Recovery possible from Pseudomonas respiratory infection?

Hello there,

I have a question about a recent litter. Growing up they were all healthy, I weaned at 6.5 weeks as I have with all my other litters. Never had a problem with the other litters, but this one started getting the sneezes at 8 weeks old. Started with one kit, then the whole litter. I was doubling use of my quarantine area as a grow-out area, so they were housed next to two other grow-out litters outside the main rabbitry in a 3-hole cage, and I used quarantine procedure on all of them. I culled two who were sneezing the worst, they had normal looking innards and lungs -- and I sent two separate samples from them to PAVLAB for analysis thinking maybe pasturella, but it came back negative for pasturella, positive for pseudomonas.

While the litter was very sneezy and damp around the nose, never saw white snot globs, and they never had any problems eating, drinking, or with lethargy -- acted like normal kits aside from all the sneezing. Hoping to get pelts off of them, I kept them to see if they would make it since they were not suffering in any obvious way. Time has since gotten away from me, they are now 14 weeks old. I never treated them with any medication since my understanding is that for respiratory infection, this isn't very useful and they aren't 'cured'. The two litters of other grow-outs housed right next to them never once sneezed and were all clean when I processed them. Their mother, still in the main rabbitry, no signs of illness. Their sneezing has gradually reduced, they still sneeze but less frequently and with less intensity.

My questions are: is it possible they are recovering from this on their own? Or will they always harbor it? There is lots of info online about Pasturella, but hardly any about Pseudomonas. There are some really beautiful colors in the litter that I had hoped to keep. Was going to cull all if it was Pasturella, but since it's not, and didn't appear wildly contagious, I'm considering my options -- but I also don't want to put any of my other rabbits at risk by keeping one out of quarantine. Second question is, is it possible this particular litter just had/has allergies all along, since only they got it and not my other kits? I tried two different hays and it didn't make a difference, but they always sneeze more when I put hay in. They have had hay access since birth however, but I only had problems with all this at 8 weeks and after.

This litter is Rex while all my others are Californians. Any perspective appreciated. I will process one more from the litter at 16 weeks when the pelts are good to see the lungs, but mostly I want to know if my pipe dream of keeping a pretty doe back from this litter is as ill-informed as I think it is.

Thanks!

Pseudomonas usually only become a problem with animals with weak immune systems and personally I would not keep any who came down with it.

They certainly could be recovering on their own but, like any rabbit respiratory infection, it can be exceedingly difficult to completely clear out all the bacteria because of the rabbits rather unique sinus system and they will likey be carriers for life, also, scar tissue could make them more prone to a recurrence and/or other infections

Dood about summed up my thoughts on this,
-- also- think about your rabbits environment , and feed quality [ie: dust, or mold] , -- are there any air quality issues, or temperature issues that could contribute to increased respiratory stress...

Thanks for your advice, both of you. It's as I suspected. As for their environment, they are in a very well-ventilated area with natural tree shade and I keep up with the cleanliness and feed very fresh high-quality feeds. Other litters housed in this same area showed no signs of stress or illness, just this one, which I suppose just leads to the conclusion that they are genetically weak. Guess that's that, then!