Sneezing bunny

[Chey]

My bun Pepe Le Pu has these sneezing fits that usually last at least a minute, it’s cute but it is exhausting saying bless you 20 times in a row. I’ve never seen a rabbit do this before and i’m not sure if i should be concerned or not. It happens maybe once a day, my boyfriend thinks he’s allergic to himself. 

has anybody else seen this before? is it normal??

[Roberta]

It’s not unusual for some bunnies to have allergies to certain types of hay, just like some humans. It could als be a particular brand of hay is very dusty..
Sneezing should always be treated with some concern as it can also be an indication of upper respiratory infections…. Is there any discharge that is associated with the sneezing ? If there is I would take him to a vet ASAP for a check up…. Even if there isn’t discharge and the sneezing is persistent I think a vet visit would be a good idea.

[Chey]

There’s never any discharge, I’ve found that he does it mostly when he get’s new shavings. I usually use cedar because it smells good but I think Pepe might be allergic to it, or the dust is bothering him. He hasn’t had hay today because no one else has been home to give the bunnies hay and i’m severely allergic to it, so it must be the shavings. I’m going to switch to pine and see if he stops sneezing. Thanks for help

[Tessie]

Hey Chey,

Pine and Cedar wood shavings are harmful to bunnies and shouldn’t be used as litter or bedding. The shavings have toxins that can cause respiratory issues in rabbits and other small animals, so this could potentially be the cause of the sneezing, although I’m not sure.

Here’s an article about it: http://www.rabbit.org/care/shavings.html

I suggest you switch your litter; aspen shavings are safe, or use wood stove pellets or yesterday’s news.

[Chey]

I had no idea about pine and cedar being harmful 😮 I’m glad you told me.
I was thinking about using fleece blankets for the bottom of they’re cages instead. Or aspen shavings, either or.
Are there any other kind of wood shavings that arent harmful? just incase my local pet store doesn’t sell aspen. And my bunnies like to eat news papers lol

[MoveDiagonally]

I deleted your extra posts. Sometimes if you push the submit button more than once it will post as many times as you clicked it.

You can use wood stove pellets or wood pelleted litter (FelinePine, Horse Stall Pellets). The process it goes through removes the harmful stuff. If you go to a hardware store you can get untreated wood stove pellets rather inexpensively. I think I spend $4-5 for 40-50lbs of horse stall pellets.

[Chey]

Thank you!! I think that’s what happened, I wasn’t sure if it was working when i hit submit lol, won’t do that again!
And i’ll definitely try the wood stove pellets, thanks!

[Author]

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