Persistent RNS

[Suze65]

My 8 year old Margie came out of hibernation fine, after a few weeks she got RNS, I nebulised her with F10 and it cleared up pretty quick. Then a couple of weeks later it came back, so took her back to the vet , they took a sample of the stuff coming out of her nose, and sent it off for a basic look at the cells, which is the first step and this came back inconclusive, so I have been trying, nebulising, flushing out the nares with warm saline and keeping her at 30c , round the clock, and it has slowly started to improve . By the end of last week, one name was clear, by Sunday, her nares were both dry, for a couple of days, and now the one nare is runny and blocked again. I'm now at a loss as to what to do next. My vet seems quite sure that Baytril won't work. I would be very greatfull for any ideas.

[Suze65]

The next step at the vets would be taking more samples and growing a culture, before I go down that road, which will be expensive , I thought I would ask here.

[emma_mcraf]

Sorry to hear this, Suze. Silly question, but you haven't changed anything such as her substrate that could be causing an allergic reaction? I'm only asking because she seemed to improve for a short while and then it started again.

I presume that all you can do at the moment is keep up the nebulising and warm temps. What reasons has your vet given for believing the Baytril won't work? I understand them wanting to try nebulising and flushing first, but there must come a point when you can only do it for so long and if the RNS persists you may need medication.

[sandy]

Originally Posted by Suze65

My 8 year old Margie came out of hibernation fine, after a few weeks she got RNS, I nebulised her with F10 and it cleared up pretty quick. Then a couple of weeks later it came back, so took her back to the vet , they took a sample of the stuff coming out of her nose, and sent it off for a basic look at the cells, which is the first step and this came back inconclusive, so I have been trying, nebulising, flushing out the nares with warm saline and keeping her at 30c , round the clock, and it has slowly started to improve . By the end of last week, one name was clear, by Sunday, her nares were both dry, for a couple of days, and now the one nare is runny and blocked again. I'm now at a loss as to what to do next. My vet seems quite sure that Baytril won't work. I would be very greatfull for any ideas.

Has anything got stuck up the nares?

I used to have a female ibera that had the same, she was healthy apart from the snotty nose. I even hibernated her taking the mind that nature will do whats needed. She came up same as normal, and is still going strong. Although I rehomed her to a knowledgeable keeper, telling all about her. She is still going and still has on and off snotty noses. So I put this down to an allergy of some sort.

[Suze65]

Thanks Emma and Sandy for your replys. The vet thinks baytril won't work ( possibly ) because diagnostics have changed, and they don't dish out baytril until they have done a culture which tells them what bacteria it is and what type of antibiotic it will respond to, and so far we have only done a basic cell examination, and that was £50. It came back as inconclusive. I am aware of the possibility of mycoplasma and if it is this I believe there's no treatment and they just live with it, but I haven't gone down that road just yet, before I exhaust all other avenues to resolve it. She is well in herself , eating well and putting on weight, active, not at all lethargic, pooing and weeing normally. So I am at a loss, other than doing the next stage , which would be back to the vet and taking more samples to grow a culture, which I will do if I have to.

[Suze65]

If she has mycoplasma , I would have to keep her separately from the others permanently , and I don't have the space, so I might have to re home her, like Sandy , to an experienced keeper.

[emma_mcraf]

Oh Suze, that's sad and it must be disheartening for you when it came back after you worked so hard to clear it.

I don't have any other suggestions, so maybe more samples for a culture is the only way you're going to know and then she can be prescribed the best antibiotics.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that it isn't mycoplasma.

For the moment, take heart that she's got an appetite, energy and is showing no signs of feeling unwell.

[CherryBrandy]

Suze, ive had Hetty Horsfield who has had RNS for 20 years and like sandy I hibernate her and she is fine. Eats like a pig. No honestly she does, cause she grunts. Still a sweetie though. It is a strange old condition. I know hot dry atmospheres can cause it to happen also but I don't even put mine under the lamp. I have had success with Opticom hayfever drops as I have found its been hayfever also with others, so maybe that's what Hettie has. None of the others ever caught it either. Ive been twice to vets with RNS and they wont give treatment out, in fact one of the vets gave me ...hayfever drops for dogs which I checked and was ok to place into nares also. CB

[Suze65]

Originally Posted by emma_mcraf

Oh Suze, that's sad and it must be disheartening for you when it came back after you worked so hard to clear it.

I don't have any other suggestions, so maybe more samples for a culture is the only way you're going to know and then she can be prescribed the best antibiotics.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that it isn't mycoplasma.

For the moment, take heart that she's got an appetite, energy and is showing no signs of feeling unwell.

Other than one runny, slightly blocked nare, she does seem fine. It seemed to get better when she went outside last weekend, and then got worse again when she came in again over the last few days. I wonder what that might mean ?

[Suze65]

Originally Posted by CherryBrandy

Suze, ive had Hetty Horsfield who has had RNS for 20 years and like sandy I hibernate her and she is fine. Eats like a pig. No honestly she does, cause she grunts. Still a sweetie though. It is a strange old condition. I know hot dry atmospheres can cause it to happen also but I don't even put mine under the lamp. I have had success with Opticom hayfever drops as I have found its been hayfever also with others, so maybe that's what Hettie has. None of the others ever caught it either. Ive been twice to vets with RNS and they wont give treatment out, in fact one of the vets gave me ...hayfever drops for dogs which I checked and was ok to place into nares also. CB

That's very interesting, I have been wondering if it could be some sort of allergy.
That gives me some hope, that maybe it's nothing too serious, but you know what torts are like, you think their fine, and then you wake up one morning and their dead. But at least I know what ever happens , I have tried my very best.