follow up question

Question
I wrote to you recently regarding the death of my 2 guinea pigs. looking through your suggestions it seems unlikely that heat stroke could be the cause as the weathers been quite cool recently. the garage has a constant air supply as a window is always open and the animals are not exposed to fumes. I think a repsiratory problem is likely as i noticed the guinea pig wheezed and struggled to breathe. You said the rabbit could catch this? is there anything i can do to prevent this happening? or if i were to take him to a vets would they be able to pick up on early signs?

Answer
The rabbit could have a chance of catching an Upper Respiratory from them, it really depends on how far away their cages were and if they ever shared any items. The best thing to do would be increase the rabbit's vitamins with liquid vitamins from a pet store, typically animals will not catch URI's without a decrease in their immune system, so increasing vitamins can help prevent a URI. Also add fresh fruits and veggies like tomato, orange, broccolli, green pepper and cucumber. Early signs would be any change in behavior, excessive sleeping, or eating less, also any eye or nose drainage. There is not much you can do to prevent it other than vitamins, you could try some antibiotics to help cure any illness that may already be there, Tractor Supply Company (TSC) carries Tetracycline and Sulmet that can be used on rabbits, also he can take 1/4 tsp Robutussin cough syrup once a day for any drainage if he shows signs of illness, you can also place Vicks Vapor Rub on the nose to clear any lung or eye drainage. As long as the rabbit is looking healthy I would just use vitamins for now, if you think he is at a high risk of catching a URI you could use the antibiotics, just put a pinch of either antibiotic in his waterbottle, the antibiotics typically cost around $6-10 at a farm store for a bag. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Brittany