Advice to Snuffles rabbits

I noticed there are a lot of people on here with Snuffle related symptoms in their rabbits so I thought I might share what I've learned form research I've done. I had a 8 week old Cashmere lop that started sneezing with white mucus (pus coming out of nose) he was feverish. Took him to the vet and the vet put him on tetracyclin- in three days he improved but a week later he started sneezing again. So tetracyclin didn't not work. Took him to a rabbit specialist and she gave him Azithromycin/Zithromax. This worked! He stopped sneezing 4 days after treatment however Vet told me to continue treating for 8 weeks to make sure. He hasn't had any snuffles symptoms for over a year now. During this time I did lots of research on snuffles and found many forums- what I learned from my reading was that Baytril never works for anyone, so if your vet prescribes Baytril its a waste of your time. Injectable Penicillin sometimes works, Zithromax seems to work for a lot of rabbits and another drug called Convenia has been used to some success. A year after my first rabbit with Snuffles got better I adopted another rabbit with a squeaky nose-- she wasn't sneezing but I could always hear a squeaky sound in her nose- but after had her for for about 6 months it started getting worse and I saw some white snot so went to a vet - the vet didn't want to treat it because he couldn't see any white snot and he said symtoms weren't bad enough for antibiotics- so wasted $50 dollars on that vet visit. I kept seeing white snot in the squeaky nose rabbit so finally decided to drive way out of town to specialist vet- she gave me Zithromax again and squeaky nose and white snot disappeared and has not come back. So my advise to all the rabbit people out there is try Zithromax. If your Vet won't prescribe it then print out this MedRabbit article -- at the bottom is lists Zithromax (along with other drugs) as being a treatment for rabbits, so they can't say its not a drug for use in rabbits. http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm

Interesting. Thank you. My Mottle was given ... baytril ... hmm.

Wallace was put on Marbocyl and Duphapen for pasteurella infection in his lungs.

We discussed putting him on Zithromax, but decided only to use it as a last resort if the Marbocyl didn't work as it can have some nasty side effects. I know many have used Zithromax with no problem and have had good results, but you do need to weigh up the risk of possible side effects.

Baytril worked for Thor :wave:

Well over a year later and no recurrences!

Hi Max1,
Thanks for this. I will be taking it with me to my vet.
My rabbit has had Baytril, Ronaxin and now is on Septrin and nothing is working. He has no mucus or discharge but is sneezing his head off. The next step is an x-ray which will be £160 so if we can try this and it works I will be happy!

I had a bad experience with Zithromax, Pansy was in a lot of pain and stopped eating after taking it. Depocillin seemed to work for Pansy. Baytril does work for some buns too. I don't think you can say this works and this doesn't as it totally depends on the bacteria involved but my vet would start with depocillin (injectable)

Unfortunately there is no treatment that will suit every bun.

Baytril worked along time for us when nothing else would - and we tried alot of drugs. We found it was most effective if we nebulised it rather than administering orally. Note if anyone asks their vet about this you need the injectable form for the nebuliser as the oral form just foams like crazy!

It's true there are lots of different bacteria that cause respiratory infections and if your rabbit has snuffles symtoms it may not even be caused by Pastuerellla- it may be another bacteria like staphylococcus causing the infection which might respond to Baytril. But I have been finding a lot of information on the internet suggesting Baytril is being phased out because strains of bacteria have become resistant to it- I've read that it is being phased out for use on dogs and that it only fights surface Bacteria and is not good for deep tissue infections.

Here are some quotes from "Randy" who is an expert and runs a wildlife rehab and works with a Veterinarian who specialized in Rabbits and treats lots of rabbits with infections. He used to be one of the moderators on Rabbits online. You can read the quotes and judge for yourselves- but I think he sounds like he knows what he is talking about.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f27/anyone-who-has-had-rabbit-pasteurella-49458/
"Most strains of Pasteurella are sensitive to penicillin and cephalosporins...but few vets know how to properly use these drugs. They are safe only as injectables. Most vets continue to use old Sulfa drugs (Bactrim, Septra, Sulfatrim, Trimethoprim, etc.) and early floroquinolones (Cipro and Baytril) but they are increasingly ineffective in today's world due to resistance. I have used a new floroquinolone (Zeniquin/Marbofloxacin) successfully. My current drug of choice against Pasteurella is Azithromycin (Zithromax). Regardless of the pathogen and/or drug used....in order to reduce the chance of resistant bacteria in the future, it is important for your doctor to clinically identify the pathogen and prescribe an appropriate drug and it's your responsibility to administer any drugs exactly as prescribed both in amount and duration. The trend in human medicine is to limit antibiotics to only more complex infections (and that should be trickling down to veterianry medicine) in an effort to limit future resistance issues.

Randy"

and here is another quote from Randy about treating Abscesses which I also think is valuable information
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f27/abcesses-41860/
"Hi,
A true abscess is sometimes very challenging to resolve. As recently as a few years ago, most rabbits with a true abscess didn't survive thru both pain, infection, a combination of both or inadequate medical response. Then there was a procedure, that has since been pretty much abandoned by all the top doctors, that surgically implanted antibiotic laced beads directly into the abscess. Good idea on paper that was usually unsuccessful. Very painful and expensive. Many of the early beads contained an antibiotic known as Clindamycin....and if that drug ever gets to the GI....the fat lady sings because it is usually over as this drug absolutely devastates all the beneficial bacteria.

The first step in treating a true abscess is a proper diagnosis. An abscess will become "walled off" and will be encapsulated by a very thick wall of pus. The core will contain faculative and obligate anaerobic bacteria.....and that set up is very difficult to treat. There are some issues misdiagnosed (or maybe it would be more inaccurate terminology) asabscesses that are not true abscesses. A true abscess will not respond to drugs such as Baytril or Sulfa drugs (such as SMZ, Septrin, Septra, Bactrim, etc). True abscesses will have "tag along" bacteria that these drugs may be effective against the secondary infections but not the primary. Staph infections, which staph is the most common surface skin pathogen, is usually responsive to Sulfa drugs (noting that oral Sulfa has been linked to a serious GI issue called Tyzzer's Disease). We have also seen a bacteria called Peptostretococcus "free ride"on the surface ofan abscess (and this is usually sensitive to Doxycycline).

I have had perfect success in treating major abscessesusing a combination of Pen G (commonly called Bicillin and available under a variety ofbrand names in the US....not available in all countries with theUK being one of them). This drug contains a combination Procaine and Benzathine. In those countries this combo isn't available, the Procaine aspect usually is available and that results in a different dosing protocol as this is a short lived drug and is purged from the body quickly. I use it in conjunction withZithromax (again at one time a couple of years ago Zithromax was not available for vet use in the UK but I know it is being used now). This combo of drugs is capable of penetrating the encapsulation around the core....and the core is where the drugs need to be. And this drug combo is effective against nearly all the bacteria that can be found in the core of the abscess. I do not open an abscess.....not saying it is never appropriate since that would be determined by the location of the infecton and the involvement of surrounding tissues/bones.

The keys to treating an abscess are not much different than any other infection. Early detection, know what you are treating and what is effective against it and have a total support protocol in place. Radiographs are always useful to detect any collateral involvement of other tisses or bones (especially with jaw abscesses). And remember that these abscesses are very painful so aggressive pain management should be in place. And as you already know, have a plan in place and stick with it."

Randy

My rabbit is 2 years old and has had snuffles since Dec. He has been to 2 different Veterinarians and has been on 4 different antibiotics now I took him to AAA Pet Services Clinic & Mobile unit, a vet that specializes in rabbit care. Now my bunny eats really well and is very energetic seeing . But I am very scared as my vet told me that snuffles can not be cured in rabbits, antibiotics only cover up the symptom's for a while. Is it true?? What should I do now?

Evie had snuffles when we got her, she made little noises, sneezed and produced white discharge. The vet prescribed septrin but this actually led her to having a funny tummy and diarrhoea. So we discontinued the septrin and instead opted for herbal remedies. We started to sprinkle red raspberry leaf on her food and gave her some hay tablets that boost the immune system and put vitamin drops and echinecea in her water. She still sometimes has discharge but the combined herbal remedies seem to help