Abcesses = Cocci

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Frosted Rabbits

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I made a connection this week between unexplained abscesses located on the right side of a rabbit, just before the end of the rib cage---

Coccidiosis has a minimum of 9 species that call rabbits 'home', and each species has a specific location it likes to live in within the gut. One of the stages of the protozoan life cycle stimulates the protozoan to burrow in, making a fistula, or pouch, in the intestinal wall. Guess what-- the fistula can grow in size, permitting intestinal junk to enter-- and with no place to go but towards the skin, we wind up with a rabbit with a lump on it's side. I was able to verify this mode of abscess development when I palpated an abscess on a young doe I have, and felt the intestinal waste (yes, poop)under the skin. I know this rabbit has had no injuries to speak of, so it is not something caused by a bite from another animal. The location is identical to the first Rex I got several years ago, and to another white NZx rabbit that I had last summer. I have seen identically located abscesses on rabbits raised on the ground at other locations, with and without poultry present.
No doubt, if I were to take this animal to a vet, and ask for a culture, it would come back as 'pasteurella' because protozoans will not culture out- and are typically used to look for bacterial causes.

So folks, I little bit of info for your future reference. I do love researching stuff, and pulling things together... :geek:
 
Interesting information, Terry, and I will file it for future reference... and hope I never need it!

At risk of invoking the wrath of Murphy... I've never, so far, had a rabbit with an abscess.
 
Not all livestock can handle medicated feed. It is dangerous for waterfowl, for instance. I didn't know that there even was a medicated rabbit feed... but then it has been several years since I bought pellets for my buns.
 
Coliform as an abcess? Certainly-- especially if it finds a little hole to crawl into and grow in!!!
What a LOT of people do not realize is that small parasite loads are beneficial-- they help keep the immune system healthy. An immune system cannot work unless it has been challenged. eliminating the challenge means the immune system has nothing to 'practice' on. maintaining a 'healthy' parasite load helps the immune system keep up with the genetic changes that occur over time. it is when systems are stressed, forced to owrk in a way that nature did not intend, that trouble ensues. Many types of parasites are species specific-- meaning, the cocci that live in our chickens cannot live in our rabbits. The same is true of Coliform bacteria.

Coliform is thought to manufacture the b-vitamins- as it is within the lower gut that B vitamins are absorbed within the digestive system. Put those coliform into the upper digestive tract-- that is when one runs into trouble. Also, feeding 'concentrates' alters the makeup of the coliform-- Grass fed beef does not eliminate coliform that is harmful to humans-- start feeding that cow grain, and within a week, the shed coliform become dangerous to us!
 
Frosted Rabbits":2dxg8sx8 said:
Many types of parasites are species specific-- meaning, the cocci that live in our chickens cannot live in our rabbits. The same is true of Coliform bacteria.

Are you saying that any strain of E.coli in a chicken is not harmfult to a rabbit?
 
avdpas77":50qdkf0h said:
Frosted Rabbits":50qdkf0h said:
Many types of parasites are species specific-- meaning, the cocci that live in our chickens cannot live in our rabbits. The same is true of Coliform bacteria.

Are you saying that any strain of E.coli in a chicken is not harmfult to a rabbit?

Not "any strain" but very likely that better than 97% of the poultry versions, if the poultry are not fed a concentrated diet, and the rabbits are healthy as well, the rabbits will be able to 'handle' what the chickens shed...
My poultry are true free range birds for most of their days-- they are cooped up at night-- and yes, poultry feed is available, but i know they get most of their nutrition, even in the winter, from what they forage in the woods and fields. They swipe food from the cats and rabbits, as well. THAT keeps mice and rats from under the rabbit shelter...

HOWEVER-- this does NOT mean it is okay to let the poultry sit above the rabbit cages... I had rabbits and chickens in the same ground enclosure for several months last summer-- they shared food(non-medicated), bedding, water, etc-- no sign of illness in any of them. Not even mites.-- some people believe fur mites and feather mites are one and the same---
The idea is to let Nature sort things out-- let the immune system work the way it is supposed to. Let the digestive systems work the way they are supposed to.
 
The immune system has nothing to do with parasites. The immune sytem battles virus and bacteria. Loads of worms or cocci relieve a rabbit of it's full nutrition thus making the immune system less able to cope. I also refuse to believe, for example, that a dog flea will starve itself to death simply because there are no dogs around; it will simply attach itself to the next nearest mammal like a cat or human.Same goes for lice or worms or any bacteria/viruses.They all can adapt to the enviroment around them, otherwise most of this type of thing would have been erradicated eons ago.Not having lice in rabbits or poultry doesn't mean they won't cross contaminate each other, it means there is none in that particular enviroment, which is a good thing! :D
 
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