Nasal Aspirator?

lucyj · Oct 23, 2006

Asked my vet about using this 2day, 2 clear the mucus caused by harly's myxi, but she thought it was little mask thing (which to be honest, so did I) and didnt think it was a good idea as going over face may stress him out, and says is importabt dont do tht. I had a look in Boots anyway, and as it was jst a little thing I got it.

It doesnt seem 2 b doin anythin tho, I couldnt do it myself so got my bf 2 hold Harly while I tried to do it, but I was suckin as hard as I could and nothin was comin out, he was squirming and strugglin and gettin upset so i jst left it. ANy advice?

janice · Oct 24, 2006

Nasal aspirators are only any use if there is obvious mucous which needs to be removed, if mucous is too thick it will not come up the tube and you do need a certain amount of suction on movable secretions to get it into the aspirator, as you have found this is difficult to achieve using your mouth. You need to be careful that by inserting the tube end of the aspirator into the rabbits nasal passages that you don't cause further trauma, resulting in swelling which will further obstruct your rabbits airway.

I will be honest I have never used them on rabbits before but on humans with an aditional catheter using a suction pump to obtain a sputum sample for laboratory tests. My personal opinion is if you have lots of loose secretions then this may be beneficial, with thicker secretions or bubbly secretions my personal opinion is that they are of little assistance to maintain a clean airway.

anon101 · Oct 24, 2006

When Nathan had his bad Pasturella infection the vet advised me to give him steam baths with a decongestant four times a day to help clear the mucus and help him breath more freely.

I put him in a pet carrier, put in half a jug full of boiling water with five drops of Olbas Oil and covered the carrier in a thick blanket. I left him in there about ¾ of an hour and it worked a treat.

You do need to ensure the jug of water is firmly wedged in so they can’t pull it over.

Louise

cara · Oct 24, 2006

Sorry you are having such difficulty.

It will, of course, only work if there is mucus to clear.

It certainly worked with Blossom. This is how we used it.

Ian held blossom and sucked (gently) on the tube - not in one continous go but short, gentle, puffs (hope I am making sense) whilst I held the tube against (just a teeny tiny itsy bit under the lip of her nostril to form a seal)each of Blossoms nostrils in turn. Slightly angling it on ocassions to 'hover' up the mucus.

Obviously I would not have put the tube right up her nostril as this would have been destressful to her and rather dangerous I would imagine.

She was not overly concerned about it and particularly on one ocassion, some awful **** (sorry) was removed! We tried all the oils etc. but this is the only thing that worked.

Its all so horrible isnt it...such a stressful time. But you are doing all you can. Good on you.

lucyj · Oct 24, 2006

Nasal aspirators are only any use if there is obvious mucous which needs to be removed, if mucous is too thick it will not come up the tube and you do need a certain amount of suction on movable secretions to get it into the aspirator

There is no mucus at all that I can see. no discharge on edge of nose etc, but sounds as tho he has some inside, espesh when sneezes. Perhaps if I give him another day of Bisolvin, and take him in the bathroom with me/do steam baths, then try again?

cara · Oct 24, 2006

The Bisolvon should thin the mucus.

There will most likely be a stage when Harley will have a much more obviously runny nose. Perhaps try again then? Oh another thing we tried was the (I think Vick) inhaler stick. Again we just waffed it around the nose.

You are doing all you can possibly do. Take a some deep breathes..every day is hopefully one nearer recovery tho it may well get worse before it gets better.

Cara

Zevi · Oct 23, 2015

I used an electronic aspirator suction machine and it worked fine.

Nasal Aspirator?

lucyj

Mama Doe

janice

Wise Old Thumper

anon101

Banned

cara

Alpha Buck

lucyj

Mama Doe

cara

Alpha Buck

Zevi

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