Mischa- Allergy or Snuffles? (any advice please!)UPDATE!

Hi all
need some advice for Mischa who has been sneezing for about the last three weeks. initially she just sneezed with no discharge but i took her to the vet to be on the safe side. she got an antibiotic jag and i also changed her litter tray to shredded paper instead of wood shavings. at the moment she is an indoor bun with Lola and they are both very active bunnies. mischa is still active and still eats all her food and more! after xmas she was still sneezing but she had a small amount of discharge so took her back to the vet. she got more antibiotic and some to put in her water. she is still sneezing although the injection seemed to help at first. not sure how much of the water she is drinking. apart from the sneezing she is fine, eating well and jumping about as normal. the vet suggested an allergy and i have tried to work out what it could be from changing to a different hay etc.
anyone any ideas? she is due back at the vet once the course of anti-biotics is done.
Wednesday 11th
Just back from vets with Mischa. they are going to take her in tomorrow and do a series of tests while she is sedated. going to do swabs on her nose and check her teeth although they think she is a bit young for teeth problems. they mentioned the possibility of pasteurella/microplasms but hopefully the swab will tell us what the problem is.

If there is discharge I would definately suspect snuffles. I would suggest using a much longer course of antibiotics. I Had my snuffly boy on baytril for 6 weeks and then aureomycin for about a month. It helped him a lot but didn't get rid of it. Chances are your rabbit will never be rid of it either but they can lead a perfectly normal life.

It is a bit hit and miss putting the antibiotic in the water. It would be better if you could give it to him by mouth via a syringe, or squirted onto a treat you know he loves.

If the anti-biotics helped at all it is snuffles. It is important to keep using the antibiotic until the symptoms go completely. It will probably come back at some point when he gets stressed or is feeling under the weather, but a good long enough course can usually get it under control for a while.

thanks for the advice! Mischa is back at the vet tomorrow morning along with Lola for her post op check up!
i will try and squirt some of the antibiotic onto a treat for her, she is partial to quite a few different things so will give that a go! it is baytril that she is on and the vet told me it was 0.4 per 100ml in the water. i didn't realise she could be on the antibiotics for such a long time!

Whilst they are on antibiotics it is a good idea to give them probiotics at the same time to prevent tummy trouble, such as stasis, especially if they are on them for a long time. These can either be sprinkled onto the food or dissolved into the water. My rabbits love the taste of it so it shouldn't be a problem to administer. You can get them from the vet or buy them online. My boy, Milo, is very prone to stasis so I tend to keep him on probiotics all the time anyway.
Good luck at the vets!

thanks for that i will ask at the vet in the morning for some probiotics. Mischa took some antibiotics earlier on with some parsley but she is still sneezing with some white discharge. this is starting to harden on her fur particularly on her paws where she is wiping her nose. i've tried to wipe it but not sure what is the best thing to use on their fur to take away this hardness? any ideas?

The main thing is to check your bunnys nose it clear. I check my buns twice a day now and regularly clean Eeyores nose.

I use damp cotton wool. This just keeps it in check, as if it builds up it gets all crusty, sore and will block their nose.

If the snot starts to harden around the nose hold the damp cotton wool over one side so that it softens and then its easier to wipe away or pick out.

We had a lot of problems with eeyores nose before we knew about it but now we keep it in check he hasnt had a problem since.

We dont clean eeyores paws. He just doesnt like it and it doesnt seem worth the upset. However when it got really bad on his paws I tried helping him out by using damp cotton wool again to soften it and pick out bits of snot!

thanks for the tip houndour, will try that with Mischa. she is off to the vet in the morning and they are going to do a swab as well as check her teeth. i managed to catch some of the snot earlier after she sneezed and before she wiped it away on her paw!