young, sneezing bunny

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HipsidyNLydia

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Apr 15, 2010
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Location
Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA
Young rabbit, around, 2lbs, breed uncertain - probably albino New Zealand

Age: 12 - 16 weeks (hubby forgot to ask when picking her out)

Sex - female

Concise Summary of the Rabbit's Condition: Sneezing, slightly blood-tinged nasal drainage, diagnosed one week ago by a vet, who claims to have extensive knowledge of rabbits, as having ear infection and respiratory infection. Currently separated from other rabbit to keep her healthy. Sneezing picked back up today. Tinged nasal drainage is something I just noticed, and it was not present last week. Now, there is always the chance that she somehow ended up with her oral medicine messing her up, but I think we got it well and in her mouth this time. First couple of days were a little fun while learning how to medicate her.


She appears to be peeing adequately, I don't think she is straining to pee. Plenty of pee and poop to clean up at the end of the day.


- not yet spayed - will do so in the near future
- she saw a vet last week due to her sneezing
- she is on Baytril - oral, something abbreviated "Trimethp/Sulfamthzl" - oral, Synotic (otic solution), and an ear cleansing solution

- She eats pellets, celery and romaine lettuce, Orchard Grass hay (I am extremely allergic to Timothy grass, enough so that I am doing immunotherapy to reduce/eliminate that allergy). Primarily the orchard grass.
- the last time she saw food is when she ate - in other words, she is always eating.
- any changes in the way s/he eats? - we have not had her long enough for me to notice anything different

- If she gets out of the cage while we are cleaning it, she kicks up her heels and romps around like a little goof (still trying to litter train the booger, and she needs to give the other bunny some space so that she does not get sick too)
- discharge occasionally visible by the nose, but not often.
- no runny eyes
- slightly wet nose, sneezing has ramped back up a bit
- I think she is breathing normally


This rabbit has been indoors, no access to bad foods of which I am aware.
She has a buddy, Lydia, who does not appear sick. I just heard her sneeze a couple times and am praying that she just poked herself with some of the orchard grass.
Now, everyone human in the house seems to be getting sick in some form or another. I've developed a lovely double ear infection and sinus infection, and others seem to be following suit.

I have disinfected her cage at least once thus far. I guess I will be doing it again. How do I go about disinfecting her paws and such to keep her from reinfecting herself?

In addition to calling the vet again tomorrow, what else do I need to be doing? I've got to get a handle on this before we spend a fortune on this girlie. He did NOT run any tests on her, just looked in her ears and such. Spotted an ear infection in one ear. Yeah, now after reading a bit more on it myself, I am not sure what to think of that one.
 
The middle ear and nose are quite connected in rabbits, so its likely the vet is knowledgeable.

Did the antibiotics take away the sneezing at first? Baytril is pretty much at the end of its run as an effective rabbit antibiotic. Its still good for some things, but if it didn't kick the infection right back, time to try something else. You can have a culture done, or just try something else, which is probably a lot cheaper than doing a culture, but a gamble with the price of the drugs. If the 'something else' doesn't work, she will need a culture.

Rabbits on this board are doing well with Zithromax (azithromycin), and my vet likes Chloramphenicol for anything head related (just wear gloves if you give it to her, it can rarely cause blood disorders in humans).

Persistent abscesses are often treated with a oral/injectable combo of one of the above oral drugs along with an injectable penicillin (PenG or Bicillin I think).

I'd normally say that it might well be a piece of hay up her nose, but if the vet saw an ear infection, then that's the more likely culprit. Its just not the right drug.

It may be a Pasturella bacteria, but don't panic, it just means she may have to spend a lot of time on antibiotics. Just keep both rabbits de-stressed and they'll be fine together. Its an opportunistic bug that can reside in rabbits without causing any problems, but it can multiply if something is challenging their immune systems.

Don't go overboard with disinfecting, even if it is pasturella, I do believe its passed on as an airborne thing and doesn't live long outside the host. I'd be more concerned with the smell of the disinfectant.

I think you can use a mild peroxide solution on her paws, but it will probably help you feel better more so than help the rabbit. ;)

I hope she shakes it soon!


sas :clover:
 
So stress is a bigger factor than a lot of other things?

The vet told us to separate the two of them, but never told us when they could be put back together.I'd love for them to be back together, especially since there is a chance that Lydia could be a big bunny, as one of the breeds they advertised was Flemish Giants. (yes, we didn't get them from a rescue, but a place that had a bunch of different rabbits for sale, and the person there at the time was not familiar with which breeds were in which cages). Of course, prior to separating them, it was pretty clear that they liked each other a lot, and that Hipsidy Hopsidy was the dominant rabbit.

I found a different rabbit-friendly vet that is closer to us (and apparently works with the local rabbit rescues), and I will get my yucky-feeling heiny in gear and see about making her another appointment to change her meds.
 
"Stress' doesn't just mean nerves or other mental stress, it means general health, environment, etc. A rabbit could be tired, overweight, overheated, have diet upsets, dental issues or other infections that will 'stress' their systems.

I can see the buns being separated if one is sneezing and potentially contagious, but its stressful to separate bonded bunnies. Tough call.

I'm sure your first vet would willingly prescribe another drug, the usual thing is to try a drug out for five to seven days and see if it has an effect, and if not, reassess. May not even charge an exam fee.

Let us know how it goes!



sas :clover:
 
Doctor's verdict - she does not have ANY bacterial infection!

I REALLY like this vet, he at least sounded like he knew his topic material and communicates easily with clients.

He did a nasal swab on her, and looked at it under a microscope. He saw ONE inflammatory cell, and the normal number of epithilial cells with the usual amount of cocci bacteria (staph, strep family) attached to the skin cells. He said this was what he would expect to see in a healthy rabbit's nose. No gram negative rods at all.

He did not see any pus in her nose, her ears looked totally uninfected, and he said her teeth were perfect, nice and flat.

His directions were to stop the medications, that she probably never had a bacterial infection in the first place. He is leaning towards her having a virus or allergies. He told me to use a saline solution as needed to help clear out her nose.

He is a very chatty doc, left the door open back into the inner workings of the vet clinic and talked to me the whole time he was setting up the slides and checking them out. Then he had me and my three year-old son come back to look at what he had on the slide (docs like that make me wish I had continued to do pre-veterinary medicine in college, but I got married and things changed). He has apparently owned rabbits previously, and talked a lot about their G.I. tracts and the problems that certain meds can cause there. He asked questions about whether we are having any remodeling done, because he has had bunnies that were sick from inhaling drywall dust particles before. We aren't, but we do have MAJOR excavations going on within a block of our home where housing is being built. We live in the vicinity of a military base, and they are building a whole new housing development. I hope we have it right this time, and she just runs the course of this virus or we figure out what allergy she has.
 
Interesting. It sounds like the vet is good about doing the proper diagnostics, but I do worry about the bloody nose discharge. Some people's vets will but bunnies on antihistamines for allergies as well.
 

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