Rufus Bartholomew - kidney problem - input welcome

Our house rabbit, has for a week or two had small crusty deposits around the top part of his nose.

No sneezing, no eyes weeping, been happy in him self etc. Im worried it is snuffles but my OH says not.

Is this just the start of snuffles and should I nip it in the bud or is it just a cold ( if rabbits get such things )

Any help welcome

Rabbits do not get 'colds' as we do.

Crusts on the nose may or may not be dried mucous, impossible to say without being able to see it. If it is not dried mucous it may be Treponematosis (Rabbit Syphillis). Aswell as via mating Treponematosis can be contracted at birth from the Doe and then remain dormant. It can then flare up if the affected Rabbit is either stressed or not quite 100% well in some way. Of course if the crusts actually cover nodules/lumps then Myxomatosis is another thing to consider.

An examination by a Vet is definitely needed

Good luck

Hi.

Thanks for the input.

Gonna get him booked in early next week. When I say crusty deposits, it's more like a very small amount of dried/matted hair. At first I thought it was a stray bit of hay until I had a closer look.

As for saying he isn't sneezing. I got in from work and he sneezed three times at me!!

Crusty deposits to one side, he wasn't himself when I got in from work hadn't touched his food so we booked him in and took to our local vet. Checked him all over and concluded that his kidneys were giving him pain etc. Every time they were touched he really struggled and was in pain.

They kept him in over night and monitored him, gave him pain killers etc. Took a urine sample and have said it could be EC, kidney stones etc

So we picked him up this evening with a very long list of meds to administer and to report back depending on how he is in the morning. The meds are as follows baytril 8am and 8pm, tramadol 6 am and 6 pm, panacur daily, emeprid upto 4 times if he isn't eating, firbreplex three times daily and avipro if he's stressed.

Got him home and put banana, hay, pellet, pak choi and water in front of him and waited, he polished off the pak choi and some banana and nibbled at the hay. He's had his tramadol and baytril and is loafing.

Vet has said tonight is critical and if he doesn't feed then his gut etc will slow up and to get him back tomorrow.

Apart from getting all this off my chest and asking for vibes please what else can I do to help him ?

Should I force feed mashed pellet?

Sorry your bun isn't well personally I would give him more of whatever he has eaten - as long as he keeps eating something, that's the main thing. Does he like herbs? Mine always go for parsley if they're poorly. I hope he improves soon x

Is he urinating?

From my own experience with a kidney-compromised bun I would say that an x-ray is essential to find out what the exact problem is. True the treatment to get him through this stasis episode is very important, if it does turn out to be kidney stones then he will need ongoing care for it so the sooner a diagnosis is reached the sooner action can be taken. He wouldn't need a GA for this x-ray. This is what I'd be wanting to happen if he doesn't pick up quickly.

The reason I ask if he is urinating was from my experience with Artie who developed kidney stones and one moved from the kidney and got lodged in the tube on the way to the bladder, blocking the urine from exiting. It could of course be that EC is the primary problem and kidney stones be secondary but could only be determined by tests/x-rays. I don't have experience to say if there is any other reason for kidney pain, so can't comment there. It isn't the end of the world if it is kidney stones, Tramadol may be enough to help but even in Artie's predicament they managed to remove the affected kidney and return him to good health.

Hope it's nothing too serious and that he recovers well.

Edit to add: When Artie was admitted overnight with known kidney stones they gave him Tramadol so that sounds like a good choice for the circumstances.

Thank you for all the good wishes,

I stayed up most of the night with him and he was eating his hay but hasn't been for a any poos yet or urine.

As Im at work all day I dropped him back into my vets who for a small fee will feed him regularly and look after him today and hopefully get his gut moving.

He certainly seems brighter but my worry is if this is an on-going kidney issue and its already been spotted any insurance company isn't going to touch him for this preexisting problem and is going to be expensive going forward.

The vet said this morning it may just be a infection thats now flushed through but time will tell.

Rufusb, I hope that your bunny is feeling better very soon. Sending your bunny loads of get well wishes.xxxx

Hopefully with the medication and ongoing nursing care he will recover well xx

Got him home last night and the nurse said he'd be eating a bit and has poo'd the most since he went in.

About 20 in total, got him home and settled him in and again he was bright, pood'd abit more but not as many as he would normally, fairly good looking jobbies too.

Made the decision to leave him at home today, gave him his baytril, tramadol, fibreplex and epetrid and put him in his cage niext to our other rabbit which will hopefully spur him on too.

Its a bit sink or swim I guess as I cant rely on the vet to feed him over the weekend due to cost so see how he is today, as long as his poo's continue and hes eating etc hopefully we are on the right track

Rufusb said:

Got him home last night and the nurse said he'd be eating a bit and has poo'd the most since he went in.

About 20 in total, got him home and settled him in and again he was bright, pood'd abit more but not as many as he would normally, fairly good looking jobbies too.

Made the decision to leave him at home today, gave him his baytril, tramadol, fibreplex and epetrid and put him in his cage niext to our other rabbit which will hopefully spur him on too.

Its a bit sink or swim I guess as I cant rely on the vet to feed him over the weekend due to cost so see how he is today, as long as his poo's continue and hes eating etc hopefully we are on the right track

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Excellent news.:thumb: