• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

  • Please Note - Medical Advice

    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

    You should always consult your vet before following any suggestions for medication or treatment you have read about. The wrong treatment could make your rabbit worse or mean your vet is unable to give the correct treatment because of drug interactions. Even non prescription drugs can do harm if given inappropriately.

    We are very grateful to members who take time to answer other members questions, but please do be clear in your replies that you are sharing personal experience and not giving instructions on what must be done.

    Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.

Looking for advice- re secondary respiratory infection.

H

halfpenny

Wise Old Thumper
Hi, as some may remember, Smokey has asthma/ breathing problems and is on an inhaler permanently. He developed a secondary infection a few weeks ago and we put him onto baytril for 5 days, which seemed to clear it up. However on Monday his breathing was really bad again, to the point we thought we might lose him, but we put him back on baytril and he is improving every day, my guess is we didn't give him the antibiotic for long enough.

So the questions are-
1) how long should I have him on antibiotics this time,
2) should we be using something else and
3) he is due his VHD vaccine, do we go ahead or wait until the antibiotic course is finished.
 
Hi, Zithromax is an excellent antibiotic for respiritory tract infections. Mine had it several times when she had recurring bouts of pnuemonia over a period of a few years. Cleared her chest a treat.

Your vet shouldn't give any booster jabs to an unwell animal. I would suggest you wait until bun is better before you give the VHD as the immune system will be suppressed due to the infection. IMO, bun's immunity to the VHD virus isn't going to suddenly disappear overnight because the booster jab is due the next day. It may not be as high as it should be but there will still be some antibodies in its system should it come into contact with the disease, giving the body a fighting chance to mount a reaction. I think the danger of boosting an unhealthy bun is greater than the chance of coming into contact with VHD.
 
Last edited:
cheers, how long do you think we should give him the antibiotics for. To be honest the baytril has hepled him wonderfully, I just don't know if it is the best or if he should have it for a good bit longer.
 
5 days Baytril is not long enough and repeated short courses of abx can lead to the developement of abx resistance.

I would consult your Vet and ask about a much longer course, minimum 14 days. As Baytril appears to be effective for Smokey I'd suggest starting off on that before moving on to a more heavy duty abx if necessary
 
Just to say I have spoken to my vet, but they themselves have never experienced a rabbit with these problems before and they initially suggested a 5 day course. I never self administer without talking to a vet first and if I am in anyways concerned, my animals are straight into the vets to be seen!

I don't tend to take him into the vets now as I don't want to stress him out anymore, but they check him over when they come to do the vaccinations. Obviously I would call the vet out if Smokey was suffering in anyway. The first time he had an infection I rushed him in and he was on baytril for 3 weeks, but this 2nd time the vet said try 5 days, and it didn't clear it up effectively, so he is back on the baytril. I just wouldered if there was a magic number of days that would ensure he had it out of his system.
I assume this will be an ongoing problem for him, so will each time he is ill take a longer course of antibiotics to clear it up or will we eventually need to move onto something stronger.
 
Have spoken to the vet again and the maximum licensed time to give baytril is 10 days.For those with any experience of this, do you think that will be long enough, or should I give it for longer.
Thanks.
 
Lots of buns take antibiotics for long periods, sometimes for the whole duration of their life, especially for conditions like pasteurella which can be surpressed but not erradicated.

My bun called Smokey also has respiratory problems, and has suffered from congested lungs in the past, which made her wheeze and grunt like a pig. We tried Baytril and Septrin, but they didn't work for her, so the vet suggested an antibiotic called Ronaxan. It was really hard work to get her to take the tablets, but worth it in the end because they worked, and she hasn't had a major relapse for at least a couple of years. Her breathing isn't great and she has runny eyes, but can run and jump like any other bunny :D
 
Thanks for the reply, I used ronaxan for kennel cough in dogs, and the vet did mention trying a tablet, but can't remember what he called it ( wasn't ronaxan but my have been another trade name for it.)

I guess then I will try him on the baytril for 3 weeks like last time and if it then recurs try him on ronaxan instead. Does that sound reasonable to you?
My vets are very good, but like me are learning as we go along, they are amazed Smokey is still here, they expected him to pass away a year ago. The good thing is they are willing to try new things and will research things if you make a suggestion. Thanks for that, and I hope your Smokey continues to keep well.:D

By the way, how did you manage to give her tablets, at the moment Smokey gets corvental D100, a dog vasodilator, they are capsules and we count out 30 balls from inside every night to give to Smokey. Initially we put them in a drop if water and used a dropper to sqeeze into his mouth, then had a brain wave and now put them on a slice of banana, Mike calls them his sprinkles.:lol:
 
halfpenny said:
By the way, how did you manage to give her tablets, at the moment Smokey gets corvental D100, a dog vasodilator, they are capsules and we count out 30 balls from inside every night to give to Smokey. Initially we put them in a drop if water and used a dropper to sqeeze into his mouth, then had a brain wave and now put them on a slice of banana, Mike calls them his sprinkles.:lol:
Click to expand...

My Smokey can smell medication at 100 paces, so hiding tablets in food is a no-no for us :(

I actually crushed the tablet up with a knife and mixed it with a little water, then syringed it into her mouth. Not an easy task! I thought about buying a pill crusher, and probably would have done if she'd been on the tablets for much longer.

It might be easier (although probably more expensive) to try an injectable antibiotic seeing how you've got multiple animals to care for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
Rabbit with erratic heart rate
Replies
3
Views
229
MimzMum
MimzMum
H
GI stasis advice please
2
Replies
35
Views
1K
Helen1981
H
H
Panacur. for e.cuniculi
Replies
5
Views
598
hoppetylop
H
Back
Top