More Mimzy’s Nose Issues

[MimzMum]

I don’t know if you all remember back, gosh it was months ago, when I suddenly rushed Mimzy to the vet because he was making these weird noises through his nose (sounded like guinea pig noises) and right before we left for town with him we actually got a big nasty bogie out of it…needless to say by the time we got tot he vet, he seemed fine and she couldn’t really find anything wrong with him. It scared me terribly thinking he had snuffles or Pasturella or something.

Well, he start doing that little noise again last night. I had to sit up with him for about an hour to be sure he was able to breathe (which he was, he was also able to poop which he did all over me and my bed) Once again, it was barely discernable at first, then by this morning it was still there and he gave a big sneeze and now, nothing. I guessed last night it must be hay dust causing the problem and cleaned his pen AGAIN after just having wiped it down an hour before.

Are there any other symptoms I should be watching for if he starts this up again? I have the carrier primed and ready, but I’m worried because the car broke down today while my husband was in buying groceries and I want to be sure I keep an eye on Mim and have him ready to go in a thrice. Since we jsut had a big vet expense, I don’t want to bring him in prematurely either. (let’s face it, neither of us needs the stress of the hubby’s driving!)

Many thankies! ^_^

[jerseygirl]

So no goop up the nose this time? Perhaps he has a build up and it only becomes evident once his nasal passage is blocked. Someone here had great success with saline drops for the nose. Might be worth asking your vet. Has his teeth issues settled?

[MimzMum]

No more problems with his teeth, thank God. ^_^ Now I did buy some saline drops when he went through his last episode…but I am not sure how one should administer that to a bunny? (1. He doesn’t put up with being flipped and tranced, 2. Don’t want to stuff too much up there and have that only make the problem worse.)
Only clear discharge just under the nose and not even enough to wet my finger, so….

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

For pasturella, they generally have lots of discharge enough that you can see their paws get wet from wiping. It sounds pretty normal though, at least now

Things I’d watch for that would make me go to the vet: Discharge, gunk in the eyes (not sleep), pain (chattering or hiding), stoping poop or pee or eating, wounds, hyper or hypo thermia, etc.

I think your keeping a real close watch on him, and you’ll know if/when it’s time to get him in for another check up

[MimzMum]

He had another episode of snorting last night. (I shouldn’t say snorting, but snuffling doesn’t seem to be the right word either.) I had my daughter watch him while I got cleaned up after taking care of the dog all day, as I wondered if perhaps even dog dander could cause my bunny to be sneezing.
We took him out on the bed and just held him for a little while and let him wander around a bit. He didn’t go far (when my kids are in the room with me, the bunnies are much more conservative in their movements, but I was kind of sad he wasn’t really poking around like he usually does all the same) and he seemed fine. No snuffling at all. So I put him back in his night pen after awhile and he went through all his normal movements, no more sneezing or funny noises from the nose.

It’s not consistent. This is the hard part. I have tried catching the noise on my FLIP video, but it doesn’t have a sensitive enough microphone to pick it up (plus it’s too dark in my room to really see him) so I’m a little frustrated.

Thanks for all the advice, guys. Erm, but could someone tell me how much saline spray I would use should I need to put some in his nose? (Don’t want to cause more trouble than he already has.) And would oat hay have enough dust particles to go up a bunny’s nose? He likes his hay on the floor and won’t eat it out of a manger. I’ve had to thoroughly screen his hay as almost any hay has dust, so even his timothy has to be just long stalks and no fine pieces.

*sigh* Sometimes methinks he’s just jealous that the dog is getting all this attention (although he’s not a ‘social’ bun, per se) and is making himself sick to get me to notice him more. ;_;

[Cassi&Charlie]

Poor Mimz, at least it’s not all the time so he’s not miserable all the time. Layla has bad allergies, it sounds like Mimz is the same thing. I have to vacuum everyday cause Layla is allergic to dust in the carpet so she can’t sleep unless it’s been vacuumed, otherwise she just goes into crazy sneezing fits and I feel terrible for her.
(((Mimz)))

[Scarlet_Rose]

Mimz, I am wodering how much dust is in the hay and pellets? What color was the bogie? Was it green, white, yellow or…? As for the hay, I think you know about the shaking it out part but with the pellets, sift them to eliminate the pellet dust to prevent the inhalation of it. This happens to my two once in a while when there is too much pellet dust.

[MimzMum]

Thanks Rose.
He’s had no bogies this time. Last time it was a normal color, pretty much opaque, white I guess. He only had clear coming out this time and not even enough to look like I had wet my finger with water.

I’m doing my best to keep the dust down. Plus, like I said, it’s possible the dog dander may be drifting into the room on my clothes and such.

[Sarita]

Does he only do this while he is resting? I’m just wondering if it’s snoring – I have a rabbit who snores, and snorts, and grunts – he’s very vocal.

[MimzMum]

I’m afraid not, Sarita, I’ve mostly noticed it’s when he’s up.

Speaking of sleeping, would a bunny’s sleeping positions denote any kind of illness? Normally Mimzy likes to flop out or meatloaf, but lately he’s been laying his head straight down in front of himself on the floor while he’s in the meatloaf position and keeping his neck flat on the floor. Is he having trouble breathing if he’s doing this? I know a bunny will have his head pointing straight up in the air if something is stuck in his throat, but I’ve never seen Mimzy sleep like this before this week. 0_o

Otherwise everything else is normal. Eat, sleep, poop, pee…all good. (He’s a little more picky about his pellets and greens of late though I notice and is not eating all of them.)

More sneezing last night and this morning, early. If he’s still doing this by next week or if there’s any discharge I’m not sure of, off to the vet he goes.

[jerseygirl]

Hi MM, I just read you may have discovered the problem in bunnymamma’s thread. Could you set up a fan in Mimzy’s area to cool the air? Also, the air is probably drier due to the heating, so increasing the humidity may help him too. Be interesting to see if the heat was the problem…

[MimzMum]

I have a fan right next to Mimzy’s cage. I’ll see if it helps. (I don’t often turn it on because it seems to bug Pip with it’s noise.) And I think a freeze bottle is also in order.
Humidity IS a problem here. Everything is drying out. We either have too much in summer or not enough in winter and humidifiers are SO nasty to clean, so we don’t keep one. I didn’t think about how his system may be overcompensating for the dry air.

For those wondering, we may have narrowed it down to heat and how it affects a rabbit by causing them to sneeze.

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