Two of our bunnies, Charcoal and Ash, were in a fire at their previous home. We adopted them from the HRS in Newport, Delaware. We had visited them several times before we finally brought them home and never heard either one of them sneeze. After they were in our house a few weeks, first Ashy, then Chark started sneezing. We took them to the vet and their lungs were clear and they seemed healthy, but our vet (who is fairly rabbit-saavy) prescribed antibiotics. It seemed to help for awhile but then the bunnies got worse. They started having a thick white nasal discharge, with lots of sneezing. This was last September and, as luck would have it, our regular vet was on vacation for two weeks. Another vet at our clinic suggested they may have pasteurella and again prescribed antibiotics. I asked about doing a culture but the vet said it would be very stressful for the rabbits and that we should wait and see what the antibiotics did. After being on antibiotics for two weeks, the bunnies were still sneezing and having a discharge. Of course, they never sneezed or brought out any gunk when they were at the vet.

Finally, when our regular vet was back, and the bunnies were both in again, because I was now extremely worried and insisting on a culture, she saw the discharge. This time the discharge was very clear and our vet ruled out any type of infection and said it was probably allergies. I have to add here that my husband and I had thought it was allergies from the beginning just because of the onset of symptoms and because we are also allergy sufferers. The rabbits were started on grape benadryl (someone suggested that it is children's benadryl) twice a day. It has been a few months now and the bunnies are doing great! We haven't heard one sneeze in weeks and have decreased the benadryl, first to once a day and now to every other day. They are still asymptomatic. =:-)

Our vet tends to think that, since the buns were in a fire, their respiratory systems are severely compromised and they are very prone to allergies. We have several HEPA filters throughout our home and one in the rabbit's room. I also have asthma so the filters were initially for me but it seems that they are now helping the rabbits too.

I'm not sure if any of this helps, but I know that benadryl is safe for rabbits and can be used for long-term treatment. The only thing to watch for is that it can have the opposite effect on rabbits (opposite of humans), in that it can speed them up and make them hyper. I have not seen any indication of this in our rabbits during all the time they have taken this medication. They were fine and it is great to see them happy and not sneezing again.

I am unable to give out a dosage for benadryl because I am not a veterinarian and there are many different types of benadryl, each with it's own concentration of the medication. You can call Dr. Liza Clark, my bunnies' vet, for further information.

If you have any questions or want any more information, please feel free to ask me. I'm more than happy to help.

- Jane & the bunnies (Biggles, Remi, Kobi, Chark, Ashy, Drum & Blaze)