When to hightail it to the emergency vet and when to wait and see...

[Alexah]

My rescue bunny, Potter, had some nasal discharge this afternoon. I noticed it when I was doing my cage cleaning. I had just dumped his litter and hadn't gotten around to wiping it out with the vinegar and water solution before he jumped in and made a nuisance of himself. When I went to pick the litter box back up, I noticed that Potter's nose had some discharge along with his paws. Of course I freaked out.

Shortly thereafter, he started grooming himself and I wanted to wait and see if it was truly a discharge or just the goopy mess from the bottom of the litter pan. He cleared his nose and then went back to eating. I noticed no sneezing, no eye discharge, no wheezing...nothing out of the ordinary. He still eats like normal and drinks as usual and begs for treats.

I checked on his both before and after dinner and I didn't see any discharge or anything out of the ordinary. He gobbled up his greens and took treats and he's still acting normal. So, that being said, how do you determine where to go from there?

Is nasal discharge (not clear, but greenish - which could also be explained by the hay and blah stuff in the litter pan before cleaning it) always a sign of infection? Should I make an emergency appointment for him in the morning? Should I take him in even earlier than that? Or should I play the waiting game and then take it from there?

He still seems okay and I've not heard any sneezing or rickety breathing. Eating, pooping, peeing, drinking, and bunny-ish behavior is all a check. Ugh! I'm so obsessive...any insight for me to help calm my mind?

 

[Haley]

Alexah, youre a good bunny mom for being so attentive and cautious.

If it were me, I would hold off for now. When a bunny has a runny nose there are a couple things to consider- color and amount of discharge and quality of breathing are high on my list. If it was just a one time thing I wouldnt worry. He could have breathed in something nasty or gotten something in his nose and his body was trying to expel it.

Keep an eye on him over the next few days to see if he has any more discharge. If its clear its usually not a big deal, if its thick and colored then very likely he has an infection. Even then, if hes acting, breathing, eating, pooping fine, no need to worry right now.

I'll wait to hear your update in the morning

 

[Alexah]

Thanks Haley for your response.

I checked Potter again last night before bed (actually, I checked everybun) and no one had anything more than maybe some slight moisture under their nose. And, even then, it was so minimal that I'm not counting it. Eyes all looked fine and no one was breathing heavily or wheezing. I did, at one point, here some whistling coming from someone, but it went away as quickly as it came on. We're talking a minute or less. I felt a lot better after picking everyone up and really taking a close look at them. I was happy...them, not so much .

I did notice, however, that Potter had a scratch or cut right near the opening of his right nostril. It did look new, but wasn't bleeding anymore. My guess is something got stuck up in his nose and either scratched him as it came back out or that he scratched himself while trying to get it out. I decided to let it be last night as it wasn't really bothering him, but I'm going to look at it again later on this morning or afternoon and decide from there whether I need to put anything on it.

No sneezing or discharge still this morning for anyone. Thank goodness. But I'll keep my eyes open in case something does come up. Thanks again .