Poor little Joe Joe

[professor bun]

Hello everyone, I have a female Rex bunny named Joe Joe who is approximately a little over a year old. I recently got her from a local pet shop. She eats allot and pees allot and seems to be in good spirit. She recently came down with a case of the snuffles and to my surprise recently had a liter of five kits. I'm so worried about the kits. I also have a Lion head rabbit whom I keep in a separate room of the house so she hopefully wont catch the snuffles. I started Joe Joe on Baytril solution today. My worry is that her week old kits are going to get the snuffles as well as she is still breast feeding. What would you guys recommend? Should I separate the kits or leave them be and hope everything works out?

I really would appreciate any comments as this has been the most stressful week of my life.

Thanks again for your time! :bunnybutt:

 

[Rabbit_Angel]

I found this from an article or whatever from a website haha "Snuffles is primarily spread from the doe to her babies, initially the kits may obtain a natural immunity from their mother's colostrum. This immunity seems to wear off between 8 and 12 weeks of age which matches the decline of the maternal immunity in other species. I have seen snuffles once in 10 day old kits, but this was only once in 35 years. The majority of rabbits will break with snuffles at the 2 to 3 month mark.

The next time we commonly see snuffles is in does when they kindle their first litter. Bucks and does can break with snuffles after (or at) their first show, or with changes in weather.

The first step in eliminating snuffles from a breeding herd is to make every cage an isolation cage. I recommend Plexiglas dividers hooked between cages where the cages are closer than 3 feet apart. I like to clear dividers as they allow more light into the individual pens, but more importantly they can be disinfected. Wood cannot be disinfected. Metal or colored plastic dividers would be a second choice. But the clear dividers allow the operator to see rabbits more easily, as you do not have to stand directly in front of each pen to see in. Potentially there may be psychological advantage of the rabbits seeing each other to learn nest making or breeding behaviors, but that is open to argument." here's the link if you want to know more: http://www.dutchrabbit.com/articles/health/howtocombatsnuffles.html :hearts

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Almost all bunnies naturally carry the Pastuerella bacterium in their nasal/respiratory tract. Alot of times they have been exposed by the mother who also is a carrier or chronically has it. Baytril may work to treat the doe, but beware that many bunnies have become resistant to Baytril from its wide usage and you may end up trying a bunch of other ones. So, some bunnies never fully get better but are chronic snuffles bunnies. I would not sperate the kits as they need all those immunities from their mom and most little bunnies you try to hand raise do not do well.

 

[majorv]

You may want to wean the kits a little early, 4-5 weeks, so you can move them to another cage away from her.