want to tackle this ASAP.

[Mikey]

If you think it is Pasteurella, you might have to make another vet trip to get a proper diagnosis to get proper treatment. Ive not heard of Pasteurella ever being successful without the proper vet care and medications. Were his teeth checked over during the visits? Sometimes teeth can cause problems in the rabbits nose and eyes

EDIT

To help ease your mind a bit, my rabbit had snuffles a while back that we did not fully notice until he started to choke on his snot. Hes prone to having a wet nose from bad allergies (we had many tests done to confirm), so we didnt think anything of it until he started to choke. Good news, you seem to have caught it earlier than that in your bun My bun was on medication for two weeks, then had another swab test done to confirm the infection was gone. It was, and hes been fine ever since. It is very treatable despite what google wants to scare you into thinking

[Azerane]

With new symptoms I think it’s worth another trip, especially since you’ve already started treatment and it only seems to be progressing, not improving. Sinus infection could certainly cause eye discharge, but there could be something else going on. Possibly pastuerella or teeth problems as mentioned. Poor little guy, hope he gets better soon!

[Barrett]

Thanks Az and Mikey. I guess I’m heading back. 

 

On the upside, I have not seen any more snot since we started the treatment on Wednesday.  Through various means of trickery, we’ve been doing OK on getting the medicine actually into his body. Though I can’t say our methods have always been strictly on the level of recommended bunny diet.

[Mikey]

Thats good! If it is snuffles, then atleast you know you caught it really early. And if its not snuffles, atleast you will have some piece of mind. I would really make sure the vet checks his teeth to make sure they arnt causing the discomfort and drainage

[Barrett]

Also- we were talking back on page 1 about the third eyelid.

 

I’ve kinda stopped worrying about it but when we were at the vet on Wednesday, I got the pictures. This is the most I have ever seen of this ‘third eyelid’. Almost HALF of his visible eyeball!

I remember the stuff about ‘stress causes 3rd eyelids to become more visible’ and we WERE at the vet at the time (after a rare ride in a car). So I’m not worried per se. Just putting this up so people can see more clearly what I was talking about. 

 

Correct me if I SHOULD be concerned. Again, it’s like this on both eyes. I think someone was saying it’s usually more pronounced on larger rabbits and he IS a French Lop.

 

And YES, we’ll take a look at the teeth. Although at only 3 or 4 months, I wonder how bad teeth can get? I haven’t seen anything unusual during our syringe feedings.

[Mikey]

Im not quite sure on the third eye thing, but do also know it comes out mostly during stress and during pain/strong discomfort

For his teeth, it could be genetics. If i recall correctly, lops are more prone to having teeth problems due to their breed. Even if i remembered wrong, he still could have a big of a tooth problem in his genetics by no cause of his breed. It would also be the farther back teeth that need to be checked, also

[Mikey]

I found this link that might be worth skimming through. There is a section near the top that lists the more obvious signs of a tooth problem (not to diagnose, but to see if he has other symptoms as well)

http://rabbit.org/dental-disorders-in-rabbits/

[Barrett]

Thank you again Mikey!! Patton wasn’t in any pain at the doctor and I don’t think anything happened to make him REALLY scared or traumatized. But I still suspect it’s normal.

 

As for the teeth, the good news is that the only sign on those lists that Patton has is eye discharge. 

 

But again, yes, we will take a look at the teeth.

[Bam]

Pasteurella is a type of bacteria that most rabbits carry in their sinuses all their lives. Most never get sick, but sime do, and it’s not known why. It typically causes discharge from the nose and eyes.
From the sinuses it can of course spread to the ears and lungs unless treated. It can also spread to their organs, so it’s very important to get treatment asap. It’s often very stubborn and might require a combination of antibiotics, although most strains of pasteurella are supposedly sensitive to Baytril. Additional meds like a decongestant (bisolvon) and an anti-inflammatory (Metacam) are sometimes prescribed.

Many rabbits have to live with chronic, low grade pasteurellosis because the bacteria are hard to get at when they are in their inert(“resting”) state in a biofilm that can form inside the sinuses and other narrow, hard-to-get-at spaces. Those rabbits need repeat treatment with abx now and then to keep the infection in check.

Pasteurella is not the only bacteria that can cause “the snuffles”, so a culture might be needed to determine what bacteria are at play.

[Mikey]

If it was that bad only once, i wouldnt worry about it. It couldve been a mix of things making him super uncomfortable for that little bit

Thats good then. Hopefully its nothing more than an easy fix then, if it is teeth. And if it is snuffles, be happy you caught it early as treatment should be a lot easier on you and your little bun (((((Lucky vibes!)))))

[Bam]

As for the Fiba first it’s a monoforage type pellet for. buns. It’s like hay and pellets in one. It has 30% fiber. I have recently started giving it to Bam together with his normal pellets. So you can combine it with f ex Oxbow or some other pellets, because it is pricey if you have a big bunny (Bam is just 4 lbs).

[Vienna Blue in France]

Zou has the third red eyelid like that when she went to the vet last.

Vet asks if it is normally red like that? I say no. At home it is sometimes just white when I’m stroking her and she’s just staying put to please me!! but it was red like Patton’s was when she was at vets… so for her it is some sort of stress thing, as she wasn’t in pain and the red went away as soon as we got home.

[Author]

Messages