Respiratory issue

Hey guys. I was volunteering at a summer camp this past week, and my husband was taking care of the buns. I was sitting on the couch, while Pippi was running free, and I hear her "snoring" sound. Pippi is a Holland Lop, so she has the mooshy pug face, and when she is in deep rest, she has this little snore, which she has always had (she has lived with us since Oct. 2014).

This time, even though she was resting (it's her typical nap time), her snoring got louder and louder. I went to look at her, and she is breathing heavily, and taking shallow breaths. She seems as alert as she usually does, it's just her breathing is kind of...hard. like she's been running a bunny marathon or something.

She does have a bit of discharge from her eyes, but no more than the usual "I woke up in the morning with a crust at the corners of my eyes."

Unfortunately, it's a Saturday, and the weekend hours for my vet are finished until Monday. I live in rural WV, USA, and the emergency vets around here don't take rabbits, so I have to wait until Monday.

I did do some research, and it does seem like she might have a bit of a respiratory infection. I have some Baytril and Metacam from when Butterscotch was sick a few months ago (he had bladder stones, and is nowhere near Pippi). My main question is, should I give Pippi a small dose of the baytril each day until Monday, or hope for the best until I can call the vet on Monday? I'm so worried about her... my husband said she didn't start acting strangely until yesterday evening...

Also... that being said, she has no contact with our other two rabbits. She lives in our living room, and they live in the basement. What can I do to keep this from spreading to them?

Don't give Baytril without a vet Dosing may be different, and the bug she has may not respond to Baytril and then you are creating antibiotic resistance. Definitely see the vet on Monday, as you said and monitor her. It may not be something that's even contagious to the other two, but just keep them separated and wash your hands between touching them for now. Does she seem to breathe harder on inhales or exhales? Or just evenly difficult?

Even in a rural area... don't you have a vet on duty during the night and the week-end? In France, when you call a vet who is closed you get redirected toward an emergency number or something and you can talk to someone even when you live in the middle of nowhere. I would try to find another vet, at least to talk about the options on the phone before bringing Pippi for a real consultation on monday. It might be a respiratory infection, but I wouldn't play with antibiotics without any professional input.

Yeah... WV is honestly like a third world country in some ways, and exotic pet vets are hard to find period, let alone an emergency vet for them. When Buttetscotch had his bladderstone issue in May, i did call the emergency vet, and they said they only work with dogs and cats. I would have to drive over an hour to get there, but since they refuse rabbits, there's no point in driving that way. There is another clinic that is an hour from here too, but it gets terrible reviews from all pet owners, so I'm not about to entrust the life of my bun to some incompetent vet who's license has been revoked for misdiagnosing hundreds of animals, but he still practices as a vet because it's a small area, and he can get away with it...

She seems to be breathing fine today, but yesterday, she was having a hard time with both inhaling and exhaling.

I haven't given her any of the medication, so no worries there. As she is much smaller than Butterscotch, I know their dosages wouldn't be the same. As soon as the vet office opens in the morning, I'll give them a call and get her in as soon as possible.

Thanks, guys. I'll let you know what I find out.

How is she doing now? Same?

She's running around, hopping on the couch, and basically acting like she normally does... just breathing a bit harder than usual. The only symptom she has is the heavy breathing, and a slight bit of discharge from her eyes. No runny nose or anything...

You know that sound you have when your vacuum gets something like paper stuck in it? That's what she sounds like, but it's obviously not as loud as a vacuum. :-/ I almost wonder if it's just her being a bit more vocal about things.... I'm still planning on calling the vet and getting her in asap.. I definitely want to get this taken care of soon if it is a big issue.

I called the vet, and although they don't have openings, they told me to bring Pippi in early this afternoon, and they'll work her in. But shhh.... Pippi doesn't know it yet. ;-)

So, we just got back. Turns out she does have a bit of clear nasal discharge, and is certainly congested, but the vet thinks it's basically a bunny cold. She did prescribe Septra (sulfamethoxazole) at 6.8 ml twice a day. She said if Pippi's congestion doesn't ease up by the end of the week, to bring her back and they'll check her for pasteurella.

I dunno, though... doesn't 6.8 ml seem like quite a bit for a 3 pound rabbit? I'm gonna research it a bit more, but it is a "rabbit-approved medication" on the House Rabbit Society webpage.

What's the concentration? The smz tmp that I have used in the past, was 48mg/ml, and the vet had me giving 1ml to a 1.5kg rabbit. Dosage is 30-40mg/kg, twice a day. So if yours is a similar concentration, then yes, your rabbit is about the same size as mine and should only be getting about 1ml, twice a day, so 6.8ml twice a day is way too much and could lead to digestive upset if that dose is given. Are you certain the dosage isn't supposed to be 0.68ml twice a day? That at least would be a bit closer to the right dose.

I would phone your vet and clarify what the dosage is supposed to be. If the vet is still saying to give that amount and it is the 48mg/ml concentration, I would ask why he is prescribing an amount that is 7x the recommended amount. I would also have a few words to say to the vet and would seriously be reconsidering ever going there again, unless it was just a terrible miscalculation and mistake on their part.

Here's all the dosing info I found for that med.
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00Chem/ChComplex/Sulphonamides.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Common_drug_dosages_for_rabbits

If you aren't already giving meloxicam, you might want to consider adding that in as well. The anti inflammatory properties can be very helpful with respiratory issues.

Thanks. I just called the pharmacy, and the technician said the concentration is 40 mg/tsp... I'll definitely give the vet a call... I'm sure it was a conversion issue...

40 mg/tsp is about 8 mg/mL. If you are giving 6.8 mL, that's about 55 mg. She's about 1.36 kg and thus the dose prescribed is about 40 mg/kg. If my math is correct, that's the correct dose. Right? Just a very large volume since the medication is very dilute.

Thanks, Ravenous... I'm so bad at conversions... I'll call in the morning to double check, of course. I'd hate to overdo the medication... on the plus side, they gave it a strawberry flavoring, and she loved it. Lol. She tried to eat my syringe, silly girl.

DEFINITELY double check. Always double check when there is any doubt. I know my math has been erroneous many times before- so that's a very likely possibility.

I gave them a call, and yeah, they said because it's diluted, that's why it seems like so much. She is doing SO much better already. She still has a little bit of heavy breathing, but doesn't sound as bad as she did early yesterday. I'm so glad we were able to get her in so quickly.