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Fast Breathing

lilbel

Warren Scout
Hi all, :wave:

Just wondered if I could pick your brains for a bit of advice.

My little Lilly seems to be breathing faster than normal and I'm not sure if that is right. She seems to breath twice as fast as Bella.
Lilly and Bella are now 3 and half years old so i don't know if age makes a difference - I would have thought their breathing would get slower if anything?

She is eating, drinking, pooping, peeing and playing fine so seems to be OK in general - In fact no different to her normal cheeky self.

When she is resting, the breathing slows a bit but she sort of rocks with her breathing if that makes sense?

I took her to the vets on Tuesday last week and my usual rabbit savvy vet wasn't there. The lady I saw said her heart and chest sounded fine but she did think her head sounded a bit stuffy? So she gave me some Baytrill to give Lilly twice a day. This ran out on Sunday. Lilly has shown no change and the vet said that if there is no change, to take her back in for chest x-rays (even though her chest sounds fine?) - but I am a bit worried about her being anesthetised if it is not necessary? :?

Have any of you experienced this and if so what do you think I should do? I know its a really difficult question to answer without seeing her but any advice you can give would be great?

Thank you so much for your help.
Sarah :)
 
Increased respiratory rate and effort is often indicative of a lung/heart problem. To try to find out whether the problem is infection or something else more diagnostics would be needed. The Vet may be able to do a conscious Xray, although the view obtained will be limited.

Is your Rabbit spayed ?
 
Hiya,


Thank you for your response Jacks-Jane.

Yes - they were both spayed as soon as they were old enough to be.

I might ask the vet about that type of x-ray in the morning then as she made it sound like they would always anesthetise to do an x-ray.
All of the documents and books I have read seem to say that rabbits breathing can vary - but it seems like Lilly's has got faster than usual.
The vet said it may have been snuffles which is what she was treated for.

Am I correct in thinking that if it was a respiratory infection/disease normally they lose their appetite, become lethargic and sneeze, etc? As Lilly hasn't shown any of these signs at all.
 
Hi!
A lot of rabbits start to breath a little faster as they get older, and that's normal. Just like an older human would get out of breath sooner than a younger one doing the same thing. I have an old rabbit, and his breathing rate has sped up a little since he was younger. He even does the rocking motion you described sometimes, and he's perfectly healthy. He's just ancient :)
Of course no matter how old she is, if you think she is still breathing too hard, you should get her checked out. Maybe get another rabbit-savvy vets opinion?
I'm not sure if a rabbits appetite would be affected or not with a lung infection, but sneezing and a runny nose are common symptoms for "snuffles" or an infection. There is probably less of a chance your rabbit has either of those illnesses if she doesn't have those symptoms, but there is still a chance. Is she wheezing at all?
 
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Hi Gbwms,

Thank you very much for your response.

The breathing quicker as she gets older does make sense when you put it into the concept of when adults get older. Thank you. :)

No - she is not wheezing at all and she doesn't seems to be struggling to breath or look uncomfortable at all. It was just the speed of breathing/rocking motion that got me a bit worried.

Apart from that she is no different at all and still scoots about the room, eats well, etc.

I'm feeling a little bit more at ease now, thank you. Although I will probably still see my rabbit savvy vet once she is back next week as I just want to be 100% sure. You never can be too careful with rabbits. :)

Thank you so much for your help and advice! I knew I could count on Rabbits United! :D
 
Jasmine was like this and eventually had an x- ray and they found that she had lung damage from a pasturella infection. She had a 7 week course of baytril and fruesimide and shes had steroid injections as they also think she has farmers lung. Sorry dont want to scare you and hope shes okay x
 
Thank you so much for your response ChristyRose.

It's Ok, I would rather know all I can.
I have booked an appointment with another rabbit saavy vet for Wednesday so hopefully I can get this sorted once and for all. :)

Fingers crossed it all goes ok. :)
 
Sometimes if they are relaxed and flat out they can breathe quicker as I have a few that breathe quicker when they are flat out and relaxed. They breathe normal though when they sit up or hop about. If you are noticing Lilly breathing faster than normal and all the time I think it's wise to do what you are doing and let the vet check her out :)
 
Good luck with the vet Wednesday

Just to add our experiences. We have had rabbits with increased respiratory rate when they are in pain, not necessarily related to a breathing problem x
 
Good idea to get it checked out, even if just to put your mind at rest. My French lop actually breathes a lot faster than my other smaller bunnies, and I thought he might be poorly, and so like you got him checked out, but he did turn out to be absolutely fine, and it was perfectly normal. My vet thought he was probably if anything a bit older than I originally thought, but he is a rescue bun, and it seems difficult to age bunnies accurately anyway. Hope it all goes well though, and like you say, you can never be too careful with our bunnies anyway.
 
Good luck with the vet Wednesday

Just to add our experiences. We have had rabbits with increased respiratory rate when they are in pain, not necessarily related to a breathing problem x

Me too. Rupert for one shows pain by breathing fast and sort of shaking a bit. If it's unusual it's best getting it checked so I hope all goes well on Wednesday.
 
Thank you all for your well wishes and advice. It is very much appreciated! :)

I hope she is OK. Fingers crossed! :)
 
Fingers crossed for you. If a chest x-ray shows nothing and there are no snotty symptoms I'd recommend getting an ultrasound if you can. My bun had a swollen heart which was pressing on his windpipe and causing symptoms similar to what you describe. It didn't show on the Xray and nothing came back on the (very expensive!) swabs they took.

Hope it's something easily fixable.
 
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