Snuffy and Runny Nose

[HarleyD]

My 5 year old bunny, Harley, hasa stuffy, runny nose, clear discharge for a couple of months now. We have had him to the vets numerous times. They have taken several head and full body x-rays and a culture of his discharge, everything looked OK. He has been on, not all at once, Metacam 1.5 ml once a day, Atarax 10 mg 2 times a day, SMZ 2 ml 2 times a day and Baytril 136 mg, 1/4 tablet twice a day. He gets a little better then not. He is eating as usual and somewhat active. The vets don't know what else to do. Does anybody have any ideas?

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

First off, I see you're new to the forum; Welcome!
Secondly, we should get someone to move this to the infirmary

Does he sound like he has trouble breathing? Like stuffy sounding like he's struggling to get air? Have you considered allergies? What is his environment, food hay, bedding, litter etc. like? I've had several sunffley buns in the last couple years. I had one with a chronic clear runny nose, and the vet recommended just watching it for a while (we had just come off of spending ALOT on 2 other very sick buns). She said some snuffles bunnies can stay somewhat stable and are really hard to treat with anything. We watched it (making sure it didn't get worse of coarse) and in several months it was better. Its been about a year now and every now and then he'll have a little clear discahrge or a little bit of runny eyes but then it goes right away.

 

[Imbrium]

ray:

 

[HarleyD]

At times it does seem like he is having trouble breathing. I didn't mention this the first time, its only in his right nostril. We have thought of allergies and currently thinking of what we may have changed. We are also trying a warm steam vaporizer.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

hmm, my one snuffles bunny, Charlie, seemed to have it only in one nostral as well. And, with her, despite all the things we tried, it didn't seem to get better.

Have you had a C&S (Culture and Sensitivity test) done? They just swab some stuff from inside the nose and send it to the lab to be cultured. After that, they can see exactly what bacteria is present and therefore know exactly which antibiotic will fight that bacteria. I think its a think worth doing, although you must realize sometimes certain bacteria still may not grow back on the culture.

I think this bunny needs a stronger antibiotic anyway. When we're tried SMZ & Baytril for our buns I've never seen any change in their symptoms.

 

[HarleyD]

We did have a culture done at one of our beginning visits. The vet said that it looked good, the good stuff was taking care of the bad stuff. We currently have removed or stopped anything that we had changed recently and got an air purifier. We feel so helpless. I definitely will contact the vet and discuss a stronger meds.