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Snuffles Battle - Please Help

TinyHops

New Kit
Hello! This is my first post on the forum so I hope I'm in the right place. Back in November ones of my bunnies, Poppy, was diagnosed with snuffles at the vet. I have had two cultures done, one was inconclusive but the second identified a combination of two different bacteria, and we are now on our second antibiotic (marbofloxacin) as there was no improvement on the first (trimethoprim sulfa). She is being nebulised twice a day for 20 mins each, and is also on metacam and a decongestant. She had a blood test and everything came back fine. She was on a moderate dose of the marbofloxacin for 4 weeks with very minimal improvement, and so going into the 5th week we upped the dose to the highest we can go I believe.

I'm so worried that there's going to be no movement again, even on this higher dose. She is improving but extremely slowly, and sometimes it feels like we've made no progress at all! For example back in November she couldn't go 20 seconds without a sniffle or a sneeze whereas now she can go anywhere from 2-10 minutes, and they are generally a lot quieter/less violent. That just feels way too slow though - I would much prefer her sneezing to have improved to once an hour or a few times a day after such a long 4 weeks of antibiotics! But no luck yet. I'm so worried about her. I'm wondering if it's possible that the bacteria is just incredibly resistant and that maybe the next step is to change antibiotics. I did a bit of research and both of the bacteria are gram negative and seem like they may be tough to shift.

The strange thing is that I have three other rabbits (two of which are bonded with Poppy, so closely sharing the same space as her) and none of them have shown any snuffles symptoms, only her. I don't know whether I'm just lucky that they've not caught it, but I think the vet is starting to wonder whether it is snuffles at all. Her main symptom is the very frequent sniffling and sneezing, only discharge I've seen were two yucky looking globs on the floor back in November on separate occasions, and I've seen nothing since - not even a runny/snotty nose. Apart from that she's acting like herself with no other symptoms. We've started her on Piriton at the same time as upping the antibiotic dose in case she has an allergy to maybe the hay dust or something else, but I haven't really seen much improvement so far with either medicine since starting on Saturday.

Anyway, I wanted to ask if anyone else out there has struggled with a persistent snuffles battle and what your experience was? Or has anyone ever had a snuffles bunny where the cause ended up being something else entirely? I feel like I really don't know where to go from here! I've spent many nights just crying because I don't know what more I can possibly do for her, or whether I'm doing something wrong for her not to be improving like this. The vet suggested she could have some hay or something stuck up in her nose and recommend maybe having a CT scan if her symptoms don't improve any more over the next 10 days, but it's £1300 (!!) and I'm hesitant to do so when she is technically improving - just really, really, slowly. I feel like my whole days at the moment are consumed with trying to desperately research and think of ways to make her feel better, but I just don't know what to do at this point.
 
I agree with your Vet, a CT scan is definitely the best option. Also endoscopic examination of the nares.

Things that might be causing the problem include tooth root elongation, a foreign body embedded in the soft tissue of the nares, nasal polyps
 
I agree with your Vet, a CT scan is definitely the best option. Also endoscopic examination of the nares.

Things that might be causing the problem include tooth root elongation, a foreign body embedded in the soft tissue of the nares, nasal polyps
Thank you so much for your reply! It's so helpful to hear from someone else after spending probably too much time overthinking it in my own head. And it's reassuring to hear you'd agree with the vet - I also moved to a new area and new vet in November when Poppy first got sick, so I'm possibly a bit less trusting than I should be (not that they've given me any reason for that, and they are a well recommended exotic vet! I'm just used to my old vet of 10yrs and want to make sure I'm making the right decisions and trusting the right people in this new place I'm in.)

The more I think about it the more I agree. If I didn't go ahead with it and she got worse I wouldn't be able to forgive myself, and she's my baby and deserves to be well. It's more than worth the cost in that respect. There has to be something underlying there which is stopping her from getting fully better - I've given it enough time on the antibiotics now that it's worth exploring other options.

I'll update here if there are any developments!
 
I'm sorry to hear of Poppy's persistent snuffles & the stress its causing you.

I had a bun with snuffles all her life, we just had to bring out the antibiotics with every flare-up (where she'd get really snotty). With her we could never clear it up completely as she'd had a facial injury (probably intentional given her background story) so nothing connected or drained as it should. She was a cheerful soul though & coped well ❤️ The reason I mention her is that she never passed it on to her bonded friends either. To me it seems some buns are susceptible, most seem resilient.


Personally I'd be tempted to give Poppy's antibiotics a few weeks more on the increased dose. This is based on your saying she is improving - albeit very slowly, so that is probably in response to the treatment she is on. I note you say you'd never forgive yourself if you didn't get it done & she got worse. First up be kinder to yourself - its very clear you are a devoted & responsible rabbit owner. Its hard making decisions on behalf of our friends that mean the world to use.

Sending lots of well wishes for Poppy.
 
While it will not provide as much information as a CT scan, an X ray would show if tooth root elongation is a problem. Though that would not explain why she improved with the antibiotics.
If it started as an infection there may be damage to the structure in the nasal passages from the bacteria like my avatar photo , CX, He would sneeze less than Poppy, yet was susceptible to re-infection and had many years of hoppiness.
 
I'm sorry to hear of Poppy's persistent snuffles & the stress its causing you.

I had a bun with snuffles all her life, we just had to bring out the antibiotics with every flare-up (where she'd get really snotty). With her we could never clear it up completely as she'd had a facial injury (probably intentional given her background story) so nothing connected or drained as it should. She was a cheerful soul though & coped well ❤️ The reason I mention her is that she never passed it on to her bonded friends either. To me it seems some buns are susceptible, most seem resilient.


Personally I'd be tempted to give Poppy's antibiotics a few weeks more on the increased dose. This is based on your saying she is improving - albeit very slowly, so that is probably in response to the treatment she is on. I note you say you'd never forgive yourself if you didn't get it done & she got worse. First up be kinder to yourself - its very clear you are a devoted & responsible rabbit owner. Its hard making decisions on behalf of our friends that mean the world to use.

Sending lots of well wishes for Poppy.
thank you so much - I feel like I really needed to hear the last few sentences there, it means a lot. ❤️ it's reassuring to hear your experience also. I just want her to be ok and to do what's best for her!

While it will not provide as much information as a CT scan, an X ray would show if tooth root elongation is a problem. Though that would not explain why she improved with the antibiotics.
If it started as an infection there may be damage to the structure in the nasal passages from the bacteria like my avatar photo , CX, He would sneeze less than Poppy, yet was susceptible to re-infection and had many years of hoppiness.
I appreciate the advice! I ended up going for the CT scan so she had that today, they took pictures of both her nose/head area and her lungs, and while she was there they took another deep nasal swab to test too. She was a very good girl for the CT and swab, they didn't even need to sedate her which was really nice as that was my main concern.

Immediately after the CT the vet called me back to take a look at the images they'd just taken - he said that he couldn't give me a 100% result as that is the job of the person who they pass the images to write a more in-depth report (which I'll get within 48 hrs apparently), but he wanted to give me the heads up that there is something not quite right that he could already obviously see. She has some kind of mass/growth inside her nasal passages, it could be benign or malignant, not really sure what it is yet, just that it's abnormal. From the way the vet chose his words, I think he suspects that it is some kind of tumor that is probably inoperable due to where it is within her nose. I'm so sad for my little lady Poppy, because it seems likely that whatever it is, she's not going to get any better than she is right now. I'm holding out hope that it's something that can just be managed going forwards and isn't immediately threatening to her life, but I won't know for sure until the report comes back.

On the positive side, although her sneezing hasn't improved, her condition has been stable the last few weeks and although she now isn't getting any better, she isn't getting worse and she still seems like herself aside from her sneezy sniffles. My other three buns are also still doing fine. I'll update again once I get the full CT report, the results of the swab, and a new plan with my vet going forwards ❤️

Thank you guys for your comments, they really helped me to feel much less alone - I don't really have anyone else around me that cares as much as I do about bunnies, so it's nice to connect with people that 'get it' using the powers of the internet!
 
I really hope its better news than you fear for Poppy. I'm glad she is appearing stable & long may that continue. Do keep us updated
 
Adding my vibes too, for a positive outcome of the scan. A big well done too, for Poppy, for not needing to be sedated, what a good girl.
 
I really hope you hear good news soon for Poppy. It is obvious that you really love your bunny and are doing all you can for her.

I know what you mean when you say it is comforting to speak to other like minded people about bunnies. RU has helped me in so many ways to understand bunnies better with such good advice and also support when things look a bit bleak.

Sending vibes for Poppy and yourself. Don't be too tough on yourself either. It is always a difficult time when one of them is poorly x
 
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