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Sneezing

Linnea

Young Bun
I have a one and a half year old Rex rabbit. He has been sneezing for a while and we’ve been to the vets. The vet couldn’t find anything wrong with him, but suggested that we should move him outside, since the humidity is higher outdoors. I haven’t been able to move him outside yet, since I don’t have a hutch and run. I am going to put up a wire mesh on the balcony of my apartment, so he can be outside. But I am also quite reluctant to let him live outside by himself all winter since he is very social and likes company.

Does anybody have any experience with humidifiers? Can they work to reduce sneezing caused by dry indoor air?
 
I thought it was the opposite? My Boris a snuffle bun and he seems to be much more affected by humidity than dry air to be honest. But maybe it's different with each bunny.

Is there a possibility that he's allergic to something though? Do you use sawdust or wood shavings?
 
Have they tested for pasturella (ie bunny snuffles)?
I also agree allergy could be the cause. Either bedding, some material he's got in his environment or maybe the cleaning products you use, or if you smoke.
TBH I would have thought moving him outside on his own may stress him out and make his symptoms worse.
You can humidify the air in your flat easily by keeping a bowl of water on the window sill and one near a radiator and top them up as they evaporate.
 
I use a kind of paper pellets as bedding in his litterbox which isn't very dusty at all and he's obviously got hay, but that's kind of hard to avoid. I don't smoke and I use very mild cleaning products.

I've had rabbits with upper respiratory infections before, but that was over a year ago so it shouldn't have been able to transfer to him. His symptoms are not quite the same as the ones my other rabbits had, since he still has a clear nose (I hope it stays that way). But he sneezes, sometimes it's just a little, but sometimes he has "sneeze attacks" which seam to really bother him...

I've thought about allergies as well and talked about it briefly with the vet, he said it would be good for him to move outside either way. I suppose because the air is more humid and there's less dust and so on. The reason why humidity is good for rabbits with respiratory problems is because the mucous membranes in the nose can get irritated if the air is to dry and humid air, I think, can also help unblock the airways if they have trubble with a snotty nose. Obviously though, it wouldn't be very good for a poorly rabbit to sit out in the cold. The tought with moving him outside would be to get him better, if he doesn't get better I don't see the point in keeping him outside, since he would probably be lonely as well.

Thank you for your thoughts! If anyone else has any advice please speak up :)
 
Honestly, I wouldn't ever move a lone rabbit outside. Not only will he be miserable on his own, you are far more likely to miss any deterioration than you would if he was inside. I would attempt to increase the humidity in your house instead if that's what the vet has advised, although I am surprised you are being told to do this without a diagnosis. Do you know if your vet is bunny savvy? I'm afraid I can't comment on humidifiers as I've only ever had the opposite problem!

Did your vet suggest anything other than allergies and snuffles? Does your bun have any other symptoms other than the sneezing? In particular, has he started sitting or lying a different way, and have you ever seen him tilt his head back or prop his chin and/or feet on things? Does he ever sit with his mouth slightly open, so you can see his teeth?

When you say his sneeze attacks 'seem to really bother him', what do you mean by this?

I only know the bare minimum about snuffles but would agree with blue_vix to have him tested for it, especially as you have had a bun with it previously. If nothing else it will rule it out.

Also, what's your wee man's name? I feel really bad just writing 'he' all the time :lol:
 
The rabbits name is Dunder. The vet has a good knowledge about rabbits. He also mentioned tumors as a possible cause. Anyway if he doesn't get better the vet suggested a tomography to see what's going on in his nose, before starting any treatments, which I think sounds good. From what I can gather even if the rabbit tests positive for pastruella you can't be sure if that is what's causing the problem, since a big part of the rabbit population is carrying the bacteria, some without being sick. (Although I'm not saying it wouldn't be a good idea to test him for it).

He doesn't have any other symptoms, other than sneezing. I think it sometimes bothers him since he doesn't like me handling him when he's sneezing, but I guess that may be a normal reaction...

Thanks for the link blue_vix, I've read it.
 
The rabbits name is Dunder. The vet has a good knowledge about rabbits. He also mentioned tumors as a possible cause. Anyway if he doesn't get better the vet suggested a tomography to see what's going on in his nose, before starting any treatments, which I think sounds good. From what I can gather even if the rabbit tests positive for pastruella you can't be sure if that is what's causing the problem, since a big part of the rabbit population is carrying the bacteria, some without being sick. (Although I'm not saying it wouldn't be a good idea to test him for it).

He doesn't have any other symptoms, other than sneezing. I think it sometimes bothers him since he doesn't like me handling him when he's sneezing, but I guess that may be a normal reaction...

Thanks for the link blue_vix, I've read it.

Sorry for late reply but I haven't had internet. I'm glad to hear your vet is rabbit savvy. The reason for the questions was because I wondered if your vet had considered Dunder's heart. There have been at least two heart bunnies on here whose problems started with a cough/sneeze and no other symptoms. Mine was not diagnosed until it had progressed, but with hindsight she did sneeze quite a bit. My vet is great with rabbits but he had never heard of it before - it's not commonly diagnosed in rabbits.

Rex rabbits seem to be more susceptible to it hence my concern. It's a suspected breed fault.

The tumors may be your vet thinking about a thymoma, which is a tumour on the thymus in the chest. It was the other thing suggested to me as a possible cause for Oidhche's symptoms.
 
Sorry for late reply but I haven't had internet. I'm glad to hear your vet is rabbit savvy. The reason for the questions was because I wondered if your vet had considered Dunder's heart. There have been at least two heart bunnies on here whose problems started with a cough/sneeze and no other symptoms. Mine was not diagnosed until it had progressed, but with hindsight she did sneeze quite a bit. My vet is great with rabbits but he had never heard of it before - it's not commonly diagnosed in rabbits.

Rex rabbits seem to be more susceptible to it hence my concern. It's a suspected breed fault.

The tumors may be your vet thinking about a thymoma, which is a tumour on the thymus in the chest. It was the other thing suggested to me as a possible cause for Oidhche's symptoms.

Yes, one was my dennis :(.

No other symptoms bar sneezing fits and coughing.

I agree, I would not put him outside under any costs.
 
Yes, one was my dennis :(.

No other symptoms bar sneezing fits and coughing.

I agree, I would not put him outside under any costs.

Yes, Dennis was one of the ones I was thinking about. The other was Donna's Pearl, who started with the same symptom.

It might be helpful for you to read through Dennis' thread and the inside linked threads and see if anything jumps out at you. I think there is a video of Fionn sneezing as well as of Dennis which may be useful. (Hope you don't mind the re-post Lea-Anne.)

I'm also going to link this thread which is a short video of my Oidhche, who had an enlarged heart. I'm posting it to draw attention to the posture - head stretched up, chest out, sometimes the paws will rest on things as well. Fionn sat the same way I think. I'm not sure if Lea-Anne had the same symptom with Dennis. Another poster called Jack's Jane had Hucklebunny Finn who sat the same way, she had a very good picture of it. These are all bunnies who were in more advanced stages of heart failure though, and as such had more severe symptoms. To begin with Oidhche just sat in slightly different positions and didn't flop out as much, I assume because it would have increased the effort to breathe.

All four of the above mentioned rabbits are Rexes.
 
Yes, Dennis was one of the ones I was thinking about. The other was Donna's Pearl, who started with the same symptom.

It might be helpful for you to read through Dennis' thread and the inside linked threads and see if anything jumps out at you. I think there is a video of Fionn sneezing as well as of Dennis which may be useful. (Hope you don't mind the re-post Lea-Anne.)

I'm also going to link this thread which is a short video of my Oidhche, who had an enlarged heart. I'm posting it to draw attention to the posture - head stretched up, chest out, sometimes the paws will rest on things as well. Fionn sat the same way I think. I'm not sure if Lea-Anne had the same symptom with Dennis. Another poster called Jack's Jane had Hucklebunny Finn who sat the same way, she had a very good picture of it. These are all bunnies who were in more advanced stages of heart failure though, and as such had more severe symptoms. To begin with Oidhche just sat in slightly different positions and didn't flop out as much, I assume because it would have increased the effort to breathe.

All four of the above mentioned rabbits are Rexes.

Of course not Hun! Thankyou you have saved me time searching for it and it probably would've upset me :oops::(
O
 
Of course not Hun! Thankyou you have saved me time searching for it and it probably would've upset me :oops::(
O

No problem, I didn't think you would mind. Hope I didn't upset you too much by bringing it up again. :( It gave me a legit excuse to go looking for pictures of him. There is a photo of him in someone's arms I particularly love. And there was a thread I liked about him being at the vets and trying to hide...said something like 'being well known by the vet and bright orange doesn't help'. Always used to make me laugh.

I totally love your wee man :love: Orange bunneh at the Bridge.

I'll stop derailing thread now. :oops:
 
No problem, I didn't think you would mind. Hope I didn't upset you too much by bringing it up again. :( It gave me a legit excuse to go looking for pictures of him. There is a photo of him in someone's arms I particularly love. And there was a thread I liked about him being at the vets and trying to hide...said something like 'being well known by the vet and bright orange doesn't help'. Always used to make me laugh.

I totally love your wee man :love: Orange bunneh at the Bridge.

I'll stop derailing thread now. :oops:

Aww what a lovely thing to say, thank you so much :love::love::love:

I think because we fought so long and hard for him only to have him suddenly go like that was so painful, even now I just can't face even looking at his picture without welling up :cry: It's funny because he was such a fiesty, nippy, moody little bleep - hubby adored him and I always said I didn't like him much but I think I cried more over him than others I've had for years and years.
 
I'm sorry for this late reply, I haven't been on here for a while. Just wanted to say thank you for you're help. I haven't seen Dunder breathing through his mouth thankfully, but he still sneezes from time to time. He seems to sneeze more when it's dusty. I am going to call the vet again tomorrow and try to schedule a new appointment. It would be nice to know what's causing his sneezes so I can take some kind of action and do something about it.

I appreciate you putting up links to videos of your own rabbits I know it must be distressing for you to watch them.
 
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