Need some advice... New breeder with sick rabbits.. What should I do?

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joanster

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I know this probably belongs in the infirmary section but I wanted advice from breeders. We went to a show yesterday and a judge DQ'd one of our rabbits and said it had pasturella. I think it was caught it in the beginning stages.Not a lot of nasal discharge and minor matting on the front paws. We immediately quarantined him, and began checking the rest of the rabbits in that barn. Problem is we have found several with no nasal discharge but minute matting on the front paws. We have quarentined them as well.In all we "suspect" 17 rabbits are possibly ill. If they are ill, we have caught it in the early stages. I have cleaned the barn where the "infected" rabbits were housed top to bottom with clorox.

Here are my fears. I am a new breeder and shower. How do I stop all of my other rabbits from becoming infected? I called my vet today, and was given antibiotics. THe cost is going to be astronomical to treat all of the rabbits and I was told it would never be "cured" SO what shoud I do?



Has any other breeder dealt with this? IF I see minor matting on the paws but no noticable discharge from the nose shoud I automatically assume? Any advice would be appreciated. I am willing to treat them, but if the condition will never go away that is not something I want to breed into my lines.

My daughter and I have been so upset today as all the rabbits affected our ours. In reality we could lose our whole barn? What can we do?
 
:anyone:

Im not a breeder...I wish I could offer you some advice. Hopefully someone with some experience will see this soon.Iwould assumethat possibly you could order the antibiotics yourself to save on vet expenses and such.

Best wishes, and I'll be praying for your little ones

-Haley:pray:
 
Sorry to hear about your sick bunnies!!

The first thing that you need to do you have already done. Quarantining

the sick rabbits and disinfecting the cages and walls and floors around them.

The next thing you need to do is find a different vet. Any vet that prescribes

antibiotics over the phone before he has taken nasal cultures and blood tests

is doing you no favors. You have to know what you are dealing with too

start them on the right kind of antibiotics.

It is very difficult to treat pasturella and removing the infected animals

permanently may be the only way to ensure the health of the rest of your rabbits.

Good Luck!!

Roger L






 
That is the problem. There are no vets around me that treat rabbits. I have to depend on my dog or horse vet for any rabbit issues. SHould I assume that any wetness or matting of the fur on the paws is a sick animal? Now every time I see even a hint of wet paws I get worried.



I am so afraid we are going to lose all of our rabbits.
 
Are the rabbits that have the matted paws sneezing?

Usually the first signs that a rabbit is getting a respiratory problem

is sneezing.

What does the matting on the paws look like?

I had a doe that I had flown in from the west coast. I still had her

in quarantine (Thank Goodness) when she started sneezing. I brought

her to the vets and had her cultured. She was treated with Baytril

and it took awhile but she got over it. She did not have pasturella. I

can't remember the name of the bacteria that she had though but I am

glad that I had her cultured. At the time I did not have a rabbit savvy

vet either but it doesn't take much for any vet to take a nasal culture

and send it to a lab to have it analyzed to see what you are dealing

with and to prescribe an antibiotic that it is sensitive too. There are several

places that you can order antibiotics online that are much cheaper than

buying them from the vet. If you want some suppliers you can PM me

and I will pass them on. You need to know what you are dealing with

though and which type of antibiotic to use.

Roger
 
My advice to you is to log on tohttp://www.petmedicinechest.com/rabbit. I think this site will help your sick rabbits. the medicines are natural herbs and they dont use harmful anti-biotics of any kind.Although it may be costly it will help if you give it a try.

hope they get better:)

p.s. pasturella is present at all times but doesnt normally affect healthy rabbits. it normally affects stressed rabbits orrabbits with weakend immune systems
 
Hmm...from what Ive heard, that Pet MedicineChest isnt that great. Ive heard that it mostly just treats the symptoms, and not the actual problem.
 
First of all, I'm sorry that this happened to you. I've sort of been in your place...had my rabbits that were sick with what appeared like it could've been pasturella but the doctor couldn't get a culture (they didn't have white stuff coming out of their nose when she saw them).

The first thing you should do - you've done. That is - you've quarantined them. Now - feed them AFTER you feed the other rabbits and do not go near the healthy rabbits with the same clothes on.Make sure you wash your hands and if you have hand sanitizer - I'd use that too before touching other rabbits.

I'm not an expert here on this - so please - take what I say and think about it and read what other say and then make your decisions, ok?

It is my understanding that once a rabbit has pasturella, it will always have it in its system. It may lay dormant...but the rabbit has it.

In other words - once your rabbit is diagnosed as having pasturella....DO NOT breed it. Many breeders will put down arabbit with this - I would prefer to look for another alternative -like keeping a quarantine area for any sick rabbits - or maybe finding a way to get it adopted into a SINGLE RABBIT home where the new owners are committed to treatment. I am thinking that sometimes it can go back into dormancy and not show up again for a while - but it has been so long since I've read about this.

But I also want to say that we don't know for sure it is pasturella. I have some rabbits that appear to have allergies. What comes from their nose is clear - and it usually tends to appear when we've had some dusty hay or the food was dusty from the bottom of a bag.

You might want to check on this link from our health reference section:

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12007&forum_id=10

I would encourage you to FIND a vet - even if it is a ways away - and take at least one rabbit for a diagnosis. DON'T give it antibiotics(which will mask the symptoms) - take the rabbit to the vet for a culture and eventual diagnosis. This way you will know what it is.

Finally - about Pet Medicine Chest....different people are going to tell you different things. I use their products and LOVE them.At one time, I had a testimonial on their website but had it removed -not because I don't like their products but because they are frequently considered a controversial supplier. I have used their products on two rabbits with wry neck and both rabbits have made significant progress(I have also used other things). I first used their medication on a young buck who was in the back of the cage and wouldn't eat and was having a hard time breathing (but no snot)....now - 12 months later -he's alive and well and one of my favorites. I really thought I was going to lose him but they told me "as long as he's breathing and alive...treat him". It took less than 3 days to see some improvement and he started gaining weight and growing again after about 2 weeks.

HOWEVER...he did not have the symptoms of pasturella. As a breeder, you do NOT want to mess around with pasturella in your herd.

So keep them quarrantined and get at least one of them diagnosed.....

Who knows - if the matting on the paws was from clear fluid from their nose vs. white pasty snot type stuff....they may not be ill.

I wish I could be of more help. I hope Pam Nock will be on soon and can help you more as she knows much more about this than I do.(I'm sure others do too).

At least know you did the right thing by separating the potentially sick rabbits from the herd. I commend you for doing that so quickly....

Peg
 
I cleaned and cleaned yesterday. It seems that all of the sick rabbits came from the same barn. I cloroxed all the cages, food dishes and water dishes. I stripped the floor of the barn and laid new shavings. I am doing all that I can. The two that had the white discharge and were noticable sick were culled. THere are two more we are watching. They just showed signs of matting on the front paws(minor) but they were in the original barn. THe others in the white barn who show no signs of sickness are being watched and in fresh clean digs.



How long should the rabbits with not symptoms remain at home. I do not want to take the chance of infected anyone else.
 
Can you get at least one of them to the vet for a culture?

Just stay calm and try not to overreact. Is there a cage you could use to separate the two you are watching right now, just in case?

You never know, it could just be a minor bacterial infection, so I wouldnt go doing anything drastic (like putting them down) until you know for sure. Also, maybe you have no use for these rabbits if they have an infection, but someone else might love to keep them as pets. From what I know, rabbits with pasturella problemscan live healthy lives if treated properly.

I know you're scared, but I really think you need to just do the best thing for these bunnies, which is to separate them and get them (or at least one) to a vet asap.
 
Many breeders eventually face the disheartening effects of a virus or bacterial infection going through their barn. I think everyone has covered the information well in previous posts, so I don't have much to add.

Quarantine is of utmost importance - the sick animals must be removed from the barn. The animals that are left are the most resistant to the pathogen. Treating the animals and keeping them in your breeding herd is not a good practice because it does not help your herd to develop naturaldisease resistance.

It's heartbreaking (been there) - hang in there.

Pam
 
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