runny nose!!

[x_toffee&ginger_x]

hi, 

I’m a first time bunny owner and so I could just be worrying about every little thing, but my one of my two 14 week old bunnies (ginger) has had a runny nose and sneezing fits for about 2 or 3 weeks. I took them both to the vet when the sneezing fits started to happen and he gave a weeks worth of baytril for both as I had mentioned that toffee had also sneezed a few times here and there. I gave it them both orally for the course given and toffee stopped sneezing completely. Ginger however still had a runny nose and wouldn’t stop sneezing. I have taken him back again and the vet has told me to switch from using the bedding I have been using to wooden pellets as he thought it could be the dustiness of his environment. but still no use! I was just wondering if there was anything else I could try for him as he isn’t showing any other symptoms of illness like eye discharge and he is still eating and drinking well. any advice would be a huge help. Thankyou!

[Wick & Fable]

Welcome to BB and I’m sorry to hear your baby is unwell. It’s good that only one seems to be showing signs and you don’t have two snotty rabbits on your hands!

I would explore the option of a different medication with the vet if you see the sneezing is getting worse or has plateaued to a point that is interrupting your rabbit’s well being. Baytril is one of many medications used to treat upper respiratory infections, and it could be that the specific infection your rabbit has isn’t one affected by Baytril. I will also mention that a 1-week course of medication is usually too short. Many URIs are not treated or come back later as a result of stopping medication too soon. Imagine the bacteria only needs one of itself to multiply, but one isn’t enough to show sneezing symptoms. A lot of time, people will stop medication when there are no symptoms, but this allows that one bacteria to remultiply and show symptoms later, thus the cycle continues.

It took three medication trials over a continuous five month treatment period for me to cure Wick. We started with 2 weeks on Bactrim, no results. Then we did 3 months on Baytril, with some improvement but not completely gone. Then we did a month of Baytril plus penicillin shots. This did the trick miraculously! No more sneezing!

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.

[x_toffee&ginger_x]

Thank you so much for the reply! I’m going to speak to my vet again tomorrow and see if we can explore a different way of medication so that he gets better. 

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