Respiratory Infection

[joanappereira]

Hi guys! I’m posting here to share my story and hope someone can help me deal with this situation and not feeling shitty.
So my bunny (5 months old mini lop) has been having issues since he arrived. He first had a lot of tears witch cleaned up in 1 month but after that he started sneezing and was diagnosed with a respiratory infection.
Since then he took baytril for like 3 weeks and then we stopped cuz we thought he was good but two weeks ago he started getting worse again and even had a sneeze attack (like 15 sneezes in a row)
After 2 weeks on baytril he still sneezes and has wet fur around the nose.
So my question is, will he get better? Have any of you had a successful story of a stubborn infection going away? I really feel like he is not gonna last a lot
I’m gonna attach some pics of him.

 

[JBun]

Respiratory infections can take quite a long time to clear up in rabbits. Usually they should be on an appropriate rabbit safe antibiotic for a minimum of 4-6 weeks, and two weeks past the last of the symptoms clearing up. If baytril isn't proving effective anymore, it's likely the bacteria is now resistant to that antibiotic. Or the slight possibility that your rabbit doesn't have a URI but possibly allergies. Did the vet do any tests, or did you or your vet see white discharge to verify a bacterial infection? Did your vet do a dental exam or xrays to make sure there wasn't a dental infection causing the runny eye and nasal discharge?

If he does have a URI, there are other antibiotics that can be tried. I've had good success with azithromycin. But be aware that in rare instances it can cause severe digestive upset in some rabbits. Also, what antibiotic will prove most effective will depend on the bacteria involved and what antibiotic it's sensitive to.

Medirabbit: respiratory issues in rabbits

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sneezing.html

 

[joanappereira]

Respiratory infections can take quite a long time to clear up in rabbits. Usually they should be on an appropriate rabbit safe antibiotic for a minimum of 4-6 weeks, and two weeks past the last of the symptoms clearing up. If baytril isn't proving effective anymore, it's likely the bacteria is now resistant to that antibiotic. Or the slight possibility that your rabbit doesn't have a URI but possibly allergies. Did the vet do any tests, or did you or your vet see white discharge to verify a bacterial infection? Did your vet do a dental exam or xrays to make sure there wasn't a dental infection causing the runny eye and nasal discharge?

If he does have a URI, there are other antibiotics that can be tried. I've had good success with azithromycin. But be aware that in rare instances it can cause severe digestive upset in some rabbits. Also, what antibiotic will prove most effective will depend on the bacteria involved and what antibiotic it's sensitive to.

Medirabbit: respiratory issues in rabbits

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sneezing.html

Yea so in the first course of antibiotic i did see white discharge on his nose. Then he got better and it came back so me and vet were secure it was an infection. They did that thing to check what bacteria it was and i recall being pasteurella the first time however they didn’t grow culture so I was kinda skeptical bc they took like an hour in the vet to find that out through their lab.
I think he did become resistant to baytril bc he still has sneeze attacks.

 

[JBun]

It does sound like it's become resistant to the baytril then. I would suggest talking to your vet about switching to a different antibiotic. I had pasteurella spread through my group of rabbits, starting with one getting an eye infection. 5 out of 7 developed a different bacterial infection, and it was the azithromycin that cleared it up, including two with a URI. And that's pretty rare for pasteurella to ever clear up completely. It's a very difficult infection to get rid of.

It was the highest recommended dose and for a whole month, but it worked. Might be something to ask your vet about. And it's cheaper than baytril. I used a goodrx discount code and got mine from walmart. Only issue I had was one rabbit did get some stomach cramping, but it would clear up after a couple of hours and he was fine and back to eating. Though I have heard of more severe digestive reactions in some rabbits. But it seems to be a rare exception.

 

[joanappereira]

It does sound like it's become resistant to the baytril then. I would suggest talking to your vet about switching to a different antibiotic. I had pasteurella spread through my group of rabbits, starting with one getting an eye infection. 5 out of 7 developed a different bacterial infection, and it was the azithromycin that cleared it up, including two with a URI. And that's pretty rare for pasteurella to ever clear up completely. It's a very difficult infection to get rid of.

It was the highest recommended dose and for a whole month, but it worked. Might be something to ask your vet about. And it's cheaper than baytril. I used a goodrx discount code and got mine from walmart. Only issue I had was one rabbit did get some stomach cramping, but it would clear up after a couple of hours and he was fine and back to eating. Though I have heard of more severe digestive reactions in some rabbits. But it seems to be a rare exception.

Hi so I went to the vet and they said they couldn’t do a culture bc he didn’t have enough discharge on the nose.
So we changed to another antibiotic but it’s not what you said it’s called doxycycline.
Is it normal to not be able to grow culture bc of lack of discharge?
And is this a good antibiotic choice ?

 

[John Wick]

Doxycycline is a safe antibiotic to use on rabbits -- whether it is particular good as a URI treatment will be up to what bacteria is up your rabbit's nose.

You can see here for some detailed information on what is a culture and sensitivity test: Culture and Sensitivity Testing

Cultures can be finicky and, from what I've read, they need to get a good amount, deep in the nasal canal (rabbit under anesthesia) to get what is needed. It does make sense to me that not enough discharge would be inadequate to do the culture-- but that is a naive guess.