• 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.

Excessive nasal mucous

tomrabbit

Young Bun
What's the best way to make a bunny more comfortable who has a lot of nasal discharge? My elderly bunny Tom has suffered from sneezing fits his whole life, and generally has coped fine. His nose will bubble with mucous sometimes when he sneezes, and we clean it up regularly. But today he had a large amount of clear mucous, which was causing him difficulty to get rid of, and because of that, difficulty breathing. I took him straight to vet, who has put him on precautionary antibiotics with dose of metacam to ease inflammation as his breathing was laboured, and he is already much perkier, but even if there is some infection that the antibiotics will zap, I'm convinced his main issue is clearing the mucous, particularly as he is less active now he is older. If he were human, I would have him on sudafed or something like that. I know there are very few drugs that are actually licenced for rabbits, but given his age, I feel improving his quality of life is more important than any long term effects of unlicenced medication, so have other people successfully used decongestants or anti-mucous medications on rabbits. My vet vet was sympathetic to my request for something to make Tom more comfortable, and has given me 'Bisolvon' to try, which I have to divide into miniscule doses for him. Have any other people used this with success? or is there a different medication or treatment that is successul in rabbits?
 
As your vet for some bisolven - it will help thin the mucus so it drains better.

Also you could discuss using a nebuliser, even a saline only neb works wonders.
 
Sorry just seen the last bit, you have bisolven. I've used it. Bluebell had it daily on and off for two years. Its brilliant stuff.
 
I would strongly recommend, if all other courses of treatment have been tried, to obtain a nebuliser, and make a nebulising chamber (a huge underbed storage box works great) and nebulise, as Amy says, with saline, or something like F10SC, but only upon advice from your vet. I'd discuss this with your vet, its all that worked for Ginger.
 
If your vet agrees you could also try nebulising the baytril so it gets right to the source. You'll need the injectable form though not the oral form as it just goes frothy in the neb.
 
Sorry just seen the last bit, you have bisolven. I've used it. Bluebell had it daily on and off for two years. Its brilliant stuff.

Thanks Amy. How did you manage to work out the dose? And how did you administer?
I have a 5gm packet, and vet said I need 1/4 gram per day. does that sound similar to the amount you used?
I was thinking about making a couple of 'lines' of the powder, and splitting into 20 doses, but it's going to be tiny little portions. Then I thought I would spread on a tiny piece of bread with some butter, as that has worked well for powders before, but another option would be to dissolve and use a syringe.

I did wonder about a nebuliser Graham. Could you explain a bit more how you made one?
 
If your vet agrees you could also try nebulising the baytril so it gets right to the source. You'll need the injectable form though not the oral form as it just goes frothy in the neb.

I've got injectible baytril. Could you explain further?
 
The clear, unable to shift mucous and the difficulty breathing make me wonder if he choked and had todays mucous as a result of that. Is that a possibility?

Do they know what's causing his problems?

I also agree with nebulising and Bisolvon and also metacam from what you've said :)
 
Thanks Amy. How did you manage to work out the dose? And how did you administer?
I have a 5gm packet, and vet said I need 1/4 gram per day. does that sound similar to the amount you used?
I was thinking about making a couple of 'lines' of the powder, and splitting into 20 doses, but it's going to be tiny little portions. Then I thought I would spread on a tiny piece of bread with some butter, as that has worked well for powders before, but another option would be to dissolve and use a syringe.

I did wonder about a nebuliser Graham. Could you explain a bit more how you made one?

Cut a hole in the side of a high sided storage box, place the nebuliser tube into that hole, laden up with relevant nebulisation liquid (be it F10SC, Saline, etc), place bunny inside, replace lid.

Ensure your bunny is 'comfortable' - they tend to settle after a short while, Ginger didn't even let it bother her, as she's so laid back, but not all bunnies are the same, so again, you know your bunny, you should know if he will be stressed or not :)
 
The clear, unable to shift mucous and the difficulty breathing make me wonder if he choked and had todays mucous as a result of that. Is that a possibility?

Do they know what's causing his problems?

I also agree with nebulising and Bisolvon and also metacam from what you've said :)

No, I don't think he choked. It was just like a very large amount of what he normally has that wouldn't clear with his sneezes. As I was there when it happened, I cleaned off the mucous immediately, and put him up with his head on my shoulder and rubbed his back to try and help with breathing (didn't know what else to do, but thought he would be better stretched out a bit and upright rather than scrunched up :?), but when I put him back down, he lay flat, and didn't want to move, and his breathing was laboured, which is why I took him to the vet.
 
Bluebell had one pinch of the powder twice a day as directed by my vet.

If your vet oks the nebuliser we just added the dose prescribed by the vet to a few ml of saline in the neb chamber so that Bluebell effectively inhaled the baytril so it was going straight to the source of the problem rather than being given by mouth and having to travel round the whole body.

Respitory problems are very complex and different things work for different buns.
 
Back
Top