Bunny has pleuritis

Question
Hello, my bunny was diagnosed with pleuritis and she has already been on oral Chlor-Palm 2xday for 2 weeks, then on injectable Baytril (diluted with saline solution) for 2 weeks (ending tonight-Sunday).  These drugs were not used at the same time.  
The vet never mentioned anything about whether fluid in the lungs can be expelled (lasix?) to help her.  I'm going to call tomorrow to ask about this.  Also, she's been breathing either sitting or lying down with her head up and mouth open at times.  
Sometimes she has good days, other times bad.  Bad, meaning she doesn't care too much for food except nibbles of hay or pellets.  She'll groom once in awhile but she does show spirit when you pet her and talk to her, and especially when we have to give her the needle.
On good days (she just had 2 good days in a row followed by 2 bad days), she'll eat like mad, groom, everything else that's pretty normal.
Will she get better?  She's about 3-4 yrs. old and I was told that if the Baytril didn't work after 2 weeks, it probably won't.  We don't have all kinds of money for all types of testing, etc. so I'm hoping you have some ideas for us.

Thank you so much!
Paula

Answer
Dear Paula,

I have never heard of a diagnosis of pleuritis in a rabbit.  Was this diagnosed via radiograph?  How was it determined that this was pleuritis, and not pneumonia (the symptoms are also consistent with this).

When we have a rabbit with pneumonia, our vets find it's essential to nebulize with a combination of:

10cc sterile saline solution
2.0cc Amikacin (50mg/ml)
1.0cc aminophylline (20% solution; opens the airways)
0.4cc Mucomyst (20% solution; breaks up thick mucus)

We nebulize for about 15 minutes 2-3 times a day to help the bunny bring up the phlegm.  Be *very* cautious with the Mucomyst if the lungs are very congested, as it can come up in great gouts that can choke a bunny.   We've actually reduced the Mucomyst a great deal, and wait to use it until the infection starts to respond to antibiotics.

Baytril is not the only choice.  I might consider finding another rabbit-savvy vet for a second opinion:

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps.

Dana