Snotty nose! How big of an emergency?

[Catlyn]

I picked Lümi up for cuddles and i usually stroke his nose&forehead, gently pulling them up as i pet him. I was greeted by a wet nose, discharge and a little snuffly breath. His eye discharge is normal, just a few boogies from time to time like humans would get. I'm worried and i was wondering how serious the situation is, because i know that dad doesn't really like driving pets to vets, and if it came down to it, i would need to make the nescessary moves myself.

I managed to get a picture just before he sneezed and wiped it all off.

 

[Catlyn]

I know it sucks to update my post like this, but i really need an answer by morning and i don't want to un-sleep through the night. Our vets won't respond by mail and won't answer calls at nights.

 

[Sam_]

this was a redundant post, so I edited it.

 

[Sam_]

I don't know how to treat things like this

 

[Sam_]

you might be able to make a long distance call to a vet in a different timezone and ask for advise.

 

[Sam_]

find a vet in the pacific standard time timezone and ask about what to do it's 2:30 PM here

 

[Hermelin]

I would take him to the vet, because he have discharge and if Lumi have trouble breathing it’s something that can’t wait with. Because bunnies only breath with nose.

 

[Blue eyes]

Any nasal discharge that is not clear is a sure sign of infection. The photo shows milky discharge... so it's an infection. He needs to go to the vet for appropriate antibiotics.

I see you are in Estonia and I believe you've had trouble finding good rabbit savvy vets there. Here is a link that explains which antibiotics are safe and what each is used for, as well as dosage. It may help both you and perhaps the vet as well.
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm

 

[JBun]

Like Blue eyes said, white discharge means it's a bacterial infection and needs to be treated with an appropriate rabbit safe antibiotic like baytril, septrin, azithromycin, etc. If your rabbit isn't having difficulty breathing and this doesn't develop into pneumonia, it usually won't be an immediate emergency. But definitely within the next few days is what I would do, to get those antibiotics started. Some other meds that might be prescribed are meloxicam to reduce inflammation, and bisolvon to thin the discharge.
Medirabbit (URI in rabbits)

 

[Catlyn]

Thank you! What about Storm though? Since the discharge is most probably infectious, does Storm run the risk of getting sick by it too? If Lümi has to travel to the vet, would Storm need to come along for a condition check?
If i remember correctly, sick bunnies' stuff and places should be kept apart from healthy ones, but my boys have swapped bases and boxes and everything, and even recently had close contact for another retry bonding session (which i ended quite fast.)

 

[JBun]

It depends on the bacteria involved, with how contagious it might be. But if your other bun isn't showing any signs of respiratory issues, I wouldn't think there is any reason to take him in since he doesn't have any symptoms. But since they aren't bonded, I would keep them and their stuff separate until your other bun has been treated and the URI is cleared up.

 

[Catlyn]

Um, but how would their free roaming be then? They share the same room for roaming, only on separate times though. Does that mean that the room should be cleaned each time Lümi goes there? Or if it is not so contagious, would it be almost no problem?

 

[Catlyn]

Back from the doc! The vet didn't see any reason why we brought Lümi there (normal appetite, poops and activity) and thought the stuff was only from dust. What a bummer. He did check his face, body, lung activity(clear lungs) and temperature (38.6°C) and gave us some nasal drops for 2-3 times a day/5 days to see if it helps and of not, to go back and have some antibiotics prescribed.

 

[cbsb]

Good for you for double checking. Better to have not 'really' needed to go than needing to go but not addressing the issue....

 

[Catlyn]

Good for you for double checking. Better to have not 'really' needed to go than needing to go but not addressing the issue....

Yeah, i don't ever need a reminder of that. My previous boy pretty much ended up dead because my parents couldn't agree with my decision to take him to the vet, so the problem was stalled and by the time we had found a good vet, our boy could no longer walk on his own..

 

[JBun]

I'm glad you were able to get your bun checked by the vet. But just be aware that even though the vet didn't treat it as a respiratory infection, your rabbit does in fact have a URI. White snot always means a bacterial infection, and your bun clearly has white snot in your photo.

If the nasal drops are antibacterial then they may help some, but it's very unlikely the nasal drops alone will completely clear up the infection. So you are probably going to have to see the vet again. Your bun needs to be put on the proper rabbit safe antibiotic if this respiratory infection is going to get cleared up.

 

[Catlyn]

We have a hard time communicating with that particular vet because they're of a different nationality than us so we don't share the same native languages. Which means that we couldn't understand what the exact medication is.Luckily Lümi's sneezes have reduced and his breathing sounds a little bit cleaner so that's something.
I did get dad to agree to get Lümi checked out again after the first cure is over, and that we'd ask the vet to do a bacterial culture test? so that they could get us the right antibiotics.

Although we were planning on doing another round of snoop-around-the-vets for any other rabbit savvy places that wouldn't require us a 1.5hr highway drive to reach. If we're lucky we might find a clinic in an hour's drive...

 

[Blue eyes]

Just wanted to send a reminder to always take both rabbits to the vet even if only one is getting checked out. If two rabbits are bonded, they should stay together for vet trips otherwise there is a risk that there bond will break from the one rabbit picking up odors from his trip.

 

[Catlyn]

Just wanted to send a reminder to always take both rabbits to the vet even if only one is getting checked out. If two rabbits are bonded, they should stay together for vet trips otherwise there is a risk that there bond will break from the one rabbit picking up odors from his trip.

Thanks for the reminder, but i must say that they managed to break their bond shortly after moving, so i cannot take both of them along. It's been about a month and they still show no stable signs of wanting to get along. They tried at first but still ended up having a big squabble(luckily nothing more than a bit of fur was lost that time) so we gave it a rest. They do fine separately, are calm and whatnot, but when either gets too close to the other's pen or zooms too fast, usually the other will attempt to follow angrily and nip through the gaps.
I'll make a separate thread for that advice though.

 

[Catlyn]

Oh dear, almost a month has passed and still nothing. We went to the vet, they did give us these drops, worked while they lasted, and then the wheezing was back again. The week after that we got a number to the other vet further away, we were told that Lümi has a mild case of pastuerella bacteria. (The vet flushed his tear ducts and didn't see too much of the white muck though) We were sent home with 10 days' worth of probiotics for both boys. Again, it helped while it lasted and the sneezy sniffle had returned. So we sent a ''progress report'' of sorts. The vet replied a few days later, saying that it was too bad the bacteria was still causing harm, and that Lümi would need antibiotics after all. We called back and forth, waiting for a whole five days for the reply, had to call the administration table again. They did some snooping from another vet of theirs, and we were told that the antibiotic which would be most useful is the injection form of procaine-something penicillin. It turns out to be safe, and we'll go pick it up the day after tomorrow since our local vets don't have the med in their stock.
What could i do in the meantime to help Lümi with his breathing?