My Rabbit wheezes and “honks”

[Zoe Parton]

I have a Netherland Dwarf rabbit who is about 7 months old. He lives alone, but we do have a guinea pig in the house next to his cage. My rabbit (Buddy) Has always made some really weird sounds. Today I noticed he was making the same sounds but very very loudly. They are like loud sneezes or honks, but I know that rabbit sneezes are kind of quiet. He was doing it while sleeping, but he has made these noises sometimes after he eats. I started hand feeding him slowly and it seemed to help. But he still makes the noises randomly throughout the day. He does have the common disease carried in rabbits, pasteurella. He goes through spurts of it. He also lifts up his head really high after he makes two very loud sounds. I am worried about him and I need help!

I took him to the vet when he had pasteurella badly, but they said he would be fine. I kept him on antibiotics for 10 days and it really helped him. He’s been off of those though for a couple months though.

I need to know what these noises are, I am really worried, but I’m hoping someone has heard of this before.

[Wick & Fable]

Hopefully the BB community will be able to help you and Buddy!

Is he neutered? This will give more information on whether general noises like honking may be expected.

Do you perceive him having trouble breathing? And do you notice any discharge from the nose?

In terms of pasteurella, was a culture conducted to verify that Buddy has a strand that cannot be cured with a longer course of antibiotics? Or that it is pasteurella and not something chest/lung related?… In terms of cultures for med effectiveness, I didn’t know such a thing existed and did not do it for Wick, but a past poster mentioned their vet treated with medications were effective against their rabbits particular strand, discovered by collecting and testing medications on the samples. Quite high tech. Wick took the more conventional approach of trial and error antibiotics. If the medication was showing improvements it may be worth revisiting and doing a longer course. If any bacteria from the infection are still alive, it will slowly reproduce and come in again, or be dormant until it wants to trigger again. 10 days is actually a short course from what I’ve heard. Most are two weeks. It took 3mos of med modification and persistence to fully rid Wick of his URI (upper respiratory infection). Wick was on Bactrim for two weeks, but it did nothing so we changed immediately to Baytril, which had a little improvement, so we kept at it for a while. When we realized it was not creating further symptom improvement, flocillin shots were added and bam, that was the combo Wick needed to treat his particular strand. Literally the day of the shot, there was silence rather than constant sneezing. We kept the treatment going, tried to remove Baytril, but the symptoms came back, so we did dual Baytril/flocillin treatment until we ran out of medication, about one week after symptoms fully stopped to be safe. After that, not one sneeze.

I think if you’re willing to try and have a rabbit vet that’s knowledgeable about antibiotic treatment, maybe trying treatment again would be worth it so there isn’t bouts. The fact that there are bouts makes me feel like it’s a mild strain that Buddy’s immune system is fighting off constantly, but maybe he needs help. I’m not a vet, but that’s based on my knowledge from Wick’s treatment. If you do choose to delve in again, make sure your vet gives you Probiotic with the antibiotic, since your rabbit is young. I’m a bit wary of vets who do not give probiotics with antibiotics with young rabbits especially.

Above is quite a lot of text, but that’s because I have a lot of experience with URI treatment, so I see pasteurella and kind of type, haha. Answering some of the questions above again, may give BB members more details to help out!

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Wick & Fable]

(also to add, Wick was very vocal and I really enjoyed it when he was young, but after the treatment, I realized he was only vocal because his nose was clogged from the URI. If that’s causing that noise, it may be worth looking into giving buddy some relief from the clog and congestion!)

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Author]

Messages