Wet nose, little bit of crust in the eye, otherwise normal.....

[doodlebugger]

Hello all! We started here when we first got Phoenix, my daughter's Flemish Giant. We knew nothing about rabbits then, and we got our main education when he was sick for the first couple of weeks we had him. He had a wet nose then, but was also having other symptoms. He ended up having an upper respiratory, GI issue, and later went back for ears. He has been wonderful ever since and we moved him from the outside to the inside because the beautiful cages that we had built were built with pine and cedar parts and we felt it might be the cause of his respiratory issues. He is now living in my daughter's room in a superyard pen. He is litter box trained, and we found a good sized plastic tub for that. We use newspaper on the bottom and cover it with Oxbow Timothy hay for the litter box. The bottom is a huge sheet of linoleum. We have also put a few ceramic tiles in the cage because he seems to really like laying on them. He refused to drink out of a bottle, so we have two heavy crocks both for his food and water. He likes to try to escape, so we took a very light single sheet and attached it to the top to keep him from getting out (and it works!). My daughter has been really busy as of late and I have been helping her when I see a need, but occasionally she has not been changing his litter box for up to two days. It's usually to the point of smelling at this point, I mean, Phoenix is a big boy, so he has to use the bathroom a lot!!! He will usually stop pooing in the box when it becomes full and that is another indication that it needs changing.

Fast forward to the question - Phoenix developed a wet nose and has some crust on his eyes occasionally. I know if I take him to the vet, it's an immediate $100 plus I have to drive an hour away. Is there something I can give him from the local farm supply store or from my non-bunny vet that will help him, or should I try to choke up the money and take him? Let me say, when we first got him, he had no other symptoms except the wet nose to indicate the upper respiratory infection. He's still normal acting in every other way right now, but I worried that maybe the litter box changes aren't coming fast enough, or maybe there isn't enough ventilation with the sheet on top to help keep him from the ammonia?? Maybe I'm just over thinking too much.....what do you think?

 

[doodlebugger]

Forgot to add, it's not crusty on his nose. Just overly wetter than usual. There aren't any wet patches or crusty patches in the places he is grooming either. Just wet to the touch, and when I wiped it with my tshirt the other day there was a bit of a streak.

 

[Watermelons]

How crusty is the eye?
What colour is the discharge?
Is it just crusty or is it often goopey?
Is there any discharge from the nose? or is it just wet?
What colour?
A good colour macro photo of both the eyes and nose will help us.

It could be something as simple as allergies, or an RI in which case you would need to get a culture done at the vets to determind the type of bacteria and get the proper antibiotics otherwise youll have a antibiotic resistant bun on your hands if you go through so many.

 

[tonyshuman]

Sometimes the ammonia from their litterboxes can cause this. I would use something in addition to newspaper--that really doesn't absorb much or neutralize odor. I like wood stove pellets--they're cheap, biodegradable/compostable, safe (no pine oils due to heat treatment of sawdust made into pellets) and they do a good job with odor and moisture. We only change litterboxes weekly.

 

[doodlebugger]

I am leaning toward the ammonia too now.....it seems to have cleared up now that we are keeping the litter box cleaner. I was thinking about the wood stove pellets too, but was wondering if it's safe even if they eat them? We have a chewer on our hands - one second on the ground and he has it in his mouth chewing (our daughter learned the hard way when she put her Nintendo ds plug down - he chewed it in half right away). Thanks!

 

[tonyshuman]

They shouldn't eat them if you can prevent it. You can use a screen on top of them. They won't cause lots of problems if they do eat them because they fall apart when wet, unlike cat litter that clumps, but it's not really good for them. My guys will chew just about anything rubber, plastic, cloth, or paper, but they leave the wood pellets alone, even going so far as to pick out little bits of hay from between the pellets to eat, so I don't think they're very appetizing. Many people use something called plastic canvas or eggcrate (a grid that goes in fluorescent lights) to keep their bunnies' feet off the litter itself and keep them from eating it.

 

[doodlebugger]

Thanks for clearing that up Tonyshuman. I wasn't sure because we looked at Carefresh and it says the same thing - if your animal swallows too much it can harm them. With him being a Flemish Giant, we had to find a large enough storage tote that would fit him, so I have no idea if I can craft some kind of grate over his box that he couldn't pull up. This will take some major thought. Thanks!

 

[funnybunnymummy]

When we first switched Gus to the wood pellets, the first thing he did was hop in his litter box, grab a pellet, and proceed to eat it. I was really worried about him for the next 24 hours, but he never showed any signs of being sick. Anyway, since then, he's NEVER eaten another. I have a feeling they don't taste too good (unlike power cords, carpeting, andthe buttons off remote controls... ).

You could probably give them a go and see how he does. If it turns out he likes to eat them, then look into getting a grate to cover them.

Hope that helps!

Rue