Sneezing Bunny/ runny nose

[Cheech&Chong]

My bunny Cheech has been sneezing ever since we got him. We adopted him from our SPCA and ever since we took him home he has been sneezing a lot. We took him to the vet and got him medicine for an upper respiratory infection but it did nothing at all. We asked if we should do another dose but our vet said it wouldn’t be good for him he was also on a probiotoic at the same time. He sneezes a lot throughout the day while lounging but it doesn’t seem to affect him at all. He’s very happy and loves to run around the house and jump on all the couches. His nose is constantly wet and sometimes ill see slight discharge on occasion. We now got him an allergy medicine that my vet prescribed. It just makes me so sad when he’s laying down and gets disrupted by a sneezing fit.

Does anyone elses bunny have this problem and should I be worried or doing anything else? Should I try another vet?

[Wick & Fable]

Is this vet rabbit experienced? What they say doesn’t make sense.

If your rabbit has a URI and it wasn’t treated by one antibiotic, another should be tried. Antibiotics cover a wide array of bacteria, so if one doesn’t work, you try another until you find the one that affects what your rabbit has. In some cases, vets do trial and error, and in other cases you do a culture and wait to get the specific bacteria. Wick had a URI and it took 3 modifications until we found the right combo. We didn’t do a culture since we didn’t want to wait.

I’m mostly confused by what the vet said about probiotic. It’s great your rabbit was given a probiotic with the antibiotic, and that should be done if a young rabbit is taking an antibiotic. An antibiotic will kill gut bacteria, but the probiotic will help it grow back. Both are needed when treating to ensure your rabbits digestive system doesn’t get affected by the medical treatment. Now if you rabbit still has gastric distress while on a probiotic/antibiotic combo , the antibiotic may be too incompatible with your rabbit, in which case you should change the antibiotic.

Your vet may have been thinking about the antibiotic killing the probiotic, but the antibiotic should not be taken at the same time as a probiotic, but when a probiotic is given an hour or two after an antibiotic administration, it helps reverse what the antibiotic may cause to the digestive system. This should have been something you were informed about from your vet to prevent the probiotic from being neutralized. Just because a probiotic is given, doesn’t mean you can’t give an antibiotic. A probiotic is given because you’re giving an antibiotic.

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.

[Cheech&Chong]

I was told to give him the antibiotic and probiotoic at the same time. I guess we’ll try to find another vet that one was rated highly though. Not a lot of vets experienced with bunnies near me. Is it possible for him to have allergies like my vet said? Or should I find a second opinion. My vet told me to come in again but it’s over 100 a visit and I don’t have money to bring him to the vet every week because they can’t figure out what it is.

[Wick & Fable]

If you Google antibiotic and probiotic timing, all articles will say they should be given one after the other, with one to two hours in between so the antibiotic does not disrupt the probiotic. If your vet said to give both at the same time, they are not as informed about antibiotic treatment for rabbits. They may be highly reputable for other treatments, but it doesn’t seem they’re as familiar with this if this was not mentioned to you.

Allergies are possible. You can test out removing dust and changing hay and such to experiment what may help, but if the sneezing gets severe and/or the discharge becomes colored, it is probably a URI and needs treatment. If it is a URI, the longer one waits, the more it breeds and becomes harder to treat.

What medication did your vet try?

I do recommend finding a rabbit vet to consult. Try looking for exotic vets instead of rabbit.

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.

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