Rabbit breathing

Question
Hello!  It's nice to find you available. :)

I'm a member of a small rabbit rescue and I care for two foster bunnies.  One of them, a 6.5 pound silver/satin mix has had to go to the vet two times in the last month.  She has one weepy eye and she had to have her teeth ground down.

She is now on antibiotic eye drops and her weepy eye seems to be improving, but its hard to tell.  My concern is, when she's done running around and is tired and breathing heavy, I can hear her breathing.  It's not raspy or anything, I can just hear her breathing, like I could a human. I have two 3 pound rabbits, and I can never hear their breathing.  Can I hear her because she's a large rabbit, or is it a problem?

Could her weepy eye be, not an eye infection, but part of a nasal infection?

And now, when we pet her, she makes some squeaky sounds. As soon as we stop petting her, she stops the sounds.  Another member of the rescue believes its just happy sounds, but I want to be sure.

Are the squeaky sounds when we pet he normal?  Is it normal to be able to hear a large rabbit breath when they're breathing heavy?

Thank you!

Answer
Dear Bethany,

It's pretty unusual to be able to hear a rabbit breathing.  It could well be connected to her runny eye and dental problems, and your guess of a sinus obstruction is a good one.

If you have a good rabbit vet with an endoscope, an endoscopic exam (under anesthesia) might reveal a foreign body in the nose that could be a culprit for several of her problems.  It could be anything from a strand of hay to a tooth root intruding into the nasal cavity (we've seen this).

It's also possible that she has a floppy palate that vibrates when she breathes, especially if she's breathing hard, after exertion.  If everything else checks out okay, that might be all it is.

Finally, you want to be sure it's not something in her lungs.  A good rabbit vet can have a listen with a stethoscope, but there's nothing like chest radiographs to reveal pneumonia, which can sometimes be cryptic and show no sign of its evil presence.

I hope this gives you some ideas to pursue, and I hope your big girl is just fine.

Dana