Nebulisers?

I have wanted to ask this for a long time but have only now got round to it.

When ben gets his bad bouts of snuffles, taking antibiotics orally doesnt make much of a difference for him.

I put a post up a few months ago about his snuffles, and a few people suggested maybe a nebulizer would be another option to explore?

Ok, firstly, what is a nebulizer?

How is it used?

Which antibiotics can be used with it?

Where do you get them from?

Is it effective?

Pro's/Con's


Would really appreciate the advice ru'ers :wave:

This is all we can use for Ginger now, plus of course her daily metacam.

http://evergreen-nebulizers.co.uk/omron/compairc28.html

This is the one we have.

I've modified a underbed storage tray and put the meds in the right area then the tube into the 'box' put Ginger in and away we go.

We use Water with diluted F10SC (which is a veterinary disinfectant) 1:250.

They basically make the water into steam and with the meds the bun then breathes them in, so it gets straight to where the infection is, rather than abx going through the blood stream etc.

I bought ours from Amazon.

Thank you for the quick reply graham

So there is a compartment for the meds to go in?

And how long do they need to go in for?

Could baytril, septrin or bisolvon be used?

Sorry for ll the questions, having never seen a rabbit in one or one being set up with the meds ect, its difficult to imagine!

lilgems91 said:

Thank you for the quick reply graham

So there is a compartment for the meds to go in?

And how long do they need to go in for?

Could baytril, septrin or bisolvon be used?

Sorry for ll the questions, having never seen a rabbit in one or one being set up with the meds ect, its difficult to imagine!

Click to expand...

Yup a little compartment.

Baytril can, not sure about septrin, i'd assume so, and bisolvon can.

Times etc all depend on the rabbit, the illness, the medication and veterinary decisions

I mentioned it to my vet, she said its worth a try when he isnt good, but doesnt thinks it could cause irritation around the nose. I think its worth a try though!

Does the bun stay in the box?

Would you personally recommend one? I saw your video you put of ginger on another snuffles post of her sneezing, and ben is mostly like that, sometimes worse.

lilgems91 said:

I mentioned it to my vet, she said its worth a try when he isnt good, but doesnt thinks it could cause irritation around the nose. I think its worth a try though!

Does the bun stay in the box?

Would you personally recommend one? I saw your video you put of ginger on another snuffles post of her sneezing, and ben is mostly like that, sometimes worse.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that was one of Ginger's 'Good' fits Poor Ben.

I would 100% recommend one, best thing we've ever done for Ginger. She stays in the box for the whole time it's steaming, normally 15-20 minutes. It does take the right bun though, Ginger is one of the most laid back buns in the world, we put a towel in and a pile of hay, and she just sits there, eats and flops on the towel. She even did a DBF on it a few days ago :shock: :roll:

It doesn't cause iritation, infact, completely the opposite

GrahamL said:

Yeah, that was one of Ginger's 'Good' fits Poor Ben.

I would 100% recommend one, best thing we've ever done for Ginger. She stays in the box for the whole time it's steaming, normally 15-20 minutes. It does take the right bun though, Ginger is one of the most laid back buns in the world, we put a towel in and a pile of hay, and she just sits there, eats and flops on the towel. She even did a DBF on it a few days ago :shock: :roll:

It doesn't cause iritation, infact, completely the opposite

Click to expand...

Poor ben and poor ginger, snuffles is horrid How old is ginger?

He is not very laid back at all, but if theres food in there he will happily stay munching away :lol:

Im definitely thinking into one, that link you sent before, was that for the nebuliser you have?

lilgems91 said:

Poor ben and poor ginger, snuffles is horrid How old is ginger?

He is not very laid back at all, but if theres food in there he will happily stay munching away :lol:

Im definitely thinking into one, that link you sent before, was that for the nebuliser you have?

Click to expand...

Yeah, the omron c28 is what we have :wave:

Gingey is 18 months old on or around 27th November Struggling a little now, she has many issues, has just been through a horrible stay at the vets for 3 days bless her, but she's okay, still enjoying herself where she can. We may be seeing the slowdown now, as her and her siblings are all genetic messes, bless them.

Aww bless, is ginger the one with the poorly kidneys, or is that biscuit?

I hope ginger feels better soon, ben and cupcake send lots of bunny kisses across. Thats such a shame, where were they from?

Is a nebuliser a bit like a washing machine then, you have the compartments where you put the liquid/powder etc? Can a couple be used at once?

Just had a look at your nebuliser again..can you buy the box that they go in?? And does the nebuliser plug into the box, or have I got the complete wrong end of the stick lol!?

Here's Santa in her nebuliser.



The box is just a kitchen tupperware box that I bought from the market. You don't want it too big as it needs to build up a good mist inside it, but obviously big enough for bun not to freak out. I used a drill and hacksaw to hack out a hole for the mouthpiece to go in. You can just use a pet carrier covered over as well as you can with towels or plastic wrap to try and keep as much of the mist in as possible, and then sellotape or tie the pot to the inside of the carrier door.



The little pot on the end there is where you put the medicine - so like Graham I used F10SC diluted in saline. The nebuliser machine is at the other end of the wire (I put the nebuliser machine under an upturned box covered with towels to minimise the noise). I think I may also have used bisolvon sometimes, to be honest I can't really remember. It certainly helped Santa a lot, she never fussed and just sat there for 15-20 mins while in it. On the day she died, I popped her in it during the evening and she sat with her nose right up against the outlet, so it obviously was soothing for her. Because they are passively breathing it in rather than actively inhaling it like a human would, it needs to get misty inside the chamber, so you need to try and strike a good balance between it allowing enough airflow for bun to breathe comfortably, and too much escaping. I found that just the inaccuracy of my hole hacking around the mouthpiece was enough! If you look at the mouthpiece there, you will see a little tube pointing the opposite way from the chamber - this is designed for humans to breathe out. I ended up blocking it with cotton wool because too much of the mist was escaping through that, and there was still enough air getting in and out fine.

I also found that how you pour the meds into that little chamber had an impact on how well the nebuliser worked. If I put too much fluid in, it just bubbled up instead of misted, and the same if I poured the liquid in and got some on the bit inside that pot which spins round and causes the liquid to mist up. So once I worked out my optimum starting level, I drew a line on the outside of the pot, and carefully poured it in down the side of the pot.

Hope that helps

lilgems91 said:

Aww bless, is ginger the one with the poorly kidneys, or is that biscuit?

I hope ginger feels better soon, ben and cupcake send lots of bunny kisses across. Thats such a shame, where were they from?

Is a nebuliser a bit like a washing machine then, you have the compartments where you put the liquid/powder etc? Can a couple be used at once?

Click to expand...

Yup, Ginger's the one with the shot to pieces kidneys Ginger's fine, she doesn't let it bother her Biscuit & Ginger aren't related at all, Biccy is from a garden centre (i know, but i didnt know about rescues back then...) and Ginger's from Starlights Rabbit Rescue.

Santa has given a FANTASTIC post on how a nebuliser works and the best setup, mine is almost identically setup, but now i've just read about the cotton wool, i think i might give her a huge hug as we've been battling against the escaping stuff for ages :lol: I usually sit there with my hand over it :lol: Thanks Santa