Babies sneezing/coughing

[siddsaysgimmie]

I have two babies born on April 1st that I find sneeze/cough often. I think it's sneezing but not sure. They did it when they were first born but I thought they may have breathed in some kind of fluid but now they have started again. They are nice and fat, very active and look good. Is this likely normal or can babies have respiratory illnesses this early? This is the first litter I have had in almost 7 months and from my best doe so I'm really worried.

 

[akane]

They can get respiratory illnesses but this doesn't sound like that. This sounds like your hay or nest box bedding may be too dusty. Rabbits can also have allergies which would be genetic and shared amongst family members.

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

I put pine shavings in their nest box, I never use them but the mom wouldn't stop eating the hay so all they have is shavings and fur.. could that be it?

Mom doesn't seem to have allergies, I don't hear her sneeze often at all. Just when I put in a handful of hay that is a bit dusty. Not sure about the buck, he was living outside so I didn't spend much time around him. The doe and babies are inside.

I thought I heard somewhere that young babies couldn't get anything like that because mom's milk gives them a bit of an "immunity" against it.. was that wrong? Just curious.

 

[ladysown]

I'd take out the pine shavings and use something else. IF mom eats all the hay, I'd stuff the box with straw, give them a nice hole in the back to sleep in and give mom lots of hay outside the box.

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

I ran out of hay a couple days ago, don't have any straw either. I won't be able to get hay for a few more days, is there anything else I could use..?

 

[akane]

Pine gives off a volatile oil (that fresh pine or cedar scent) that causes respiratory irritation and even infection if not properly dried and ventilated. A nest box is not ventilated so you need aired out or kiln dried pine and preferably under a layer of hay or straw. You can also go get aspen shavings which don't have volatile oils to build up in the box.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

You could try to get rid of some of the dust on the shavings by putting some in a shallow box and tossing the shavings into the air- like winnowing wheat the "old fashioned way"- the dust will blow away and the heavier shavings will fall back into the box. Or take a screen off of a window, and push the shavings back and forth across the screen.

I put brown paper grocery bags through our paper shredded and mix that with other bedding, but you could use it by itself. Regular (white) shredded paper would work too, but I like the softer texture of brown. I have also heard of using finely shredded cloth (no long threads to wrap around limbs), dryer lint, feathers from an old pillow, cotton batting, cotton balls pulled apart, etc. When we didn't have straw I had the kids cut some long dried grass for the does to use in their nests. You could even buy the nesting material they sell for rodents, but it is probably overpriced.

 

[akane]

The nesting material sold is long fibers and has cut off limbs. Personally I question the use of various cotton materials everyone keep mentioning and their length of fibers.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I haven't had to use any of those materials myself, but if I did I would cut them into very short pieces. Maybe shredded paper towels or toilet paper would be a safer and easier choice than materials with strong fibers.

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

The bedding doesn't seem dusty at all but I'll try changing it anyway. I sometimes cuddle with them and they do sneeze while they're out of the box as well.

 

[MaggieJ]

Do you wear perfume? Use air fresheners? Smoke? These are all common irritants to rabbits' respiratory systems. (And peoples's too!)

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

I only wear a drop of mild perfume every once and a while, I did use some Frebreze once or twice though. No one smokes in the house here. None of the other rabbits have been affected at all and I did notice sneezing as soon as they came out (I watched her) and it continued on that night. Not sure if something would irritate them this soon after birth..?