Sick Bunny!

[maryalesia]

Hi, guys. I'm new to this forum, and was sent here by a member of another forum after I posted about my sick rabbit, Jalopy.

Jalopy is a 1 year old Lion Head female. (American lion head - it is my understanding that Americans have bred them to a different standard than in other countries.) She does not have a cage, but roams freely around my bedroom and uses a litterbox. Her diet consists of an unlimited supply of timothy hay and a daily dose of fresh veggies (mostly romaine and carrots). Of course she is given water.

Recently I've heard Jalopy coughing and sneezing. I thought it was due to the dust from her hay, but today while I was grooming her I saw that her nose was running with a white discharge (yuck!). I have a vet appointment for tomorrow morning. She is eating and drinking and otherwise acting normally.

Does anyone have any ideas about what might be in store for Jalopy at the vets tomorrow? Thanks for reading.

 

[maryalesia]

In retrospect I think she was probably just sneezing - I looked around the forum, and this is what is called "The Snuffles"?

 

[ra7751]

Well...most of us don't care for the term "snuffles". It has come to be a generic term without any real meaning. What you are describing sounds like either an upper respiratory infection or a possible ocular or dental concern involving the "sinus" (a rabbit doesn't technically have a sinus). A skilled vet should culture the discharge to identify any bacteria. A skull x-ray should be performed to determine if the molar roots are involved (not possible without an x-ray) or if there is soft tissue involvement (abscess). Most likely it is an upper respiratory issue. Many vets still use older drugs such as some type of sulfa (Bactrim, SMZ, Sulfatrim, etc) or Baytril/Cipro. These drugs are quickly becoming ineffective due to resistance issues. Our drugs of choice against the most common pathogen in this type of problem (Pasteurella) are Azithromycin or Convenia. Azithromycin is an oral drug while Convenia is safe only when used as an injectable.

Randy

 

[tonyshuman]

:yeahthat:

Let us know how it goes. The vet should send you home with some kind of antibiotic. If they try to send a sulfa antibiotic (will have sulfa in the same), I would ask for something else. They're not very effective anymore and can cause GI disturbances.

 

[maryalesia]

It went okay, I guess. She has an upper respiratory infection and a fever, but her lungs were clear. The vet looked at her teeth and said they looked very healthy. I came home with: the antibiotic Enrofloxacin (flavored like banana) to be given twice daily orally for seven days, Tobramycin Ophthalmic Solution (drops for her nose) to be given twice daily for three days, and Benebac pet gel (to help her GI handle the antibiotics) to be given once daily for ten days.

I think I can safely say that by day ten my rabbit will never want to see me again.

 

[tonyshuman]

That's ok, but I would like to see the enrofloxacin for more than 7 days--14 is usually the minimum. Keep an eye on her though. I do like that they gave you BeneBac.

 

[maryalesia]

Thanks for all the support, guys.

The nose drops have done absolute WONDERS. It's only the second day and already there isn't any more discharge / inflamation. I'm so, so happy that my baby is doing better.

 

[maryalesia]

Meanwhile, I'm trying to win back her love with raisins, her favoritest thing in the whole wide world. We'll see how that goes.