Chronic Sneezing

[smo0shie]

Hi Everyone,

I got my bunny Nala about 3 weeks ago, and I'm very worried about. She gets frequent sneezing fits (about 5-6 times each day) that last about 15-20 seconds. Additionally she'll get random single sneezes about hourly. She eats, drinks and remains active and is steadily gaining weight. I took her to the vet that was reccommended by the North Texas Rabbit Sanctuary on Tuesday, but they weren't really sure what was wrong with her, since the only thing wrong was the sneezing. She had no fever or no nasal or eye discharge. They checked her teeth, temperature, ears and everything. In the end the doctor prescirbed her .05cc of 100mg Baytril twice a day for 14 days.

It's been 5 days since she started Baytril, and the sneezing has remained the same. Should I give the Baytril more time or request for more tests to be done/different antibioitic. I've beentold that Baytril should start working in 3 days. The vet said the next step would to do anasal culture, but if she is not having any discharge is there even a point in doing that?

I don't know what I should do next. I'm starting to wonder if some bunnies are just very sneezing and are perfectly in good health, or is frequent sneezing with no other symptons always an indicator of health problems. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Background Info:

Nala is approx 3 months old lionhead and is an indoor bunny. We got her from a petshop and she uses wood stove pellets as litter and is fed Oxbow bunny pellets.

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

Chronic sneezing can be an indication of several things. Obviously an upper respiratory infection would be high on the list. Dental issues can cause sneezing. And rabbits can develop something like allergies. We have one particular rabbit that is "allergic" to the dust in hay and pellets. We charted his sneezing (as much as possible anyway) and it always happened after he ate pellets or hay. So we shake his hay out and sift his food. Since it is very dry in most homes during the winter, you might want to check the humidity in your house and add a humidfier if necessary. Cool mist is better than steam as far as rabbits are concerned.

I am more concerned with the Baytril in the abscense of any clinical signs of infection. Using antibiotics in this fashion is why many drugs, and Baytril is a prime example, are no longer of use since bacteria has become resistant. Most of the really high end exotics vets abandoned Baytril long ago. I haven't used it in years. If the problem is not a bacterial infection caused by a bacteria sensitive to a particular drug, using that antibiotic will only lead to more problems. In this case, you mentioned there is no fever and no signs of discharge (but it is possible to have something like a post nasal drip that you can't see)....so from a medically correct stand point, there is no medical reason to be on an antibiotic.

I am not a vet...but giving an antibiotic without a clinical indication of an active bacterial infection is not something I would do. I would have the nasal culture to see if there is somethng going on.Discharge is not required to perform nasal culture. I would try to notice if his sneezing fits a pattern. If you are home over the weekend....keep a close eye and see what he is doing. You might notice a pattern with something like the pellets or hay. I would consider an x-ray to see if he has molar spurs (lower arcade) or possibly elongated molar roots (upper arcade). This is a young rabbit so I realy doubt that a dental issue could be the problem. Some vets have used antihistimines in rabbits but due to certain side effects, those drugs do carry some risk.

I would suspect that the issue is some type of allergy or response to something environmentally.

Randy

 

[kherrmann3]

Our old foster rabbit, Berry-Boo, sneezed a lot when we would clean or used certain hays. She would sneeze if she ran up and down the hall (kicking up dust) and after we would clean/vacuum. Our apartment is not that dusty, either. There was just enough dust to make her sneeze. Also, we found that certain hays made her sneeze as well. The Kaytee brand timothy hay was very dusty and made her sneeze, too. She never had any nasal discharge throughout her sneezing fits, though.

Does your bun have any nasal discharge?

 

[smo0shie]

Thanks for the replies!

There isn't any discharge that I'm aware off. Her nose isn't crusty, but sometimes a little bit damp if you really feel for it, but it isn't really noticable.

Her pellet is a little bit dusty, and most of the sneezing does occur when she is eating her pellets, but it also randomly occurs when she is running about, even when she is laying on our bed.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Are you sure she's sneezing? Clover honks and it sounds like a sneeze --- and Bo did it cause he was allergic to the alfalfa hay we had him on.

 

[smo0shie]

Yup, it's definately sneezing. It sounds like a sneeze and looks like a sneeze when it happens.

I think I heard her honk before and it sounded nothing like her sneezes. In fact it woke me up one morning and scared me to death. I thought she had something lodge in her noise and couldn't breathe or something, but she kept on eating her pellets when it was happening, and it stopped a few minutes later. I figured if something was wrong, she wouldnt be eating her pellets while making that loud honking noise.

 

[Bassetluv]

I don't know if this will help, but when I first brought Yofi home from the breeders' he began sneezing constantly. There wasn't discharge per se, but his nose was always 'wet'. I took him to the vet and he told me to observe him, but he suspected the sneezing was a reaction to a new environment and adjusting to new scenery/air/dust particles. He wasn't going to treat Yof with anything without first ruling out environment. So I did, and it took about a month (maybe a bit more), and the sneezing finally stopped. Yofi hasn't been sneezing since, and that was over a year ago. Hopefully this is the case with your bunny too.

*Edited to add that the vet also told me he'd seen a lot of cases of newly purchased/adopted rabbits go through it, which is why he suspected environment change. He said it could last a couple of weeks or several weeks.

 

[kherrmann3]

Berry-Boo's sneezing fits went away once we changed her away from the dusty hay. She still had a sneeze here and there, but no more fits of them.