Nasal passage infection + teary eyes

My 3 year old male lop eared has been diagnosed with a nasal passage bacterial infection called pseudomonas. He's taking an antibiotic but the vet expects it will take months to work (if it does at all).

We're meant to be spending Christmas in my parents house where there's two other rabbits. They won't be in direct contact because they don't like each other but having him around their bedding, do I risk them getting the same infection?

Bumping this up for you.

evesuttle said:

My 3 year old male lop eared has been diagnosed with a nasal passage bacterial infection called pseudomonas. He's taking an antibiotic but the vet expects it will take months to work (if it does at all).

We're meant to be spending Christmas in my parents house where there's two other rabbits. They won't be in direct contact because they don't like each other but having him around their bedding, do I risk them getting the same infection?

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Hello Eve and welcome to the Forum :wave:

Did your vet take a deep nasal swab to come up with a definitive bacteria to treat?

Personally I feel there will be no real risk to the other two rabbits from the infection your rabbit has. Pseudomonas is most often spread by direct contact. Although it is possible to catch pseudomonas by inhaling the germ from the air, this is unusual. If either of the two rabbits he will be staying with have compromised immune systems and are not too healthy themselves, then I would consider making sure there's a solid barrier between them.

When you say he will be around their bedding, what do you mean? I am trying to picture the situation, more than feeling that there is a real risk of cross contamination.

evesuttle said:

My 3 year old male lop eared has been diagnosed with a nasal passage bacterial infection called pseudomonas. He's taking an antibiotic but the vet expects it will take months to work (if it does at all).

We're meant to be spending Christmas in my parents house where there's two other rabbits. They won't be in direct contact because they don't like each other but having him around their bedding, do I risk them getting the same infection?

Click to expand...

These may be useful to take a look at :

http://www.criver.com/files/pdfs/infectious-agents/rm_ld_r_pseudomonasaeruginosa.aspx

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Bacterial/Pseudomonas_Infection.htm

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Bacterial/Moist/Moist.htm

MightyMax said:

Hello Eve and welcome to the Forum :wave:

Did your vet take a deep nasal swab to come up with a definitive bacteria to treat?

Personally I feel there will be no real risk to the other two rabbits from the infection your rabbit has. Pseudomonas is most often spread by direct contact. Although it is possible to catch pseudomonas by inhaling the germ from the air, this is unusual. If either of the two rabbits he will be staying with have compromised immune systems and are not too healthy themselves, then I would consider making sure there's a solid barrier between them.

When you say he will be around their bedding, what do you mean? I am trying to picture the situation, more than feeling that there is a real risk of cross contamination.

Click to expand...

Thank you!

A nasal swab has been tested and has pseudomonas. The rabbits won't be in direct contact so I'm nolonger worried about that. Have you any experience with pseudomonas nasal infection? He's been on the only licensed antibiotic (and also the most likely to work according to the vet) orally, on the maximum dosage, for about a month now and there's no sign of improvement with the teary eyes yet.

Thank you

evesuttle said:

Thank you!

A nasal swab has been tested and has pseudomonas. The rabbits won't be in direct contact so I'm nolonger worried about that. Have you any experience with pseudomonas nasal infection? He's been on the only licensed antibiotic (and also the most likely to work according to the vet) orally, on the maximum dosage, for about a month now and there's no sign of improvement with the teary eyes yet.

Thank you

Click to expand...

I have had a rabbit with a pseudomonas infection, but not in the nasal passages. Pseudomonas is a gram negative bacteria, and as such is sensitive to certain antibiotics only - enroflaxacin (Baytril) being one of them, which I presume he's already on?

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Respiratory/Bacterial/URI.htm

http://rabbit.org/advances-in-rabbit-care-in-the-past-twenty-years/

Rabbits with chronic bacterial sinusitis are less likely to completely eliminate all symptoms. However, it is possible to control the disease's clinical symptoms but antibiotics usually need to be taken long term - 6 weeks minimum, as aggressive and prolonged treatment is required to keep on top of Psuedomonas.

If this were my rabbit, I would possibly be asking for a change to another antibiotic, and also thinking about nebulising him with something like amikacin or gentamycin.

Bisolven - a pinch on food - will help to thin any mucous in the nostrils and therefore help target the area ...

I hope something here will help.

I would suggest printing out the articles above and perhaps discussing them with your vet. What do you think?