Sneezing more often, no discharge?

[pani]

My little Felix has been sneezing more often over the past few nights. He'll go into sneezing fits sometimes and sneeze 4-7 times in a row, or sometimes just the odd sneeze here or there. Sometimes while or after he's sneezing, he'll wipe his face with his paws, but there doesn't seem to be any discharge on his nose or paws... I could be missing some on his paws, though, since he doesn't really like me touching them so it can be a bit hard to see.

Apart from that his behaviour seems fine, normal eating/pooping/playing habits. He's also had a scab on his back from when he was vaccinated around 3-4 weeks ago, but that appears to be healing... it's concerning me that it's taking so long, though. I asked the vet to take a look when he was getting neutered, and the vet said that it just looked like a normal scab and was healing properly.

He's probably fine, just wanted to double-check. Overprotective mama out.

:bunnynurse:

 

[JBun]

A rabbit sneezing a few times, is normal. They can get dust up their nose, or even a bit of water when they're drinking, which can cause a few sneezes. It's when it is happening quite often, and/or you start seeing discharge, that there is a problem. Your description of what your bun is doing, doesn't sound out of the ordinary to me. You can take a look at the inside of his front paws, to make sure they aren't crusty from wiping discharge from his nose.

I have read that those skin reactions to vaccinations, can take some time to heal, maybe from deeper tissue damage. As long as it doesn't look inflamed or infected, then it probably just needs more time.

 

[pani]

Thank you. Exactly what I was hoping to read.

 

[Imbrium]

Does the sneezing seem to coincide with anything in particular (like eating hay or pellets)? If so, he might be sensitive to the dust particles, in which case shaking or sifting the offending food to get most of the dust out could help with his sneezing. If he likes to dig in his litter box and the substrate you use is a little dusty, that's another potential culprit.

 

[pani]

A rabbit sneezing a few times, is normal. They can get dust up their nose, or even a bit of water when they're drinking, which can cause a few sneezes. It's when it is happening quite often, and/or you start seeing discharge, that there is a problem. Your description of what your bun is doing, doesn't sound out of the ordinary to me. You can take a look at the inside of his front paws, to make sure they aren't crusty from wiping discharge from his nose.

When you say 'a few times', do you mean a few times per night? Or a few sneezing fits per night? He's still sneezing a few times each night, sometimes 3-5 in a row, and he often wipes his face/nose with his paws while or after sneezing. I don't see any discharge on his nose - he did nudge me earlier and it felt wet, but he may have been drinking water or cleaning himself, and it wasn't 'gooey' or anything I'd expect the discharge to be like. I've tried taking a look at his paws but he's really touchy about them, any time I get close he darts away or gets aggressive.

Does the sneezing seem to coincide with anything in particular (like eating hay or pellets)? If so, he might be sensitive to the dust particles, in which case shaking or sifting the offending food to get most of the dust out could help with his sneezing. If he likes to dig in his litter box and the substrate you use is a little dusty, that's another potential culprit.

Nothing in particular. I did recently switch to a new type of recycled paper litter, but my boyfriend thinks the sneezing started before that. He always sneezed a little beforehand, it's just in the last few days he seems to be sneezing more, which is what has me worried.

 

[pani]

I was taking a look at him earlier, and I did notice something on his nose. It looked a bit like it could have been discharge. I've seen no more though and he wiped it away with his paw shortly after, and it didn't seem to bother him. I'd take him to the vet just to be safe but he went just a week ago for his neutering - I don't want to stress him too much by taking him on a long, uncomfortable car trip and back to a scary place if it's nothing.

Would the discharge be noticeable? He moves around so much it's hard to get a clear view of his nose, but from what I can tell, it doesn't look like he's overly 'snotty' or anything. There was that one, small little bit I saw before but that was it. He's still active, still eating, still running around.

 

[hutch83]

keep an eye on his eyes too. sometimes if their tearducts get blocked up because of tooth problems the excess tears can drain into their nasal passage and tickle making them sneeze. could be nothing but as an equally overprotective mum i know the feeling!

 

[JBun]

There may not be any snot visible if there is a problem, depending on how advanced it is and how good a job your bun does of cleaning himself up. I would think that if he is sneezing every night, several times, there may be a good chance of a problem. Either irritants like dust or household chemicals causing it, hay up the nose, or possibly a URI.