Possible breathing trouble?? Need advice on vet timing

[Mu]

Hey everyone, last year you guys helped me out when my almost five year old bunny was getting spayed. Luckily she handled everything like a champ and she’s been healthy as can be. However, I got back from a trip out of town on Sunday and when I fed her, I noticed she had a slight whistling in (what sounded like) her nose. She was still binkying all over the place and seemed fine, so I thought it must be some hay irritation or perhaps she was a little stressed because it was a family member caring for her and not me. But while it hasn’t really gotten worse, it hasn’t really gotten better either. The whistling is gone, but she still seems to be having some trouble breathing (her appetite is completely normal, but it seems that her respiration rate is a little high and she’s flaring her nostrils a little more than usual). I’ve looked up everything imaginable, from rhinitis to mineralized deposits in the nose to pasteurella but none of the symptoms fit perfectly. She has no sneezing, no discharge from eyes or nose, no matted fir on her paws from wiping it away, and no anorexia. I’m thinking it’s either one of the above conditions and she’s just presenting differently, it’s a sinus infection of sorts from a tooth root problem (she’s eating pellets and lettuce normally but she *might* be off her timothy hay a tiny bit, I can’t tell), or (and this is my big concern), she’s suffering lung cancer from uterine cancer that metastasized before her spay. I know I’m probably overthinking it, but it’s been almost exactly 18 months since her spay and that’s how long some sources say rabbits with lung cancer survive. Now, I know you guys aren’t vets, and can’t diagnose or really speculate, but if your bunny was showing some respiratory symptoms but was still enthusiastic about food and not really lethargic, would you take them to an overnight vet or wait until tomorrow? The vet she’s been to before doesn’t open until 8:30 am (13.5 hours from now) and there are two emergency vets but they’re a drive and I have no idea how good they are with exotics. They say they treat exotics but the reviews only mention dogs and cats.

[DanaNM]

This is a tough call. I think it’s important to determine if the ER vet actually has a rabbit vet on call. I would call them and find out. Often ER vets have rotating staff so you don’t necessarily know who will be there at any given time. If they do, then I think it would be best to take her in. Any kind of respiratory distress should be treated seriously. If it was just the whistling I would say to wait, but the increased breathing rate and flaring pushes this into more serious territory.

But, if they don’t have a rabbit vet on call, then I would personally wait and monitor her closely, because they may do more harm than good.

. . . 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.  

[LBJ10]

If she is eating/pooping fine, then it should be OK to wait for her regular vet. For urgent matters, my vet will allow drop offs to squeeze people in. I might try calling your regular vet first thing.

[Mu]

(sorry for the pronoun shift—we found out Merlin was a she after five years so we haven’t switched except in medical situations and it’s tough haha)

Hey everyone, Merlin was diagnosed in June with pretty severe pneumonia and a possible thymoma, treated with baytril and an injection of dexamethasone. He was on baytril for two months, but he either stopped responding to it or there was some other bacteria also (we did a culture and blood panel, but everything came back inconclusive, possibly staph?).

Thursday morning he was put on azithromyacin, and immediately exhibited symptoms of antibiotic intolerance. (When we got home from the vet ~1pm he started eating immediately and he was mad but not anorexic. The next morning, I gave him half his morning pellets, waited fifteen minutes, and then gave him his first dose with a lettuce leaf. I sat with him and petted him for a good thirty minutes after that, and fed him the rest of his food, which he sniffed and seemed to have no interest in. Over the rest of the day, he finished his food, but he just was not the happy little guy he’s been throughout this whole process, no matter what. He usually gets about two tbsp of oxbow pellets morning and evening, half dry and half puffed up with water. Over the weekend, he completely stopped eating his puffed pellets, and would slowly graze on his dry pellets. He was eating a ton of hay and drinking lots of water, and he started refusing lettuce (I think because it reminded him of the medicine). His fave has always been parsley, and he luckily was eating that pretty enthusiastically.

He seemed even worse after his Saturday dose (was even more hesitant about his pellets and just *looked* like his tummy was killing him). On Sunday I offered him banana mashed with the azithromyacin but I didn’t force him to eat it because it seemed to be making him feel so horrible and food is the one thing that’s basically never been an issue with him, so it was breaking my heart watching him feel so bad. Most of his droppings looked great on Sunday, but he did have an uneaten cecal in his litter box which hasn’t happened since he was a baby on alfalfa hay. Sunday night (~48 hours since azithromyacin) he seemed SO MUCH BETTER. He was so happy for food, ate it all, and was finally happy and jumping around again.

Monday morning we called the vet to see if they wanted us to switch antibiotics or if we could give him some pain meds before the dose in case it was causing abdominal cramping. We have had such good luck with this vet, but the call seemed like a game of telephone, and by the end they were asking when the last time he had metacam was and telling us to go ahead and give the next shot of dexamethasone (which he wasn’t due for until this coming Thursday and doesn’t seem like he needs yet). Plus that wouldn’t help GI symptoms and what we needed to know was whether we should discontinue the azithromyacin or if there was something we could give him to ease his discomfort while on it.

We called back later and asked if the vet could call us directly whenever he had a chance, and were told he was out of the office for the day, but she’d let him know. I didn’t try to call back today because I know vets are always busy and he probably had a ton to do, but now they’re closed and I’m regretting not hounding them more because I just don’t know what to do. He hasn’t had antibiotics since Saturday essentially, and his pneumonia was so severe and it’s likely getting worse right now. I feel like I can’t give him more azithromyacin when it makes him feel so bad, and I would give him some metacam beforehand but now it’s getting close to time for his next steroid shot and I don’t want to screw with that.

So my question is, if you were me would you give him some baytril just to try to stave off some of the infection since he tolerates that all right? Or give him azithromyacin even though it hurts his stomach so much? I just don’t understand why the office didn’t reach out today—they’ve always given the impression that they would be there asap if needed and now I sorta feel like I’m stuck in limbo of not wanting to do anything against their wishes, but also feeling like I ought to take some action instead of just letting whatever infection spread and multiply for 12 more hours.

[Bam]

This is very difficult and you do need to discuss it with your vet. Perhaps ask if Pepcid (famotidine) could be given to help with the stomach pain? Or if you could give antibiotics as injections, so they dont have to pass through the stomach.

Since we’re not vets here we cant really recommend you what to do. Do you think he still has pneumonia? Did it ever improve with the Baytril? Could it be a thymoma thats putting pressure on his airways so he has difficulty breathing? Are his eyes (or one eye) bulging?

I’m assuming the dexamethasone is given in the hope of shrinking the thymoma? That would (if it works) help his breathing, corticosteroids also helps if there’s inflammation of the airways -its typically given to humans for asthma flare-ups.

I’m sorry you are going through this.

[LBJ10]

Azithromyacin is known to cause decreased appetite. I don’t know if it’s stomach pain necessarily… more like nausea, or whatever the equivalent feeling would be for a rabbit. This antibiotic is used to treat pneumonia and stubborn URIs. I had a bunny that was on azithromyacin multiple times. From his reaction to it, I would say it did not taste pleasant (despite the vet flavoring it). Keep in mind that dexamethasone has its own set of possible side effects as well.

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