Hello, I have an 8 year old lionhead that’s been having trouble breathing recently.
–Maintenance and Housing–
My rabbit lives indoors, not around any other buns and hasn’t been outside or in contact with other bunnies recently. He free roams my room which is pretty large, separated by a height difference so he pretty much has half all to himself. Usually change his litterbox weekly but due to being depressed it’s been more like two weeks recently. Don’t groom him too often, only when he needs his fur to be trimmed so he can see, or if he’s shedding. He is unfixed both due to the cost and by the time it was any option he was old enough for it to be a risk.
–Pooping and Diet–
He usually eats both pellets and whatever greens we have on hand. Normally; Kale, Spring Mix, Parsley, and sometimes lettuce from our garden outside. Pellets are a mix of a cheaper pellet, some oats, and mainly Supreme Science Selective adult rabbit food. I don’t have exact measurements for how much he eats but it’s really just roughly how much he will eat of both pellets and greens- both a good handful twice a day. He’s never been a big fan of any type of hay, so just fill about half his litter box with timothy hay when it gets changed. He’s been eating completely normally without issue, maybe even eating a bit more than normal. He’s been eating Kale which is his favorite green to eat. His poop seems normal overall, just slightly small if anything but that’s not too odd for him.
–Illness & Symptoms–
I’ve had him his whole life, he’s 8 now so an older bun. He’s been sneezing and is now wheezing/grunting and having trouble breathing when eating or grooming himself/seems to when bending to do stuff especially. It’s dry sneezing as far as I can tell and his eyes are fine and not runny. I saw him a couple times go to groom himself, start having more trouble breathing as he did so, and when he stopped, sneezed a couple times. He’s acting fine otherwise, moving around and being pretty active, eating fine. His breathing does sound pretty worrisome, though.
He’s been sneezing more and more often recently. All of the people in the house have been having allergies from outside, just seasonal stuff -considerably worse than normal, too- so at first I was thinking he might be feeling the same thing. It wasn’t going away, but he’s been acting fine so I haven’t been too worried. But just earlier today I heard him wheezing really heavily and he hasn’t stopped. It had been a little longer than when I usually vacuum the area as well as the carpet he likes to lay on, but I had been sweeping regularly. I had taken him outside and it seemed to get slightly better but it seems he’s fine when sitting still. I cleaned and vacuumed everything, wiped down areas, cleaned his food bowl in hopes of making it better but it didn’t really help. Seemed to help at first but when he went to eat, I heard it again. After sitting with him for a while it mainly happens when he’s grooming or eating, maybe when bending over? Again, he’s acting completely fine. He’s been sick before and it was pretty noticeable then but right now he doesn’t seem off. His nose and eyes aren’t runny, but it doesn’t sound good. I can’t find anything that matches his symptoms so I’m really not sure what I could do to help him. It does seem like it could just be allergies, but I’m still worried for him.
Going to the vet isn’t too much an option, mainly because of just how expensive that can be and he’s not showing any immediately life-threatening symptoms. But still a possibility.
TL;DR: My 8 year old rabbit is sneezing and wheezing when doing certain actions, but otherwise acting fine. I’m not sure what to do to help, and can’t find anything that matches what’s happening with him. I’m not even sure if I should be worried as it could just be allergies.
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