episodes of vomit? /mucous-y,bubbly discharge from mouth & nose

Question
Hello Dr. Krempels.  I've followed you for years -- you're great!  My appx. 5-yr-old dwarf Himmy, Emma, has had infrequent episodes of discharge (mucous-y,sometimes clear & bubbly, other times brown or yellow) from her mouth & nose.  She's the first of MANY rescues to exhibit this symptom.  Last night's she went into full-length body stretches & slight wiggling, panting. She seemed to be in pain. New symptoms to me. I gave her a dose of Metacam and she was shortly MUCH better. She never lost consciousness, but I wonder if these are seizures.  

Emma's seen the vet & even these exotic specialists aren't sure. She is also being treated for dental problems & has had anesthesia many times (BUT -- these symtoms pre-exist the detal work). Any thoughts or brainstorms? Best Regards & Happy, healthy New Year.  Paula

Answer
Dear Paula,

Poor bunny!

I wish I could actually see what happens when she has these episodes...not that I want her to suffer any.  :(  I need to know a lot more detail about this:  WHEN does it happen? What is she doing when it happens?  Any more information will help.  But I'll try to go on what you have here so far.

If it's just mucus, then this makes me worry that she has not only an upper respiratory infection, but possibly pneumonia.  And if it's yellowish, that always makes me suspect Pseudomonas, which is very hard to kill.  It is usually sensitive to the fluoroquinolones (e.g., Baytril, ciprofloxacin, marbofloxacin, etc.) and the aminoglycosides (e.g., gentocin, amikacin), and combining the two drugs is more effective than using either one alone.

But this also could be your bunny choking on her dry food/pellets from eating too quickly, and regurgitating because of that.  We are seeing this more often, and no one knows why!  If this happens when she is eating, then that is a distinct possibility.  Some people have prevented this from happening by scattering individual pellets into a bunch of hay so that the bunny can't take huge mouthsful of pellets and aspirate while chewing.  So if this rings true, that's something to consider and try.

But if this is strictly respiratory, it's time for a culture and sensitivity test:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/culture.html

to find out what is causing her to have so much congestion that she actually has seizures from a lack of oxygen.

Hope this helps.

Dana