Sick bunny - which medication would help?

[ChickenCanoe]

When a critter is sick and you are giving antibiotics to treat an illness that is hardly prophylactic.

I know people are used to throwing meds at problems willy nilly but those days have long passed. Most of the same antibiotic families used in animals are the same as used in treating humans. Each year 2 million people get infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria. 30% of antibiotics prescribed to humans are unnecessary. The percentage is much higher in livestock.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antibiotic-resistance
https://www.cdc.gov/features/antibioticuse/index.html
https://advocacy.consumerreports.or...cs-in-food-animals-threatens-public-health-2/
https://www.who.int/news-room/detai...unning-out-of-antibiotics-who-report-confirms
It isn't prophylactic if you know what malady you are treating. However, if one doesn't know if the problem is bacterial, viral or fungal, it is prophylactic.
Not all bacterial infections can be cured by all or perhaps any antibiotic. They will do nothing for a virus or fungus. It is a stab in the dark. Like worming if one doesn't know if an animal has worms or treating with Corid if it isn't known if coccidiosis is a problem.
Overuse of antibiotics is a real problem.

 

[cassie]

I know people are used to throwing meds at problems willy nilly but those days have long passed. Most of the same antibiotic families used in animals are the same as used in treating humans. Each year 2 million people get infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria. 30% of antibiotics prescribed to humans are unnecessary. The percentage is much higher in livestock.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antibiotic-resistance
https://www.cdc.gov/features/antibioticuse/index.html
https://advocacy.consumerreports.or...cs-in-food-animals-threatens-public-health-2/
https://www.who.int/news-room/detai...unning-out-of-antibiotics-who-report-confirms
It isn't prophylactic if you know what malady you are treating. However, if one doesn't know if the problem is bacterial, viral or fungal, it is prophylactic.
Not all bacterial infections can be cured by all or perhaps any antibiotic. They will do nothing for a virus or fungus. It is a stab in the dark. Like worming if one doesn't know if an animal has worms or treating with Corid if it isn't known if coccidiosis is a problem.
Overuse of antibiotics is a real problem.

Without extensive testing there is no way to know for sure and by that time chances are there won't be any need for medications of any kind because the animal will be dead. Also a lot of infections that start out viral end up with secondary bacterial infections. If it were my animal I would treat it and see what happens. The alternative is to whack it in the head, bury it, and be done with it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Without testing, we are gambling and wasting time. Testing doesn't have to be extensive. A simple swab will determine whether it is viral or bacterial.
Treating the secondary infection still doesn't cure the primary infection.
Every time we use an antibiotic not knowing if it is necessary, we contribute to the global problem.
That was just my two cents worth.

 

[cassie]

Without testing, we are gambling and wasting time. Testing doesn't have to be extensive. A simple swab will determine whether it is viral or bacterial.
Treating the secondary infection still doesn't cure the primary infection.
Every time we use an antibiotic not knowing if it is necessary, we contribute to the global problem.
That was just my two cents worth.

A bacterial culture takes 48 hours to come back. By then the animal is either dead or so far gone that treatment is ineffective. As for bacterial secondary infections, the viral infection will resolve itself, but without treatment the bacterial infection can hang on for weeks. Ask me how I know this. In this case I am talking about people (me), not critters. As for the sick rabbit, you can take it to the vet (who probably knows nothing about rabbits) and have a culture run. Then you have a vet bill, a lab bill, and by the time the results come back you have a dead rabbit anyway.

 

[Conan]

Sounds like Pasteurella (snuffles) to me. Really common in rabbits. Best course of action is antibiotics, usually Baytril, given for 2-4 weeks. Of course, giving a rabbit a course of antibiotics for that long may present its own set of problems, GI stasis being the most serious.
If you do go this route, you may also want to find something to help get the good bacteria back in her gut as the antibiotics will kill those too.
Best of luck!