bunny with allergies? (a few more ?’s)

[rosalie68]

i was wondering if anyone has had a bunny that has allergies? im staring to wonder if charlie has allergies to his bedding or hay or dust. the dr has given him an antihistamine in hopes that it may help him. just curious if anyone else has gone through this with thier bunny. i might add that the medicine should produce a miracle or turn things to gold because it costed us $105

we have gotten the fluid out of his chest but his bronchial tubes were still inflamed and irritated. he is on an anti-inflamatory and anti-histamine. tomorow we call the vet and discuss what we will do from here. the baytril wasnt really doing anything for him so im not sure that he has a bacterial infection. i just wish we could figure this out and make him better. ill keep you all updated. any advice or personal experience is welcomed. thanks!

 

kim

[Barbie]

Aww poor bunny! (((( healing vibes! ))) )

I’m not a doctor of a vet and I don’t want to scare you, but… when I hear “fluid in the lungs” I think pneumonia… depending on the cause it’ll be treated differently… http://www.petmd.com/rabbit/conditions/respiratory/c_rb_pneumonia

Anyway, hopefully it’s not that! If it’s allergies, (which I suppose is possible – I know lots of dogs can get allergies) you’ll want to talk to your vet about what things could aggravate his allergies… I’m thinking hay fines/dust, litter, general dust/dust mites in your house, chemicals or air fresheners, pollen (I would think that’s unlikely now, since it’s winter), pellets (did you switch brands recently?), maybe even certain veggies…. Then, once you have that list made up, you’ll want to cut out one variable at a time and see if that makes a difference.  If you cut out everything all at once, you won’t know what the problem was.

Btw what makes you think it’s allergies? (aside from the fluid in the lungs) Is he scratching/itching himself? Are his eyes red/watery/gunky? Since he had fluid in his lungs, he probably was sounding kinda snuffly, but was he sneezing/coughing?

I hope you get that resolved!

[jerseygirl]

It could be a bacterial infection still but the bacteria was not susceptible to baytril. That is why a culture and sentivity test is often done, to identify what it is and the specific med needed to treat it.

It’s not commonly thought that bunnies can get allergies yet I have heard of allergy like symptoms that have been alleviated by benadryl…so it’s hard to say. I think it’s more like a rabbit has a chronic infection that it exacerbated by things in the environment (i.e. these things are not the initial cause.)  It would be useful to take out any irritants and see if there is an improvement though.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

It could be a bacterial infection still but the bacteria was not susceptible to baytril. That is why a culture and sentivity test is often done, to identify what it is and the specific med needed to treat it.

Big ditto-baytril is a catch all for rabbits-but it won’t treat everything. So culture and sensitivity is a really good way to go.

I know allergies could be a cause-and treating for them is probably the best way to find out. I’m just thinking fluid in lungs isn’t really an allergy thing-but again, I’m not a vet.

What type of litter are you using? As Jers said-it may be a good idea to look at the enviornment and makes changes now. If you use glade plugins or other scents in the house-they need to go-they just aren’t good for rabbits in general-especially sensitive ones. Also a non dusty litter like care fresh would be the way to go.

Anyways keep us posted!

[Sarita]

I agree about Baytril – it’s a great drug for rabbits but it’s not always the right one or the only one.

I agree about the culture and sensitivity test – this will cost you a bit BUT in the long run it would tell you more than just treating with no positive outcome.

[rosalie68]

the fluid was on the outside of his lungs. it was around them . she told me the name of it but i dont remember. i had never heard of it being around them and not inside. we got rid of the fluid by giving him a diuretic. but he also had irritated bronchial tubes. we are trying to treat that part right now. he doesnt have runny eyes and isnt extra scratchy. he is just coughing (hacking) and sneezing. everything else for him is normal. we didnt even know how severe it really was until we had xrays done on him and saw the fluid and his airways. im not so sure that he has allergies but since she is trying an antihistamine with him i was kind of curious to see if anyone else had been that route. i was using critter care for his bedding which is exactly like carefresh and its pretty dusty. it has the little fibers that float through the air when u break it up. i am now using cardboard as of last night. it seems to me like it would be bacterial because there was a bunny that was sneezing and coughing in the same cage as him at the pet store. charlie started doing it about 1 week after we had him and has never stopped. we got him on november 10. since he has been on the anti inflamatory with the antihistamine he has seemed to be doing better. im not sure which one is helping him. he does still have quite a few episodes though. most seem to be in his cage but he has them out of it too and in jacks cage. so they are not limited just to his cage entirely. i really appreciate all of the help. thankfully jack seems to be fine. i will keep you all updated. we are going to the vet within the next few days.

kim

[rosalie68]

ok charlie and jack go to the vet on wednessday. im going to ask about the sensitivity test and culture. could someone tell me more about it so i will know what to ask for at the vet. she was telling one time about some sort of test where they have to make a slit in there neck and do some sort of wash for bacteria and that it didnt really tell them much bc rabbits have alot of bacteria as it is. not sure what that was called but she said it was pretty expensive and didnt help too much. she said it wouldnt point out a specific bacteria that was making the problem unless it was e coli. im having another xray done on charlie to see how his lungs are doing.

jack is going to get a regular check up. im going to have his nails cut, and we are going to see if he is ready to be nuetured. im thinking he is because he is starting to drive me nuts with some of his behavoirs.

i also wanted to add that we havent changed the food or hay and although we have dust in our house its not any significant amount. i clean their cages fairly often and they have the paper pellet litter. charlie has cardboard for bedding and jack still has the critter care bc it doesnt seem to bother him.

i will let everyone know what the vet says on wednessday. any advice for testing or how that sensitivity and culture test work would be great. its better to go in there knowing what im talking about lol. thanks everyone!!!

kim

 

oh and also we dont use any sprays or perfume. no carpet powder or anything like that. no plug ins or air freshener.

[jerseygirl]

A bit more on  culture & sensitivity test: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/culture.html  The procedure your vet mentioned does sound like this. That maybe she was talking about getting swab from near the lungs? My vet says there are 2 ways to go about things.  Do a bunch of invasive tests, or just try different meds until you get one that works… (she said it less blase though!!)  It all adds up to be expensive either way.  Yes, test can be invasive but it might mean doing it that one time, getting the right med and that’s it hopefully.  Not continual vet visits.  It is tricky to get to the cause but I do hope you can reach it for Charlie.

The fluid on the outside of the lungs almost sounds like pleurisy that humans can get…

So you were using a bedding but litter also?  Do they use litter boxes?  Some can be sensitive to litter material, even type of hay, and I;’ve even read somewhere sensitive tho their own urine.

 

[rosalie68]

thank you so much jerseygirl!. i am curious though, my bunny doesnt have any discharge and doesnt have an abcess. do you have any idea where they would get the bacteria in this case? would they still try to get it from up his nose since he has a respiratory issue? i hope this dr can figure out how to make charlie better. thanks again!!

kim

[rosalie68]

i think we were posting at the same time. did you add more to yours? yah i think my vet was saying that they would basically get the bacteria from near his lungs or something. she said they have so much bacteria that its hard to tell which one is causing the problem. she said he looks like someone that would have bronchitis with his bronchial tubes looking how they do. yes they both have critter care for bedding and then have paper pellets in their litter boxes. jack only pees in one corner so i put his litter box there and he is great. but charlie sometimes needs to be reminded by putting soiled bedding in his litter box. they have those my first home cages and just plastic for the bottom so i wanted something soft for them to sleep on that didnt matter if it got pee on it. when i make the nic condo they wont have bedding. they only have their litter boxes and maybe some carpet or something to sleep on. im really hoping to figure this out soon. i will not give up on him!

kim

[MimzMum]

I have a Holland lop bunny who has been with me for two years. He’s had a snotty nose/machine gun sneezing for a little over a year on and off, and my first vet told me it was allergies. She was supposed to be exotic savvy, so I didn’t think much of it. But as he kept having problems I took him to a different vet and she swabbed his nose and cultured the findings and he wound up diagnosed with something called branhamella catarrhalis. He was put on Baytril and it didn’t clear up, then another antibiotic that has a name abbreviated with three letters I can’t remember, which didn’t do anything for him, then as a last resort we gave Pen-G (penicillin) shots under the skin (the only way a bunny can have penicillin, btw, is subcutaneously) and to date he still hasn’t cleared up, but his symptoms do not always present themselves. (At the vet of coure he doesn’t sneeze at all.)
But we’ve taken xrays and there is no fluid in his chest, nor abscesses. I’m not a vet, but as far as I know, an xray is needed to determine any abscess activity unless it’s blatantly obvious on the outside of the bunny somewhere.
I have two other bunnies who do not display any symptoms like his and they all live in the same room…so I am hard put to say it’s allergies. Although it’s my understanding that not much research has been done in this area of rabbit health.
I will be interested in what your vet says, and perhaps it can help me also isolate my bunny’s problem.
The neck slice thing sounds terrible. 0_o I’ve never heard of it before.

[rosalie68]

oooh i hope your bunny gets better. our vet did the xray to make sure he didnt have an abcess and found the fluid in his lungs and saw the shape of his airways. she said she has never come accross a rabbit with allergies and i have also read that they arent the cause for all of this mess. since he was sneezing and having a harder time breathing when i put a grass mat in his cage (not sea grass) she wondered if maybe it was allergies. im not convinced. she did say that once the airways are damaged that its usually permenant and that we may not be able to help with that. im surprised they werent able to atleast clear up your bunnies booger nose. i will definately keep you updated with him and with what the vet says on wednessday. i hope that maybe we can help your bunny with our experience. poor little guy. my other rabbit is also fine. no sneezes coughs or anything. supposedly this lady is a specialist so we will see. i dont think the other 2 vets had a clue about rabbits. i think they mostly saw cats and dogs. so not fair to claim you see rabbits. i dont think anyone should be able to look at them unless they are specialized. i bet my charlie wouldve died without this lady doing xrays and finding all that fluid.
oh and charlie also doesnt sneeze or cough at the vet. (my kids are the same way lol) but, she said if she rubbed under his chin on his throat he did make little snorts and noises that he shouldnt have made. good luck to you!!

kim

[bunnytowne]

oh no what a dilema.     Get well and healing vibes for Charlie and no fret vibes for you.

 

[BinkyBunny]

 I wanted to give you the additional info that I have come up with. My vet is extremely helpful in explaining things to me in a way a I can understand it, but until I can talk to her, I also like to hear what Dana Krempels thoughts are some things  (She’s not a vet, but a biologist who also happens to be very rabbit-savvy).

So I explained your  situation (as much as I know) and this is what she had to say:

 

It can be very difficult to get a reliable culture and sensitivity result for an upper respiratory infection.  One way to help prevent contamination is to gently swab the external areas around the nares  (ETA: nares are nostrils) with chlorhexiderm flush, and allow it to dry well before performing a deep nasal swabbing.   It’s true that there are residents of the nares other than what might be the pathogen, but if the test yields “heavy growth” of a bacterium known to be pathogenic in rabbits, this can still be useful information.  I do agree that a deep nasal sample must be taken with extra care, to avoid contamination, and that the results should be read with caution.  But if the vet is experienced with rabbits, s/he might have a good idea of what the normal flora might be, and which species grown could be causing the URI signs. I hope this helps. SOURCE:  http://www.allexperts.com/user.cgi?…ID=4841877

Again, this isn’t to replace what your vet has said as there may be more to it then what we are getting through a post, and we are not vets ourselves, but this is just additional information that may help, especially since you seem to be dealing with a rather stubborn infection. 

[rosalie68]

thank u so much binkybunny. im going to try to get a culture done on charlie. i think it cant hurt and it may help us figure it out. i have also come to the conclusion that charlie doesnt have allergies. just trying to figure out what he does have. thanks for asking dana krempels about charlie i really appreciate it!

kim

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