Wet noses

[Pancake&Buttercup]

At the end of October I noticed that my male bunny, Buttercup, was getting a slightly damp nose. I took him to the vets and he was prescribed Baytril for 10 days. Part way through the course of antibiotics I noticed that my female bunny, Pancake, was also getting a damp nose, very slightly damp, but I took her to the vets thinking that she must have the same infection as Buttercup.

We finished Buttercups course of antibiotics and his nose was still damp, we took him back to the vets and they prescribed a different kind of antibiotics, with an anti inflamatory, enroflaxin and melodixyl … She instructed me to use the new antibiotics for 20 days. Throughout the course I noticed that his nose seemed to be getting worse, meanwhile Pancakes was fine after finishing her antibiotics.

Now, during the antibiotics I switched out all of their sawdust/wood shavings for Carefresh, this didn’t seem to make a difference. I also mentioned to the vet that his nose seemed to be worse in the mornings, and it would dry up slightly throughout the day, and the dampness would come back more in the evenings and overnight. The vet thought that this could be a ventilation issue, so I started to only cover them up half way overnight. It’s been getting quite cold here recently, with frost most mornings, so I was reluctant to do this, but I did it anyway.

Keeping their ventilation better has seemed to help slightly, but last week I think that Buttercups nose started to get worse again. Another vet trip and we came away with no more information, she was skeptical to start on another course of antibiotics. Pancakes nose has also started to get worse this week, it is now worse than it was before she even had antibiotics originally.

On December 1st we bought a shed and have moved the rabbits into there. We’ve got a temperature and humidity gauge in the shed so I can monitor the highs and lows, at the moment the humidity is quite high (approx 75%) and it’s been around 7 Celsius for most of today.

Neither of them have any other symptoms, besides the wet nose. They are eating, drinking, going to the toilet properly, they haven’t lost weight (Buttercup has actually gained weight). Their teeth are also great according to the vet.

Does anyone have any suggestions of anything else I can try? Do you think the vet is missing something? Is there something I can ask the vets to check for? Does anyone else have any experience with their rabbits just having a damp nose for no apparent reason?

I’m trying to attach a photo so you can see their noses, but I’m not able to from mobile. I’ll log into my computer and see if I can add one in the comments or something.

Thank you for any help you can provide! 

[LBJ10]

How much dampness are we talking here? It isn’t unusual for a rabbit to have dampness under their nose, particularly when temperatures are cooler. The moisture is condensation from their breath.

[Mikey]

Agreeing with LBJ that it depends on how much moisture youre talking about. Some is normal, especially when its colder.

I wanted to add one more thing, though. 40F/4.5C is the absolute lowest the bunnies should be outside. Any lower and they will need to be brought inside or given a heater. If a bun gets too cold, it will hinder their body’s ability to fight off illness.

[Pancake&Buttercup]

Hi both,

I’ve added an image of Buttercup to my original post. This is the worst his nose has been throughout the whole thing. It is drier today though, but not dry!

My bunnies are 6 & 7 and we’ve never experienced this over any other winter, and it’s not really even winter properly yet here in the UK. They’ve never even had damp noses before.

[Deleted User]

Maybe he has started developing an allergy to something? You could try children’s Benadryl. Bombur has allergies that act up every once in while and .2ml of the Benadryl works like a charm.

[LBJ10]

That’s a fair amount of dampness. But it’s also even on both sides. Wooly has tooth root issues and it affects one side more than the other. Perhaps it is allergies like suggested above? Although it seems odd for them both to develop allergies so late in life. I have given my buns Benedryl in the past as well.

[Pancake&Buttercup]

I would be inclined to agree with the allergies, however I’ve changed out all of their bedding, replaced it all with Carefresh, and this weekend I’ve left no bedding in there, only the hay in their bedroom. They’re plenty warm enough as they’ve been moved into the shed and I’m monitoring the temperature in there.

Pancake’s nose has dried up since being moved into the shed, and Buttercup’s isn’t looking any worse, so I guess that’s something. It’s odd that this whole thing started just as the weather started to get cold, even though they’ve been outside bunnies ever since I had them – perhaps the cold is affecting them more now they’re older.

[Author]

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