Bunny with Upper Respiratory Infection? Medications, treatment

[KellieBL]

 Hello!

I apologize for how long this might end up being.

I noticed a little over a month ago that my bunny, Peter, was sneezing. Besides the sneezing, everything else was normal. However, I decided to take him to the vet. My previous vet had recently had a few changes going on, and they no longer treated rabbits. So, I found a different vet that was a little further away. He checked his breathing, and told me to start him off with children’s benadryl. That did absolutely nothing, so I emailed someone from the house rabbit society. She told me that I shouldn’t have given him the benadryl. She suggested a different vet to me, and I took him there as soon as I could. This time, they flushed his eyes and gave him a steroid shot to make sure it wasn’t allergies. He also gave me Baytril to give him for ten days. He seemed to be sneezing less, but he ran out. The vet gave me a refill.

I was almost done with the second round when I noticed that Peter had stopped eating and going to the bathroom. His stomach was making terrible sounds, as well. I called the vet immediately, and they had me bring him back in. This time, he took a couple of xrays, which revealed that he had some gas. It also showed something in his chest area. He said that it was either the infection, some kind of fluid, or cancer. He used a needle to see if he could pull any fluids, but he was unable to. He has assumed that it is the upper respiratory infection since there was no fluid.

This time, he gave me a Dex injection for the next morning, and five other shots that I would have to get him. I can’t quite remember the name of the five shots, but it was all the same thing. He also gave me azithromycin suspension to give him. I have finished the shots, and I am on day six with the azithromycin. 

He is eating and everything now, but I am worried because he recently started sneezing again! It is the same kind of fits that it was before. Has anyone ever had this kind of problem? Any suggestions or ideas?

Thank you so much for your help!

[Stickerbunny]

Hmm. Has any vet done a culture of the discharge of the buns nose? Some bacterial infections respond to certain meds and not others. When my rabbit developer a URI, my vet told me to start out with baytril and if that didn’t work, they would run a culture and try a different round of meds and if that didn’t work, some vets do the steroids but he personally isn’t a fan of that if there are other options.

[Sarita]

I agree about a culture to see what exactly the bacterial infection is.

I agree as well about steroids – rabbits are super sensitive to them and it’s only used as a last resort.

[KellieBL]

He didn’t do a culture yet. He told me that if the sneezing doesn’t go away, then he wants to do blood work. That’s a good idea though. I’ll definitely go over the options with him after his current medicine is gone. Thank you both so much.

[KellieBL]

I am having a difficult time with the vet bills. I got Peter when I was 13, and I am now in college (and currently unemployed). I have spent all of my savings on the vet bills, and I also now owe my parents almost $500. I only have a little bit of the zithromax, and it has done absolutely nothing. His sneezing is terrible. It’s breaking my heart because I don’t know what to do anymore. My parents are unwilling to help with any more vet bills. The last time, they told me that this was it. No more.
I feel that it’s odd that the Baytril seemed to be helping him more than the Zithromax has. I know I can’t just not take him to the vet. It’s tearing me up. I have heard of programs to help with this, but I don’t know if I would actually qualify, or what my best options are.

[Stickerbunny]

Wow, vets are expensive there. For the future you can get him onto an insurance plan, but that won’t cover pre-existing conditions which his sneezing is now. Call vets and shelters and see if they have any information about places in the area that help out with medical care. I’m curious if maybe he just needed a longer treatment of baytril – when you miss a dose or two, it’s almost like starting over from the beginning, so when you had to get a refill the timer would have started over. Sometimes a 20-30 day treatment is needed, without missing any doses.

Also, talk to your vet about maybe setting up a payment plan. Some vets will do this.

[KellieBL]

I’m about to get my job back because I am moving back home, but that won’t be for another two or three weeks. I was wondering the same thing about the baytril. We only had him on it for ten days, and then plus the other few days after I got the refill. Hopefully my vet will do a payment plan if other things need to be done.
Would it be bad to order more baytril online from a pet med site? I plan to talk to my vet about it, but I was looking at the prices online, and it is SO much cheaper to order it that way. My vet charged me $53 for the refill of 10 days. Online, the same amount is around $22. I’m hoping the vet says that I should give that a try.

[Sarita]

Did your vet compound the baytril? There are different formulations of baytril which is partly the reason for a price difference.

[Sarita]

Actually 10 days is a pretty normal dosage for baytril too.

[KellieBL]

No, he gave me it in the pill form, and then I would crush it and mix it with something to give it to him. I keep reading about the different amount of days to have them on baytril. Is it bad to keep them on it longer? When he was on it, his sneezing seemed to almost stop completely. With the new medication, it’s back to where we started… maybe even worse.
I am going home for the weekend (my vet is closer to there), so I will give him a call and see what to do next.

Thank you again, everyone. I appreciate all of the help and ideas.

[Stickerbunny]

When my vet gave me baytril he put my bun on it for a week, then told us to call him if she wasn’t better by time we were nearing the end to know if it needed extended. The longer they are on antibiotics the more likely the good flora in their gut will be negatively impacted, but sometimes a nasty infection needs a bit longer of a treatment so they will extend it. And that is expensive, youch. My vet only charged me $12 for 14 days supply (he left me with enough so that if he wanted to extend it, I could without missing a dose, but told us to trash the bottle if it wasn’t needed). He mixed it up there and flavored it with pineapple margarita mix to make it tasty.

Since yours was in pill form, are you positive your bun ate all of the mix? When I tried to mix baytril with something for mine, she only ended up eating a little of it, I much prefer syringes because then I am sure they get the whole dose.

[Sarita]

It’s crazy to me the different costs for baytril. My vet always compounds my baytril as well and it’s definitely not as cheap as your vet’s Stickerbunny – I know compounding costs a bit more (I guess for the solution). But KellieBL if you can get your medications compounded if they are not in a liquid form it is definitely much easier to administer to your rabbit. I agree w/Sticker as well that mixing the baytril with something else doesn’t always guarantee your bun is getting the full dosage. It is difficult to administer even this way.

[KellieBL]

Yes, I was mixing it with something sweet and water in a syringe. He seemed to be getting all of it (although he wasn’t very happy about it). I’ll try to get some from my vet that is already compounded though. I’m worried that if I get it again as the pill form, and if I mix it with sweet things again, he’ll start having stomach problems again. I’ve cut back on his treats a lot ever since he had his other problem. I think I’m being a little paranoid…

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By Sarita on 05/07/2013 03:59 PM
It’s crazy to me the different costs for baytril. My vet always compounds my baytril as well and it’s definitely not as cheap as your vet’s Stickerbunny – I know compounding costs a bit more (I guess for the solution). But KellieBL if you can get your medications compounded if they are not in a liquid form it is definitely much easier to administer to your rabbit. I agree w/Sticker as well that mixing the baytril with something else doesn’t always guarantee your bun is getting the full dosage. It is difficult to administer even this way.

 

Well, I should note my vet is really cheap even for my area. He is a bit of an animal nut and will do things like stay after hours without extra charge, spend an hour talking to me about every detail of their care without charging me, etc. And he doesn’t charge extra for compounding the medicines. His patients are his #1 concern, money seems really unimportant to him. Not sure if he’s well off some other way or what, the only things that cost a lot are when he has to use outside labs because it’s their charges, he has no say. I’m guessing the variance in price for medicines depends on supplier they get it from?

My vet doesn’t seem to think the mixing medicines with flavoring will cause issues with an ill bunny, but you could ask if a tiny bit of sweet stuff would be an issue. A little pure fruit juice would be fine, or you could water it down a little so it’s not as sugary. If you mixed it up into a syringe I assume he got it all. Hm.  

[KellieBL]

Wow! I wish my vet was like that. He’s very good with bunnies. He works with the house rabbit society a lot. But yes, I am a little worried that it wasn’t working… but I am crossing my fingers. Hopefully the next thing will work!

[FlemishMom]

 You should never feel embarrassed or ashamed to ask your vet to send the prescription to the online vet pharmacy.  That is their job.  We’re in a historical process here–vets provided all their own medicines because there wasn’t enough demand to support separate “vet pharmacies” for the most part.  If you talk with the staff at the vets, they would probably explain to you the extent of markup they have to do to provide this individual service to you.  A vet is a vet and not a pharmacist; the online vet pharmacies finally give them a chance to be vets while providing the meds at lower expense.  It’s progress.  Your own doctor sends your prescription to a pharmacy to fill. It’s the same thing. . . Don’t think twice about it.  It’s part of their job and they probably would prefer not to be having to worry about pharmacy matters- stocking medicines, etc., and just be helping the animals more.

[MeggoWaffle]

I have a comment and a question. First, the comment – my bun went through a round of Baytril a few months ago and the vet had me giving her daily subcutaneous fluids to keep her feeling good. This might help your bun keep eating. Also, a lot of people give probiotics with Baytril to keep the gut feeling good on antibiotics. There is apparently mixed medical opinion about whether it actually helps, but some people swear by it.

Now, my question – for people who get their pet meds from online pharmacies, what are the best websites? And, how long does shipping take? Is it fast enough that it’s not bad to wait to start the medicine?

[bullrider76543]

I am so sorry that you are having such a problem, I had my flemmie last month get the sneezes and my vet said it was an upper respiratory infection. Blue was on meds for about ten days, but after three he stopped sneezing. I paid about $36 for the meds and $39 for the visit, but also gave Blue a nebulizer treatment for free. I truly hope your bunny gets better. I think you need to find a better vet too!!! I will keep you both in my prayers.

[BinkyBunny]

This is a great resource for those that are having difficulty with vet bills

http://www.rabbit.org/vets/fundsforvetbills.html  

I think the one “bunnies in need” is no longer offer financial aid due to their own lack of funds, but check out the rest. 

[KellieBL]

I really appreciate everyone’s help!
Update: He’s been on the baytril again for almost twenty three days now. However, he is still having sneezing fits. I’ve been giving him simethicone, as well. I’m starting to wonder if what they saw in the xray could be something else. Could it actually be some kind of tumor even though the vet wasn’t able to pull any liquid?

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