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Sneeze when laying down? UD22/6 Getting better!

S

Snooba

Warren Scout
Hello there :)

I have a small mystery that needs solving. Billy has been sneezing for a month, maybe a bit more now...however, the sneeze itself is very peculiar.
He lets out ONE sneeze when he lays down to rest or sleep. He doesn't sneeze while doing any other activity, running or eating, etc.

Took him to the vet, and of course, he didn't sneeze there. Vet says she can't hear anything in his lungs, and to be sure she gave us a run of Azithromicin for him.

I am not sure if it helped or not, honestly, I thought his sneezes had stopped, but today I am hearing them again, following the same pattern, one single sneeze when laying down.

No discharge (sometimes his nose is wet, but that is normal for him, as he has always been a wet nose bun). His breathing is slow and calm, and nothing can be heard from his nose, no wheezing or anything. Still eating and pooping normally.

Not sure what to make of this honestly, so ideas are welcome :)
 
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Hi Jane :)

Dry. I've tried rushing after each sneeze to touch his nose, and it's just the usual humidity.
It can be compared to blowing his nose I guess. Also he doesn't do this sneeze all the time, but 60% of the time.
 
My Chatlotte does this sometimes when she flops out, almost like a comfortable sigh that turns into a dry sneeze :?
 
Gemmapookie said:
My Chatlotte does this sometimes when she flops out, almost like a comfortable sigh that turns into a dry sneeze :?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess this would be a good description for it. I vacuum everything daily...dust is unlikely (no wood shavings or anything). The biggest issue I find is not knowing what to think of this. :?
 
Well, it has now turned into a cough. He is booked for tomorrow Monday. He has also started doing some air chewing while moving his head to the left, like a twitch.
Everything would make it look like a dental, yet he hasn't shown any other symptoms of dental pain. Still eats everything: hay, vegs and his pellets (which are quite hard). Poop is big brown and full of fiber. I've also run my fingers through his cheeks (pressing firmly) and he didn't care at all. So I doubt it's a spur (it could still be). If it isn't his pasteurella coming back for a revenge, it could be elongated roots.

I'll make sure to ask for new x-rays.

Maybe I am a bit paranoid...but maybe his head is slightly tilted? Or maybe this was a tilt leftover from a year and a half ago? I have no clue, but it's making me go crazy.
 
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Sigh, the mystery deepens...

Billy had his vet visit yesterday and X-rays done this morning. Teeth are super perfect. He is still eating, drinking, though he seems a bit down (probably due to the stress of the car rides, he hates them and arrives terrified).
Poop still happens and is all normal.

Yet he keeps sneezing and coughing. I am to continue another round of Zithromax, 10 days this time. It's not much, might be 5 coughs in a day, and about as many sneezes too.

My vet is thinking that aside from the abx, reinforcing his immune system would be good, so she gave me 40 doses (1 daily) of some stuff called "Sunshine Factor", which after googling it, seems to be a collection of vitamins, omega 3 and 5.

She also says since he is 2 years and a half old, his soft palate might be softening even more, causing him to choke, and do those coughs/sneezes.

He's breathing very slow and calm, no noise in the lungs, and the coughs don't seem to distress him at all.

Any input on this? Should I try something else?
 
OH BROTHER.

He didn't eat at all during the night, and was still feeling down. I called my vet, and told her about it. Also told her that he was fairly good before the car ridesm and when he came back, he ended up devastated.
This immediately sparked her light bulb, and she told me the two letters I didn't wanted to hear: E.C., which also explain the weird chewing tick in his face.

She sent me home with a bottle of abendazole (can't seem to find fenbendazole here for some reason), and to give him some metoclopramide as she suspects the not eating is caused due to dizziness. Lo and behold, after the metoclopramide, he is running around like mad, eating everything you give him.

She still told me to continue and finish the abx...just in case.

Poor baby :cry:
 
Jbun said:
I'm not sure about this, but from everything I've read, albendazole isn't the best med to be giving as an alternative to fenbendazole. It seems to cause some dangerous health issues.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/cuniculi/pyrimethamine.htm
http://www.gwexotics.com/wccms-resources/a/5/0/e/77554b90-a660-11e0-a685-0050568626ea.pdf
Click to expand...

I have read that myself too, can't find Fenbendazole here anywhere (I am not from the UK).
So abendazole is all we have to fight it =/

The vet didn't seem too worried about that though...
 
Well, things got really bad before they got better. Later in the afternoon two days ago I found Billy hunched up in the corner. I touched him and he was freezing :(
I put him inside my coat and I just hugged him for what like seemed an eternity. I heated up the house, and like 15 minutes later, he was walking around again. At night that same day, he was eating pooping and doing binkies again!

Yesterday and today he has been much brighter and spent the whole day eating, drinking and sleeping a bit. His poops are magnificent. His cough is gone too!

He is still air chewing and doing that weird left side twitch though, but it doesn't seem pain, he looks mostly annoyed by it. My vet says its probably his ear bothering him.
Also, I am having to keep him with metoclopramide 3 times a day, for his dizziness, which seems to be working wonders.

I have a question though. My vet gave me Abendazole for 15 days. I called her and told her that EVERYWHERE on the internet, they recommend 28 days. She told me that the whole 28 day thing is very relative. Some bunnies can get cured in a week, and others might need more than 18 days, so we are going to evaluate at day 15 if he needs more or we stop.

What do you guys make of this?
 
Sending lots of vibes for him. I've no experience of EC but as far as I know treatment is always 28 days for a bunny actually suffering from it.
 
Zoobec said:
Sending lots of vibes for him. I've no experience of EC but as far as I know treatment is always 28 days for a bunny actually suffering from it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the vibes :love:

He is doing better now. I had a long talk with my vet this morning. She told me the mouth chewing (which had drastically increased) was probably due to his ear bothering him, maybe even hurting him. I could hear him grinding his teeth from the other side of the room. Metacam didn't seem to be doing anything, so we switched him again to Ibuprofen, and now he is sleeping comfortably and without air chewing. He seems to be the only rabbit immune to Metacam's effects :roll:

He is still sneezing quite a bit (not in sneezing fits, thankfully). I have that sinking feeling that this is also mixed with a middle ear infection. :?
 
Snooba said:
Thanks for the vibes :love:

He is doing better now. I had a long talk with my vet this morning. She told me the mouth chewing (which had drastically increased) was probably due to his ear bothering him, maybe even hurting him. I could hear him grinding his teeth from the other side of the room. Metacam didn't seem to be doing anything, so we switched him again to Ibuprofen, and now he is sleeping comfortably and without air chewing. He seems to be the only rabbit immune to Metacam's effects :roll:

He is still sneezing quite a bit (not in sneezing fits, thankfully). I have that sinking feeling that this is also mixed with a middle ear infection. :?
Click to expand...

How much metacam was he getting? Grinding teeth is usually due to pain. I have never heard of ibuprofen being used in bunnies, but I'm not an expert in these things.
 
Vegan_Bunny said:
How much metacam was he getting? Grinding teeth is usually due to pain. I have never heard of ibuprofen being used in bunnies, but I'm not an expert in these things.
Click to expand...

He was getting 0.5mg/kg, which is almost twice the usual dose. Earlier this year, he was in severe pain due to a bloat (which repeated itself 2 more times, one after the other), and metacam didn't do anything (and he was getting a much higher dose then, almost on the limit, around 1.2mg/kg). The first time he had an ear infection (more than a year and a half ago), it was an inner year infection and he didn't feel any pain, so while I used metacam then (for the anti inflammatory part) I couldn't tell if the analgesic part was working or not.

While it is a safe drug for rabbits, it can also cause gastric irritation or ulceration, so you can't abuse it either. Metacam is much more tolerated, but it seems to do nothing for Billy.
Having suffered from horrible ear pain myself as a kid...I understand the poor thing, and I feel horribly guilty for not trying this before :cry:
 
Snooba said:
He was getting 0.5mg/kg, which is almost twice the usual dose. Earlier this year, he was in severe pain due to a bloat (which repeated itself 2 more times, one after the other), and metacam didn't do anything (and he was getting a much higher dose then, almost on the limit, around 1.2mg/kg). The first time he had an ear infection (more than a year and a half ago), it was an inner year infection and he didn't feel any pain, so while I used metacam then (for the anti inflammatory part) I couldn't tell if the analgesic part was working or not.

While it is a safe drug for rabbits, it can also cause gastric irritation or ulceration, so you can't abuse it either. Metacam is much more tolerated, but it seems to do nothing for Billy.
Having suffered from horrible ear pain myself as a kid...I understand the poor thing, and I feel horribly guilty for not trying this before :cry:
Click to expand...

I have no idea when it comes to mg, I work in mls. Fiver was getting 0.8mls of the dog strength metacam twice daily (so 1.6mls a day), this is the highest dose he could have and previously he'd been on 0.6mls twice a day, which only took the edge off. It won't work well if it's only being used once daily because it actually only lasts about 12 hours (the oral dose that is). If I was late giving Fiver his metacam, he'd start to show signs of pain only an hour after the 12hrs was up. Some people even split the dose and give it 3 times a day so that they are constantly "topped" up with it. Fortunately Fiver is no longer on that high a dose of metacam, but he does still gets it twice a day. (He has chronic arthritis in his lower spine).

I believe there are few cases of problems in rabbits resulting from long term use of metacam, although I don't think there has been much research done on it. Personally I'd feel better using metacam than ibuprofen, but that's only because I know nothing about the use of ibuprofen in rabbits. If it is working for you, then fingers crossed he will be ok. As for the sneezing issue, Fiver has always done that little sigh/sneezy thing when he lays down. I don't believe it's anything to worry about. :thumb:
 
Vegan_Bunny said:
I have no idea when it comes to mg, I work in mls. Fiver was getting 0.8mls of the dog strength metacam twice daily (so 1.6mls a day), this is the highest dose he could have and previously he'd been on 0.6mls twice a day, which only took the edge off. It won't work well if it's only being used once daily because it actually only lasts about 12 hours (the oral dose that is). If I was late giving Fiver his metacam, he'd start to show signs of pain only an hour after the 12hrs was up. Some people even split the dose and give it 3 times a day so that they are constantly "topped" up with it. Fortunately Fiver is no longer on that high a dose of metacam, but he does still gets it twice a day. (He has chronic arthritis in his lower spine).

I believe there are few cases of problems in rabbits resulting from long term use of metacam, although I don't think there has been much research done on it. Personally I'd feel better using metacam than ibuprofen, but that's only because I know nothing about the use of ibuprofen in rabbits. If it is working for you, then fingers crossed he will be ok. As for the sneezing issue, Fiver has always done that little sigh/sneezy thing when he lays down. I don't believe it's anything to worry about. :thumb:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the vibes :)

Sadly, I just found a very very small lump on the left side of Billy's jaw (not on the bottom, but on the side of it). I managed to convince my vet to come home instead of taking him, as Billy gets so stressed with car rides that in his condition, he might even die while in transit. The cough has returned and now he is even wheezing a bit after playing around.

My vet said she has a new abx (didn't say name over the phone, though she said "just came out") that kills pasteurella and pseudomonas, and needs to only be injected once every 15 days.
Given that he has a little jaw bump now, I am going to ask her about pen-g for it, since it has a track of eliminating dental abscesses while they are still small.
(after reading a bunch, IT COULD BE Convenia).

Poor Billy can't seem to catch a break :(
 
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Snooba said:
Thanks for the vibes :)

Sadly, I just found a very very small lump on the left side of Billy's jaw (not on the bottom, but on the side of it). I managed to convince my vet to come home instead of taking him, as Billy gets so stressed with car rides that in his condition, he might even die while in transit. The cough has returned and now he is even wheezing a bit after playing around.

My vet said she has a new abx (didn't say name over the phone, though she said "just came out") that kills pasteurella and pseudomonas, and needs to only be injected once every 15 days.
Given that he has a little jaw bump now, I am going to ask her about pen-g for it, since it has a track of eliminating dental abscesses while they are still small.
(after reading a bunch, IT COULD BE Convenia).

Poor Billy can't seem to catch a break :(
Click to expand...

Oh, I am sorry for that update. I do wonder if maybe the sneezing is to do with elongated tooth roots, especially since he has now got a suspected jaw abscess.

Sending many vibes his way. x
 
Vegan_Bunny said:
Oh, I am sorry for that update. I do wonder if maybe the sneezing is to do with elongated tooth roots, especially since he has now got a suspected jaw abscess.

Sending many vibes his way. x
Click to expand...

We did Xrays this past Tuesday, they didn't show anything wrong there, so I am guessing that if the lump is an infection, it's brand new. Everything points to a "simple" infection, but honestly...I don't know what to think anymore.
We'll see what the vet says of that lump tomorrow.

Thanks for the vibes :)
 
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