My rabbit always sneezes and wheezes

[katie2007]

My rabbit is 7 years old, and I've noticed a dramatic difference in her attitude over the past few months. Her brother bunny died in March of this year, and right after his death, I noticed her eyes were watery, so we took her to the vet, and the vet just said it was an infection and sent us home with an antibiotic and eyedrops. Her eyes don't water, but she still sneezes frequently and wheezes loudly. This has been going on for a while, and the antiobiotics did not help these issues. She also is a lot calmer, that might be because she is getting older, but she does not want to run around the room for long period of time anymore, and she is content with just laying next to us or in her cage. After the sudden death of her brother, i'm constantly paranoid and I don't want the same thing to happen to her if we can prevent it. If you have any ideas please let me know! Thank you!

 

[whiskylollipop]

Is your vet a rabbit/exotic animal vet, or a general cat and dog vet? Cat and dog vets usually don't have much training in rabbit diagnostics. Sneezing and wheezing is not normal. It could be allergies to hay or litter, so try a different type. Pine shavings and dusty litter can cause respiratory problems.

If the sneezing doesn't improve despite changing her hay and litter, she'll need to be seen by an exotics vet.

 

[squidpop]

I think it sounds like she has a respiratory infection. The only other thing that would cause wheezing and sneezing would be an allergy but it probably not that unless you have added something new to her environment that she is allergic too or purchased some mouldy hay. For a respiratory infection my biggest advice is, do some research and find a vet that specialises in rabbits and has a special interest in treating rabbits even if you have to drive out of town to see them. There is a lot of new research on treating rabbits and regular vets are usually just not up on the best antibiotics to use and diagnostic procedures.

 

[Lokin4AReason]

I would get a second opinion ( as in seeing another Vet, esp. one that handles exotics )

one may over look symptoms, if they are not familiar w/ them