New User from Canada. Posting in desperation to help my bunny

Hello everyone. I have lurked your forums off and on for some time now. I know there are many of you that are very bunny savvy and also that there are vets here and am really hoping you might weigh in on something for me and look at some Xrays I have also. Please especially to any vets, could you give me your opinions or any advice. To save posting the whole story here, I will post my current discussion where it's going on with my kind friends at another forum. I hope that is ok. Also you can see my bunny's Xrays at the second link

Discussion
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bunnyloversunite/discuss/72157626536751769/

Xrays
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41497208@N04/

Thank you for any help

Hi I'm really sorry your bunny has been so poorly. How is bunny now?

I really dont know what to advise, I'm sorry, but I am not as knowledgeable as many of the members on here so I hope someone else replies soon with their thoughts.

In the meantime I will send vibes for your bun.

Poor bunny
How many different antibiotics have been tried? Have you had a culture of the mucus done to see what bacteria might be present? Certain antibiotics work better against certain bacteria.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along soon to help! I hope Snowy gets better soon.

Re new user from Canada

Hello, thank you both so much Forgive me if I make mistakes using the forum. I am not sure how to repost/reply with parts of the orig message in follow up posts. I hope this works and am going from memory.

He is hanging in today. Eating a little but poops are very small. Trying to avoid full stasis -picking upmetoclopramide, baytril orally for 2 days then nebulized. He is very tired and slow but we made it through last night.

Haven't tried culture and sensitivity yet - vet wants to save as last resort in addition to possible nasal flush and endoscope to look for foreign body. Because she doesn't have tools small enough and he is SO easily stressed. abandoned and abused, attacked by another animal. But gentle and lovely. I lost my first boy to cancer, can't lose him too. Appreciate your thoughts. I'm sorry to be so brief, I know it must seem rude, just watching him all the time.

So far have tried Baytril and Azithromycin. Severe reaction to the Azithromycin last night, dont dare give it again

Do you have a probiotic to give him while he is having the antibiotics? When my rabbit has needed antibiotics I have been advised to give him Bio Lapis as well to help keep the bacteria in his gut balanced. Do you have anything like that in Canada?

I dont know why but I am reminded of Bisc + Matt's thread - I wondered if there might be any similarities here? (Apologies if you dont have time to read or if its irrelevant, but thought I would post in case there is anything here that would help)

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=226300&highlight=bisc+matt

your poor bunny and poor you wish i could offer advice but unfortunately i can't.just want to send you lots of good vibes for snowy.please keep us posted as to how you are both getting on.xx

Poor Snowy. It sounds like you've both had an awful time recently.

From my experience, all I could suggest is a tear duct infection as a possibility. This is what my Billy has. He's had three tear duct flushes, several weeks of Baytril and Septrin which haven't worked, and he's now on Penicillin injections. He also had a large piece of hay stuck up his nose, but I'm not sure if that's the cause of the infection.

I hope that helps a tiny bit! Hope you can get to the bottom of it soon. Sending lots of vibes for Snowy xx

I have no experience of this but wish your bunny well. It's very stressful dealing with an ill bunny

There are lots of threads on here regarding treatment of rabbits with Snuffles/Pasturella - use the search facility at the top of the page to find them. Long term anti-biotics is often the treatment. Idealy to find the best antibiotic a culture is taken - I don't know why your vet would want to keep this as a last resort.

You talk of a possible allergy - what bedding do you use? Problems have been noted with woodshavings. A dust free bedding is advisable along with dust free hay.

I hope you can get to the bottom of your rabbits problems.

Loosy said:

Do you have a probiotic to give him while he is having the antibiotics? When my rabbit has needed antibiotics I have been advised to give him Bio Lapis as well to help keep the bacteria in his gut balanced. Do you have anything like that in Canada?

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Hi thank you for the link, I will have a look. I haven't seen that one here - we have Bene-bac (powder). But I will remember to get some more now, have been out for a long time - thank you for the reminder

helgalush said:

I dont know why but I am reminded of Bisc + Matt's thread - I wondered if there might be any similarities here? (Apologies if you dont have time to read or if its irrelevant, but thought I would post in case there is anything here that would help)

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=226300&highlight=bisc+matt

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Hi, thank you very much, what a thread. I haven't been able to read it all yet but I will. Poor buns I hope they are coping ok. I def think it's relevant and appreciate knowing about it

mimi75 said:

your poor bunny and poor you wish i could offer advice but unfortunately i can't.just want to send you lots of good vibes for snowy.please keep us posted as to how you are both getting on.xx

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Thank you! We always appreciate the good vibes very much. He has been getting a little better throughout the day today. Poops are about half size but getting larger and more frequent and he's not had any more mucus poops - such a relief!! They were awful. He's been eating better also. I decided to hold off on all medication tonight to let his tummy really calm down for at least a whole day first . Crossing my fingers that tomorrow will be good again

Captain Helen said:

Poor Snowy. It sounds like you've both had an awful time recently.

From my experience, all I could suggest is a tear duct infection as a possibility. This is what my Billy has. He's had three tear duct flushes, several weeks of Baytril and Septrin which haven't worked, and he's now on Penicillin injections. He also had a large piece of hay stuck up his nose, but I'm not sure if that's the cause of the infection.

I hope that helps a tiny bit! Hope you can get to the bottom of it soon. Sending lots of vibes for Snowy xx

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Thank you for the kind thoughts and telling me about Billy. He's a sweet boy - is he a lionhead? Is he a small guy? Poor boy I hope he's been feeling better lately. Can I ask you how he did with the flushes? I'm hearing both sides on them - some say it's routine and the buns did well after and others saying it can be very stressful for them...did Billy have any trouble from the procedure itself or afterwards? I'm sorry the things you've tried haven't helped yet. Snowy has been on baytril a couple of times but the longest for just ten days. I've read that it can take up to 3 months of baytril (if a snuffles problem) so thought I would try it again just in case it might help - I'm going to ask the vet to try it for longer this time. I've heard of Septrin too yes! I will ask her about it also. I wondered if Snowy had some hay stuck in his nose also, a friend told me to try a nasal aspirator for babies for and for any mucus and I did get a tiny piece of hay out that time - he was so relieved afterwards - binkys all over. But it hasn't cleared whatever is still going on. Latent snuffles - foreign object in nose - allergies - are the top 3 contenders. Sending vibes back for Billy

Fionabun said:

I have no experience of this but wish your bunny well. It's very stressful dealing with an ill bunny

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Thank you very much for the well wishes I really appreciate them. I hope everything is going well for your bunnies...yes.. it's so stressful when they are ill. Some things only bunny Moms and Dads can understand

Dustyrabbit said:

There are lots of threads on here regarding treatment of rabbits with Snuffles/Pasturella - use the search facility at the top of the page to find them. Long term anti-biotics is often the treatment. Idealy to find the best antibiotic a culture is taken - I don't know why your vet would want to keep this as a last resort.

You talk of a possible allergy - what bedding do you use? Problems have been noted with woodshavings. A dust free bedding is advisable along with dust free hay.

I hope you can get to the bottom of your rabbits problems.

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Thank you I will have a search. If he does have snuffles I think this is my first problem - not long enough of a try on the baytril in the past. At least can start with that. My vet is very nice but she wants to try the least "invasive" so to speak things first. So.. Xrays, routine Baytril, metacam for inflammation/discomfort, and hope that it is seasonal allergies and will get better in summer. We've still had snow cover until last week and roads covered with chemicals for ice melt. Very dry air too and we grow snow mould in the winter so spores about. I'm sorry there is a lot of info really that I am leaving out because it would just be monsterous for me to post. I hope that helps a little. I know it doesn't help the situation not having the whole story. Today it rained all day and is forecast for another day or 2 - I am watching to see if there is any change if he does have allergies - at least if seasonal. If it is allergies I don't know that I'll ever know what they are to. Yes - changed everything in his environment - bedding, hay, no chemicals in house, washed all bedding/toys ...everything I could think of. Hay is terrible this time of year - very dusty and it does make things worse. It'll be better with new crops in summer again. Can't wait for that

thank you again everyone

LoveSomeBunny said:

Thank you for the kind thoughts and telling me about Billy. He's a sweet boy - is he a lionhead? Is he a small guy? Poor boy I hope he's been feeling better lately. Can I ask you how he did with the flushes? I'm hearing both sides on them - some say it's routine and the buns did well after and others saying it can be very stressful for them...did Billy have any trouble from the procedure itself or afterwards? I'm sorry the things you've tried haven't helped yet. Snowy has been on baytril a couple of times but the longest for just ten days. I've read that it can take up to 3 months of baytril (if a snuffles problem) so thought I would try it again just in case it might help - I'm going to ask the vet to try it for longer this time. I've heard of Septrin too yes! I will ask her about it also. I wondered if Snowy had some hay stuck in his nose also, a friend told me to try a nasal aspirator for babies for and for any mucus and I did get a tiny piece of hay out that time - he was so relieved afterwards - binkys all over. But it hasn't cleared whatever is still going on. Latent snuffles - foreign object in nose - allergies - are the top 3 contenders. Sending vibes back for Billy

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Thanks. Yes, he's a lionhead. He's very small at the moment. He's 1.4kg when he used to be 2.1kg.

He coped fine with the tear duct flushes. The first two he had conscious, the third was under GA after a dental. His eyes looked a little sore afterwards, but he had Metacam for the pain.

The Baytril didn't do anything for Billy. The Septrin worked, but the infection kept coming back. He had his last dose of penicillin this morning, so time will tell how he responds to this drug!

Hope Snowy had a good day today xx