I Have a Sick Sneezing Wally!

[BunnyMuffin]

Wally has always been a bit of a sneezer, but today he was sneezing a lot.  I went to have a look and he had some gooey whiteish discharge coming from his nose.  I’m going with the he needs to go to the vet theory, but the vet is closed until Monday.  They have an emergency line, in which case I’m not guaranteed to see a rabbit savvy-vet (in fact my chances are pretty low).  Is this something that can wait until I can call for an appointment on Monday?  Any guesses as to what he might have?

Noelle has already been exposed, so I shouldn’t separate them or anything since they’re bonded, right?

 

[BunnyMuffin]

Aww – I feel so bad for him! He just keep sneezing and sneezing. Is there anything I can do for him to make him feel better until I can get him to the vet next week? I already wiped his nose down with a cloth – which he did NOT approve of. Poor little guy.

[BunnyMuffin]

Okay – so I got a call back from the emergency vet in town – who sounded none too impressed… He said that I can just keep an eye him until regular clinic hours on Monday and give him carrots for vitamin C in an attempt to keep it from getting too much worse, even though it won’t cure anything. If I were to take him in, it’s a $75 emergency fee, plus whatever the usual costs, so I’d rather wait until Monday if I can. I called another emergency place out of town that would be just over an hour drive, and the tech there said that with rabbits things can progress rather quickly and that I should get him in as soon as I can… so now I’m kinda confused.

I spoke with the vet who is on call up here once before when Noelle had her fluid gushing from her orifices incident, and he wasn’t all that familiar with rabbits, so I don’t really know if I want to go there. I wouldn’t mind the drive to the out of town vet because they seemed to be a bit more knowledgeable – but I would really appreciate any thoughts from any of you who have dealt with respiratory infections before on whether it can wait until Monday or if I should be taking a road trip?

[bunnytowne]

personally I wouldn’t wait if I could help it.   Though I am no vet.   As you know things can progress really fast with buns.

[KatnipCrzy]

If he can not  stop sneezing and you can see an abnormal discharge- I think it would be a good idea to have Wally seen by the vet that knows something about bunnies.  Before you drive an hour- make sure they are OK with treating.  Because the vet that you talked to that said to give him a carrot for Vitamin C sounds like an idiot.  That is my personal opinion- but it sounds like he does not want to see rabbits anyway.   Some vets have the same mentality that other people do about “outdoor bunnies” and most people with outdoor bunnies might call the vet if they are sick- but they don’t want to pay to treat an ill rabbit that cost $5 that the kids forget to feed half the time.  So there are some vets that are set in their ways and have never found it practical to treat bunnies and just seem to have that mindset.

If he was just sneezing then I might think there was a reason- bumping nose, hay dust, etc.  But if there is discharge then there has to be a reason for it- infection tops the list, but it could be an irritant, etc. 

As for separating them- if Noelle has already bonded to Wally and had a lot of close personal contact- then she would likely already have been exposed to anything he was.  I don’t see a point of separating them at this point, I am not sure how long they have bonded- but that could stress Wally more.

[BunnyMuffin]

I haven’t heard him sneeze in a few hours, but this morning he had a few pretty good fits. I’ve been checking for discharge, but since there hasn’t been any sneezing lately there hasn’t been much of that either. I can see a bit of white stuff on the fur around the edge of his nose, and he had enough of it this morning that I had to wipe him down with a cloth twice, much to his dismay.

Does the vet have something to swab up his nose with or something? Cuz right now I can’t see anything other than the little bit on the edge. I guess what I’m trying to ask is if there’s any point in taking him until there’s some discharge externally visible and enough that they could swab if they needed to?

[BinkyBunny]

Oye! How stressful. I am so sorry that you don’t have any rabbit-savvy emergency vets closeby. I know this makes things so challenging!

I completely agree with Katnip’s advice.
The vet that told you rabbits can go downhill fast is correct and they at least know that, so they may be your best bet. Maybe they could at least give him an antibiotic or something that may help until you can get to your regular vet. 

(Theother  vet’s advice to give a carrot for vitamin C to hold him over for the weekend is one of the most ridiculous solutions I have ever heard of from a vet)

I’m so sorry you are going through this!  Sending out peace and healing vibes!

[BunnyMuffin]

Yeah – I thought the Vitamin C thing seemed a bit out there myself! I think I’ll give the out of town place another call and just confirm that there is someone there that would be knowledgeable and comfortable treating rabbits. My regular vet doesn’t exactly seem like the brightest crayon in the box either, but he’s the only “exotic” vet in my area. So it’s not like he’ll be my savior when the clinic opens anyway. When Noelle had her fluid gushing issues, that clinic didn’t even seem to think it was a very big deal and made me wait 3 or 4 days before I could even bring her in. ~sigh~ Sorry for the rant.

I guess I’ll get back on the phone and see what they say!

Thanks for your input, I’ll keep you posted!

[Cassi&Charlie]

Poor Wally. I hope it something simple like a piece of hay stuck in his noe. This happened to Charlie & all they had to do was pull it out.

(((Wally)))

What an idiot vet! Good luck with the other one

[jerseygirl]

I’m just glad you didn’t go in, pay $75 and be told to feed him carrots! Hope you can get Wally to someone who knows better. Keep us posted!

[BunnyMuffin]

Well, I called the out of town vet back and they’re open 24 hours until Monday, so I can go down there anytime this weekend if I need to.  They don’t have any vets that specialize in rabbits or exotics, but they are all willing to treat rabbits and to do research and what not to come up with a good solution.  Their fee is $87 plus whatever the vet needs to charge for diagnostics/meds, which is not too outrageous.

Mr. Wally hasn’t done any sneezing since this morning when I first posted.  I also still don’t see any discharge anymore (what I thought was discharge was just his usual little white fur specks around his nose – I often think he’s dirty with hay dust on his nose  but it’s just his fur colour).  So I think I’m going to hold off on any road trips to the vet for now.  He’s still eating and about as active as normal, although right now he’s all snuggled in with Noelle having a nap.  I think I’ll give him some extra veggies tonight to make sure he keeps hydrated and nourished. 

I’ll keep watching him tonight and see how things are in the morning.  If he has any more sneezing fits or discharge I’ll drive to the vet tomorrow and see what they say.  But if I don’t get any more symptoms out of him I’ll just wait and call his normal vet on Monday and demand to be seen.  Save myself a lot of time, a tank of gas, and at least $100.  Not to sound like I’m trading his health for my money or anything, but when I have no guarantee that he’ll see a rabbit-savvy vet, it makes me nervous.  Plus when he’s not exhibiting any more symptoms it doesn’t really have that “emergency” feel to it.  If he wasn’t eating or something, we’d already be at the vet.

Anyways, that’s the game plan for now!  Maybe I’ll give him a piece of apple for some Vitamin C!

Please let me know if I’m having some massive oversight and he’s at risk of keeling over from a sneezing fit or something if I don’t get him to the vet in time!  Or if there’s anything else I can do for him at home until Monday.  Thanks so much!

 

 

[RabbitPam]

You sound like you’re in good hands with the vet that’s an hour away, plus he seems to be better.

I’m wondering if it could be a bit of an allergy. Is there anything in common happening with his sneezing? For example, is he in his litter box? Is the heater blowing directly on him? Did you brush him, or brush Noelle near him? I guess I’m looking for possible simple causes that may have set him off. I have heard of bunnies being allergic to some litters, so it may help him to change it. Also, don’t let any air blow directly on him or his cage. If you’ve just had the heater come on fully, there is dust from months of not being used and he might have gotten a snoot full. Some hay dust is an irritant also.

[BunnyMuffin]

We haven’t turned the heat on yet (the fish tanks keep it plenty warm). Noelle is going through a major shed right now. I’ve been brushing her everyday, so maybe from that. He’s always been a sneezer (I think from the hay), but this is the first time I’ve seen any discharge. He was out hopping around when he had his little fits this morning – although the one time it was after he ventured into the bathroom, where he likes to knock over the garbage can with all of Noelle’s fur remnants…

Noelle just let out a few little mini-sneezes, I wouldn’t have noticed them except that I’ve been watching them nap and happened to be looking right at her. Hopefully she’s not sick too. Crazy rabbits.

So far I haven’t actually spoken with a vet at the other place, just the tech who answers the phone – but either way they seem much better than the crazy carrot vet.

It just seems so weird to me that he was going crazy sneezing this morning, and now nothing. I’ve never dealt with snuffles or anything before, but I just always pictured it being a more ongoing sneezing runny nose type thing. Not a couple sneezing fits with a couple globs of nose goo, with nothing for hours afterwards. But maybe that’s just an incorrect assumption on my part.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

OMG It never ends!! I am continually surprised about ignorance with animal care-BUT seriously?? A carrot for Vitamin C?? What-thats because Vitamen C is shown to improve the HUMAN immune system? BAH!!! And rabbits don’t get colds so it wouldn’t help anyways!!! UGH I thnk we ALL now have permanent marks on our foreheads from *HEAD DESK*ing so hard over that remark.

Glad you have a gameplan and are getting him in to a much better vet then Dr. Carrothead. (although, my dog is likely a better vet then him…. LOL)

{{VIBES}} Thinking about Wally, please keep us posted!!

[jerseygirl]

Sounds like he’s doing better. Hopefully it was just something irritating his nasal passage and he’s finally gotten rid of it. Hopefully! In the end, if it turns out to be a minor incident, at least you’ve got a feel for the emergency service you had available. Least you’ll know where NOT to go in case of any future concerns!

[BunnyMuffin]

Yes, I’ve had many *mental headslap* moments dealing with the vets around here. I called one when Noelle had her incident and I was freaking out – it had “small animal ” in the name of the vet office so I was all excited that this was a specialized clinic. Well the guy who answered was clearly on a cell phone with terrible reception driving somewhere. Answered the phone with “hello” and I’m like “uh…is this the vet?” So I told him about Noelle suddenly gushing clear fluids and he said it sounded like a respiratory infection and there’s “really no way to treat those in rabbits, so there’s not much you can do. You can try calling some of the other vets in town.” At some point we got cut off and I called him back just to be polite (that’s the Canadian in me) even though I could tell this wasn’t a reputable person. So he basically told me she was infected and untreatable and about to die. Good thing I knew better or I would’ve been freaking out! And the vet today who told me about the carrots actually tried to refer me to this other vet because he sometimes works Saturdays so I politely said “oh yeah, I’ll give that a try” while my insides were screaming “you’re all incompetent!!”

Still no more discharge and only the odd sneeze when he’s eating his hay. Shouldn’t there be more continuous discharge if it is an infection?

[Beka27]

oh my gosh! these vets are hideous! sounds like they bought a veterinary medicine book for rabbit health that had 300 blank pages, except for the first one that says “give carrots to sick rabbits for vitamin C to help with ‘colds’.” and “respiratory infection = death. Solution: purchase another $5 petstore bunny.”

i was at work yesterday when you posted and i didn’t go on BB at all after work so this is the first i’m seeing this… how is Wally this morning?

[BunnyMuffin]

Not much change this morning. I told Wally to let me see his nose and he sneezed at me – but still no more discharge. I ran my finger along the bottom of Noelle’s nose and it was a bit wet – but whatever it was was clear, so maybe just water if she bumped up against her water bottle. I’ll take them both in on Monday and have them listened to and prodded, just to be safe.

[Hedi]

Hoopie sneezes when he runs his nose in the hay for a long time. OUr vet suggested buying “Liitle Ones” Nasal saline spray. It is in the baby isle at the drug store. She said use the little dropper to put a few drops a few times a day in his nose to help clean it out and stop the sneezing..

It may help to clean out the discharge and stop the sneezing but Im definitely no vet. This actually worked wonders for Hoopie- after the first treatment he stopped sneezing!

[MooBunnay]

My bunny Amelia sneezes quite a bit and gets a small amount of discharge – when we first adopted her we put her on Baytril, and it seemed to stop the sneezing for awhile, but she still has fits of it now and then. When I was fostering bunnies that had a pretty serious case of the sniffles/sneezes, they had a significant amount of discharge that would become crusty on their noses after awhile. If Wally starts to get some discharge that is getting crusty or stuck to his nose, try holding a warm washcloth close to his nose, so that the steam can loosen up the discharge and make it easier to wipe off. If Wally seems to start to get worse, I would recommend taking him to a vet right away, because the little ones I fostered had it untreated for quite awhile, and they had difficulties breathing sometimes because the discharge had become so thick.

Is it snowing where you are now? Here in Texas all the leaves on the trees are drying up and blowing around and it is driving my allergies crazy, and my bunnies seem to be having some allergies as well.

[BunnyMuffin]

I think I might give the Little Ones nasal saline spray a try, see if I can rinse out any hay dust or anything that’s bugging him. I’m sure Wally won’t be excited, but oh well. He’s still sneezing occasionally, but no further discharge. I just called the vet to try to make an appointment and the receptionist put me on hold and went to speak with the vet and he said that as long as there’s no discharge and he’s still eating and everything normally, that I should just monitor him and sit tight. I’m not sure what to think about that, but if I can’t get an appointment I can’t really take him in. So that’s that I guess!

And no, it has been a really mild winter so far and we haven’t really had any snow yet. But the leaves have been off the trees for quite a while now, so it seems odd that he would suddenly be allergic now, but it is possible I suppose.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Well you can always insist on bringing him in; You could say you want blood and sensitivity tests done; But IMO you could sit tight and see if he stops, could be an irritant and not an infection.

Keep us posted! {VIBES}

[Beka27]

i agree with the vet, if there’s no discharge i would not take him in just yet. keep a close eye on him and look out for any real symptoms so you’ll know if he should go in.

Hedi, do those nose drops need to be diluted at all or are they okay as is?

[Hedi]

The Little Ones Nasal Spray is for babies (should be in any baby dept area) so it does not need to be diluted. It comes in a dropper form so it really isn’t a spray, more like an dropper. I was directed to give two drips four times a day. No luck with that though so we did it twice the first day and he stopped the sneezing completely!

So that took care of that quickly! Hopefully it works well for Wally.

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