Pasteurella… back to the vet

[Jack and Noggin]

Last year we adopted Jack who had pasteurella. It cleared but Noggin ended up catching it as well. In May she had her first bout with snot nose after Jack unexpectedly passed away. She did 14 days of enrofloxacin and it cleared.
About a month ago (mid-August) Noggin became very vocal. Quietly honking when she eats or is being pet. It’s very cute but, about two weeks ago, when she got another snotty nose, I started to wonder if the vocalizations were the result of another pasteurella flare. I tried our typical at home treatment but her snot turned white and got thicker so it was back on the enrofloxacin.
She’s been on Enrofloxacin plus critical care as a supplement (she’s eating, drinking, pooping just fine—still hopping around and playing) for about a week now and I’ve seen no improvement. In fact, her honking is considerably louder. Add to this a new bunny adopted yesterday and I’m wondering what my next step should be.
Could the honking mean the infection is in her lungs or has she just found her voice? (She’s breathing just fine though)
Is the stress of the new bunny just magnifying the symptoms or are the meds not working?
Should I take her back into the vet and request a nasal flush and cultured sensitivity test or give it a few more days on enrofloxacin?

[RabbitPam]

I find that calling or emailing my vet and describing my concerns, especially when in the midst of a treatment, may be enough to get answers to your questions. While a vet will not diagnose or prescribe over the phone, when it comes to something like honking, it’s a way to find out if that is symptomatic of a flare up or just happening independently. My guess would be it’s just “finding her voice”, but you are right to be concerned. It’s possible that, if the vet says to come in, it would be a good idea for a fresh check up. If the meds are not doing their job, there may be a change in treatment that will help her more, so it wouldn’t hurt.

[jerseygirl]

I agree about chatting to the vet.
You might consider some X-rays also to see if her teeth roots are involved or if she has some bony growth in her nasal passages.
It’s said flare ups happen in autumn & spring. Is that the pattern she’s shown?

My belated condolences to you on losing Jack. Binky free buddy.

[Jack and Noggin]

I did end up taking her back to the vet. I wanted to get the new bun (Flynn) checked out anyways. Our vet switched her antibiotic to Vibramycin but we’ve yet to see improvement. She’s still snotty and sneezing. Still eating and all that though. How long would you treat without improvement before you try something else? Our vet said, with rabbits, you’ll see no change for at least a week. With humans, antibiotics start working right away and you’ll see improvement in a matter of a few days.

It could be seasonal flare-up. She takes an allergy med too but I stopped with the antibiotics because I didn’t want to overload her system.

Now that I’m thinking about it. Could any of this be related to Feline Pine litter? I had a bag of it last May and stopped using it because of her nose. With the new bun, I’m changing boxes constantly and started using Feline Pine again since we had the leftover bag. Maybe I’ll switch back to Yesterday’s News and see if that helps. Should I add in the allergy meds again?

[Beka27]

You would need to call the vet to inquire about continuing the allergy meds in conjunction with the antibiotic, the vet will tell you if you should do both or wait on the allergy meds.

Was the honking happening before you brought home the new bunny? If so, were you “window shopping” bunnies and then coming home? Rabbits are very sensitive to the smell of strange buns, even just smelling a bunny on your clothes can make them territorial.

Pasteurella can be very related to stress and any changes in environment/routine. What is your goal with bringing the new bunny home, will you permanently have two single rabbits or are you planning on bonding at some point?

[Jack and Noggin]

We weren’t window shopping. Her honking started about two weeks before. We do bunny speed dating so, we took her to the rescue and she picked her buddy. They are together, snuggle, groom each other, ect. She doesn’t honk a lot, only when eating, like she’s saying “yum, oh this is so good.”

Nogs finished her antibiotics and her white snot is gone. Her lungs, eyes and ears are all clear. Her nose is normal most days but she’s still having sneezing fits. When she does, a little clear snot might come out. A lot of times it’s thin almost like water. This seems like allergies so she’s back on her allergy meds but the vet said to give it a week before we might see any difference.

I’ve tossed the feline pine and am only using Yesterday’s News (unscented) and I’m keeping everything as clean and dust free as possible. Air filters in the house were changed and we’re hoping this is just seasonal allergies that will pass after autumn. I feel so bad for her when she’s sneezing though. It’s quite pitiful.

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