Sneezing but not sick?

[BunnyMuffin]

I’m just wondering…is it possible for a rabbit to sneeze and not be sick?  Wally sneezes about once a day, but there’s no discharge and he’s been doing it pretty much since I got him.  He was on meds for something when I got him – but all I got was a ziploc bag of purple pills that I was supposed to give him one-half twice a day until they were gone.  No one told me what they were for or what they were (I did ask, but no one knew) so who knows…(I almost didn’t even get the meds – someone was trying to pack him away and take him home and I had to tell them I was adopting him and that I’d much rather take him home with me and that’s when they said ‘oh – I better give you these then!’)  Sorry for the aside…

Now, I personally attribute the sneezing to his eating style. He’s a bit of what we like to call a “bottom feeder” and likes to eat from the bottom of the hay rack.  He constantly has piles of hay on top of his head from it falling out and onto him while he eats, so I’m constantly trying to clean him up because Noelle refuses to clean him.  So I figure if that much hay is accumulating on top of his head, there’s gotta be some dust getting up his nose and that’s probably why he sneezes.

Does that theory sound reasonable or should I be more worried about this?  I did bring it up at the vet when Noelle had her little scare awhile back, but since there was no discharge the vet wasn’t concerned and said he couldn’t really do any tests (I even told him about the mysterious purple pills and he wasn’t much help there either).  For what it’s worth he said he didn’t think the meds were for snuffles, but I’m not sure how rabbit-savvy my vet is – he’s just the closest thing to rabbit savvy in my area – and by “area” I mean within a 5 hour drive.  So it’ll just have to do until I move.

Sorry this is so long, but I would appreciate any feedback on whether he’s sick or just a sneezer.

 

 

 

[jerseygirl]

It could be hay dust. Also, I’m sure others have mentioned there rabbits randomly sneezing. All the same, i too would want to get to the bottom of the purple pills. You had the right to know what they are. Did you get him at a shelter? Maybe they have vet records for him they can follow up.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

A few random sneezes (And even sometime hiccups!) are pretty normal. You’re right to watch for discharge or a wet nose or wet paws. Since you don’t see those, I’m not a vet, but I’d say he’s fine

[Hedi]

I took Hoopie in about 6mths ago for excessive sneezing and he wasnt sick. We had gotten down to the bottom of the hay bag and he would root his little nose around in it and just have sneezing fits.

And he liked to root is nose around in the carpet. Something he smelled he liked and he would come up sneezing.

The vet said to watch for the hay at the end of the bag. Just not give it to my one bun it bothers. She also said not to ever put any time of carpet deoderizer in the floor (havent in a long long time) just as a reminder and also said to not use those deodorizer sprays in rooms bunnies will be in either. All that stuff affects them.

Definitely take the pills to your vet and get them identified. He may not need them anymore. Im sure just like for humans- long term antibiotics can be just as bad.

But make sure at the vet if you tell them what you told us they will mimic what we have all said.

[Beka27]

wieird… mysterious purple pills… they didn’t have any identifying numbers or letters stamped on them, did they?

sneezing is not an issue as long as there is no discharge from the nose or eyes. just like in humans, irritants in the environment can get up there and make a bun sneeze. it does sound like hay might be the culprit. what you can do is shake the hay out well (outside if possible) to get the loose bits out and only giove the longer strands of hay. that being said, how are his eating habits aside from that, is it possible he might have teeth problems and that is why he’s seeking out the softer hay?

[KatnipCrzy]

My rabbits sneeze occasionally- sometimes if they bump their nose, etc.  But they only do it once (one sneeze) and it is so infrequent and there is no discharge- so there is no reason to worry.  Cats and Dogs sometimes just sneeze, not because they are sick but something is irritating/tickling their nose.

As per the purple pills- I suspect they are Baytril.  Baytril comes as TasteTabs which are brown FLAVORED tabs (some meat type flavoring) but it also comes as regular tabs and they are PURPLE.  I would try to look up Baytril online and see if you can find of pic of what the non-flavored look like.  Most vets unless they see a lot of exotics only carry the brown tastetabs, because I believe you can make a flavored medicine out of using injectable Baytril plus flavoring for exotics (would not be practical to do this for dogs due to higher dosages).  And most vet clinics that I have worked at have always carried the Baytril injectable.

[KatnipCrzy]

I can’t find an pic of the purple Baytril online- I would recommend calling Bayer directly, I found this # online

BAYER HEALTHCARE LLC
Animal Health Division
P.O. BOX 390, SHAWNEE MISSION, KS, 66201-0390

Customer Service Tel.:

800-633-3796

[Sarita]

I was thinking Baytril for the pills as well. My vet always compound my baytril for me though but I did have an old vet who gave me the purple baytril pills before – these are not easy to use unfortunately since the don’t really dissolve unless you take the purple coating off if I remember correctly. If he has injectible and you aren’t squeamish about doing injections that would be better in my opinion.

[Sarita]

Baytril is also known as enroflaxin if that’s what the container for the prescription says.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I somehow totally missed the part about mysterious purple pills!!

[BunnyMuffin]

Wow – thanks for all the feedback!

I never use any type of room sprays or deoderizers because all that stinky stuff gives me headaches and make me sneeze so that’s definitely not an issue. I even avoid the “stinky section” in department stores if I can!

I guess I could contact the rescue where I adopted him to see what the pills were. I may have been unclear – I adopted him a couple months ago and just got 3 or 4 pills that were the end of whatever prescription he was on in a ziploc bag, so he’s not taking any meds at all right now, it was just for the first few days he was here. So there’s no prescription bottle for me to check, and I don’t remember there being identifying marks on the pills themselves – there probably were but I didn’t pay much attention because it didn’t mean anything to me.

His eating habits are great – he loves eating the lettuce cores and is a big fan of all things chewable – wood, cardboard, newspaper. I’ve finally deterred him from the wire destruction. 🙂 I don’t think he’s seeking out the little bits, just he sticks his head under the hay rack and eats from below (I’ve tried moving it down a bit to see if that helps), so the bits fall on top of him. Plus Noelle likes to stand up and eat from the top, often using poor Wally as a footstool, so while she eats he gets even more little bits shaken onto his head. And sometimes the bits aren’t so little! He comes hopping out with this pile of hay on his head like it’s perfectly normal! The vet also checked his teeth when I took the buns in for their checkups and he said they both have very nice teeth.

I definitely don’t do needles – I can’t even stand seeing them on TV, so injectible wouldn’t have been an option. But I didn’t have any problems – I just cut them in half and gave it Wally and he ate it right up! Pretty impressive really, I just assumed they were flavoured to taste yummy or something. Maybe that wasn’t how I was supposed to do it, but I didn’t really get any special instructions.

Hopefully I addressed everyone’s follow up questions!

[KatnipCrzy]

As long as the pill was getting from Point A (the plastic bag) into Point B (Wally) it is fine that you let him eat them. The best way to medicate is to choose/use the least stressful way as possible. And you really lucked out!! Most pills are bitter and rabbits want nothing to do with taking them willingly. Do you remember did the pills only have a purple coating or were they solid purple?

[BunnyMuffin]

They were white in the middle, purple on the outside.

[KatnipCrzy]

Definitely sounds like Baytril!

[BunnyMuffin]

What would Baytril be prescribed for. They said he had a runny nose – but that doesn’t really tell me what the infection was. I was also somewhat unimpressed after the fact that they would expose him to other rabbits…but it didn’t spread to Noelle whatever it was.

[BinkyBunny]

Baytril is a common antibiotic used to help rabbits fight infections of many different kinds – from abscesses, eye infections, respiratory infections…you name it.

Usually it’s given for 10 – 14 days or longer depending on the infection. So if you were only at the last few days then they probably thought it was not so contagious. However, it does surprise me that they didn’t finish the treatment and get a good “bill of health” before adopting him out.

[Author]

Messages