Bunny Sneezing....help with possible causes...

Ok...this is rather a long story so i hope you all comfy.

We have had a rabbit now with us for little close to three months, and the entire time we have had him he has been extremely sneezy. At first we pankicked at the thought of it being snuffles (bad news when youve got other bunnies in your department, and it wasnt helped with the news that other departments in other stores had recieved bunnies with snuffles).

The appropaite care was taken, and vet vists etc.etc, however after several oral does cycles and also injectable cycles of batril..he is just no better with the sneezing.

I have also tried changing the bedding (was orginally on sawdust, now on a sorta cardboard paper based bedding sold for small animals), tried removing straw, and hay (although obviously not a good thing long term) and still no improvement. Literally he is one mystery bunny.

However it is now getting to the time that we are worrying what is going to happen with him, the hutch he is being kept in is not ideal for him much longer, he is a reasonable sized bunny, and deserves much more than being cooped up in a quarentine zone. He has a lovely temperment and does enjoy cuddles (must be due to all the previous poking and prodding!), I was just wondering if anybody as any ideas about what he could be suffering from/what we can do about it/and re-homing.

Does he have any evidence of a runny nose? Does he 'talk' i.e. make little noises when he sees you/when he eats? Was there any change in his condition at all during the time he was on baytril? I wonder if it's worth trying a different antibiotic - he could well have an upper respiratory tract infection of bacteria that are resistant to baytril. Septrin is commonly prescribed for these, and one of mine is currently on Doxycycline. It could be an allergy, or it could be that he has something stuck up his nose.

Do you have vets that you have to use? I seem to recall you are around Ipswich - there is an absolutely superb rabbit vet based somewhere around Woodbridge, called Mike Dale. If you can track down which surgery he is at, he would definitely be worth a visit (edit: by the powers of google, it looks like he's moved from Woodbridge and is now at Fromus Vets in Saxmundham so that's not really a lot of help).

hi there thanks for the reply....
i guess you can say he does have a little 'noise' that he does when he eats, its only a very quite one mind you....you wouldnt notice it if you hadnt of been in the room with him for only a few minutes, but ive been with him throughout the entire time and he does in fact have one. As for the runny nose he doesnt and never has had one.
When we first started him on the batril he did make a very minor improvemt to begin with, this was the first course we done....but it didnt last very long and we went back to the stage of sneezing.

Were i work it is very close to a vets in woodbridge, what a shame that vet you where talking about no longer works, i bet it is the one that i visit now. They are a reasonably good vets i must add, its just sometimes you have to sit around waiting a while even though youve booked an appointment....

If it got a bit better with the baytril then chances are it's an infection up there. What colour and breed is he? Dwarf and dwarf lop seem to be more prone to this because of their flat face breeding. If he is a light colour, you might be able to see if he has been wiping his nose on his front paws - look for a sort of yellowy patch on the insides of his front paws.

From what I understand, the respiratory tract infections are very hard to clear totally, as they form tiny abscesses in the nasal cavities/lungs etc (depending on severity) which burst open from time to time. It can take long courses of appropriate antibiotics to make it effectively go into remission, although they will occasionally or often have flare ups. My Santa has been having a flare up about every 3 weeks until we just changed her antibiotic.

This is the bunny in question



He is not a purebreed (lop/dwarf lop)...and to be honsest looks to be a lop cross (he has such big ears that sometimes fall 3/4 of the way down but never fully like pure lops).

I will have a look at his front paws tomorrow, i have spotted him washing before, but maybe he was wiping his nose....ummmmm its definitly given me a little thought there.

So do you reckon we should persist with the batril/antibotics...he will he now be forever a 'sneezy' bunny. It is just we are now at a cross roads (i say we, if it was up to us in the department we would keep him forever, but management see him as 'wasting' money, which i know is stupid) where we are being pressured into a home situation with him. I would love to take him, but living in a one bedroom flat which isnt allowed animals i just cant, and the other assistant is in the process of moving house....

Where abouts are you? A member of the forum or a rescue may be willing to take him on if they could have him for free (I assume you work in a pet shop?)

hi
yes i work in a small pet department, its not so much a shop....just a corner of a garden store.
I have tried to apply to put a thread up about in the the bunnies wanting a home area, i done this last thursday but so far it hasnt come up i dont know if i done something wrong (asked for permission etc).

Well bunny is situated in Woodbridge, near Ipswich which is in Suffolk. I (we) would be thrilled if we could find him a new home, especially i would be thrilled if somebody from here could take him!. We only have one rescue near by, and its the RSPCA. And neither myself or my supervisor have had very good experiences with them in the past and have decided not to go down that route with them. (not to mention she tried ringing them up and got told 'no one wants bunnies at the moment, so we're not taking them in!).

Travis made a kinda sneezing/squeaking noise when he was eating, it was his molars that were causing the problem, he had spurs. Get the teeth checked over is my advice

Hiya - sorry to hear about this little bunnies plight - how about posting something in the Rabbits in Need section explaining the situation - there maybe a rescue or someone in your area who can help.

Do you wear perfume? If you were any kind of scent try not wearing it for a couple of days to see if that helps.
You're doing all the right things to eliminate causes, but it may just be something he does?

My little rabbit Benji sneezes alot bless him :O( Always has done since we got him, (he is now 1). Took him to the vets, they confirm snuffles but it has never effected him he is as mad as anything and very lively. He has been injected with lots of things but just cant shift it... Luckily he hasnt got worse. I am confused as I thought snuffles is very contagious?? He is always with his brother and he has never got it from him.