kdubbz117
Active Member
I remember the exact date I got my boy Caramel. In the first few months I had him, he would always sneeze every once in a while... over time it got progressively worse and more frequent. Back in March, my girl Chocolat sent my parents and I on a rush to the vet due to an infection that seemed to occur out of seemingly nowhere. As a result, the vet told us to just use newspaper as bedding for her as they couldn't even begin to figure out what caused it (the infection caused her nose to bleed; she may or may not have ruptured something, and the bleeding was spontaneous and took place between the two hours she was left alone before I came home that night).
It wasn't until I used newspaper as bedding that Caramel's sneezing got really bad. I've since switched to Carefresh Basic, and I can say I pretty much swear by it. Since going to the Carefresh Basic, Caramel's sneezing decreased substantially. Both my rabbits get the same food, but Caramel gets a mix of Papaya bits (from KAYTEE), the Simple Rewards freeze-dried Strawberry bits (from Oxbow), and the KAYTEE Carrot & Coconut toppings mixed in with his usual pellets.. And I mix the Oxbow Orchard grass together with the Timothy hay every once in a while (mostly orchard grass). Doing this seems to make him much less sneezy.
But the longer this goes on, the more it irritates me because I haven't a clue what the heck causes him to have his sneezing fits. When he was using newspaper as his bedding, his sneezing got so bad that he was actually having mucus-like stuff come out. Before I went rushing to the vet with him, I changed over to what I do now, right down to the Carefresh Basic bedding to see what happened. It's lessened it a lot, but he still has mini sneezing fits.
Does anyone know what may be the cause of this, and if he should maybe see a vet? When he had the mucus-like gunk come out during his horrid sneezing fits was back in May'ish. Ever since I added the extra toppings to his food, and cut back on the Timothy Hay and mixed it with the Orchard Grass (I never cut the hay out because my understanding is that rabbits NEED it in their regular diets), he hasn't once had mucus come out of his nose and his sneezing did decrease A LOT.
I'm also informed that Caramel is a black otter. He's only a little over a year old.
Diet-wise, he gets Sunseed Vita-Rabbit (it's pretty much all pellet with a couple treat-like bits mixed in) combined with KAYTEE Healthy Toppings Papaya, KAYTEE Fiesta Carrot & Coconut mix, and a little Oxbow Simple Rewards Freeze-dried strawberry bits all mixed in with the Sunseed food.
Treat-wise he gets some sun-dried apple-slices, Sunseed apple strudel, sometimes the sunseed veggie burgers or pretzel sticks. When we have fresh banana in my house, he gets some fresh banana. The same applies to apples for fresh fruit. He's very picky about fresh fruit.
Also, he's rather snobby about his food. He doesn't like it too plain, so he won't really eat much of his food willingly unless I have all of the toppings mixed in with it. When it comes the hay, it seems like whenever I've given him the Timothy Hay by itself, he has a sneezing fit.
Behavior-wise, Caramel acts the same he always has. He loves to hop around the room like a maniac. The second he gets used to the room and the surroundings, it's hard to miss because he literally races about until he tuckers himself out. Then he'll just stretch out on the floor and take a nap for about fifteen minutes before repeating the process all over again.
I just want to know if his sneezing problem is anything I should stress out over, or if I should consider taking him to a vet to at least get checked out.. Maybe they'd know what's causing the sneezing?
It wasn't until I used newspaper as bedding that Caramel's sneezing got really bad. I've since switched to Carefresh Basic, and I can say I pretty much swear by it. Since going to the Carefresh Basic, Caramel's sneezing decreased substantially. Both my rabbits get the same food, but Caramel gets a mix of Papaya bits (from KAYTEE), the Simple Rewards freeze-dried Strawberry bits (from Oxbow), and the KAYTEE Carrot & Coconut toppings mixed in with his usual pellets.. And I mix the Oxbow Orchard grass together with the Timothy hay every once in a while (mostly orchard grass). Doing this seems to make him much less sneezy.
But the longer this goes on, the more it irritates me because I haven't a clue what the heck causes him to have his sneezing fits. When he was using newspaper as his bedding, his sneezing got so bad that he was actually having mucus-like stuff come out. Before I went rushing to the vet with him, I changed over to what I do now, right down to the Carefresh Basic bedding to see what happened. It's lessened it a lot, but he still has mini sneezing fits.
Does anyone know what may be the cause of this, and if he should maybe see a vet? When he had the mucus-like gunk come out during his horrid sneezing fits was back in May'ish. Ever since I added the extra toppings to his food, and cut back on the Timothy Hay and mixed it with the Orchard Grass (I never cut the hay out because my understanding is that rabbits NEED it in their regular diets), he hasn't once had mucus come out of his nose and his sneezing did decrease A LOT.
I'm also informed that Caramel is a black otter. He's only a little over a year old.
Diet-wise, he gets Sunseed Vita-Rabbit (it's pretty much all pellet with a couple treat-like bits mixed in) combined with KAYTEE Healthy Toppings Papaya, KAYTEE Fiesta Carrot & Coconut mix, and a little Oxbow Simple Rewards Freeze-dried strawberry bits all mixed in with the Sunseed food.
Treat-wise he gets some sun-dried apple-slices, Sunseed apple strudel, sometimes the sunseed veggie burgers or pretzel sticks. When we have fresh banana in my house, he gets some fresh banana. The same applies to apples for fresh fruit. He's very picky about fresh fruit.
Also, he's rather snobby about his food. He doesn't like it too plain, so he won't really eat much of his food willingly unless I have all of the toppings mixed in with it. When it comes the hay, it seems like whenever I've given him the Timothy Hay by itself, he has a sneezing fit.
Behavior-wise, Caramel acts the same he always has. He loves to hop around the room like a maniac. The second he gets used to the room and the surroundings, it's hard to miss because he literally races about until he tuckers himself out. Then he'll just stretch out on the floor and take a nap for about fifteen minutes before repeating the process all over again.
I just want to know if his sneezing problem is anything I should stress out over, or if I should consider taking him to a vet to at least get checked out.. Maybe they'd know what's causing the sneezing?
