Even the vet is confused

My 5 month old rabbit is having some strange problems.

He will have a sneezing fit but will also start gagging as if he is trying to dislodge something from this throat. It looks like he is trying to be sick (although we all know that cannot happen). After a couple of minutes he seems OK and will carry on as if nothing has happened. This worried us at first but we waited until it stated happening more frequently. We ended up taking him to the vets and she gave him a thorough check over but said that she could find nothing wrong with him. She commented that he seemed in very good health. She our description suggested 'snufles' but there were no other symptoms that came with that comdition (his nose was clear). She did give us a 5 day course to add to his water to add digestion (although there does not seem any problem there).

I did notice last night though that he was having a chew on a cardboard tube and then after a while started sneezing and gagging again. I am wondering if he is eating to much card and it is giving him issues.

It sounds as though your Rabbit has inflammation in his upper respiratory tract. Has your vet mentioned doing any exploratory investigations to check for a foreign body causing the problem? (eg endoscopic examination of nasopharynx) Sometimes an inhaled strand of hay/straw can lodge at the back of the nose or even penetrate the Trachea (windpipe).
If he were my Bun I would ask for more investigations and if that Vet cant do them a referal to a Rabbit specialist. What you describe is abnormal and I would want to try to find the cause.
Good luck and please keep us posted

Janex

Jack's-Jane said:

It sounds as though your Rabbit has inflammation in his upper respiratory tract. Has your vet mentioned doing any exploratory investigations to check for a foreign body causing the problem? (eg endoscopic examination of nasopharynx) Sometimes an inhaled strand of hay/straw can lodge at the back of the nose or even penetrate the Eustachian tube (windpipe).
If he were my Bun I would ask for more investigations and if that Vet cant do them a referal to a Rabbit specialist. What you describe is abnormal and I would want to try to find the cause.
Good luck and please keep us posted

Janex

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Many thanks, will do. It is quite worrying when he starts doing it.

Jack's-Jane said:

It sounds as though your Rabbit has inflammation in his upper respiratory tract. Has your vet mentioned doing any exploratory investigations to check for a foreign body causing the problem? (eg endoscopic examination of nasopharynx) Sometimes an inhaled strand of hay/straw can lodge at the back of the nose or even penetrate the Eustachian tube (windpipe).
If he were my Bun I would ask for more investigations and if that Vet cant do them a referal to a Rabbit specialist. What you describe is abnormal and I would want to try to find the cause.
Good luck and please keep us posted

Janex

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Agree with Jane, plus also my rabbit Lovage had same symptoms as your bun and no other symptoms indicating an infection. My vet took xrays of the chest and found fluid on the lungs and an enlarged heart. The enlarged heart caused fluid to build up in her lung cavity and would seep into her upper resp tract causing the choking. She is now on medication for life (but very cheap!) frucsol, which is a diuretic and basically clears the chest of fluid and prevents further fluid from building up. Before she was diagnosed she actually would choke and on 2 occasions turned blue and I had to resuss her once she has been on her medication for about a year and not had a single bout of choking.

gagging bunny

I agree that your bunny might have a foreign body.

I have been treating my bunny for snuffles for several weeks. She was making little progress until a few days ago when I spotted a piece of hay sticking out of her nose. When I pulled it out it was about 2 inches long. With this gone she has stopped sneezing and gagging and has made great progress. I can only assume that she must have inhaled the hay and as it festered the pasteurella went wild.

Do encourage your vet to investigate more rigorously. Mine didn't and I nearly had my bun put to sleep as I couldn't bear to see her suffer anymore!

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the advise all.

Roger has finished his course of probiotics and there is no change.

I managed to catch a small part of it on video with my phone. If I am able to catch him again I hope to get it when he is at the worst point. I will then go to the vets armed with the footage in the hope she can be persuaded to take further action.

RAYK47 said:

Thanks for the advise all.

Roger has finished his course of probiotics and there is no change.

I managed to catch a small part of it on video with my phone. If I am able to catch him again I hope to get it when he is at the worst point. I will then go to the vets armed with the footage in the hope she can be persuaded to take further action.

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Hello again

I really think you shouldn't wait if there is no change The infection/fluid could just keep building and it could become alot more serious. What area are you in? Maybe someone on here can recommend a good bunny savvy vet for you to get a 2nd opinion if your vet is unwilling to investigate further? Have you asked for further tests yet?She may be nervous about rabbit procedures if she hasn't been willing to go further :?

Hope it all goes ok!

The symptoms sound similar Bilbo's, she too was making retching noises - she was treated with Baytril but it did no good so the vet put her on Zithromax and that sorted the problem
Where abouts are you? Someone might be able to recommend a good rabbit vet.

chloaster said:

The symptoms sound similar Bilbo's, she too was making retching noises - she was treated with Baytril but it did no good so the vet put her on Zithromax and that sorted the problem
Where abouts are you? Someone might be able to recommend a good rabbit vet.

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I am in Stevenage in Hertfordshire currently using the Roebuck Vets. If anyone knows a better one then please advise.

Roger is seeing a senior partner at my local Vets today in the hope that they can find the problem this time.

It seems that he may need an X-Ray.

Well back from the vets, i have to say that the lady who saw him today was very good.

I showed her my video footage and she has given him Baytril, 32 doses of it as well.

He has got the hump with us a bit at the moment though.

Well Roger has been on the Baytril for almost two weeks now and (fingers crossed) seems to be making a good recovery. His sneezing has almost stopped (well what we have seen anyway) and I have not seen him gagging for about a week now.

Fingers crossed that this has sorted his problems. Still three weeks dosage left so still some time yet.

Very pleased to hear he is doing well

Janex

Thanks Jane, its just a relief that he seems to be improving.

Thanks for all the advise.

So glad Roger is pulling through.x