Bunny sneezing

[dHarma]

IMMEDIATE INFORMATION:


Location: Europe, Serbia

Description (Breed, color, weight): Lionhead, black, 1,7kg

Age:almost 4 years

Sex: male

Concise Summary of the Rabbit's Condition: ocaisonal sneezing and wet nose.



ADDITIONAL INFORMATION / CHECK LIST: (Please fill in relevant info).

Fecal and Urinary Output

- are the bunny's poops and pees normal? yes
- when did they last use their litterbox? today
- any unusual behavior? straining to pee? unusual litter habits? No
- what litter and/or bedding do you use? wood pallets

Medical History

- spayed/neutered? spayed
- has s/he been to the vet or been sick before? yes, he had an pneumonia that was treated 3 years ago.
- is s/he on any medications? no

Other

- any sign of drooling? wet face? No
- runny eyes? No
- wet nose? coughing? sneezing? He's nose is wet and he ocaisonaly sneezes
- is s/he breathing normally? yes, no heavy breathing.


This is the basic info. He's helth now is fine, he's eating normally and using his litter box daily. Our problem is that every spring and fall he's nose gets wet and sneezes a couple of times a day. Sometimes there is a nasal discharge (white) but in moust casses there is not.
As i mention before he had an pneumonia before and it was horrible (he sneezed and cought a lot!) but the threatment worked and now we have only this ocasional sneezeing.
We where at the vet's and he is breathing normally and he's theeth are fine.
My biggest consern is that he's pneumonia might return. And i would wrilly be greatfull if any of you have an advice on what to do to make him fell better.

Sorry for the long post, and bad english
And thank you all in advance! :innocent

 

[LakeCondo]

If it is the same time of year, every year, it could be seasonal allergies from something in the air. In spring it could be pollen; in fall maybe it's when your heat is first turned on.

 

[pla725]

It sounds like allergies to me. Woody, my mini-lop, sneezes who the season changes. I've had other rabbits with the same issues. As long ashe are eating well and using their litter box I would just keep an eye on him.

 

[ZRabbits]

Some allergies in humans can turn ugly. Just like in rabbits.

Sounds seasonal. But with his past pnemonia (sp?) I would be a bit on guard and just really observe your bunny when these seasons hit.

Do what you are doing and if you feel something isn't right, I'd do what you did and see your Vet.

K

 

[dHarma]

Thank you all for answering!
It does hit in the same time of the year, so i will keep my eye on him and hope it does't go worse.
Vet gave me injections of dextramethasone just in case he gets worse and begin to have difficulties brething.

Since you had bunnies whith the same issue do you by any chance give them something to keep their immune system high?

Specificly i mean on somethnig like Echinacea that is proved to help boost the immune system.
She looks like this


and it can be given dry or in drops (whidout alcohol) that can be bought in the pharmacy.

 

[LakeCondo]

What works with humans often doesn't work, or even harms, rabbits. Fortunately, Rabbit Health in the 21st Century lists echinacea as good for rabbits, under a vet's supervision. It says it shouldn't be given continuously, but for 4-5 days, then not for 2-3 days, etc.

The book mentions rosemary as being good for nasal allergies, among other things. It can be fed as a fresh herb, as well as an infusion or tincture. Rosemary's scientific name is rosmarinus salvia.

 

[tonyshuman]

Dexamethasone should not be used in rabbits. Rabbits have weak immune systems to begin with and steroids like dexamethasone make the immune response less. I am not sure I like your vet. It is well known that steroids should not, in general, be used in rabbits.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=68303&forum_id=16

In addition, most lung/nose problems in rabbits are bacterial, and steroids will make it harder to treat a bacterial infection. It sounds to me like your rabbit has a chronic upper respiratory infection and maybe also lower respiratory infection. The treatment your vet gave before helped, but did not completely eradicate the bacteria. It is sitting in his system at low levels, leading to these active symptoms occasionally, particularly at times of stress (the seasons changing is hard on rabbits, they also go through a big molt at that time).

I would go to a different rabbit savvy vet. I don't know what what vets are available where you live. It just sounds like your vet is treating this rabbit as if it were a cat, which it is not, and it could be harmful. My guess is that he has a low-grade infection that isn't going away and some strong antibiotics are needed.

 

[dHarma]

I must say in the beginning that this is going to be a long post, so please bear with me..

3 year's ago we had a lot of problems just because we could't find a vet that knows something about buns. Our first vet sead that he has ammonia and treated him with antibioticks (enrofloksacin) for 5 days, but that tretmen was too short and sneezing and coughing returned. Before we started with antibiotics we did a test for bacteria in his nose and ears. His nose was clean but his ears were not and he was treated for that too.

As i realised that vet isn't so shure in what he is doing we searched for a second opinion and ended up changing the vet.
The second one also seid that he has ammonia and than he was on enrofoksacin for 20 days and finally it all cleared up and sneezing and coughing stoped! But also that vet was searten that Spajk has a heart condition, but followed by my previous experience i called a lot of vet's and sent them his RTG and they all said that his heart is normal and that this vet is wrong.
And that is when i decided to thrust this vet where we currently go, he did his castration and helped when he was in GI stasis.
Spajk only got dexstamatason shots 3 times, and 2 times where when he was starting to breath weirdly, and once when i cought him laking and grasping for air when we where home. And they wrilly helped since he was immediately better and starting to breathe normally again.

Since than we did one more RTG last summer and his lungs and heart are fine. The only problem we have now is that oceasional sneezing ( i havent heard him sneeze for two days now).

That is our story..

In addition, most lung/nose problems in rabbits are bacterial, and steroids will make it harder to treat a bacterial infection. It sounds to me like your rabbit has a chronic upper respiratory infection and maybe also lower respiratory infection. The treatment your vet gave before helped, but did not completely eradicate the bacteria. It is sitting in his system at low levels, leading to these active symptoms occasionally, particularly at times of stress (the seasons changing is hard on rabbits, they also go through a big molt at that time).

Will it help if i did the bacterial test again?
I thought since the test was clean the first time we did it (and he was at a horrible state than) it would be clean now too since he is now a happy and active bunny.

p.s: he just wanted to say Hi! to you all and thank you for beeing there for us! :wink :hug2:
[IMG]http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/8238/dsc00350gl.jpg[/IMG]

 

[LakeCondo]

When you wrote ammonia, did you mean pneumonia?

I guess it would be a good idea to test for bacteria again.

Cute guy.

 

[dHarma]

LakeCondo wrote:

When you wrote ammonia, did you mean pneumonia?

I guess it would be a good idea to test for bacteria again.

Cute guy.

Yes i meant pneumonia, sorry :bunny5

 

[tonyshuman]

This is a difficult case. I wonder if something else is going on. Our bunny Benjamin had a tumor on his thymus, which is an organ very close to the heart. It caused him to have difficulty breathing because the tumor was putting pressure on his lungs. He developed pneumonia that was not caused by bacteria. He would have sneezing/coughing fits. Thymus cancer is pretty common in rabbits, and the steroid injections would have helped because the thymus is part of the immune system and steroids are sometimes used to treat thymus cancer. If this is happening, antibiotics won't help. However, it's hard and very expensive to treat. We opted not to treat Benjamin and he passed away due to cardiopulmonary collapse, from the tumor putting too much pressure on his lungs and heart for them to work properly.

I truly hope this is not what's going on with cute Spajk. Another test for bacteria and another round of antibiotics might help you figure it out. A better antibiotic for URIs is zithromax (azithromycin). The bacteria may have become resistant to enrofloxacin (Baytril). That may clear up the issue. Otherwise you can try to determine if he has thymus cancer (thymoma), which can be done with x-ray, ultrasound, and or CT scans. You can opt for benign non-treatment (we were concerned the treatment itself would be more stressful for Benjamin) or try to treat if you have a vet that's willing.