Blocked sinus =(

[Alfiebuns]

Hi everyone!

I posted my bunny, Alfie’s, last problem on here and got lots of help from you kind people so we thought we’d give it a try again

 

We got Alfie as a rescue baby bun, he’s now 4 months old and has been ill with cold like symptoms since we got him about 6 weeks ago. Because he was a rescue bunny, we get free vet treatment for him from the rescue’s vet. We wouldn’t have been able to afford it otherwise as we’ve been at the vets every week since getting Alfie. The trouble is, the vet isn’t rabbit savvy.

At first Alfie was given Baytril, he absolutely hated it so the vet told us to put it in his water. I knew from doing research on here that this was a rubbish idea so used the tricks I’d found on a previous post like putting it in carrot juice or blackcurrant juice. His treatment finished and he was still sneezing and producing white discharge.

Next treatment was Septrin and Bisolvon, again, this didn’t work. The Bisolvon helped to loosen his discharge so he could sneeze it out easier but that’s it.

The vet has now told us he can rule out pasturella and respiratory problems and from listening to his sinus he can tell that it’s blocked and that’s where the problem is coming from. I pointed out that he had found this out after having Alfie on medicine he didn’t need for a month and was told the medicine has no damaging effects. He also said it would be pointless doing a culture because it would just come back to say it wasn’t viral, just bacterial and doing an x ray could cause more damage than good.

Now, we have another appointment this afternoon to discuss the next step. The vet advised us our only options are to go back on Baytril or Septrin (no idea why) or to try a drug that is used on birds or another that is used on horses but has never been used on rabbits before so we would have to sign a consent form.

 

None of these are options we want to take. Does anyone have any advice for us? We really are desperate now, we just want Alfie to be ok. I’ve been searching the internet but there’s nothing specific to blocked sinuses, I’ve also got in touch with rabbit savvy vets  over the phone but they won’t give advice without me registering Alfie first and of course paying for a consultation, which seems pointless if it will have the same outcome.

 

Sorry for the very lengthy post, it helped to relieve some tension if nothing else

 

Any help would be so much appreciated.

 

 

Thank you

xxxxxxxxxxx

[Sarita]

I don’t agree that it would be pointless to have a rabbit knowledgeable vet see Alffie – you don’t know it would be the same outcome at this point and no vet will consult over the phone without first examining the rabbit.

I would make the appointment and get copies of the file from the vet you are seeing. If nothing else, it would be a 2nd opinion which it sounds like to me you are in need of. It it confirms the first vet’s diagnoses, it doesn’t mean the 2nd vet doesn’t have different protocols on treating it that may be more successful.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Im sorry your Alfie is unwell.

Why does your vet say he can rule out Pasteurella? A culture needs to be done to confirm that.

Is there no rabbit savvy vet in your area? If you can find one, even if its a bit far, it would probably be worth the drive because a rabbit savvy vet can probably figure out the problem.

[Alfiebuns]

Yes I suppose it wouldn’t be pointless for a 2nd opinion from a rabbit savvy vet. It’s more that the current vet has said more than once that these are the only options available, when I asked if it’d be better to find a vet whose treated is before he said I’d be told the same thing because other vets won’t magic up a new treatment he’s never heard of. He is a bit pompous so maybe I should.

Our nearest rabbit savvy vet I’ve found listed is about an hours drive away which wouldn’t help Alfie, travelling makes him panic which doesn’t help his breathing. The vet we’ve been using is 5 mins away. We just wish he was a rabbit savvy one!

[Alfiebuns]

And the vet said he was ruling out pasturella because of alfie’s symptoms. If I’m going for a 2nd opinion it might be worth getting the culture done with the first vet just to take with me? I’ll request one this afternoon!

[Sarita]

Well there are a multitude of other bacteria besides pasturella. Many times an upper respiratory infection is more than one bacteria. And that is part of the problem, there is no way to know what the particular bacteria is or isn’t.

Did the vet look in his nose with an otoscope to see if it was a blocked sinus?

And there are certainly other treatments than baytril. I had a rabbit who I nebulized and we used Amakacin in the nebulizer to treat him. We probably also used other medications as well (it’s been a long time since I had this particular rabbit). We did do a culture and it showed a number of different bacteria present.

[Alfiebuns]

He did look up his nose and listened to it. Thank you for your replies, you’ve helped already by saying there are other medicines we could try. Being told by the vet that we only had the 4 options is what has upset us, there seemed like there was nothing left to do and other vets would just tell us the same thing.

I will definitely mention Amakacin and ask for a culture to be done. Can they do the culture there and then? Alfie won’t have to be kept in or anything?

[Sarita]

No, they have to send the culture out to a lab – it normally takes around 4 days but it could take more than that.

[Sarita]

The test will list medications that the particular bacteria is sensitive too. They just have to be rabbit safe. Alffie’s particular bacteria may not be sensitive to Amakacin which is why you want to do a culture and sensitivity test.

[Sarita]

Here is a good article on Dana Krempels on Culture & Sensitivity testing:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/culture.html

She does say that Amakacin can be toxic on the kidneys though.  But as she states there are other numerous choices of rabbit safe antibiotics.

[Alfiebuns]

That article is great thank you! It’s given me plenty of ammunition for our appointment later. Particularly the bit of ‘treating a bunny without doing a cuture is just delaying his return to health’.
So when the vet suggests Baytril for the millionth time I won’t feel out of my depth telling him no, he has a way of making me feel like I’m a cheeky child if I question him and like it’s giving him more work to do when he knows best and best is Baytril.

Thanks again, I don’t know why I didn’t just come here first. x x x x xx

[Malp_15]

I’m a bit behind the discussion here… but one of my rabbits, Nate, came to me with a RAGING respiratory infection. He was abadoned at the clinic I work at, all skinny & snuffly. We started treating him with Baytril, assuming he had a pasteurella infection. After 2 weeks of him just getting worse and being on the verge of death. I paid for a culture and sensitivity myself to see what was going on and brought him home. It came back that he not only had a pasteurella infection, but he also had a secondary infection of Bordetella (Kennel Cough). The results also said that Baytril was not an effective antibiotic for him. So even thought that is what is recommended for treatment, it wouldn’t work for him. We ended up, researching, and putting him on a different antibiotic (for the life of me I cannot remember what it was called at the moment). But it wasn’t something we carried in clinic, it had to be compounded into a fruit flavour and picked up from a human pharmacy. Anyways, within 2 weeks of this new antibiotic he was doing MUCH better, started eating on his own, and running around. His infection was left for so long, before he came to us, that his nasal passageways are permanently damaged so he will always be snotty and have clear discharge, but not that gooey white stuff.

Any vet who is comfortable with their treatment to date, should have NO problem with you seeking a second opinion. It’s no extra work for them. The vet I was working with during Nate’s ordeal, was not a rabbit expert by any means. But she is interested in them and took lots of time doing research so she could treat him properly. There is also a veterinarian message board that any vet from all over the world can be a member and it’s all devoted to helping other vets. My vet posted about Nate and got adivce from other rabbit savvy vets who have dealt with cases like this in the past. That is part of being a veterinarian, if you do not know, then you are responsible for looking it up, OR referring the client to someone who does.

I hope you get some real answers and Alfie starts feeling better soon!! It is never fun having a sick rabbit

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