Snoopy's Story
It's about time I put this thing together. This is a summary of Snoopy since he got sick.
It all started around the second week of October last year when Snoopy started sneezing frequently and it looked like he might have a runny nose because it was wet. I didn't see any "discharge" of whatever color, but I knew that a sneezy rabbit was a sick rabbit, so I we took him in with our other rabbit, Cadbury, two weeks later because we already had an appointment set up for her. She had an ear infection that required surgery, so this was her first two week check-up.
The vet looked him over and agreed that there was something wrong, and she pointed out the discharge that we didn't see. White "snot" that was just inside his nose. She put him on a .5 ml dose of Baytril once a day for two weeks, and then we were back at the vet for the next scheduled check-up for Cadbury. Snoopy's symptoms were never bad, he was just super sneezy with some snot, and while on the Baytril nothing changed. We did notice that when he was stressed (when we were giving him the medication) his breathing became more wheezy, so I called the vet during the last couple days and she had me increase the dose to .7 ml. I was afraid there might be liquid in his lungs, but she checked him out at the next check-up and said his lungs sounded fine. Afraid to start messing with different antibiotics and thinking that it might just be allergies, we took him off the medication for the next two weeks. During that time his sneezing got worse and there was more congestion, more snot, and there was a light nose whistle when he breathed. At the next two week check-up the vet put him on 1.7 ml of Chloramphenicol Palm once a day for two weeks. Again there was no change from his newest symptoms of heavy sneezing, snot, and whistly breathing, so at the next two week check-up she put him on both the Baytril and the Chloramphenicol. She said that while they're both great drugs, they're even better working in conjunction so maybe the two of them would solve our sneezy rabbit problem. Unfortunately they still didn't even though he was on the combination of the two for a month.
Where we're at now is Bicillin. I'd read about Bicillin when researching for Cadbury who had an abcess caused by the ear infection and read that Bicillin is like a miracle drug for rabbits with abcesses. It's always cured the problem and there is little to no side effect. I had not read about it as a cure for snuffly buns, but at the same time I hadn't researched that. I still haven't, but I will.
He's been on the Bicillin for about 4 weeks now, getting closer to 5 and it still hasn't fixed the problem. There was no change in the first two weeks, but by the third week his congestion came down. He had gotten to the point where his sneezes sounded like whooping cough and I was afraid that he would start tearing up the inside of his sinuses when we sneezed. Up until the last couple days, he was still sneezing in little fits through out the day (so, quite often) but they sounded like more normal sneezes.
Now it sounds like the congestion is picking back up and the sneezes sound a little harder. While his nose looks like normal again, it's not wet any more, now it's running from his eye.
During all of this, we've had two cultures done and had x-rays. I'm confused about the results of the first culture, because I believe the vet said that the bacteria should be susceptible to both the Baytril and the Chloramphenicol, but with the second culture she said she was excited because it did grow bacteria, but then we found out that there were no pathogens. So there were no answers there. So were there no pathogens in the first one either? I'm confused as to what either of them said about what antibiotics would work. Maybe I should ask my vet, maybe it's too late now. At the same time as the second culture, we had x-rays done that showed he has some "thick tissue that doesn't look like a tumor" near his left eye, and there were signs of infection in his right nasal passage, which makes sense because this whole time everything seemed to be worse on the right. And now it's his right eye that has the running problem.
At the last vet check up about 3 weeks ago I mentioned that his eye looked a little wet, but she said it looked fine. It definitely doesn't look fine now, and I'm going to call her to see what she says, but I'm a little confused because now his nose looks great.
Since you've made it this far, here's some pictures. :)
This is Snoopy the day we decided to adopt him and left our other rabbit at the shelter to begin their two week bonding boot camp. May.
Here's a nice clean shot of his nose. June.
He started changing color and he's not nearly so crisply white and black anymore. This is shortly after when I noticed his sneezing wet nose. October.
This is his nose last month. January 1st.
And this is him last night.
I tried washing his face with a hot wash cloth and drying it with a towel because maybe Cadbury was just going to town on his face, but the next day it just looked like this again.
He's never got to the point where he needed help clearing his nasal passage and he's still active and has a healthy appetite. I'm also going to send this to the lady we adopted him from because she's got 20+ years of rabbit experience.
I just feel bad because we brought him home and now he's sick. So I feel like it's my fault and I just want him to be a happy and healthy bun.
It all started around the second week of October last year when Snoopy started sneezing frequently and it looked like he might have a runny nose because it was wet. I didn't see any "discharge" of whatever color, but I knew that a sneezy rabbit was a sick rabbit, so I we took him in with our other rabbit, Cadbury, two weeks later because we already had an appointment set up for her. She had an ear infection that required surgery, so this was her first two week check-up.
The vet looked him over and agreed that there was something wrong, and she pointed out the discharge that we didn't see. White "snot" that was just inside his nose. She put him on a .5 ml dose of Baytril once a day for two weeks, and then we were back at the vet for the next scheduled check-up for Cadbury. Snoopy's symptoms were never bad, he was just super sneezy with some snot, and while on the Baytril nothing changed. We did notice that when he was stressed (when we were giving him the medication) his breathing became more wheezy, so I called the vet during the last couple days and she had me increase the dose to .7 ml. I was afraid there might be liquid in his lungs, but she checked him out at the next check-up and said his lungs sounded fine. Afraid to start messing with different antibiotics and thinking that it might just be allergies, we took him off the medication for the next two weeks. During that time his sneezing got worse and there was more congestion, more snot, and there was a light nose whistle when he breathed. At the next two week check-up the vet put him on 1.7 ml of Chloramphenicol Palm once a day for two weeks. Again there was no change from his newest symptoms of heavy sneezing, snot, and whistly breathing, so at the next two week check-up she put him on both the Baytril and the Chloramphenicol. She said that while they're both great drugs, they're even better working in conjunction so maybe the two of them would solve our sneezy rabbit problem. Unfortunately they still didn't even though he was on the combination of the two for a month.
Where we're at now is Bicillin. I'd read about Bicillin when researching for Cadbury who had an abcess caused by the ear infection and read that Bicillin is like a miracle drug for rabbits with abcesses. It's always cured the problem and there is little to no side effect. I had not read about it as a cure for snuffly buns, but at the same time I hadn't researched that. I still haven't, but I will.
He's been on the Bicillin for about 4 weeks now, getting closer to 5 and it still hasn't fixed the problem. There was no change in the first two weeks, but by the third week his congestion came down. He had gotten to the point where his sneezes sounded like whooping cough and I was afraid that he would start tearing up the inside of his sinuses when we sneezed. Up until the last couple days, he was still sneezing in little fits through out the day (so, quite often) but they sounded like more normal sneezes.
Now it sounds like the congestion is picking back up and the sneezes sound a little harder. While his nose looks like normal again, it's not wet any more, now it's running from his eye.
During all of this, we've had two cultures done and had x-rays. I'm confused about the results of the first culture, because I believe the vet said that the bacteria should be susceptible to both the Baytril and the Chloramphenicol, but with the second culture she said she was excited because it did grow bacteria, but then we found out that there were no pathogens. So there were no answers there. So were there no pathogens in the first one either? I'm confused as to what either of them said about what antibiotics would work. Maybe I should ask my vet, maybe it's too late now. At the same time as the second culture, we had x-rays done that showed he has some "thick tissue that doesn't look like a tumor" near his left eye, and there were signs of infection in his right nasal passage, which makes sense because this whole time everything seemed to be worse on the right. And now it's his right eye that has the running problem.
At the last vet check up about 3 weeks ago I mentioned that his eye looked a little wet, but she said it looked fine. It definitely doesn't look fine now, and I'm going to call her to see what she says, but I'm a little confused because now his nose looks great.
Since you've made it this far, here's some pictures. :)
This is Snoopy the day we decided to adopt him and left our other rabbit at the shelter to begin their two week bonding boot camp. May.
Here's a nice clean shot of his nose. June.
He started changing color and he's not nearly so crisply white and black anymore. This is shortly after when I noticed his sneezing wet nose. October.
This is his nose last month. January 1st.
And this is him last night.
I tried washing his face with a hot wash cloth and drying it with a towel because maybe Cadbury was just going to town on his face, but the next day it just looked like this again.
He's never got to the point where he needed help clearing his nasal passage and he's still active and has a healthy appetite. I'm also going to send this to the lady we adopted him from because she's got 20+ years of rabbit experience.
I just feel bad because we brought him home and now he's sick. So I feel like it's my fault and I just want him to be a happy and healthy bun.