respiratory infection

[Venus]

Hello ..

my rabbit has a respiratory infection and eye discharge

i went to the vet and she gave her an antibiotics for 7 days and nebulisation for 4 days ..

her eye is getting better now and totally return to normal

but my problem is with her breathing, she still have a heavy and noisy breathing.. even after she finish her antibiotics treatment..

is it normal to have a heavy breathing even after the treatment?or what should i do?

her breathing Sound is getting worse when she try to eat or drink, as if she is sneezing and coughing?and some time she shake her head..
But she still eat and poop fine.

she is not playing and jumping like before, but she still like to explore the house..

i am kinda afraid to bring her back to the vet, cause last time she was so stressed that she stopped Eating and popping because of that, i needed to force feed her for one day till she return to normal.
if there anything i can do from the home to help her ?or is it necessary to let her visit the vet again?

she is one year and 4 month old , her weight is 2.5kg if I remember right

the antibiotics she take was”azithromycin” and eyedrop

if anyone can help me i will be so grateful to you💗

[Bam]

I think you should call your vet and tell them that your bun is still having these problems. With that info, they should be able to renew your prescription for antibiotics without having to see your bun again.

It is very common that buns need at least 2 weeks on antibiotics for a respiratory infection. The fact that she is doing better is very promising though. Azithromycin is considered a bunny safe antibiotic.

Even if bacteria are cleared from the lungs, they can persist in the nasal cavity and cause congestion and sometimes a thick discharge. To help with this local inflammation, some vets like to prescribe an anti inflammatory medicine like meloxicam, and/or a decongestant such as bromhexine, which can be nebulized or given by mouth. (Rabbits should not have corticosteroids, which is what a human would get for similar problems).

[Venus]

Thank you so much for your help

Unfortunately my vet didn’t answer the phone so i take my rabbit to her again.

and i told her all what you said

but she said that my rabbit should be already recovered from the infection cause her eyes return to normal..

the only problem is her breathing and nose discharge..

she told me that my rabbit has allergies and that why she is sneezing and have a noisy breathing .. she told me that we will stop the antibiotics and gave her a “ Chlorpheniramine“for the allergic for 5days..

i allready change her whole place Cause i dont know what does she allergic too..

It’s been like 3week with my rabbit vet and my rabbit still have a heavy breathing, does allergic realy does that?

my rabbit vet is so lovely but should i go to another one ?

in my city having a vet for rabbit is so hard to find, but maybe i will search again if my rabbit doesn’t look like she is having allergic..

[LBJ10]

Chlorpheniramine is safe to use in rabbits. However, if allergies were the problem, then you would have seen improvement with the antihistamine. My guess is the heavy breathing is a lingering infection. It may have gone down into the lungs. If that is the case, your bunny would need another antibiotic. Sometimes infections are stubborn in rabbits and they need to be on an antibiotic for longer.

[Bam]

I agree with LBJ. Chlorfeniramine is antihistamine. Its bunny safe and it is fast-acting (within hours). If your bun is still having these breathing sounds, it indicates that this is not about an allergy.

One possibility is that your bun has a chronic thickening of the nadal mucosa, due to a long-standing sinus infection. This would take a long time to resolve even after the causative infection has subsided. I have a rabbit who had this problem when I adopted him.

Another possibility, which is a lot more serious, is that your bun’s infection has migrated to the lungs. If this is the case, antibiotics is of need. You might suggest to your vet that you’d be interested in trying another antibiotic.  Enrofloxacine (brand name Baytril) is a broad spectrum, bunny safe antibiotic which is widely used in the rabbit community for deep respiratory infections.

It is not the least bit uncommon for a rabbit respiratory infection to need at least 2 weeks of oral antibiotics. I have had two buns with respiratory infections, they both got 14 days on antibiotics (and both made full recoveries).

 

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