Snuffles following spay

myownconga · Feb 28, 2014

Hi. We have five buns, one of whom, a nethie has been sneezing sometimes in quite violent fits for some months. The vet put it down to rhinitis and basically that was that.
I bought a vapouriser which I add a little olbas oil to which seems to help a bit.
However. We got our only girl, Ava spayed last week. It was a stressful experience made worse by the fact that they wouldn't send any pain relief home, even when I specifically asked. Sure enough the poor thing was in agony and refused to eat so I took her back for a jab of Metacam. Over the next 24 hours she picked up, but on the Friday (after being spayed on Tuesday) she started sniffing, followed by sneezing on Saturday. I took her for her checkup on Monday and saw the nurse / the vet, in her words had wandered off. She rang the following day to say she'd spoken to him and he said as long as she was active and eating it was fine to bring her Thursday when she was in to have her stitches out. As it happened by the time we got to the vets the devil had made a clean job of fetching them out, herself :-/
He had a look anyway and conceded she was low from surgery so immunity would be low, the other bun sneezes therefore he'll take a look at him (this evening). Meanwhile, a shot of Baytril for Ava and some to bring home. Get this - 2 1/2 days' worth!
Now, this guy is a highly reputable vet and supposedly rabbit savvy. But to me everything seems to be going entirely against everything I've researched.
I've had probably the most stressful week of my life with this as we had the dog spayed too, though thankfully she's come through fine.
Ava is back in with her mate, Ford, eating well and bright enough. Sheldon, the nethie is also eating fine and cheeky as ever - it's just the sneezing and very occasional mainly clear discharge, though Shelley nearly always has a slightly wet nose. But of course, every time one of the other buns sniffs or sneezes which of course they do, I go into paranoia meltdown.

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yaretzi · Feb 28, 2014

myownconga said:
Hi. We have five buns, one of whom, a nethie has been sneezing sometimes in quite violent fits for some months. The vet put it down to rhinitis and basically that was that.
I bought a vapouriser which I add a little olbas oil to which seems to help a bit.
However. We got our only girl, Ava spayed last week. It was a stressful experience made worse by the fact that they wouldn't send any pain relief home, even when I specifically asked. Sure enough the poor thing was in agony and refused to eat so I took her back for a jab of Metacam. Over the next 24 hours she picked up, but on the Friday (after being spayed on Tuesday) she started sniffing, followed by sneezing on Saturday. I took her for her checkup on Monday and saw the nurse / the vet, in her words had wandered off. She rang the following day to say she'd spoken to him and he said as long as she was active and eating it was fine to bring her Thursday when she was in to have her stitches out. As it happened by the time we got to the vets the devil had made a clean job of fetching them out, herself :-/
He had a look anyway and conceded she was low from surgery so immunity would be low, the other bun sneezes therefore he'll take a look at him (this evening). Meanwhile, a shot of Baytril for Ava and some to bring home. Get this - 2 1/2 days' worth!
Now, this guy is a highly reputable vet and supposedly rabbit savvy. But to me everything seems to be going entirely against everything I've researched.
I've had probably the most stressful week of my life with this as we had the dog spayed too, though thankfully she's come through fine.
Ava is back in with her mate, Ford, eating well and bright enough. Sheldon, the nethie is also eating fine and cheeky as ever - it's just the sneezing and very occasional mainly clear discharge, though Shelley nearly always has a slightly wet nose. But of course, every time one of the other buns sniffs or sneezes which of course they do, I go into paranoia meltdown.

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You're right, she should have been provided with pain relief and it's very disappointing that your vet didn't provide it even though you asked

You're right as well... 2 and a half days worth of baytril is not enough for any infection.

Whereabouts are you located? If you make a thread in rabbit chat asking for a rabbit savvy vet in your area, others may be able to advise of vets that they know to be good. Otherwise it may be good to search around for exotic specialist vets - they will have a lot more training on rabbits than non exotic specialist vets. How disappointing for you to have a vet who you believed in but who doesn't seem to know much about rabbits at all.

Sorry this reply isn't much help, I just wanted to reassure you that you are right in what you're thinking... and mostly to bump this up for you above the spam that's taking over the health section, so that someone more knowledgeable might be able to give you some advice

myownconga · Feb 28, 2014

Thanks for replying

I will do as you say. This was my first post as I've only just found this board and it seems far more helpful than some I've looked at. I've been browsing through the archives

I'm in Rugeley in Staffordshire, by the way

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yaretzi · Feb 28, 2014

myownconga said:
Thanks for replying I will do as you say. This was my first post as I've only just found this board and it seems far more helpful than some I've looked at. I've been browsing through the archives
I'm in Rugeley in Staffordshire, by the way

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This forum is great for advice and support on health issues

There's so many people on here with an absolute wealth of experience. Before I came on here I really did feel very alone in worrying about my own bunnies health issues... I felt like a crazy bunny woman trying to explain to the vet how they need painkillers! Once I came on here I quickly understood how rubbish some vets are with rabbits, and was able to find a good bunny vet nearby which has made everything a million times easier.

It may be a little far for you but Marie Kubiak is my current vet and is very well thought of in the rabbit veterinary community. She works at the Edgbaston branch of Manor Vets, which looks to be about 45 mins from you in Rugeley. I've also been seeing Stephanie at the same practice when Marie is not available and she's great too. If you're able to travel that far I'd highly recommend her and the entire practice. I know some vets at the practice travel to other branches. This is their website: http://www.manorvets.co.uk/ I've not long been using Marie/Stephanie and Manor Vets but they've all been absolutely fantastic with my bunny Nena's jaw abscess, and performed a highly intricate surgery on her. I've been travelling between 30-60 minutes to good rabbit vets for about a year and whilst the petrol and travel does mount up, the fact that you know your bunny is being properly looked after makes up for it. They're generally excellent at understanding how far you have to travel and always provide enough medication to last you, etc. They also tend to allow you to inject at home if necessary etc, to minimise vet visits. On average throughout Nena's entire ordeal I think I visit the vet once a week which isn't too bad.

myownconga · Feb 28, 2014

I'll bear that in mind. I've had one in wolverhampton recommended to me by Stafford animal welfare but I'll still look a bit closer first.
To update. Vet examined Sheldon and is convinced it's allergies with him. He says he can't see him getting worse and to medicate would require steroids which he says is not a route I'd want to go down.
I was wrong about Ava's antibiotics, it's five days' worth. The label on the bottle was misleading. Still not a long enough course if it's snuffles but he says he's sure it's actually stress from the surgery. She's been pretty good tonight but I said I'd take her back if she didn't make a full recovery in that time

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yaretzi · Feb 28, 2014

myownconga said:
I'll bear that in mind. I've had one in wolverhampton recommended to me by Stafford animal welfare but I'll still look a bit closer first.
To update. Vet examined Sheldon and is convinced it's allergies with him. He says he can't see him getting worse and to medicate would require steroids which he says is not a route I'd want to go down.
I was wrong about Ava's antibiotics, it's five days' worth. The label on the bottle was misleading. Still not a long enough course if it's snuffles but he says he's sure it's actually stress from the surgery. She's been pretty good tonight but I said I'd take her back if she didn't make a full recovery in that time

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That's interesting about the allergy idea. Did she mention what he might be allergic to? I know there are certain companies that make dust free hay so that might be helpful if the dust is making things worse: http://www.dustfreehay.co.uk/. Buying a bale of hay might also be an idea too as I've found it's much less dusty than bagged hays... all the dusty bits just get blown away instead of settling at the bottom of a plastic bag.

What sort of bedding/substrate do you have them on, if any? Is it perhaps sawdust? It'd be an idea to change to something else, as the phenols that're released when the sawdust is weed on can cause respiratory problems. Good substitutes include megazorb and fitch horse beddings, or there are plenty of other types too

Might be worth asking your vet if he thinks either of those might help

myownconga · Mar 1, 2014

Well initially that was what we put it down to also. I've tried various different hays and litters. They don't have bedding as such as the eldest hates it and the others have been brought up to follow suit. they all have blankets to cuddle up on but litter wise I've tried all sorts of wood and paper based litters but nothing seems to make much difference. I want to try megazorb but think I'm going to have to order some in as I can't find anywhere locally that stocks it.

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