Sudden stomach/nose problems?

[GrayRabbit]

Our rabbit is almost 8 years old and up until now has been very healthy and active with no health problems except for some stomach trouble once. A few months ago, she started sneezing multiple times a day but with no discharge. The vet prescribed some medicine, which didn’t help. Sadly, there are no real rabbit savvy vets in our immediate area. The sneezing didn’t improve but it also didn’t get worse. 

A few weeks ago, she suddenly started eating less and started to look very uncomfortable. We took her to the vet and they gave her some nose and stomach medicine. The medicine didn’t seem to help, but once it ran out she seemed to be back to normal. After that, she seemed to be fine for about a week and now it seems like something might be bothering her again. She now has an audible clicking noise in her noise when she breathes sometimes. And I sometimes hear her grinding her teeth while she is lying down, something I don’t think I really heard much before. However, she does seem to have a normal appetite and still gets very excited for both food and attention. A few days later, and she now has a very strange poop problem. She has started pooping everywhere and anywhere randomly, both inside and outside her cage. Her bottom is also very dirty with poop stuck to it. It seems like she hasn’t been cleaning it or has been unable to clean it due to the poop being very small and kind of hard. We’ve been cleaning it about once per day. She does still use the litter box for pee and sometimes poop. Maybe she can’t control it? It’s very hard to tell. Her diet hasn’t really changed at all, but she did eat a few kernels of corn on the cob that she got to by mistake recently. We brought her to the vet and they thought it could be some kind of lingering nose infection. Now she’s taking two types of stomach medicines and a new nose drop medicine. It’s only been a full day since starting the medicine, so we haven’t seen any results yet. Again, she does still seem moving around, eating most of her food and still gets very excited when we feed her or pet her. She still does look uncomfortable in some way at times; sometimes she leans her head backwards when she lies down. We’re supposed to go back late next week for a blood test or x-ray if the situation hasn’t improved. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Thanks in advance!

[LBJ10]

Hmm, it sounds like she could have tooth problems. Did the vet look at her teeth? An x-ray to look at the tooth roots might not be a bad idea.

[tobyluv]

If she is leaning her head backwards, that may be because she is having trouble breathing. As LBJ10 said, she could have tooth problems, and they could be affecting her sinuses. Have you noticed any drooling, or any food falling out of her mouth? Those are sometimes symptoms of tooth trouble. Sometimes when a rabbit looks uncomfortable, it’s due to gas, which can be helped by infant simethicone drops. But you said she is eating normally and they usually don’t want to eat if they have gas. If she is taking any antibiotics, it’s often good to give a probiotic with that, such as Bene-Bac. That helps to keep the stomach flora normal.

[GrayRabbit]

Thanks for the replies. The vet did look at her teeth both times but didn’t find anything unusual. I haven’t seen any drooling or anything like that. Would teeth issues cause the stomach problems, though? She is back to the way she was a few weeks ago: leaning her head back while looking uncomfortable more often and not eating as much as usual again. And she is still pooping (extremely small ones) everywhere and not cleaning herself enough. Could that issue be something else entirely? If she doesn’t get better, we’ll try to get an x-ray next week.

[tobyluv]

If a rabbit isn’t eating properly due to teeth problems, then that could cause stomach problems. You said that she is eating pretty normally. Does that include eating plenty of hay? If you haven’t tried the infant simethicone drops yet, maybe you should to see if they help at all. The dosage is 1 – 2 ml every hour for 3 hours.

[LBJ10]

Tooth root problems don’t necessarily cause them to stop eating, but they may avoid things that are harder to chew like hay. I kind of think of when I have sinus pain. It’s uncomfortable to chew hard things, but the pain is in the sinuses, not the teeth. There usually isnt drooling either. Anyway, it can contribute to stomach problems if they are avoiding things like hay. Tooth roots can only be diagnosed with 100% certainty through x-rays. My Wooly was never definitively diagnoised, but he displays all of the classic symptoms. For buns with questionable symptoms, it’s best to get an x-ray to rule it out.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m sorry your bun is unwell. Definitely seems like there could be something going on with he teeth roots. Molar spurs or something wrong with the teeth can cause digestive issues because bunny is not grinding up the food properly. I really hope you get things figured out soon.

[Author]

Messages