Is my vet re-check appointment scheduled too late?

[Annabelle's mommy]

Hi everybun!

Annabelle has been on antibiotics and metcam for 7 days now, she has three days remaining.

She was prescribed them because the vet heard crackles in her lungs when I took her in regarding some yellow mucus on her nose.

I was told if she does not get better, than to bring her in immediately. However, I didn’t even really know she was sick, and neither did the vet, until she listened to her lungs. 

Anna has maintained good energy this entire time, has been flopping/laying stretched out like a hotdog/shows no signs of discomfort. She still runs across the room and jumps up to the bin where her treats are any time she sees me near it. Shes also eating normally.

My vet re-check appointment is Feb., 6th in the morning, which is just over a week away. I wasn’t concerned that is was so far away as her mucus seems to have disappeared. However, I just held her up to her ear and tried to listen to her lungs.  I heard what I believe is a few lung crackles. I’d say one every 30 seconds or so. 

I would take her into the vet sooner, but her vet is away for the rest of the week, and I can’t take her on the weekend or monday/tuesday of next week.

What do you think I should do? Can I wait that long? or is that too risky?

[Bunny House]

Anytime a bunny is on antibiotics it’s for at least two weeks, so that once you get the infection under control, you can keep giving it to eradicate it and it can take several weeks. Can you see if you can get another week or two supply? If meds are stopped too early, the infection can come back worse than it was. I have a concern that she could get pneumonia, I would try and get to a different rabbit savvy vet, it wouldn’t hurt since pneumonia can develop fast and is life threatening.

[Bam]

Could you call your vet and tell them about your concerns? If there are other vets at the clinic, maybe they could write a new prescription for you so you can keep giving the antibiotics until your vet gets back. My lower respiratory bun was on Bactrim for 2 weeks, so extending treatment wouldn’t be harmful.

It’s reasonable to have a re-check about a week after the course of antibiotics is over, because if you have a re-check sooner, there are still antibiotics in the system. You can’t know if an infection has cleared completely until the antibiotics are gone.

[Annabelle's mommy]

I scheduled her an appointment for tomorrow morning with a different vet, who practices small animal medicine (albeit less frequently), because I did not want to risk it.  Our vet recommended a tissue culture and possibly x rays. Do you think I should get the x rays done? 

[Annabelle's mommy]

I did schedule her with a different rabbit savvy vet for tomorrow morning. I didnt want to risk anything or risk continuing to give her ineffective antibiotics.  Our vet recommended a tissue culture to identify the bacteria and maybe x rays. Would you recommend x rays? 

[Bunny House]

I hope you can get some clarity on what to do next. An X-ray doesn’t hurt since you can see if there is fluids in the lungs and if new treatment needs to be administered. Keep us updated!

[Bam]

It’s very wise of you to have your bun seen tomorrow imo.

My vet did x-rays to determine extent of lung involvement with my bun. If he had had a really bad case, he would have got Baytril (enrofloxacine). Since the x-rays showed he had a moderate case, he got Bactrim. My vet is rabbit savvy and has a wonderful way with rabbits, so she does x-rays on awake buns. I would be very reluctant to have a pneumonia bun put under (full anesthesia), but it’s something you must discuss with the vet.

My bun didn’t have a nasal discharge, so a culture was out of the question for him, you can’t readily do a swab of the lungs. (Here vets are required by law to do bacterial cultures when possible to minimize risk of antibiotic resistance). It is however not unusual for respiratory infections in rabbits to require a longer course of abx than 10 days to clear, so the fact that your bun still has crackles doesn’t necessarily prove that the abx he’s on now is ineffective. There’s also quite a bit of reconvalescence needed even after the active infection has cleared. I had pneumonia once a long time ago, it took months before my lungs were at full capacity again.

Hopefully the vet you are seeing tomorrow will come up with a good plan of action. You could prepare yourself by writing down a list of things you want to ask them.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I don’t have any experience here but just want to wish you good luck at the vet!

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