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  • Please Note - Medical Advice

    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

    You should always consult your vet before following any suggestions for medication or treatment you have read about. The wrong treatment could make your rabbit worse or mean your vet is unable to give the correct treatment because of drug interactions. Even non prescription drugs can do harm if given inappropriately.

    We are very grateful to members who take time to answer other members questions, but please do be clear in your replies that you are sharing personal experience and not giving instructions on what must be done.

    Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.

Snuffling - Update - snotty again...

Saline is a good first line 'medication' to use with a nebuliser.

I put the patient in a carrier (plastic one with wire door, rather than all mesh), make it comfortable (hay or blanket, food, etc), put the nebuliser nozzle through the bars of the door and throw a towel over the carrier (but not over the nebuliser unit). Switch it on and leave for the recommended time (5-10 mins?) a couple of times a day. I've used it successfully for cats and rabbits.
 
InspectorMorse said:
Saline or F10 are both suitable. Saline may be less of a risk re causing irritation to the tissue in the nasal passages so personally I would try that first. Speak with your Vet about giving a mucolytic too as thinning out the mucus will help it to drain. Using antibiotic eye drops can help get antibiotic into the sinuses as the drops should drain into the nasolacrimal ducts ( as long as the ducts are not fully obstructed ), so see what the Vet thinks about that idea too :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, we'll try some saline I think.

I wish I'd asked about the mucolytic at the vets on Wednesday - that's the problem with covid at the moment, you're only allowed one person in at a time and you forget to ask things.

Just out of curiosity, I take it you have some veterinary background?
 
Tiggertime said:
Thanks, we'll try some saline I think.

I wish I'd asked about the mucolytic at the vets on Wednesday - that's the problem with covid at the moment, you're only allowed one person in at a time and you forget to ask things.

Just out of curiosity, I take it you have some veterinary background?
Click to expand...


No, just 25 years of caring for over 150 Rabbits . I am still learning !! :lol:
 
InspectorMorse said:
No, just 25 years of caring for over 150 Rabbits . I am still learning !! :lol:
Click to expand...

Ha, ah right. That's a lot of bunnies - and a lot of stress!

The nebulizer should be here by this evening. She's going to pop round the chemists for some saline - we're assuming saline is just saline the world over and there's no bunny specific solution? It's crazy the stuff you find yourself questioning when they're not well. :oops::roll::p
 
Tiggertime said:
Ha, ah right. That's a lot of bunnies - and a lot of stress!

The nebulizer should be here by this evening. She's going to pop round the chemists for some saline - we're assuming saline is just saline the world over and there's no bunny specific solution? It's crazy the stuff you find yourself questioning when they're not well. :oops::roll::p
Click to expand...

Yes just an ordinary saline solution is fine :D
 
Well long story short, the CT scan didn't find anything. Everything as it should be and nothing where it shouldn't. She also didn't see much by the way of infection so didn't think it was worth swabbing. Very nice vet and very rabbit savvy so we'll trust her judgement there. Relieved no anaesthetic was needed but a tad frustrated we still haven't gotten to the bottom of it. So he's had his antibiotics tweaked and will continue for the meantime. We've also got some F10 for the nebulizer, as well as some saline as previously suggested above.

As he hadn't been too snuffly/sneezy in the run up to his appointment we haven't nebulized before tonight. Today however he has been quite snuffly so we gave it a go earlier. If anything he seems more snuffly and sneezy since... is this normal to begin with? Loosening up the congestion perhaps?

We've also had another falling out with Sophia which resulted in them being locked in their cages last night which we really didn't want to do. Fingers crossed they seem to be coming round again but we're keeping a very close eye.
 
The snuffley sounds can seem to be worse at first once nebulising starts. Personally I would stick with just using saline in the nebuliser, as I mentioned before F10 can be an irritant to the delicate tissue in the nasal passages. Did you remember to ask about using a mucolytic ?


Is he on an anti-inflammatory as well as the antibiotics ?

Did the Vet mention the possibility of the problem being due to allergies ?

I hope the bond with Sophia has not broken down.
 
Sending more vibes. In a prior post Jane mentioned abx eye drops to reach through tear ducts. I had limited success with my CX with abx eye drops,
 
InspectorMorse said:
The snuffley sounds can seem to be worse at first once nebulising starts. Personally I would stick with just using saline in the nebuliser, as I mentioned before F10 can be an irritant to the delicate tissue in the nasal passages. Did you remember to ask about using a mucolytic ?


Is he on an anti-inflammatory as well as the antibiotics ?

Did the Vet mention the possibility of the problem being due to allergies ?

I hope the bond with Sophia has not broken down.
Click to expand...

He was on metacam when first prescribed the sulfatrim but with his tummy slowing he was taken off it and put on metaclop a few days to get some movement.

His appetite improved a lot, though he's still turning his nose up at a couple things (fenugreek crunchies which he usually loves).

We'd reduced him to half his dose of sulfatrim...so just a morning 4ml dose, but the vet tweaked him up to 6ml on a morning once a day and we think it's effecting his tummy again.

He's not too phased by the nebuliser, though we feel guilty sticking him in there, but we can't tell if it's helping. Late last night his snuffling sounded worse than ever, yet 10 mins later he was eating and no snuffles???

We've stuck with the F10 for now as that's what the vet recommended for his plan before we see her again. There's not been as much (if any?) discharge so the mucolytic didn't come up. Will ask about it when he's due back.

Allergies were mentioned as a possibility early on, I'm starting to think maybe it's that, but not sure how it would explain the infection and white discharge?
 
Tiggertime said:
He was on metacam when first prescribed the sulfatrim but with his tummy slowing he was taken off it and put on metaclop a few days to get some movement.

His appetite improved a lot, though he's still turning his nose up at a couple things (fenugreek crunchies which he usually loves).

We'd reduced him to half his dose of sulfatrim...so just a morning 4ml dose, but the vet tweaked him up to 6ml on a morning once a day and we think it's effecting his tummy again.

He's not too phased by the nebuliser, though we feel guilty sticking him in there, but we can't tell if it's helping. Late last night his snuffling sounded worse than ever, yet 10 mins later he was eating and no snuffles???

We've stuck with the F10 for now as that's what the vet recommended for his plan before we see her again. There's not been as much (if any?) discharge so the mucolytic didn't come up. Will ask about it when he's due back.

Allergies were mentioned as a possibility early on, I'm starting to think maybe it's that, but not sure how it would explain the infection and white discharge?
Click to expand...

Allergies may set off a secondary bacterial infection.
 
InspectorMorse said:
Allergies may set off a secondary bacterial infection.
Click to expand...

I'm now convincing myself it must be allergies.

(Hi btw, I think you've posted on one of my wife's threads over on facebook!).

We're having a **** few days with him to be honest and he needs to come off that Sulfatrim - he's had a bit of diarrhoea and it's my prime suspect. We're waiting on a callback from the vet.

I've been looking this afternoon at HEPA filters. Anyone had anything similar?
 
Quick update: Vet isn't overly concerned about the diarrhoea as long as he's eating. Doesn't think it'll be the antibiotic but bring him off it anyway and see what he's like going into his follow-up next week when she'll see him. Keep on with the nebuliser. Ordered some pro-lapsis to get his gut flora back in shape. He has his pro-biotic pellets but he's off them at the moment. Maybe coming off sulfatrim will see his appetite perk up some more.

I think there's a good chance we'll be rocking in the corner with a nervous breakdown by then!
 
Last edited:
I just thought I'd give a little update on me little Tiggs after his check up last night and see if anyone else has had a similar experience...

He's been off the meds since my last post, so just over a week. By the weekend onwards he's been a different bunny mood and appetite-wise. Back to himself just about. Jumping on the bed to wake me up, zoomies in the garden, jumping up for treats, eating, pooing, mischief, kisses and cuddles with Sophia - basically a much happier bunny since coming off the sulfatrim.

We kept on with the nebulising on the vets advice. He's tolerated it very well.

We've not really noticed any sneezes or discharge in that time. The only thing is the snuffly chirping which occurs mostly when he's eating and grooming.

All of this I relayed to the vet last night. She's given him a good look over again, looked at his nose, listened to his chest etc and everything was as it should be.

The next step is to stop the nebuliser completely and see how he gets on over the next few weeks and then take him back to hopefully sign him off with the all clear.

Why he's still chirping on we can't really say. It could be the nebuliser has been exasperating his 'snuffleyness' loosening his nose up. Could be he's still healing from the infection, maybe some scarring, we don't know.

We've basically been advised to ignore these sounds for now, as long as he's not snotty or sneezing and see how gets on.

Just wondering if anyone's had a similar experience with a post snuffly bun?
 
Unfortunately little Tiggs has been back and forth to the vets again for almost 2 months now with a snotty nose.

With his tummy not liking Sulfatrim, we started out on Baytril and nebulisation. Seemed to work to begin with, then he'd take a good couple of bunny hops backwards and have a lot of snot to clear. So we wound up on Sulfatrim - a tweaked dose once a day to manage his tummy. Been on that a while now, he's a bit off his food but we've just about managed so far touch wood, with some careful hand feeding, favourite herbs etc (his appetite gets better the longer the time from his last dose was). Sadly this hasn't totally shifted the snot and discharge like it did last year, though has improved a little since introducing a twice daily dose of loxicom and pinch of bisolvin to his nebuliser regimen.

The vets have said he should probably come off the antibiotics, as long-term it's not good for him. She's consulting the the rabbit specialist we were referred to last year and we're waiting to hear back, and in the meantime completing the course of sulfatrim which only has a couple more days to go.

What concerns us is moving forward with him, managing a snotty nose without antibiotics. I'd hate to think his infection worsened or spread. Will the nebulisation suffice long-term?

I also wonder, could his nose 'just be snotty', as in, he has a snotty nose, but no real infection? I ask this because we do wonder if this has all been triggered by allergies. We've done all the CT scans, deep-cleans, changing hay, changing bedding, eliminating chemicals around the house etc etc etc. Owt you can think of, we've done it, trust me. We even follow the weather patterns as I noticed a correlation with the air pressure. One thing we could never truly dismiss however is allergies. He's a house bunny with a garden to play in. This all kicked off in early springtime last year. After about 8 snot free months, his snotty nose has returned more or less bang on when it started last year. Could allergies be making his nose run? It's odd that he's snufflier and snottier on the same days as me, and I'm on anti-histamines all year 'round.
 
Tiggertime said:
Unfortunately little Tiggs has been back and forth to the vets again for almost 2 months now with a snotty nose.

With his tummy not liking Sulfatrim, we started out on Baytril and nebulisation. Seemed to work to begin with, then he'd take a good couple of bunny hops backwards and have a lot of snot to clear. So we wound up on Sulfatrim - a tweaked dose once a day to manage his tummy. Been on that a while now, he's a bit off his food but we've just about managed so far touch wood, with some careful hand feeding, favourite herbs etc (his appetite gets better the longer the time from his last dose was). Sadly this hasn't totally shifted the snot and discharge like it did last year, though has improved a little since introducing a twice daily dose of loxicom and pinch of bisolvin to his nebuliser regimen.

The vets have said he should probably come off the antibiotics, as long-term it's not good for him. She's consulting the the rabbit specialist we were referred to last year and we're waiting to hear back, and in the meantime completing the course of sulfatrim which only has a couple more days to go.

What concerns us is moving forward with him, managing a snotty nose without antibiotics. I'd hate to think his infection worsened or spread. Will the nebulisation suffice long-term?

I also wonder, could his nose 'just be snotty', as in, he has a snotty nose, but no real infection? I ask this because we do wonder if this has all been triggered by allergies. We've done all the CT scans, deep-cleans, changing hay, changing bedding, eliminating chemicals around the house etc etc etc. Owt you can think of, we've done it, trust me. We even follow the weather patterns as I noticed a correlation with the air pressure. One thing we could never truly dismiss however is allergies. He's a house bunny with a garden to play in. This all kicked off in early springtime last year. After about 8 snot free months, his snotty nose has returned more or less bang on when it started last year. Could allergies be making his nose run? It's odd that he's snufflier and snottier on the same days as me, and I'm on anti-histamines all year 'round.
Click to expand...

Allergies are a real possibility. Rabbits can be prescribed antihistamines. I would discuss this with your Vet

I have cared for a few Rabbits who, after a nasty RTI, had a permanently snotty nose. They were not on antibiotics all the time, only if the symptoms became a lot worse.
 
Have you tried putting eucalyptus oil somewhere he cannot lick it, but where the fumes can help clear his nose? I will pray for Tigger tonight.
 
DO I undesrstand correct? He is breathing like a purring cat? THat sounds like URI. Sometimes only injections of penicilin help to solve infection. ANd also nebulisator with Bisolvon sachet or injections. Sneezing (with or withouth discharge) can also be teeth roots problem (x-ray would show that). Too long or even an abscess can cause that.
 
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