people with snuffles bunnies

having never had a bun with snuffles or toothy probs, I am just sitting like :?


this is about biscuit btw ..

he seems a healthy happy bun, maybe a bit quiet .. but I'm sure he will come out of his shell soon enough ..

his breathing seems alot better than the first time I saw him & his nose isn't so soggy ..

he is on baytril atm, which seems to have really helped him so far,

what I want to know .. is this something that will be with him for life ? will I ever be able to bond him to say one of my groups ? or will there always be the risk of him passing it on ?(he is being kept well away from my lot atm)

will be able to go under GA for dentals/to get neutered, if his snuffles affect his breathing ?

what do I look out for .. I know change is discharge from his nose/breathing probs for his snuffles & wet mouth/runny eyes .. not eating much for his teethies ? (as that is what I was told to look out for when I first got Smokey as the vet checked his teethies & said his back ones were a bit sharp, but plaenty of hay sorted them out ) I still say his front teeth are a little to long, but the vet has said they are ok for now, but might pop along with him myself to talk about it :wave:



some of these Q's may seem REALLY dumb for someone with so many buns .. but I have never had experiance of this so I am a bit clueless

I have a snuffles bun, mixed with dental bun, mixed with genetic mess bun :wave:

Ginger has active pasteurella, she is bonded with Biscuit, who never experienced issues in 6 months, but then showed basic signs of a runny nose. A 3 week course of Septrin sorted it out for him. However, NOTHING has really helped Ginger at all, but this is partially as she is immuno-compromised - her immune system is rubbish basically.

She sneezes A LOT - with at first, clear discharge, but we now have a constant 'wet' nose and lots of white snotty discharge from her nose during the sneezing, which most of the time she cleans herself, but we do have to help occasionally.

We look out for the colour of the discharge, and how thick it is. The thicker it is, the worse it is - clear watery discharge is best, as the infection can then be fought better.

Simply speaking, you'll need to have a C&S (culture and sensitivity test) to determine which bacteria it is and that will then tell the vet which ABx to fight it with. In our case, that failed as depocillin which is Ginger's 'susceptible abx' can only help the snuffles, not get rid of it.

For us, its imperative to keep stress at a minimum, as that can really flare it up.

Re the dental work - not sure on the reasons for your Biscuit's dental (this feels really odd, my other buns called Biscuit :shock but sometimes diet can't really help keep the dentals away. It depends on the reason for the dental issues - if its jaw deformation as with Ginger, then no amount of additional hay etc will help, but it does lengthen the time between dentals for us. We're currently at 7 weeks between each one, and are heading for #3 in about 2 weeks time.

You'll probably need a skull x-ray to confirm dental reasoning.

Re what to look out for for dentals; slow eating, selective eating, drooling/dribbling, excessive drinking, left caecals, not eating at all.

Yes, should be able to go under GA for dentals, should be fine, but they may not use as much anaesthetic etc, your vet will be the best person to confirm this

Hope this helps :wave:

Sorry Im not much help but im interested in this too as Dreamer and Teddy both ever since I have had them go through a couple of days of having a snotty nose but are always well in themselves. The vet thinks they are probably both pasteurella carriers and that i just need to keep an eye on them. I was going to take Teddy to the vet today after he sneezed out a white discharge yesturday but today his nose is clear and dry :?

WeeBarraxO said:

what I want to know .. is this something that will be with him for life ? will I ever be able to bond him to say one of my groups ? or will there always be the risk of him passing it on ?(he is being kept well away from my lot atm)

will be able to go under GA for dentals/to get neutered, if his snuffles affect his breathing ?

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If he has an infection, then he will always carry the bacteria and, if you beat it, it may rear its head at times of stress; when his immune system is under threat.

As for being able to bond him in, that very much depends on you, your vet and what you wish to do. There is a lot of info around so I would suggest researching a lot.

I have two bunnies bonded with a rabbit who has doormant respiratory issues. They were doormant for many months before he was bonded. The risk with bonding is with the rabbit who has the respiratory issues, and if the bonding will flare up the issues again, and whether or not the rabbit with the respiratory issues will 'pass on' their issue to the others.

The latter point is up for debate because people believe different things. Generally speaking, the majority of rabbits carry the bacteria with no problems anyway, so are often already exposed.

I would suggest also researching into the ways these things are passed on because its far wider than I realised. Remember you can be a transmittor too.

Essentially though, it comes down to what you're comfortable with, and what your vets advice is regarding Biscuit's specific problem. I do think though, that Baytril is unliekly to be as effective as some other meds.

Any action you need to take depends on whether the snuffles is connected to his teeth problems.

Are we talking incisor or molar issues, or both? What colour is the discharge from his nose? How much discharge is there?...it can vary from having a slightly wet nose to the nostrils completely crusting over and the bun struggling to breathe.

Pics would help too :wave:

I have a long term respitory bunny who has been on meds for about six months. We had a c&s test like Graham but ours didn't really identify the bacteria so we still don't really know what type of infection he has. Thankfully whatever it is we do now know its killed of by Baytril. Bluebells immune system is very weak which is why we think he is taking so long to get over this bout, there were times I thought it was kinder to PTS. But we kept at it and whilst he's not cured he is happy and we are managing. We've found the key is to keep the mucus as thin as poss which we've achieved by using a nebuliser and bisolven when neccessary. We have also started nebulising the meds as they get straight to the problem area.

He is bonded and his partner has never had any problems. Nor have any of my other rabbits and they are in fairly close proximity.

IMO the risk when bonding a respitory bunny is the stress involved as this can sometimes upset the apple cart and give them a flare up even if they have been fine for months.

Nursecroft reference Teddy and Dreamer, my two youngest buns came to me sneezing and with mild watery discharge. On vets advice we didn't rush straight to antibiotics because they were so young but monitored it very closely. I was worried and sceptical at first but I have faith in my vet and amazingly the two bunnies stopped sneezing of their own accord. I have noticed that if either is stressed, ie like after I rebonded them, or especially during spring fever when they are chasing each other alot the sneezing does return for several days but always goes away again.

Lils is bonded with her brother.He has had 2 attacks in his 2 yrs.Lily has had a few, but responds well to treatment of baytril and thats it.She has physiological problems inside her due to her spine, so her breathing tubes are in different places to normal bunnies so I understand.There are lots of types of snuffles,Ive been told.Slight to moderate to severe.

Thanks for all the info everyone ,


his doesn't seem bad at all, his nose is clear just now, no discharge at all, but will keep an eye on it & if he has any will try to get a pic for yous,


Me & OH sat in the hall with him for a while let him have a potter about

If you're trying to quarantine him, then you need to now disinfect anywhere he has been, and also anywhere you have been if you walked through that area and also I'd probably change my clothes if that were me. Ideally, its better to keep a quarantined rabbit to a particular space so that there is limited cross contamination.

With quarantining, its important to remember 'the invisibles'.

Sky-O said:

If you're trying to quarantine him, then you need to now disinfect anywhere he has been, and also anywhere you have been if you walked through that area and also I'd probably change my clothes if that were me. Ideally, its better to keep a quarantined rabbit to a particular space so that there is limited cross contamination.

With quarantining, its important to remember 'the invisibles'.

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yeah he is being kept to the bottom 2 levels of the house (he have 4) & my lot are in the top 2 :wave: I have been washing my hands each time, but will keep an old set of clothes for handleing him to change out of :wave:

Remember to disinfect your feet/socks/shoes when you leave the place he is too.

I think most things have been sorted but just wanted to add that my bun is a snuffles bun, and I still bonded him. I dont think that just because a rabbit is ill he should be made to live alone. After a chat with Windwhistle rescue, I chose a rabbit that we knew had already been exposed to snuffles, so I wouldnt be infecting a healthy rabbit by bonding him. (Alice still has a few so if/when you want to bond him you could ask if they are still available.) You could also adopt a snuffles bun. There are lots of options.

One thing the lady at the rescue (Alice) said was that many rabbits carry the bacteria dormant. And especially bunnies in any rescue would be likely to have it because there is bound to be at least one rabbit at the rescue that is a carrier of the bacteria but doesnt show symptoms, and then the carers could pass it on to the other bunnies without realising, or it would be transmitted through the air with the bunnies living so close to each other.

What the point of the ramble above is that your bunnies may already have the bacteria, just not show symptoms. I mention this because I think it will be very hard to keep up this quarentining for the rest of his life, so perhaps you should relax it once you know he's not carrying any super-nasties.