Achoo? (A sneezy rabbit story)

[Saudade]

So after perusing through stuff and with my recent scare I've decided to actually ask about it. Lucy is a sneezer, I'll catch maybe one sneeze every three days, or two or three in one night, but then nothing for a month or so, I'm always checking her nose and eyes whenever I hear one of these sneezes.

I use wood shavings for her bedding and they have a lot of dust in them. I'm pretty sure it's just that getting in to her nose an her just sneezing it out. I try my best to get it out of there but yeah, it's always a problem.

After calling the vet and talking to a girl who owns her own rabbits, we both discussed that they could just be stress related or allergies, but it was most probably the dust.

I tend not to notice them too much anymore because they are so spread out, and she's not sneezing all the time. Is it really worth paying the $50-60 to get it checked out? I mean she'll be going to the vets in ten or so weeks for a check up before she gets spayed. She's had these little sneezes for as long as I've had her so I don't think it's that big a deal, anyone else notice their rabbit sneezing randomly?

(Also I make sure I wait a minute or two after she's sneezed before I check and I make it seem like I'm just getting up to get some food or something. I've seen what happens if they find out they get attention when they sneeze.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

I can tell you from my experience that sneezing is a pretty normal thing with buns. Although, it does need to be monitered. My Snuff will have a hissy fit of an attack, but he's fine. He doesn't have allergies, or any bacterial thing going on. No, I can't contest this to any testing, but it's not all the time. His nose is not wet. No discharge. This is just my experience and thought it good to moniter to let folks know what to look for.

Some problems with say "allergies" can be dust in the hay you feed or even in the pellets, especially towards the end of the bag or bucket, container, whatever.
So, this can contribute to the allergy thing. I use a sifter to get the tiny particles out of the pellets. You can also save these particles and hay to make special treats for the buns. I can't recall where a recipe for this is on here, but it's on here. Maybe the originator will see this and repost it for you. So, save those tiny particles too! Ya never know...

 

[kirbyultra]

Kirby sneezes every so often. Maybe once every week or so. He'll have a bout of sneezing *choo! choo! choo!* and then nothing for days. I don't think it's anything serious. There's no discharge, his nose and eyes are clear. No abnormal scratching of his face or anything.

 

[tonyshuman]

It doesn't sound like anything is wrong with Lucy. However, the bedding may be irritating to her nose. The only kind of wood chips that are ok for bedding are aspen. Pine and cedar will irritate the nose, and can cause other problems. I personally use kiln-dried pine sawdust pellets as bedding--cheap, absorbent, odor control, and safe. Pine and cedar have aromatic oils in them that come out when you dry them in a kiln, and these are the compounds that cause problems in bunnies. The hay could be extra dusty too.

As long as there's no colored nasal discharge, runny eyes, and she doesn't sneeze more often than you described, it's probably nothing. I'd still change bedding if you're using pine or cedar shavings though.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

kirbyultra wrote:

Kirby sneezes every so often. Maybe once every week or so. He'll have a bout of sneezing *choo! choo! choo!* and then nothing for days. I don't think it's anything serious. There's no discharge, his nose and eyes are clear. No abnormal scratching of his face or anything.

Just to put it out there, Snuff can sneeze like 20 times consecutively and it's scarey! But, then it's over and he's fine. I think he gets hairs in his nose and this brings it on. But, the sneezing like that is scarey!

But, if it's not often and no discharge, you're good to go! IMO, anyway.