Mystery Rabbit Illness!

[Lexi9001]

Hey,
I am just writing this to see whether there are any more ideas as to what our miniature Lop Boo may have.

Boo is about 3and a half and about 8-10weeks ago, he started snorting. When he breathed out he would snort but when breathing in he was completely fine. The family initially thought that it was snuffles but as boo lives with another rabbit which is completely fine and snuffles is regarded as contagious, we have since ruled this out. We went to the vets fearing the worst and overall we have been to see the vet 4 times in the past 8-10 weeks , who have given us overall in succession two courses of steroids and a course of antibiotics, which have left us with a still snorting bunny but we are now about £150.00 short!

We went to see the vet the other day for what seemed like the millionth time and they have now admitted that they don't know what it is. The snort is not getting any worse, it is just constant. We are not sure whether its an allergy, if so to what, or whether it is something more serious than that! Any ideas, tips or tricks would be soooo appreciated!

Many thanks,
Lexii

 

[Imbrium]

I'm sorry your bunny is having such health issues!

I wouldn't rule snuffles out just for the fact that your other rabbit seems healthy - many rabbits are asymptomatic carriers of pasturella, so it's possible the other rabbit has it and simply doesn't experience any health issues from it. Have the vets actually done a culture? Broad-spectrum antibiotics don't work on all bacterial issues - it's not uncommon for bacteria (whether Pasturella or something else) to become resistant to broad-spectrum antibiotics; doing a culture allows the use of a more targeted antibiotic (and makes it possible to get a definitive diagnosis).

Also, steroids are an odd first choice for treatment, especially without knowing the exact issue... which makes me question the vet - not all vets who are willing to treat rabbits are truly rabbit savvy. You might check our library of rabbit-savvy vet listings to see if there's a good one in your area that you could get a second opinion from.

 

[JBun]

Have you seen any discharge on the nose, or also look on the inside of the front paws? Did the vet check for a foreign body like hay up the nostril, or take xrays? If it is a URI, they can sometimes be very hard to get under control, and without additional testing, it's difficult to know exactly what you might be dealing with.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Respiratory/Bacterial/URI.htm

Is your vet very experienced with rabbits? The steroids are a bit concerning. Because steroids affect a rabbits immune system, they have to be used with extreme caution, and almost as a last resort type of medication.

 

[Lexi9001]

I honestly cannot thank you both enough for your help! Your information has given us brand new hope as to diagnosing Boo! There is no discharge coming from any part of Boo and we do now agree that our vets do not really know what they are doing when it comes to rabbits! I am going to take your suggestions to the vets now ( one that a friend has recommended for rabbits) and hopefully that can help. Thank you so much again, and I will post when we have been to the vets,
Kind regards,
Lexii

:happyrabbit:

 

[ladysown]

the snort suggests a blockage of some sort... so i'd be looking into that.

 

[JBun]

Hopefully this new vet is more experienced with rabbits, and will be able to figure out what is going on.

 

[Chrisdoc]

I do hope you find out exactly what is wrong with Boo, so glad you´ve been recommended a vet by someone else. Hopefully, they will be rabbit savvy and will be able to help with diagosis. Hope that things go well.

 

[Imbrium]

I honestly cannot thank you both enough for your help! Your information has given us brand new hope as to diagnosing Boo! There is no discharge coming from any part of Boo and we do now agree that our vets do not really know what they are doing when it comes to rabbits! I am going to take your suggestions to the vets now ( one that a friend has recommended for rabbits) and hopefully that can help. Thank you so much again, and I will post when we have been to the vets,
Kind regards,
Lexii

:happyrabbit:

Excellent! There are many *wonderful* vets in the UK (specifically, rabbit medicine tends to be more advanced there than anywhere else, including the US), so hopefully a vet change will make a huge difference.