Still white discharge

[Al2]

After taking Frank to the vet and treating him on antibiotics for a week with an antibiotic injection as well ($$$!), the white discharge in his right nostril has come back. The vet never ran a culture on the discharge, but all of his symptoms pointed to an upper respiratory infection so he just gave me the antibiotics. He checked the teeth, butt, belly, etc., and couldnt find any form of irritation. Is it possible that Frank has allergies? Have any of you had a rabbit with white nasal discharge due to allergies? We do not smoke in the apartment and are careful to keep any clothes that could have smoke on them far away from Frank, and we also don’t use any cleaners or chemicals in his room. I only buy fragrance free soaps and detergents.

 

I know I should put in another call to the vet, but I am upset he may just put Frank on more antibiotics and cause more harm than good. Is white discharge ever a sign of simple allergies? Frank is eating more than ever and I don’t see any cecotropes.

 

I am so worried! First that Frank isn’t feeling well. Second that my vet is an idiot. He treats a lot of rabbits but I am a little upset he never ran a culture on the snot.

 

What do you guys think??

[BinkyBunny]

I’ve never had a bunny that had white discharge due to allergies, as the white stuff has always signified and infection only— but I have heard of this happening with other member’s bunnies. Allergies or irritation can happen even to hay dust and certain types of litter, so do you notice him sneezing or the discharge more when he’s eating hay or using his litterbox? Also, how long has he had this problem?

When the vet checked his teeth, what did he do exactly? Did the vet say why he didn’t do a culture? Here is a good article by Dana Krempels about similar symptoms your bunny is having – this may be helpful for you so you know what to discuss with your vet. http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sneezing.html Note: In that article she did mention it can take a few weeks to clear up the infection.

[lashkay]

Hi, before I offer the following, I want to stress that it is not my intention to prescribe any medicinal solutions as alternatives to what your vet or vets prescribe and advise as a course of action.  I only offer the following as something I have found that I would suggest you bring up to your vet and ask your vet if they agree it should be tried. I don’t recommend you specifically try the Vanodine until your vet has approved of trying it.  I found these articles by Barbi Brown   

Under Sneezing:  http://barbibrownsbunnies.com/sneezing.htm   A rabbit that sneezes is, well, nothing to sneeze at! 

http://barbibrownsbunnies.com/My%20…rience.htm 

Please discuss these articles with your vet and obtain your vet’s approval before attempting anything as an alternative medicinal procedure.  Thank you!!

-  lashkay

[Beka27]

EDITED BY ADMIN:    Beka’s reply was made prior to lashkay’s edit, but I wanted to keep the responses up so that the rest of the posts made sense  as well as keep this as a  friendly reminder to the whole community including to myself.— even I can use my own reminder sometimes!  

 

Lashkay, the excerpt you posted had some good info in it, but unfortunately on Binkybunny, we can’t allow members to “prescribe” a medicinal regimen to other members.  The forum leaders are not vets, and as I understand it, neither are you (nor Barbi Brown).  Even if we were vets, it is not good practice for a vet to prescribe meds without physically examining the animal.  I am going to lock this thread until Binkybunny can come and either “okay it” or decide how to proceed.

FYI:

1. ADVICE RECEIVED IN FORUM:

Members range from all levels of experience. Leaders are not vets or behaviorists. We all may use our own experience and knowledge to help find solutions and offer advice, however it is YOUR responsibility to assess the information given to you. The advice given here should never be taken as a replacement to your own vet’s care but as additional options to consider and discuss with your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

We reserve the right to delete a post/ advice that we feel will put an animal at immediate risk. 

Emergency/Urgent Situations: We CANNOT help you in case of an emergency or urgent care. If you are unsure if vet care is needed, then we can only give you our opinion, and if we say seek vet care immediately, then PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR ADDITIONAL MEDICAL TYPE OF ADVICE unless it’s helping to keep the animal alive DURING transport to your vet.  If you are seeking “additional” information regarding the vet care’s advice, that is fine, but we cannot replace vet care.  Also, NEVER risk your animal’s life by waiting for an answer from us.

 

 

 

Al2, since you are already receiving treatment for this condition, it’s important that you follow-up with the vet.  It is very common for vets to prescribe a course of antibiotics without knowing the exact cause, because there is a good chance it will fix the problem quickly.  If not, a culture will be necessary to determine which medication the infection is sensitive to.  Infections in rabbits can be difficult to clear up and multiple courses of antibiotics are not uncommon.

[BinkyBunny]

I have unlocked the topic now.

I agree that ANY time someone gives advice especially when it’s regarding questions about vet treatment that the advice is never used as replacement of vet care. It’s fine to bring the suggestions offered to your vet, but always remember — NONE of us are vets– we may offer our experience and that can be helpful to when talking to your vet.

Also, this is just a friendly reminder to everyone — please don’t source a main website, but instead please use the actual article links that you are referring to.    Better to do that than paste long text which can be considered an infringement.

As we proceed with this thread (and similar threads),  to prevent anyone’s post from getting flagged, I recommend that if you decide to offer advice regarding a question about “vet care and medical type treatment” that you make it clear that you are not trying to offer alternative medicine as a replacement for vet care, but as something to discuss with their own vet. Also, be aware that people may use the advice anyway to stall going to the vet. So please be conscientious of the timing of your advice.

[lashkay]

Hi, I only just now read the messages from BinkyBunny stressing the importance of not trying anything until it has been approved by your vet. I have edited my posting and I hope it now follows those guidelines. I have left the articles intact on the posting as the information may be a little hard to locate on barbibrownsbunnies.com website. But I agree with Binkybunny’s postings and alerts that we should never try alternative medical advisory until it is approved by one’s rabbit-saavy vet. I’m sorry I didn’t point that out in my original posting.

[jerseygirl]

Posted By BinkyBunny on 10/06/2010 04:34 PM
Also, this is just a friendly reminder to everyone — please don’t source a main website, but the actual article links that you are referring to. Better to do that than paste long text which can be considered an infringement.

BB, I just need to clarify here as I link things here A LOT!  I’m not sure I understand “don’t source a main website” ?  Do you  mean for example if I mentioned a HRS article then linked http://www.rabbit.org ie. the homepage,  instead of linking to the specific article?

[jerseygirl]

Al2, please pardon my post above. I hope it doesn’t keep your thread too long off topic.

I did want to mention that another member (MimzMum) has been trying to solve a similar issue with her rabbit Mimzy. She has a current thread in Q&A where it discusses the current med he is on. https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tab…fault.aspx

[BinkyBunny]

Posted By jerseygirl on 10/06/2010 10:41 PM

Posted By BinkyBunny on 10/06/2010 04:34 PM
Also, this is just a friendly reminder to everyone — please don’t source a main website, but the actual article links that you are referring to. Better to do that than paste long text which can be considered an infringement.

BB, I just need to clarify here as I link things here A LOT!  I’m not sure I understand “don’t source a main website” ?  Do you  mean for example if I mentioned a HRS article then linked http://www.rabbit.org ie. the homepage,  instead of linking to the specific article?

No just the opposite.  Link to the specific article INSTEAD of just putting the main website address.  You are pretty good about that.  (I link alot too!)    BSo, for example, if I wanted to link to information about HRS diet  – I would link to their diet page http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html  NOT http://www.rabbit.org.     

NOTE: I had emailed Lashkay about it and it looks like she edited her posting and changed her links to make them link directly to the article instead of just the main website since my last post.  (THANK YOU lashkay!)  

[jerseygirl]

I should have been more clear, my example was what not to do. ie What I understood “sourcing main website” to mean. lol
Thanks for clarifying so quickly.

[Sarita]

I don’t think a week is nearly enough time for treatment with antibiotics – why only one week?

[Andi]

Antibiotics need 10 to 14 days as i was told by my Vet, and so my guys get always just that.
Also, White or coloured discharge most likely means there is infection, so i would definetly see the Vet again.
Adding a homeopathic or such immune system booster can be helpful, My vet reccomended one for me and it’s worked great when i have rabbits with minor runny noses or skin irritations usualy due to some sort of allergy.

[Al2]

Hey! I wasn’t sure if everything is unlocked yet… Frank is on his second run of his antibiotic… Sulfatrim. I noticed a couple of days of white stuff though so I have a feeling when he finished his dosing tomorrow the problem will come back… Sigh. It appears the stuff on Barbi Brown’s site is just a cleaner to kill bacteria. I keep just trying to wipe down Frank’s front feet with a warm cloth (no cleaner) to try and reduce snot buildup, although I haven’t really seen any on his feet. It’s just so weird! I have NO idea what the problem is. Sulfatrim is a pretty general antibiotic (I’ve had it for UTI’s) so I really can’t understand why it didn’t work last time. I will take him back to the vet, of course, but I am wondering if you guys have any experience with Rabbit-mycin. I think it’s something non-prescription you can ask your vet for. Any experiences with it? My vet has shown great lack of concern by not culturing the snot and ignoring the concept of antibiotic resistance, so I just would love to hear ANY upper respiratory and/or white discharge stories you all have.

[Deleted User]

I agree your vet should first identify the pathogen before prescribing anything. It is bad for the rabbit to be put on antibiotics on a trial basis because they compromise a rabbit’s GI. I would insist that the vet run a culture and identify the disease.

[Sarita]

I totally agree with Petzy – you need to do a culture and sensitivity test. You need to insist he do this.

[jerseygirl]

I’ve heard of gentimycin used for respiratory infections. I’m not sure what Rabbit-mycin is…
Gentimycin can be effective against some more resistant infectious agents. I think administering it my nebulizer was effective from memory.

[Al2]

Just an update… Frank has been on and off Baytril for months with another vet! Every time he goes off of his antibiotics the problem comes back. We are trying to think of ways to treat this as a chronic problem, by switching him to a more gentle antibiotic and “steaming” him in the bathroom for 15 minutes a day. The steam has helped a lot and is something I would definitely recommend trying for any bunny with a stuffy nose. We did end up testing him for pasturella but the test came back negative because he was getting antibiotic nose drops. At this point I am assuming he has it because of the persistence of his problem.

The way I see it if the little guy has a chronic bacteria it doesn’t matter if I know, or I don’t know for sure. All I know is I am going to keep doing the best I can to take care of him and keep him feeling well! I may decide to run the test again in the future to be certain, but for now his treatment will be the same whether I know he has is, or not. I don’t have another rabbit so thank goodness I don’t have to worry about it being contagious.

Another thing that has helped keep his nose clear is to put saline drops in his eyes twice daily, to keep his sinuses flushed. Another tip to try if you are seeing a vet for rabbit snot!

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