Upper respiratory infection, and eating wrong poop

[Jane]

Hello, 5 or so days ago I adopted Poppy (an 8 week old female Himalayan) to bond with Percy (8 month old, neutered male angora cross). But just as we were arriving home we noticed that she was sneezing with a white discharge. We took her straight to vets and apart from sneezing (and messing fur around nose from discharge) she’s in perfect health (very playful, eating, pooping etc), she was given a course of anti-biotics (baytryl) for suspected upper respiratory infection. She is kept separate from Percy in case she is infectious. It’s been a few days and we’ve noticed no change. She’s still eating, running and playing but sneezing with discharge. I know that if it’s “snuffles” or pasteurelious it can be stubborn to clear, but does anyone have any advice on anything extra we could be doing other than the antibiotics, or is it something we might not ever be able to cure as I’m quite concerned about cross infection.

Also, she is eating her poop, not the ones she should but her normal ones, she eats them direct from her bottom, if they are on the floor she doesn’t really seem to eat them at all. I’ve read that it could do with missing something from her diet, she is currently eating cereal style rabbit food (the different coloured variety) as that’s what she’s used to, I want to swap it to all in one pellets from juniors but I know I need to do this gradually, we’ve also started giving her a few bits of kale (again slowly as not sure what she’s had before), she eats hay.

Because of the lack of poops to put in her tray to help her litter train, could I use wet litter and poops from my other rabbit or will the different smells make it worse?

Thank you

[Wick & Fable]

Hey Jane.

Wick had the exact same circumstance (9wo, sneezing, clear discharge first, then it turned white) and he was given Bactrim first, then Baytril. It was a guessing game, in terms of what antibiotic would hit the particular URI Wick had. The Bactrim did nothing, the Baytril did a small improvement (but not much at all), but the combination of Baytril and injected flocillin showed an immediate effect, so I knew we’d found what anitibiotics Wick needed to get better. Wick had a particularly evolved bacteria, so it took 3mo to take care of it. He’s now healthy, with the occasional sneeze and clear discharge due to his hay allergy.

Some people say to get a bacteria culture done to identify exactly what the URI, but my vet (and I agree based on my experience with Wick) said it usually takes only one to two tries to find what antibiotic will kill the URI, so just try. That is a decision you may want to discuss with your vet though.

You’ll need antibiotics to kill the infection, but to help Poppy, you can aid in cleaning her nose fur by spraying a soft towel with water, wiping her nose area, then drying it with a soft towel. Never re-use a towel, for bacteria reasons of course. Be gentle as well.

For the normal poop eating, your rabbit may actually be eating the correct poops. Wick does the same thing; sometimes it’s not the obvious cecotropes, but ones that look like regular poop but are more wet. He’s normal and healthy though, so there’s been no problems with this behavior. He went to the vet every week while getting treatment, so if this poop-eating was a problem, I would know. He’ll also chew it a bit then spit it out because he has multiple in his mouth and is rejecting one because he isn’t supposed to it it (ew). Wick does not eat poops that are on the floor. If Poppy isn’t pooping a lot, that’s another health issue though. I say this because you mention there’s not many poops for you to put in her litter box, which is concerning because rabbits should poop a good amount.

It’s good to get her off the cereal-style, so definitely transition slowly as you’ve planned to.

I don’t think using urine/poo from your other rabbit is wise, territorially-speaking. Try and just collect as many poos as you can from Poppy, as well as pee-soaked items.

— You can read my post from this other thread: https://binkybunny.com/tabid/54/aft/157402/Default.aspx
… for a more detailed account of Wick’s URI “adventure”.

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.

[tobyluv]

Sometimes with infections, a vet will have to do a culture to see what antibiotic will work the best. Baytril isn’t always the best antibiotic to use, although it is usually the first and most prescribed one.

Regarding bonding Poppy with Percy, you are right to keep them apart while she has this respiratory problem, but actually it would be best to keep them apart for a few months, until she has been spayed and recovered. The first step in bonding is always for both rabbits to be spayed and neutered. They would likely get along now since she is a baby (leaving out the respiratory problem) but when she reaches puberty, at 3 or 4 months old, there will likely be problems. The hormones bring attitude and aggression, which can lead to fighting. Rabbits can severely injure each other if they fight.

It’s good that you are switching her food to a better quality one. Most people advise not starting rabbits on greens until they are 12 weeks of age or older, unless you know that she has already been fed greens.

[Jane]

Thank you for your advice and support. It’s good to know that wick has been in the same position and has fully recovered. She still has a couple of days of her baytryl left but she’s not really showing any improvement so perhaps one of the suggested antibiotics might be better and I’ll discuss doing a culture with my vet. Thank you.

I think it is the wrong type of poop she’s eating as when we let her out to play (as she’s in a smaller pen at the moment whilst we try to litter train her), she doesn’t eat her poops so much as she’s distracted by new things to explore but when she’s tired n not running so much that’s when she stops and eats them (when she’s running she just poops) n when she’s in her hutch she does too- I’m guessing as there are few to clean up-but plenty when she’s out running so I don’t think there’s a digestive problem(?).

Oh right, I thought she was allowed greens at this age, I’ll not give her more, it’s been a while since I’ve had a bunny so young.

Thank you again ?

[Anna]

I had the same sneezing problem when I adopted Bertie. My old vet gave him a week’s baytril but there was no improvement so I took him to a more rabbit savvy vet. She did a culture and it turned out to be a guinea pig disease rather than pasteurella!

She said a week’s antibiotics is unlikely to cure any type of infection as it just isn’t long enough in many cases. I gave Baytril twice a day for a month and Bert is now all better.

So while you might chose not to do the culture, make sure the vet knows enough to prescribe enough to kill off the infection.

Hope you’re all doing better soon! xx

[Jane]

Thank you Anna. I’m definitely going to discuss doing a culture when I’m back at the vets next week. Thank you again ?

[jerseygirl]

Cultures can be good….but also problematic.. so, often the vet will got to a safe antibiotic or 2 straight away that is broad spectrum and covers the typical things that would cause a URI. With the pasteurella, it normally inhabits the nasal passages in healthy rabbits, but when infection and inflammation occurs, possibly from a different species of bacteria, pastereulla can then “come to the party” and take over. It’s kind of like a gate-crasher.  So often the culture results just come back as pasteurella. This happens with abscesses also. So doing a culture of just the pus is not always giving the full picture.

Is Poppy eating much hay at all? Im suspicious that her eating her regular poop would be because it’s an easy way to get fibre. If she’s not great eating hay, it may be because of the congestion. Rabbits have to breath through their nose, so anything that requires a bit of work to eat (like hay) becomes harder to do when your breathing is affected. It may be a case of its hard for her to eat and breath at some time so she is looking for easy options of keeping fibre moving through her gut. Some rabbits gravitate toward paper and cardboard to do this too.

What was the environment like where you got her from? Was she housed on wood shavings or chips at all? That can reall exacerbate respiratory infections.
At home, I would stick to a paper litter for now and no bedding product if you are using any. That should also help with litter training too.

Im not sure about adding any of Percy’s poop to her box. Avoiding cross infection goes both ways. She obviously has something that coould be contagious, but at the same time, he could be carrying something that is asymptomatic for him and not an issue, but could be an issue for her since her immune system is already taxed.

Keeping the enviroment on the cool side can help for snuffly buns. The warm air can swell the nasal tissue and make matters worse. You could try her on a mucolytic med like bisolvon too, to help clear the gunk out her nose. This gives the antibiotics a better chance of working too. Maybe ask the vet what they think? You can by mucolytic OTC at drugstore but might be worth asking vet if any issue giving any to her due to her age. I wouldn’t this there would be but it’s always worth running it past a vet!

Hope you can get the infection clear! {{{Poppy}}}

[Jane]

Thank you jerseygirl for your response, there’s a lot of good points.
Thanks for all the medicine advice, we are at the vets tomorrow morning so I’ll talk through everything with her then.

She eats some hay-doesn’t seem to be a big eater of it but she does eat some, that’s an interesting theory, I’d not thought of it like that, I’ll keep a close watch of her hay intake.

She was on sawdust and straw at the centre, she now has paper based pellets in her litter tray with hay n a towel on the floor of her cage so no bedding material.

I’ll let you know how we get on at the vets tomorrow. Thank you all again xx

[Jane]

We were at the vets this morning, and we have been proscribed a different antibiotic (sulfatrim- the one which apparently tastes like bananas) so hopefully this one will work, if not the vet wants to take a culture next time, so fingers crossed. I’ll keep you updated ?

[Jane]

The 2nd antibiotics didn’t work so she had a culture done, it came back with pasteurella and bordetella so we are just deciding on which antibiotics will work best (neither of them are antibiotic resistance strains so hopefully they can be cleared up). As for eating the wrong poop, she seems to have stopped doing this but now eats a lot of hay so it may have been linked to low fiber. Thanks for the advice

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hi glad things are getting worked out… shame about the first antibiotics…. isnt it annoying when you just adopt a creature and they need treatment immediately. So frustrating….. i hoepe you can let the centre know where you got her from.

Ive just googled Himalayan !!!! “One of the oldest breeds amd one of the calmest”…. awwwwwww
Is she a white one with a forever changing booplesnoot like our very own member Olaf’s?

[Jane]

She definitely is a calm bunny, very little worries her at all and she just loves cuddles. If she’s relaxing lying all stretched out you can pick her up and she still stays stretched out with her feet still sticking out behind her, doesn’t move at all ?? Yes she’s white and her patches are lilac but haven’t noticed them change (yet).

Yes I’ve been in touch with the rescue centre, they’ve not noticed any sneezers but are keeping an eye out.

[Jane]

She definitely is a calm bunny, very little worries her at all and she just loves cuddles. If she’s relaxing lying all stretched out you can pick her up and she still stays stretched out with her feet still sticking out behind her, doesn’t move at all ?? Yes she’s white and her patches are lilac but haven’t noticed them change (yet).

Yes I’ve been in touch with the rescue centre, they’ve not noticed any sneezers but are keeping an eye out.

[Author]

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