Bordetella/Pasteurella Results

[Kipcha]

So recently Spyro has started having random sneezing fits and bringing up a fair bit of discharge. We took him in to the vet and we were given a dose of Trimethoprim Sulfa and by the end of that, nothing was changed, so we decided to have a culture done and to start weekly pennicillin injections as well as nasal drops to give him every 8 hours.

We wound up stopping the nasal drops because he gradually started going downhill and suddenly, Saturday, he stopped eating completely and was quite lethargic. Mom got some Critical Care into him and stopped the drops and he bounced back by the next morning. Our vet was very surprised to hear it since she has never heard of them going off their food, but Spyro was completely out of it there for a while.

So we went back in for his second dose of pennicillin today as well as getting our culture results, and apparently he has an aggressive strain of Pasteurella, Bordetella and another bacteria they did not identify, and there weren't many options as far as antibiotics go but luckily, it is sensitive to the pennicillin, so we're going to keep going with that. He has been improving since the pennicillin now that he is no longer on the nasal drops, he's hardly been sneezing at all now.

My question is, is it really going to be that easy to get rid of? Does anyone have any experience with this? I am hoping the 4 weeks of pennicillin will be enough and hopefully he'll bounce back. Poor little dude has been quite out of sorts.

 

[Imbrium]

ray:

 

[Geoff]

injectable penicillin is one of the better antibiotics for many rabbit infections, though I am not familiar with weekly dosing for respiratory infections (some of the penicillin dosing is dependent upon whether it is 'dual pen' (a combination of a long acting and short acting penicillin) or simple penicillin. Usually penicilllin is given daily and Dual Pen maybe every 3 days.

 

[Kipcha]

I do not know how much or what kind it is, but apparently it is a treatment they do a lot at the clinic with a lot of success.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

I'm glad to hear Spyro is responding to his medicine! Pasteurella and Bordatella are difficult illnesses to treat because they cannot be cured completely. In some cases, like Spyro's, medicine will make the symptoms less severe, or even make them go away for awhile, but rabbits remain asymptomatic carriers. In worse cases, the illness can become so severe that the rabbit really has no quality of life and is put down. As long as Spyro continues to do well with treatment, there is no major cause for worry with pet rabbits. It is something that can be retreated down the road, if needed.

 

[Kipcha]

I just wanted to give an update on Spyro!

We stopped the penicillin injections since Spyro was just seemed to be getting more miserable as time passed so once the 4 weeks were up, we didn't do them anymore. He reached a point where he just wasn't improving anymore and he was just so sad, running away from us (Something he never does) because he was going to the vet or getting meds and I think he was honestly getting just so depressed. We just could not keep putting him through it, especially when the next step would have been 6 months of penicillin and getting injections on a weekly basis cannot be something that would help that.

So as an alternative, our vet made a last ditch effort by giving us a powdered Chinese herb that is made by a guy in Edmonton that uses ancient asian medicines and has a practice for both animals and people. She said she has only used these herbs on a few rabbits but there has always been some kind of result.

Spyro has been on these powdered herbs (That he gets an 1/8th of a teaspoon twice a day) for 3 weeks and we have seen AMAZING improvement! He still has mini sneezing fits, but they are less frequent and getting even more so as time goes on. He gets excited to see us coming again, eats a lot more and when he runs around the house with so much more energy now! Just a few minutes ago (He's running around my feet now) he actually popcorned, which he hasn't done in months! Such a relief!

I am so glad that we found something that works for him

 

[HEM]

That is so awesome. We are so glad to hear that Spyro is doing better
Glad that the chinese herbs are working!!!
We hope he stays healthy

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[Imbrium]

I'm glad to hear he's finally getting better and isn't having to go through unpleasant treatments all the time

 

[Megamuffin]

Hi!! My bunny, Snugs, had the same sneezing problems. I went through all the vet stuff and it only made my poor little guy sicker. I tried some herbal medicine which helped for awhile but then the symptoms started to come back.
I recently took him to a natural path that treated animals. Apparently, Snugs had a lot of allergies which was causing everything. The natural path cleared all his allergies using muscle/energy/body talk healing and Snugs has been happy and sneeze free since.

I wish you the best of luck with your bunny If you still need help, maybe there's a natural path that could look at him in your area!