My rabbit is sneezing a lot

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Natikat

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Hello! So I'm a little worried about my 2 month old rabbit.
We got her/him (the vet thinks it's a male) 2 days ago and he's a dwarf bunny. Since he got to our home sneezes a lot and does a lot of honking noises. The poops are ok and he eats normally and seems very happy and comfortable (also he zoomed a little bit yesterday) Today I tried to listen carefully closed to him and I got worried because I thought I listened a weird breathing (but not sure I'm not a expert in the matter of course) but the sneezing was what was worrying me more. So I called the vet and they said to go there to check. I have another female rabbit and I'm used to take her there. The exotic vet was on vacation so another 2 vets (general vets) saw him. They checked the temperature and the breathing and then saw and said it could be a male but then she said "I'm not sure about the matter I'm going to check a book that we have here so I can have a look to see what they say about sneezing" and also "We are not use to have a rabbit checked in this vet regularly" so she went there and read the book and says "What we have here in the book is that when a rabbit is sneezing a lot but doesn't have any nasal or ocular discharge can be a rhinitis and the treatment usually is cortisone but he is young so can be a little dangerous so they didn't give me anything just to be careful and monitoring if he has any changes in the behaviour.
So I'm just writing this because I'm worried despite what they said because he keeps sneezing and I'm worried that it can be something worse and because they are not exotic vets...I don't know can someone help me? Thank you a lot!
 
Thick white or yellow discharge would be a positive indicator of a respiratory infection. Thin clear or no discharge accompanied with excessive sneezing can sometimes mean there is something else going on that's not a bacterial infection. If you aren't seeing any discharge then it's possible that it's something in his environment that he is sensitive to. Especially considering that he is a new rabbit in a new environment. What is his environment/area like; indoor/outdoor, type of bedding/litter, type of hay and is it dusty, type of rabbit food and is it dusty, any chemical cleaners used around him, any scented or strong smells in his environment, dusty environment, smoke, etc? Was he indoors or outdoors at his previous home?

And just for future, I would suggest not using that vet again. Using steroids in rabbits is considered very risky and is really only something that should be done as a last resort or in situations like spinal injury, allergic reaction, etc where it's the necessary treatment. I would never want a rabbit treated with steroids for a respiratory problem that has any chance of being caused by a bacterial infection. Steroids compromise the immune system, and that is the last thing you want to be doing in a rabbit with a respiratory infection.
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Corticost/Cortico.htm (rabbits and corticosteroids)
 
Thank you very much for your reply and help! I really appreciate it 😊
He was indoors and still indoors with us. He has no discharge at all so we actually suspect it could be something that we use that he is sensitive as well and I suspect it could be the alfalfa hay but not sure so we changed to normal hay until I have another to see if something changes (funny thing he eats very well the normal hay and I think he prefers than alfalfa but I know they should eat alfalfa as babies). We use the same things my other rabbit are used too and she never had sneezes but all the rabbits are different of course. We don't smoke and the environment is cleaned we just put blankets and the essencial stuff for him nothing else. Maybe it can be the detergents I use when I washed the blankets in the laundry machine? Maybe I have to try and see wich one is the one that is making him sneeze.
And I understand, I didn't like to go to that vet because I felt she isn't comfortable with rabbits and doesn't have the right knowledge to do so that's why I asked here for some help. Thank you very much!
 
I would try the different hay, and maybe a perfume free detergent, and see if that helps. Babies don't necessarily need alfalfa hay if they get an alfalfa based food pellet. In fact I don't think it's a good idea to feed alfalfa hay in addition to alfalfa pellets, as it is usually too rich of a diet resulting in excess cecals. Plus alfalfa hay can make them picky and hard to switch to a grass hay when they are adults and no longer need the higher protein. I prefer just starting them out on free fed grass hay with their alfalfa food pellets.
 
Some things that you could ask the good rabbit vet about if the sneezing doesn't clear up with those changes and you feel the sneezing is excessive and affecting your rabbits quality of life/health, is piriton(chlorphenamine) children's syrup is sometimes prescribed to rabbits with allergies. Also the anti inflammatory meloxicam could help initially if there is any inflammation contributing.
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Common_drug_dosages_for_rabbits
 

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