Repiratory Issues

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minmelethuireb

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Chambersburg PA
My rabbit Lucy (mini rex, 5 years old) has been having respiratory issues the past couple weeks. It started with a snuffling noise, and then included some sneezing. She hasn't really had any discharge though. Her appetite was great. The vet put her on Baytril, and the sneezing and snuffling continued. After 2 weeks, the vet put her on azithromycin. That was 5 days ago. Now the sneezing cleared up and she's not really snuffling anymore. However, the vet sedated her and took xrays yesterday and she called today because she looked at them and saw a spot on her lungs that she thought was pneumonia. I don't know if she can have pneumonia without discharge though. The doctor wants to sedate her and take a biopsy for culture. I'm not sure, because on the one hand she's not really having symptoms and I can't afford more procedures, and on the other hand it might be bacteria or a tumor.

Also, to complicate things the azithromycin has lowered her appetite. She still eats her pellet ration and a fair amount of hay and lettuce but she doesn't have her enthusiastic appetite anymore.

So the vet suggests a different antibiotic if we don't do the culture/biopsy, because of her appetite being affected.
 
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How is her breathing? Typically, rabbits who have pneumonia have some difficulty breathing and don't act normal. Zithromax can be hard on a rabbit's gut and you should keep some probiotics on hand to help keep the right balance of bacteria in her gut.

Before you agree to a biopsy you may want to ask the vet what, if any, treatment is available if it's a tumor. If the treatment is too expensive or will be too hard on her due to age, you may decide not to have the biopsy done.

Just my thoughts. We just recently lost a rabbit who the vet thinks had a tumor in his jaw area, which wasn't treatable. It showed as a suspicious spot on a head x-ray.
 
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Her breathing is okay now, maybe a little fast though I'm not sure if it's faster than she breathed the rest of her life. She was making kind of a grunting/snuffling noise when breathing before the Zithromax.

I did start giving her benebac as well, that seemed to help her appetite.

I think the plan right now is to finish the antibiotics and then do another xray in 2 or 3 weeks to see if there's still a spot around the lungs. My vet is supposed to be calling me again tomorrow.
 
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