Concern about pet rabbit

Question
Andrea,
I have a male mini rex rabbit that is 5 months old.  He is a house rabbit and most of the time has run of the house.  When he was 2 months old I took him to the vet for sneezing, they gave me anti-biotics but they didn't work.  So they told me he had allergies and gave me children's benedryl.  I don't like giving this to him because he just wants to lay around and do nothing. So I give it to him in his water so he still gets it but not all at once.  He still sneezes and it is worring me.  I recently went away for the weekend and left him in the care of family.  When I came back he was covered in poop.  He doesn't have the pellets anymore just soft stools.  I am at an ends of what to do with him.  Is he stress?  He still eats his vegetables(which he didn't have over the weekend) but not much pellets.  I did notice that one night(right before I left for the weekend) I was gone for a couple of hours when I came back he had eaten a plastic bag (vanilla scented)  Could this be the problem? Should I find me a new vet or what?  I just don't know what to do.

Answer
Well, there's lots going on with your bun.

First, since he ate a plastic bag, I'd have him checked out by a vet to see how this is effecting his system.  Even though a lot of plastic bags are made out of corn derivatives, this could cause a serious health matter.  It's possible it could cause a blockage in his gi system.  Or, it could make his gi system all out of balance.  His soft stools could be a symptom of a problem caused by eating the bag.  

However, there are also other things that could be causing his soft stools.  One is stress.  Each rabbit is an individual in how they handle stress.  It could be possible that the change while you were away was enough to stress him out and cause gi upset.  The other thing that could cause his stool problem is the change in diet while you were away.  Even though you were only gone a short time, some rabbit's systems are very sensitive to dietary changes.

Does he receive any hay?  Fiber is a very important part of a rabbit's diet.  He's still young enough to receive alfalfa hay.  If he doesn't already get hay, I recommend adding some to his diet.  

But a vet can make a better determination about his poop problem upon examination.  The vet will probably feel and listen to his abdomen.  And if there is any kind of obstruction or gassy feel, may take some xrays.  Once it's known how the plastic bag affected things, it will be easier to determine what is needed to get his gi system back on track.

The sneezing is a tougher one to figure out.  Since antibiotics and benadryl haven't been effective, something else needs to be done.  Too much time has gone by without a concrete diagnosis. If there is no discharge, it may be some type of allergy.  Smoke, pine/cedar/ or clay bedding, dust, perfume or air fresheners could all bother him.  It can be a bit of a detective act.
If there is a discharge, than some type of infection may be occurring and proper treatment is needed to abate it before something more serious like head tilt results.  A vet can do tests to determine what exactly is causing the infection, and once that is known, prescribe antibiotics that will take care of the infection. More info on sneezing can be found here:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sneezing.html

The question about switching vets is a uncomfortable one.  Are you comfortable with your vet and feel that the vet has been aggressive enough in determining the cause of the sneezing?  Since he's still sneezing, I would guess not.  And in this case, taking your rabbit to another vet is warranted.  It's really time to get this sneezing problem figured out.  

But right now, the highest priority is getting his gi system back in shape.  Once that's done, the sneezing can again be addressed.  

This site has some listing of rabbit experienced vets: http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html
And this one also: http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/PB_vets.html