Breathing hard rabbit

Question
I have a seven month old rabbit and he is usually very active and hyper. Just recently, he has been laying up against the side of his cage breathing really hard. We took him out of the cage and he seems to be fine hopping around.  But once we put him in the cage, he goes back to the side and repeat the same thing. He has ate all of his food and has been drinking water. He moves around int he cage but it's when he lays down and stretch that's when there's a problem. It's about 70* degrees in the house and we have the fan on low facing him. We have another bunny who seems to be fine. His cage is above the other. Could it be that my rabbit is stressed out or scared about something or could it be really serious?

Answer
Dear Anissa,

When you say he's breathing "hard" do you mean he's breathing very quickly, or that he's laboring for breath.  If it's the former, he's panting, and might just be too warm in the spot where he is.  Though 70 Farenheit shouldn't really be too warm!  This makes me wonder whether he might have a fever.  In order to know whether he's sick, please find the instructions here:

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

for how to take his temperature and do other things to let you know whether he should be seen by a vet right away or not.  Rabbits can hide illness well, so you are smart to be vigilant.

If his breathing is labored (i.e., his breaths are deep, slow and he might even be lifting his chin to open his airway for better air passage), then you should consider it an emergency and get him to a good vet who can listen to his lungs for signs of pneumonia.  If he has that, it is best that he not only be nebulized, but also placed on the proper rabbit-safe antibiotics.  You can read more here:

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

and find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps. Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana