NEED HELP! Babybun is sneezing, yellow discharge

[leacicciu]

Long story short: Rabbit has yellowish discharge and crustiness outside of her nose and when i put my ear up to her, she sounds like her nose is stuffed! Made vet appointment for Saturday Jun 24. Today is the 20th. Is this an emergency that needs to be dealt with sooner?

Detailed version and Timeline:

So I got my new baby rabbit (guessing around 3 months old) at the pet store, Thursday June 15th. When I got her home, she would sneeze occasionally. NOT sneezing fits, just a sneeze here and there. I know that sneezing isn’t a good thing, ever, but since I didn’t see any discharge I decided I should just keep an eye on it and hopefully it doesn’t get any worse, (perhaps something is just in her nose? is what i was thinking). So she’s been continuing to sneeze, eventually I noticed that her nose and surrounding fur was actually wet, but I didn’t see any funky colors or anything, just clear wetness. Continued to keep an eye on it… Today, Tuesday, June 20, she has been sneezing more than usual, occasionally having a bit of a sneezing fit, and I’ve noticed must more crustiness outside her nose and yellowish discharge from her nose. She got fussy when I tried to clean her. Due to the funky color, I decided that It’s not just something in her nose, so I called the vet and made the soonest appointment possible (Saturday morning, June 24) Since that is the day that the rabbit vet is going to be back in her office (vacation i guess?? idk) When I was making the appointment, the receptionist asked me if it was an emergency, and I told her “No, I don’t think so… I think she’ll be okay until Saturday morning.” She assured me that our bunny would get help and be feeling better after her visit on Saturday. 

Now, to say the least it has been in the back of my mind whether or not it really is an emergency BECAUSE when I put my ear up to her, she sounds like she has a stuffy nose – you can hear her breathing! And she has crustiness around nose. It has already gotten worse, but is it gonna be really bad if she has to wait until Saturday? I would feel terrible if I lost her! She’s the sweetest little thing and full of energy still. 

Is there anything I can do to help her in the meantime? She has regular timothy hay in her cage, pellets (I’ve been picking out the bananas and carrot slices because It was making her poops funny), and I give her a bit of alfalfa as well. Not a lot, but to top off the timothy hay, cause she likes it, and she’s still young. I was giving her some homemade echinacea tea, (1 part echinacea tea water that I made from pure echinacea, 3 parts water) because I figured it would help her immune system, and that’s what we gave our other bunny. I have since stopped because she kept throwing her food dish inside of it. She also has regular water as well, and natural paper bedding.

Thanks in advance for any help! Worried about my little fur baby. T_T (Her name is Mischief, or Missy for short)

[Mikey]

How is she acting? Is she playing, running, eating, toileting, drinking, ect all normally/healthy? Is her nose slightly wet, or soaked? Is she trying to breathe with her mouth open?

One thin you can do to help her get the gunk out in the mean time, turn on your shower on heat and bring your bun into the bathroom with you. Sit on the floor with her and let the bathroom fill with steam from the shower. It will help loosen up any gunk she has clogging her nose, so have a warm moist towel with you to wipe her nose if needed. After about 15 minutes, turn off the shower and release your bun to her room/cage/pen/area/where ever she lives. Do this no more than twice a day. These are called steam soaks and help bunnys who have allergies or stuffy noses Its not a treatment, but should help her breathing until you can get her into the vets

[Wick & Fable]

I wouldn’t do an entire 15min because it’ll get hard for your rabbit to breath due to the steam. Wick only did it for about 1-2 minutes to the same effect.

Clean towels to wipe always. Never reuse towels.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Azerane]

I would probably be going sooner than Saturday, respiratory infections in rabbits (if that’s what it is) can turn much more severe quite quickly in rabbits and the last thing you want is for it to develop into pneumonia. I wouldn’t consider it an emergency, but the sooner you get to a vet for treatment the better

[Mikey]

I do 15 minutes for my allergy bun, even during his infection. Vet recommended it at that length

[leacicciu]

Thank you all for the amazing advice! I am feeling a little better about it. She is still her springy hyper little self, and she doesn’t sound stuffy anymore and breathing clearly. Still sneezing. Not seeing any discharge. I’m still gonna take her to the vet on Saturday to get rid of the issue. You’re all so amazing, I really do appreciate it, and Im happy I joined this forum! I will try the steamy bathroom idea, and see how it goes. She’s acting normally, doing all the normal bunny things, eating, drinking, playing, etc. Just that sneeze!

[Mikey]

Glad she is sounding better Hopefully it is something easy to take care of, like shedding or hay dust.

[Author]

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