My beautiful bunny is sick

Question
Hi,

I have had my rabbit Eddie (female- unspayed) for seven years.  On Sunday, she started to breathe with her mouth open and was very lethargic.  I took her to the emergency vet clinic, who gave her oxygen and a shot of antibiotic and had me take her to my regular vet immediately in the morning.  So, Monday morning, I took Eddie to her vet, who gave me a course of antibiotics to use on her but also questioned whether or not I wanted even to continue treatment.  They think she probably has pneumonia but that it also could be cancer that may have started in her uterus and spread to her lungs.  She is too unstable for an x-ray.  So, I brought her back home and have been giving her the medicine and just praying that she will get better, but she hasn't yet.

She is still eating a little (mostly just carrots and lettuce) and responds to my husband and myself coming close to her and petting her.  She seems to want to be active, but is hindered by her labored breathing.  She jumped out of her cage earlier today and ran to the other side of the room, where she has just been sitting ever since (about 14 hours).  She still seems like herself, just a tired and stuffed up version of herself.  If she still is acting like this but can't breathe well, should I have her put down?  She doesn't seem to be totally unhappy or in a large amount of pain.  I don't know what to do.

Thank you for your advice.

-Christen

Answer
Dear Christen,

If there's no way to get a chest radiograph to see if this is cancer or a thymoma (and the sudden onset really suggests to me that pneumonia is more likely; but we can't really know without radiographs, so I'm guessing), then I would try to find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

who will take Eddie's problem seriously and prescribe aggressive treatment.  If this were my rabbit, I would want to get a prescription for a nebulizer and give her nebulization treatments 2-3 times a day with the "cocktail" our experienced rabbit vets use to treat pneumonia:

10cc sterile saline
2.0cc amikacin (antibiotic)
1.0cc aminophylline (20% solution, to open airways)
0.4cc acetylcysteine/Mucomyst (20% solution, to loosen congestion)

Our vets would also usually prescribe oral zeniquin/marbofloxacin  and/or (preferably *and*, if her condition is this dire; at this point, throw the pharmacy at her) bicillin injections once every 48 hours.

If there is congestion in her nose, you can get a pediatric ear syringe and gently suction her nostrils to get them as clear as possible.  It might also help to get the vet to prescribe pediatric Benadryl to reduce  swelling in the mucous membranes of the sinuses so she can breathe more easily.

I hope you can get her to another vet today, as time may be of the essence.  I would not give up on her without trying aggressive treatment.  If it doesn't work, then at least you will know you tried everything possible.

I hope this helps.

Dana