A rabbit that sneezes...advice.

[madowl 10]

there is no discharge from the nose, eyes etc... it is likely the cause could be an allergic one ???? respiratory infections??

 

any advice please..

[terminator 10]

If theres no discharge from the nose is likely to be allergic reaction i dont know how the rabbits being housed but they can suffer from dust, smoke, pollen, hay,litter like pine, cedar,cigarette smoke, pot pouri,fabric softener,room fresheners the list is endless if on the other hand you do see any discharge white yellow green then it could be a infection.

Respiratory infections are serious and require urgent treatment.Try a change of its housing for a few days like shredded paper and see what happens then but id keep an eye on it just to be on safe side.

[teeny 10]

A rabbit that sneezes is, well, nothing to sneeze at!

 

Why a rabbit sneezes can be quite varied. Rabbits, like humans can be allergic or can have respiratory infections. Knowing the difference is the important issue.

 

House dust, perfume, fabric softener, room fresheners, cigarette smoke, pot pouri and many more things found in every house can cause rabbits to become allergic. Products used for bedding or litter like pine, cedar, or clay litters can also be the culprit.

 

Outdoors, dust, smoke, pollen, hay and more may be the cause.

 

If there is no discharge from the nose or if the discharge is clear, it is likely the cause is allergic.

 

On the other hand, if the discharge from the nose is thick, white, yellow or green, it is caused by an infection. Respiratory infections are serious and require medical attention and appropriate antibiotic treatment. The type of antibitoc will vary based on the diagnosis. NEVER ALLOW a vet to give your rabbit AMOXICILLIN! It is deadly to rabbits. Find a rabbit saavy vet as soon as possible. (And no, not all vets are rabbit saavy!) The only way to tell for sure the type of infection is by performing a culture and sensitivity test. The test results do not come back quickly so most vets will begin a treatment regimin (cased on their best guess of cause) while they wait for the results. A vet that declares the cause to be Pasturella without a culture is irresponsible. It cannot be identified without a culture.

 

Finding the cause of such infections is important to the rabbit's recovery.

 

High levels of ammonia are the most common cause of respiratory infections. The ammonia literally burns the nasal hairs that filter out bacteria. Regular removal of urine and feces is critical to your rabbit's health.

 

Bacterial infections can be spread from one rabbit to another through direct contact or from aerial contamination so quarantine of the sick animal is imperative.

 

I am constantly amazed when I hear stories of people who took their rabbit to vet and it has been put on antibiotic therapy for a respiratory infection and the vet made no recommendation about disinfecting the living quarters! That is like giving a dog a flea bath and then putting it back in the yard with the fleas. There are many ways to disinfect a rabbit cage but we recommend safe 4 cleaning products as the safest and most effective.

 

Rabbits will continually reinfect themselves while grooming if the front feet are not disinfected as well as the cages, feeder, water bottle etc. You can throw antibiotics at a rabbit forever but if you don't kill the bugs in his environment, it won't make a difference.

[madowl 10]

thanks people, i will keep an eye on him, hes fine apart from he has a sneeze... hes an out door rabbit, with run... same bedding etc as hes always had...

[terminator 10]

thanks people, i will keep an eye on him, hes fine apart from he has a sneeze... hes an out door rabbit, with run... same bedding etc as hes always had...

Maybe pollen one of my ferrets suffer from hay fever cant go near hay she even starts sneezing minutes after ive opened door to go outside depending on weather

[laura_17 10]

my rabbit was allergic to sawdust, so we changed her to woodchip and she did a lot better on that.

[terminator 10]

my rabbit was allergic to sawdust, so we changed her to woodchip and she did a lot better on that.

Should,nt really be using sawdust

[AlexAtkin 10]

Speaking of "rabbit savvy", the PDSA is bloody useless.

 

We lost one of our rabbits a few months back and I can't help thinking they are partly to blame.

 

He had been suffering some sort of respiratory problem for a year, having steroid injections every month, antibiotics - and they never did any tests to try to find out what it was. He only got any sort of test (an X-ray) when we decided to get him "done" to see if that would help and by that point they said his lungs were 50% scarred so it was no surprised he only lasted a matter of months after that. Surely they should have done blood tests at LEAST after the second visit. We were literally taking him every single month and they never tried anything different, the same baytril oral formula which clearly had little effect as it was only the steroid that seemed to restore his breathing from critical to tolerable levels.

 

We cleaned out the hutch thoroughly but like was mentioned here, they NEVER told us to do so and they certainly never mentioned cleaning the rabbits legs to avoid reinfection. It might seem obvious, but rabbits are so fragile we wouldn't dare wash them in anything without being told its safe to do so. So perhaps the baytril did work but he kept reinfecting himself? We did have to clean his bum a lot as he suffered from poop sticking to his fur all the time.

 

Overall the PDSA did not seem very rabbit savvy at all. They certainly did not seem to care, always made us feel like they were thinking "oh its just a rabbit".

 

Unfortunately our local Springfield (White Lane) seem just as bad as our other rabbit (they were adopted together) shortly after we adopted him developed an infection in his testicles (ouch) due to a scratch/bite he had obtained. The vet said "he must have had it a while" until I reminded her she had inspected him only the previous week to make sure he was healthly to "have him done". She then decided it must have happened recently.

 

She did resolve the problem with antibiotics and removal of his testicles, although she tried to charge us twice for the anestetic as she had already put him under before she noticed the infection, which had to be cleared before proceeding. It was at this point we changed to the PDSA as we had only been using Springfield due to how good they were in the past with the previous vet.

 

So, what rabbit savvy vets ARE THERE in Sheffield?

[teeny 10]

Speaking of "rabbit savvy", the PDSA is bloody useless.

 

We lost one of our rabbits a few months back and I can't help thinking they are partly to blame.

 

He had been suffering some sort of respiratory problem for a year, having steroid injections every month, antibiotics - and they never did any tests to try to find out what it was. He only got any sort of test (an X-ray) when we decided to get him "done" to see if that would help and by that point they said his lungs were 50% scarred so it was no surprised he only lasted a matter of months after that. Surely they should have done blood tests at LEAST after the second visit. We were literally taking him every single month and they never tried anything different, the same baytril oral formula which clearly had little effect as it was only the steroid that seemed to restore his breathing from critical to tolerable levels.

 

We cleaned out the hutch thoroughly but like was mentioned here, they NEVER told us to do so and they certainly never mentioned cleaning the rabbits legs to avoid reinfection. It might seem obvious, but rabbits are so fragile we wouldn't dare wash them in anything without being told its safe to do so. So perhaps the baytril did work but he kept reinfecting himself? We did have to clean his bum a lot as he suffered from poop sticking to his fur all the time.

 

Overall the PDSA did not seem very rabbit savvy at all. They certainly did not seem to care, always made us feel like they were thinking "oh its just a rabbit".

 

Unfortunately our local Springfield (White Lane) seem just as bad as our other rabbit (they were adopted together) shortly after we adopted him developed an infection in his testicles (ouch) due to a scratch/bite he had obtained. The vet said "he must have had it a while" until I reminded her she had inspected him only the previous week to make sure he was healthly to "have him done". She then decided it must have happened recently.

 

She did resolve the problem with antibiotics and removal of his testicles, although she tried to charge us twice for the anestetic as she had already put him under before she noticed the infection, which had to be cleared before proceeding. It was at this point we changed to the PDSA as we had only been using Springfield due to how good they were in the past with the previous vet.

 

So, what rabbit savvy vets ARE THERE in Sheffield?

 

36 Olivet Rd

 

Sheffield

 

S8 8QS

250 7733

 

Hunters Bar Veterinary Clinic

613 Ecclesall Rd

Sheffield

South Yorkshire

S11 8PT

0114 266 3607

all rabbit savvy

[AlexAtkin 10]

How much do they charge for a consultation/checkup?

 

We think he needs his teeth looking at but as far as I am aware, the PDSA never bother to check the back ones they just look with the naked eye.

 

And for the record, I have noticed all our rabbits sneeze. I figure its the fact they sniff around the carpet where dust collects. That said the rabbit we lost used to be serial-sneezes, lots in quick succession. They may have been innocent or related to his condition, so clearly it the same as with any other animal - its all down to context.

Edited June 7, 2009 by AlexAtkin

[teeny 10]

How much do they charge for a consultation/checkup?

 

We think he needs his teeth looking at but as far as I am aware, the PDSA never bother to check the back ones they just look with the naked eye.

 

And for the record, I have noticed all our rabbits sneeze. I figure its the fact they sniff around the carpet where dust collects. That said the rabbit we lost used to be serial-sneezes, lots in quick succession. They may have been innocent or related to his condition, so clearly it the same as with any other animal - its all down to context.

 

 

Ring the vets and they will tell you better than I can

[laura_17 10]

Should,nt really be using sawdust

 

Been using it for years with our bunnys, had no problems till this one. And there was nothing on the internet that suggested i shouldnt be using it at the time, it was simply a case of 'some rabbits might be allergic to substrate such as sawdust.'