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Sneezing concern.

PaulJD

PaulJD

Young Bun
Hi all,

Our little mini Rex has had a daily sneeze for about a month I'd say, he has little to no discharge and what you do see when something comes out is just clear and all you see is damp fur under the nose. It could almost be confused with the fur being a darker colour if that makes sense!

He has been to the vets and had antibiotics as in the beginning he had two big sneezing fits, it has calmed down somewhat but he still sneezes about 10ish times a day and over the last two days 3ish of these have been quite what I would call heavy, I say sneezes but it sounds more like he is just pushing air out through his nose as he does also sneeze but only once have I heard a proper sneeze in the last few weeks.

He had a culture taken too but nothing came back. My question is do you think he is allergic to something? We use pine magic litter pellets so are changing these to see if they are affecting him.

If he flops he instantly gives a snuff of air almost all the time. Should I be asking the vet to look up his nose? Am I over reacting?

Thanks in advance for any insight! Oh and he eats drinks poops and acts perfectly normal the rest of the time!

One concerned owner!
 
Is he an indoor Rabbit ? Central heating can cause problems for some Rabbits, drying out their nasal passages and thus causing some inflammation/irritation. Rabbits being obligate nose breathers.

There may be other allergens in the environment so it could be a process of elimination to try to establish what, if anything, he is being troubled by.

If he is indoors and you have central heating then you could try using a humidifier in the room he spends most time in.
 
PaulJD said:
Hi all,

Our little mini Rex has had a daily sneeze for about a month I'd say, he has little to no discharge and what you do see when something comes out is just clear and all you see is damp fur under the nose. It could almost be confused with the fur being a darker colour if that makes sense!

He has been to the vets and had antibiotics as in the beginning he had two big sneezing fits, it has calmed down somewhat but he still sneezes about 10ish times a day and over the last two days 3ish of these have been quite what I would call heavy, I say sneezes but it sounds more like he is just pushing air out through his nose as he does also sneeze but only once have I heard a proper sneeze in the last few weeks.

He had a culture taken too but nothing came back. My question is do you think he is allergic to something? We use pine magic litter pellets so are changing these to see if they are affecting him.

If he flops he instantly gives a snuff of air almost all the time. Should I be asking the vet to look up his nose? Am I over reacting?

Thanks in advance for any insight! Oh and he eats drinks poops and acts perfectly normal the rest of the time!

One concerned owner!
Click to expand...


Hi there Paul good to hear from you again :wave:

I have this in one of my rabbits, and I would say it's highly likely to be an allergy of some sort.

Certainly pine (although I know you're not using shavings) can be a contributing factor ..

http://www.rabbit.org/care/shavings.html

The smell is where the the problem lies. The odor is from the natural volatile chemicals in the wood called phenols.

I would take those away to begin with before another vet visit.

The other allergen I have found is house dust. This can be exacerbated in ways such as having more heating on in the house than before, which seems to affect the dust level. I'm not suggesting your house is dusty, far from it! But having heating on sometimes sets off my rabbit too :D
 
Hi All, and many thanks for the replies everyone!

Nice to hear from you too again max! Funnily enough we changed our radiators to these..

http://www.thegreenage.co.uk/tech/infrared-heating-panels/

which are infra red panels that sit on the celiing and are supposed to be good for allergies as they dont circulate the air, we always have them on about 20 degrees would you say this is too warm for him?

yes jack he is an indoor rabbit :) we have just ordered this to replace the pine litter,

Fibrecycle Back-2-Nature Cellulose Litter for Small Animals, It seems to have some good writeups! supposedly the pine litter we use is safe for bunnies but other than that and dust i cant think what could be the problem, maybe a hunidifier is something to buy then!

Thanks guys for all your ideas its really nice to know there are people willing to help.
 
PaulJD said:
Hi All, and many thanks for the replies everyone!

Nice to hear from you too again max! Funnily enough we changed our radiators to these..

http://www.thegreenage.co.uk/tech/infrared-heating-panels/

which are infra red panels that sit on the celiing and are supposed to be good for allergies as they dont circulate the air, we always have them on about 20 degrees would you say this is too warm for him?

yes jack he is an indoor rabbit :) we have just ordered this to replace the pine litter,

Fibrecycle Back-2-Nature Cellulose Litter for Small Animals, It seems to have some good writeups! supposedly the pine litter we use is safe for bunnies but other than that and dust i cant think what could be the problem, maybe a hunidifier is something to buy then!

Thanks guys for all your ideas its really nice to know there are people willing to help.
Click to expand...


20 degrees seems fine to me. Not too warm I shouldn't think.

Your new litter sounds good :)

Personally I wouldn't get a humidifier as I find my house damp enough already :lol: When I have had rabbits with allergies I have used an air purifier though. See how he goes with the new litter first maybe?

Good luck xx
 
I was thinking about an air purifier but can't they cause lung damage? I hate the internet sometimes! I've decided to chuck out the pine pellets and the straw topper, I'm now using paper with pure hay in his tray until the new stuff comes.

He is having a not so good day today, mainly sitting on a chair sneezing and snuffing, laying down then half standing and hunched with ears back, and pretty much repeating that all day, once he made a clacking noise type chatter which didn't sound great either.

I know I'm probably overreacting but he is seeing Gill later, I hate seeing him like this.
 
PaulJD said:
I was thinking about an air purifier but can't they cause lung damage? I hate the internet sometimes! I've decided to chuck out the pine pellets and the straw topper, I'm now using paper with pure hay in his tray until the new stuff comes.

He is having a not so good day today, mainly sitting on a chair sneezing and snuffing, laying down then half standing and hunched with ears back, and pretty much repeating that all day, once he made a clacking noise type chatter which didn't sound great either.

I know I'm probably overreacting but he is seeing Gill later, I hate seeing him like this.
Click to expand...

I am sure that Gill will do all she can to help. At least you know that you have a very Rabbit Savvy Vet. She did an U/S on one of my Rabbits :)
 
PaulJD said:
I was thinking about an air purifier but can't they cause lung damage? I hate the internet sometimes! I've decided to chuck out the pine pellets and the straw topper, I'm now using paper with pure hay in his tray until the new stuff comes.

He is having a not so good day today, mainly sitting on a chair sneezing and snuffing, laying down then half standing and hunched with ears back, and pretty much repeating that all day, once he made a clacking noise type chatter which didn't sound great either.

I know I'm probably overreacting but he is seeing Gill later, I hate seeing him like this.
Click to expand...

I used an air purifier/filter for a rabbit that *had* lung damage and it helped him to live a long and happy life :D

I'm so glad you're seeing Gill later. I'm sure she will have some helpful things to say :)
 
Hi all,

So Gill still seems to think he has a URI and we are now on his third set of antibiotics as well as inflammatories, Gill is also going to drop an email to the exotic small animal place in Swindon that specialise in all small furries to see what they think.

It's funny as she said allergies aren't spoken about in rabbits and that she doesn't think it'll be that but does think a purifier is a good way to go as well as getting rid of the pine litter as you guys said.

It's so annoying as whenever he gets to the vet he seems perfectly normal! All he's internals are perfect sounding in her eyes, I've had a window open all day too and will do that everyday to see how he goes.

Still stressed and just want my little bun to be well, Gill also said he may just have to live with this as it's so hard to treat the snuffles. I really hope not!

Fingers crossed!
 
PaulJD said:
Hi all,

So Gill still seems to think he has a URI and we are now on his third set of antibiotics as well as inflammatories, Gill is also going to drop an email to the exotic small animal place in Swindon that specialise in all small furries to see what they think.

It's funny as she said allergies aren't spoken about in rabbits and that she doesn't think it'll be that but does think a purifier is a good way to go as well as getting rid of the pine litter as you guys said.

It's so annoying as whenever he gets to the vet he seems perfectly normal! All he's internals are perfect sounding in her eyes, I've had a window open all day too and will do that everyday to see how he goes.

Still stressed and just want my little bun to be well, Gill also said he may just have to live with this as it's so hard to treat the snuffles. I really hope not!

Fingers crossed!
Click to expand...


I'm glad Gill has given him a thorough check up :D

Regarding him seeming to be well at the vets, often the adrenalin generated by the stress of the vet visit will mean that some symptoms disappear. Blood vessels open up /dilate and breathing can become easier. I know, it's frustrating, isn't it?!

I'm glad she will consider the air purifier and well done for getting shot of the shavings!

Good luck xx
 
PaulJD said:
What's a U/S? Sorry I'm still not up on my rabbit lingo :D
Click to expand...

Sorry, I was being too lazy to type out Ultrasound !

Maybe Great Western Referrals in Swindon will be able to offer a few more suggestions for your Bunny and in the meantime I hope that this course of antibiotics will have some positive effects xx
 
Hi All,

Some good news at last for those that are interested of course! Gandalf has been on Rodaxan for the last 2 weeks and the snuffling has gone down from 50ish to almost no snuffling over the last week, we had bought an air purifier as well which we hope has helped somewhat, today he snuffed 6 times which is the most he has done lately so really hoping this is kept in check!

We also have some hair growing back over his little sore hocks which also look better, not perfect but not so angry. Next step is a girlfriend but that's for another thread;)

Thanks for all the helpful advice!
 
PaulJD said:
Hi All,

Some good news at last for those that are interested of course! Gandalf has been on Rodaxan for the last 2 weeks and the snuffling has gone down from 50ish to almost no snuffling over the last week, we had bought an air purifier as well which we hope has helped somewhat, today he snuffed 6 times which is the most he has done lately so really hoping this is kept in check!

We also have some hair growing back over his little sore hocks which also look better, not perfect but not so angry. Next step is a girlfriend but that's for another thread;)

Thanks for all the helpful advice!
Click to expand...

I'm really glad to hear that Gandolf appears to be doing better now :D
 
PaulJD said:
Hi All,

Some good news at last for those that are interested of course! Gandalf has been on Rodaxan for the last 2 weeks and the snuffling has gone down from 50ish to almost no snuffling over the last week, we had bought an air purifier as well which we hope has helped somewhat, today he snuffed 6 times which is the most he has done lately so really hoping this is kept in check!

We also have some hair growing back over his little sore hocks which also look better, not perfect but not so angry. Next step is a girlfriend but that's for another thread;)

Thanks for all the helpful advice!
Click to expand...


Very much so Paul :D

You're very welcome for the advice! So glad to hear that Gandalf is doing better :D I'm glad my suggestion of the air purifier worked out for you all.

Onwards and upwards - waiting for the girlfriend thread :lol:
 
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