Bunny Sniffles and trouble eating

Question
I have a spayed 9 month old flop eared rabbit.. who ever since september has
developed the dissorder 'snuffles'.. she has been a rounds of both types of
antibiotics that are supposed to help treat it.  But it has only gotten worse.

She just started sneezing up blood and seems to be having trouble eating.. is
hardly touching her once favorite veggies.. and is eating a significantly less
amount of pellets than is normal for her.  Ealier i tried hand feeding her hay..
and she just seemed to chew on it and couldn't/didn't swallow it.

I'm wondering if this is possibly the one of the last signs for her.. and if
putting her down is going to be an option given to me at the vet tomorrow :S

thanks.

Answer
Hi Melissa,

Well...snuffles is a very inaccurate term for what your bun has.  That term comes from the "old school" when very little was known medically about a rabbit.  We now know that what was called snuffles is generally an infection known as pasteurella multocida.  It lives in the respiratory systems of most animals including humans and birds.  It usually presents as an upper respiratory infection....but I am concerned with the blood that something else might be involved here....possibly a dental issue or even a lower respiratory infection.  I have dealt with all these conditions and have treated them successfully.  I suspect that your vet probably used a sulfanomide (such as Septra, Bactrim or SMZ) and maybe Baytril.  That has been standard treatment for years.  And most of the vet manuals still refer to using these drugs.  In reality, we are finding that the bacterium have mutated and have become very resistant to these drugs.  I use drugs that most vets would never consider using.  I would suggest doing a nasal culture to see what bacteria is there.  I would also get an x-ray of the skull to take a close look for an abscess in the jaw.  Either way, unless this is something very unusual, it should be able to be successfully treated.  Let me know what drugs were used and the weight of your rabbit.  If your vet is willing to talk with me (I am not a vet and some vets are reluctant to talk for legal reasons), I would be more than happy to offer some suggestions based on his/her clinical findings and my experiences here (I am advised and supported by teaching vets at a vet school).  I deal with these things all the time and have been quite successful in dealing with them.

Randy