Wallace..being treated for Pasteurella infection in lungs. Now on Marbocyl

We are going to the vets, but just wondered if this sounds like Thymoma.

This is what I am seeing:

Nose in air, teeth showing with small gap in mouth so I assume this is mouth breathing. The mouth is not open very wide, just a small gap.

'Gagging' is the only way I can describe the next bit. He has his nose in the air and then ducks down and sort of gags/heaves a couple of times, then chomps like he's chewing. I know rabbits can't be sick, but can they still do the heaving bit like they are trying to bring something back up? I've been watching him chew the pellets and he does seem to chew them well. The problem doesn't start straight away, but after about 4-6 pellets, almost like there is a backlog building up.

This has now happened a couple of times. Each time it is after eating something hard (Fenugreek crunchie, pellets). He doesn't do it with veg or hay.

After the 'episode' he settles down and is fine.

He's not one of my own rabbits, but I am currently responsible for him.

The first symptom of a Thymoma I have seen is bulging eyes when the Rabbit is stressed. As the mass grows this can lead to increased respiratory rate/effort. I have not witness any dysphagia but I guess it is a possibility.

It sounds as though the Rabbit you are referring to here may have some sort of mass in his throat/chest

I suspect a chest Xray and possibly an endoscopy may be needed.

Thanks Jane.

Will let you know how we get on at the vets.

Tracy said:

Thanks Jane.

Will let you know how we get on at the vets.

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Lots of vibes being sent for Bunny xx

My bunny first symptoms were bulging eyes when he put his head down to eat.

Your vet can also do the "wheel barrow" test and if the buns eyes bulge while this is done it is very likely to be thymoma. My bun had a conscious x-ray and a mass was confirmed.

Good luck at the vets (I hope it is not thymoma and is treatable x)

We had a rabbit like this and we tried all sorts of diagnostics and meds, nothing work sadly. We had a PM done and her heart and chest were clear so we could only come to the conclusion that it was some kind of brain tumour/ lesion that affected her breathing as her main body was in perfect health

I hope you get some answers xx

Thanks Bunnybabe & Liz.

He has an appointment at 3.45 today.

we have always found choking type episodes to be either heart related or neurological. Whatever the cause it is very distressing for all involved

Good luck to you both xx

I am back, but he's been kept in and will be xrayed this evening when my vet has finished her consultations. This will give him a couple of hours to settle down before the GA.

He was mouth breathing by the time I got him to the vets, so stress from the car journey makes it worse.

She said his breathing sounded very noisy inside and this makes her think that a tumour possibly isn't the problem as she wouldn't normally expect so much noise, but we won't know for sure until we see the xrays. She said his URT sounded OK, the noise is further down in his lungs. She couldn't hear his heart because the noise from his lungs was so bad. She tried to feel his heartbeat, but that didn't work either as he was breathing so rapidly. When I described his symptoms her first thought was heart disease, but infection or fluid around the lungs is another possibility. I just have to wait and worry now.

This bunny is Wallace my foster who has been with me since April. The poor lad has had a hard time. He narrowly escaped being 'necked' as he didn't meet the mark for being a show rabbit, he was rescued by Celia at Kirkby. He then went in for a routine castration and was butchered by a vet who we later found out had never done a castration before (I took this forward as a formal complaint, but a good cover up job meant she got away with it), he ended up so infected that he had to have emergency surgery at my vets and he has been with me ever since. I cannot believe that the poor lad has yet another setback. Any vibes for this brave boy will be much appreciated.

That sounds a LOT like my Badger- he had something wrong with his soft pallet, so his food wasn't going the right way when swallowed- but that was based on best guess at the time due to the 'specialist'. My specialist now would do oscopies and suchlike to find out for sure.

I hope bunny can be helped.

Oh gosh, so much for him to cope with

I hope he copes well with the x-rays, that they give you the answers you need ad that there is a good treatment for him x

Poor lad

Sending vibes for him xx

Sending some vibes for Wallace, I hope it is treatable x

I really hope he is ok xx

Poor Wallace Hope you get some good news soon. Sending lots of vibes xx

Hi, I just wanted to tell you about my Digby. He used to regularly have episodes like you describe, like trying to be sick. He also had some discharge from his nose and eyes. It turned out to be the roots of his incisors are the wrong shape, and pushing into his nasal cavity. He is on daily metacam now and hasn't had an episode for many months! I hope your bunny can be helped just as easily :wave: x

Wallace has had the xrays and is recovering well from the GA.

His xrays are very odd. Three of the vets have looked at them and none of them have seen rabbit chest xrays like his. There's nothing obviously wrong as in they can't see any tumours, there's no fluid build up etc. We spoke on the phone so it was quite difficult for me to understand without actually seeing the xrays, but she says that his chest cavity is unusually large for a rabbit and so are his lungs, she likened it to the xrays of the chest of a cat with asthma. His lungs seem large and 'stretched'. The xrays have been emailed to a specialist as she wants a second opinion as to what might be going on inside him. As it's getting late, it will probably be tomorrow morning before we hear back from the specialist.

Wallace is going to stay in hospital until we hear from the specialist as to what might be going on. It's the best place for him at the moment, given the nature of his problems. If he goes into respiratory distress then there will be little I can do at home and my vet is 20 minutes drive away, at least if he stays there they can get him straight onto oxygen. They do their own 24 hour hospital care, so he'll be monitored constantly throughout the night.

What a worry.

Ooh goodness how strange, poor little man

I hope the specialist can shed some light on it and wallace has a comfortable night x

ripminnie said:

Hi, I just wanted to tell you about my Digby. He used to regularly have episodes like you describe, like trying to be sick. He also had some discharge from his nose and eyes. It turned out to be the roots of his incisors are the wrong shape, and pushing into his nasal cavity. He is on daily metacam now and hasn't had an episode for many months! I hope your bunny can be helped just as easily :wave: x

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I'm glad Digby is doing OK now. Wallace doesn't have any discharge at all, everything is completely clean and dry around his nose and eyes, but the gagging is just like you describe, like he is trying to be sick.

Bit of a longshot but could it be lungworm ?