Sneezing

[The Evil Creampuff]

Hi,

I’m a new bunny owner (A mini lop called Theodore) and he’s an absolute joy. However, he’s started sneezing a bit (around 4 times in the last week that we know of). We recently bought him some new hay, is it possible he’s having an allergic reaction? The hay seemed a bit dustier than the last lot we had, I thought maybe that would be the issue. He’s not having any discharge from his nose or eyes, and he’s still as playful as ever and certainly not off his food, so I’m fairly sure it’s not more serious.

So, am I just being over-protective? Are there other causes of bunny sneezing I’m unaware of? Thanks for the help.

[jerseygirl]

I love the name!

It could be the hay dust
for sure. Not an allergy exactly, just irritating him. Bagged hay can be like that, especially older hay. Make sure it doesn’t have a musty smell to it as that would indicate its mouldy.

You might be able to take it outside and sift thru it a bit to remove some of the dust.

The hay you put in for him you could mist lightly with water. That might help.

Sneezing can certainly be caused by other things. Bacterial infection… Sometimes a tooth problem…or something like a grass seed up the nose. Also, some wood bedding or litter might cause sneezing or something else in the immediate environment. I’ve heard of a rabbit that had sneezing fits because of carpet and another whenever it was near a heater!
Good idea to keep and eye in it. It he does develop discharge then a vet visit is best.

[The Evil Creampuff]

I’m thinking it might be irritating him, he seems to be scratching a bit more, but only at night strangely, he’s fine during the day. I’m going to sift out the hay today and see if that helps. It certainly doesn’t smell musty. We’re going to go get the hay he had initially which he had no issue with. The only problem is that we get it from the women that bred him and we’re not sure what kind of hay it is, we don’t want to be feeding him lucerne.

We’re definitely going to be keeping an eye on him, but he seems completely content other than his occasional sneezing fits and he’s certainly not changed in any other way.

[jerseygirl]

Are you posting from
Australia or the UK/Europe by any chance?

Most hay that is considered “horse-quality” is suitable for rabbits to eat.
In Aus, oat or wheat hay is readily available. Sometimes meadow hay also but it’s harder to find.

[The Evil Creampuff]

I’m from Australia.

[jerseygirl]

You’d mentioned Lucerne so I figured it was Aus or UK. It’s called alfalfa hay in the US.

Mine eat oat hay and do well with this. I get it thru fodder stores as a bale but some do bag up smaller quantities. Quality oaten hay isn’t too hard to find in my experience.

[Roberta]

I get mine from my pet supply store here in WA in a big plastic bag. Tried the bales once and half of it is still loose in the boot of my car. The bag I get is an oat barley blend. They love it.

[BinkyBuster]

Buster sneezes sometimes. It’s like a weird constant sneeze, is that what you’re talking about? I find as soon as I go down and pet him he stops. It’s usually after he’s been digging in his hay, and mine isn’t even dusty. I think it’s just (normal?) for them to sneeze every once in a while. If you think about it, we do it sometimes without knowing exactly why.

I’d say it’s worth changing the hay just to make sure. Do you have any local farmers around you? I get my bales from my friend’s mom who has horses.

[The Evil Creampuff]

Yeah, it’s like a constant sneezing fit that only goes for a short time. He hasn’t done it for a long time now, probably about a week so I think maybe it was just a bit of dust from his hay – I’ve since shakes a lot of the dust out.

We still plan on getting his other hay again, he doesn’t seem too fond of this lot, it’s stringier and grassier than his older stuff which is more stalky and straw like which I think Theodore prefers.

[Bwbedard]

How old is Theodore? I also have a lop and when he was small he used to sneeze all the time (dozens of times a day). Again no discharge no change in him at all. We changed litter, hay, different rooms and nothing helped. But as he reached sexual maturity the sneezing totally stopped. In the past 3 years he hasn’t had any problems with sneezing at all!

[Lilypad]

Lilly does it every now and again, but seems to be just fine. I wouldn’t worry too much unless he does it all the time.

[Emmie]

Thane has had a problem with his sneezing for a long long time now. It doesn’t bother him too much and I have checked he doesn’t have any infections or anything. I think some buns are more prone than others!

[Elrohwen]

You want to look for discharge from the nose and eyes, but otherwise some sneezing is perfectly normal. As others suggested, it could be that the hay dust is just irritating his nose a bit.

[Author]

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