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Ulceration in nose? Advice please.

katie88

Mama Doe
Hi All

It’s been many years since I last visited this forum - nice to be back!

Looking for some advice re my 9 year old indoor rabbit marbles. She was in great health up until about 2 months ago when she had a pretty serious choking incident that led to a bad upper respiratory tract infection. She had sulfatrim antibiotics which helped loads initially, but she has been unable to get completely back to normal. Her current symptoms are regular dry sneezes throughout the day, and occasional severe sneezing fits with snot. Otherwise she is fine in herself.

She’s been on the sulfatrim for nearly two months now but just can’t get back to normal. She had a swab taken early on which showed strong bacterial growth that was sensitive to the sulfatrim, so should have got better.

Today she has been in to have a scope up the nose and some xrays, as the vet (a truly wonderful bunny specialist) wondered if she had something stuck up her nose from the choking incident. However, vet has confirmed there was nothing up there and nothing of concern from the X-ray. But what they did find was severe ulceration in both nostrils.

The vet couldn’t believe she is acting her normal self based on the severity of inflammation and said she’d hate to think how bad it was up there when she was at her worst :-(

Vet is unsure what the problem is, suspicions are either that her immune system has gone overboard and is having a kind of autoimmune response, or possibly an allergy that has just been irritated/exacerbated by the infection.

We’re going to try her on continued antibiotics and add in some anti-inflammatories for a few weeks. Vet said other options were to try her on anti-histamines and potentially steroids as a last resort.

So I guess I’m looking for general thoughts/advice/if anyone has experienced anything similar?

I’m wondering whether to also start working on the assumption she might have a dust/hay allergy - what are the best options for allergic buns these days? Is it still the old rinsing the hay trick? Any reasonably priced dust free hays out there?

Any advice much appreciated 🙏🏻
 
Hi All

It’s been many years since I last visited this forum - nice to be back!

Looking for some advice re my 9 year old indoor rabbit marbles. She was in great health up until about 2 months ago when she had a pretty serious choking incident that led to a bad upper respiratory tract infection. She had sulfatrim antibiotics which helped loads initially, but she has been unable to get completely back to normal. Her current symptoms are regular dry sneezes throughout the day, and occasional severe sneezing fits with snot. Otherwise she is fine in herself.

She’s been on the sulfatrim for nearly two months now but just can’t get back to normal. She had a swab taken early on which showed strong bacterial growth that was sensitive to the sulfatrim, so should have got better.

Today she has been in to have a scope up the nose and some xrays, as the vet (a truly wonderful bunny specialist) wondered if she had something stuck up her nose from the choking incident. However, vet has confirmed there was nothing up there and nothing of concern from the X-ray. But what they did find was severe ulceration in both nostrils.

The vet couldn’t believe she is acting her normal self based on the severity of inflammation and said she’d hate to think how bad it was up there when she was at her worst :-(

Vet is unsure what the problem is, suspicions are either that her immune system has gone overboard and is having a kind of autoimmune response, or possibly an allergy that has just been irritated/exacerbated by the infection.

We’re going to try her on continued antibiotics and add in some anti-inflammatories for a few weeks. Vet said other options were to try her on anti-histamines and potentially steroids as a last resort.

So I guess I’m looking for general thoughts/advice/if anyone has experienced anything similar?

I’m wondering whether to also start working on the assumption she might have a dust/hay allergy - what are the best options for allergic buns these days? Is it still the old rinsing the hay trick? Any reasonably priced dust free hays out there?

Any advice much appreciated ����

Hello. I am sorry that Marbles has been unwell. Her nose must be really sore. I have not experienced the problem in any Rabbits I have cared for over the years. Hopefully the anti-inflammatory medication will help.

With regars to allergies and dust free hay, personally I dont like to feed damp hay to Rabbits. I prefer to give the hay a good shake outdoors to try to minimise the dust before placing it in the Rabbit's environment. There are various dust free hays available to buy, for example

https://www.dustfreehay.co.uk/

https://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/pure-pastures-meadow-hay.html
 
Thanks Jane. I know, the poor thing, she has been so brave because from the outside it seems like just a very mild residual sneezing issue.

Ok thanks - do you have much experience with hay allergy vs dust allergy? I’m guessing if I buy dust free hay and it’s actually the hay itself she’s allergic to it isn’t likely to help. I wondered whether to try a different type of hay (I.e not meadow hay) but not sure whether most common allergy is dust or hay itself.
 
Hello, welcome back :wave: I’m sorry to hear of Marbles problems :cry: I don’t have any experience of allergies so I can’t advise, but the haybox Timothy hay I bought recently seemed completely free of dust. It might be worth asking for samples of different hays to try
 
Oh bless her, so sorry that she is going through this. I've no experience or advice to offer, but sending loads of vibes for you little bun xxx
 
Thanks Jane. I know, the poor thing, she has been so brave because from the outside it seems like just a very mild residual sneezing issue.

Ok thanks - do you have much experience with hay allergy vs dust allergy? I’m guessing if I buy dust free hay and it’s actually the hay itself she’s allergic to it isn’t likely to help. I wondered whether to try a different type of hay (I.e not meadow hay) but not sure whether most common allergy is dust or hay itself.

Hi again Katie

I think with allergies it is going to be a case of trial and error to try to find out what things may be triggers. I know that I am allergic to Readigrass. If I go anywhere near the stuff I come out in hives. No other hays/dried grasses effect me.

Any type of dusty hay will be an irritant to a Bunny's nasal passages. As will other things such as fragranced cleaning products, wood shaving type bedding etc.

I am wondering if the Vet may consider running a full blood profile to look for any indications of an inflammatory issue going on or possibly some renal impairment. I believe a less common symptom of a chronic renal problem can be unusual ulceration of soft tissue.

There is also the possibility of the Herpes Virus

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Viral_diseases/Herp/Herpes_en.htm

Or Treponematosis

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Bacterial/Syph_gen.html
 
Thank you so much everyone for the suggestions, it’s really helpful to have a few ideas to work with from here. Me and Marbles are both very grateful xx
 
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