sneezing rabbit?

Hello to all on this fine spring day!!! First of all im sorry if I posted this in the wrong section..If so the mods can feel free to move it to the right section. One quick question. Our pregnant NZW has been sneezing quite often. I do have video and am in the process of trying to get it uploaded to youtube as I type this. Anyway she has now developed a runny nose. Do rabbits get colds and is this somthing I should worry about?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plKav9sP8Jk[/youtube]

Hi, Tfb4me! It probably belongs in "Rabbit Care", and one of the mods will probably move it for you.

What color is the stuff that is coming from her nose? If I remember correctly, white is bad, and clear usually means allergies.

Well it seems more clear then white..yellow staining around the nostrils. I wasnt sure where to post the question as these rabbits are meat breeders.

Yes, let's move it to Rabbit Care. Non-meat rabbit people rarely come here but may have insights into rabbit illnesses that would help you.

You haven't had the rabbits long, have you? It could be an allergy, it could be something caught in its nostril, it could be the dreaded snuffles (pasteurella infection). Isolate the rabbit from the others if you can and care for it last so you don't carry germs on your hands or clothing. Check its nostrils to see if you can detect anything... Someone recently posted about a cat sneezing for two days and it turned out to have inhaled a blade of grass. Don't ask me how. Observe the colour of the discharge. Watch for matting on the rabbit's paws from wiping its nose.

Pasteurells can lie dormant in rabbits and then surface in times of stress such as moving to a new home or even pregnancy. I'm not saying this is the case, but do take precautions until you can find out what you are dealing with.

Ok thanks for moving it to the correct place. Anyway I just recently switched from straw bedding to wood shavings in thier boxes. The straw wasnt very good at absorbing the urine in the bucks box. That is why I switched. Im wondering if she may be allergic to the wood shavings.Yes Maggie your 100% right she is new to our home. She was replaced by the breeder. The first doe he sold us died of heart failure within 2 weeks of bringing her home. I will keep an eye on her paws for matting. I do see them all wiping thier faces all the time. So im not to sure if thier all sick of if this is somthing rabbits generally do all the time. Interesting to say the least...Thanks for the valueable information though..

MaggieJ's info and advice is wonderful (as always). Dont take any chances of infecting the rest of your herd should it turn out to be a more serious bacterial/respiratory illness. Keepin' my fingers crossed that your bun will be on the mend soon.

if it is Pasteurells can it be treated? if so how?
Further infor...That video was taken saturday.. today is monday and it appears that the sneezing had stopped..Still a bit of a runny nose with yellowing of the fur around the nostrils

tfb4me":8ps7c5wf said:

if it is Pasteurells can it be treated? if so how?

Click to expand...

Im going to post here what is in the ARBA Official guidebook about Pasteurelosis:
"Pasteurelosis is a complex disease, which is associated with several clinical forms: "Snuffles" (chronic)is caused by the bacteria Pastuerella Multocida either alone or in combination with Bordetella Bronchiseptica.
Clinical Signs: Intermittent or Persistent sneezing with a productive nasal discharge that is thin or thick and white in nature. It is a precursor to many other conditions. ...It is primarily an upper respiratory infection, versus pneumonia, which is often a secondary infection. Death is usually associated with a secondary infection.
Prognosis: Good for control but poor for cure.
Diagnosis: Select an appropriate antibiotic after routine culture and sensitivity testing of the nasal area. No specific treatment medication has been identified that is universally successful. Antibiotic administration to prevent secondary infections may be indicated.
Prevention: Improve the ventilation system, strict culling, development and selection of disease resistant animals, and minimize stress factors. Isolate sick animals. Sanitize drinking bowls and water lines on a regular basis to avoid build-up of bacteria and algae."

Hope this helped.

Rabbits do not get colds in the same sense that people do. The rabbit's condition may be allergies; it may be serious. You need to look at the larger picture, tfb4me. I know you've posted about your rabbits before and I know they are fairly new to you, but can't remember details, so please recap so we can determine your best course of action.

How long have you had your rabbits?
How many do you have?
Did they all come from the same place and have they been in close contact with each other?

If you have only a few and are not planning to expand by bringing in new rabbits from outside and IF the rabbit doesn't seem to be sick and you are not planning to sell to the public, you may choose to ignore the sneezing, concluding that dormant pasteurella may be in your herd. Some authorities believe that as many as 80% of rabbits (I think that was the figure) carry this disease, but it rarely surfaces except in times of stress. I've had my rabbits for six years and have had no problems, but they may well be carriers if the statistics are correct.
Pasteurella poses no threat to people and the meat from the rabbits is unaffected by it.

On the other hand, if you are raising them for sale as meat or pets or have plans to show them, you need to attack this problem more aggressively, get to the bottom of it and likely cull any infected rabbits. For this, a proper diagnosis would need to be made, and that would involve havign cultures taken, vet visits, antibiotics etc... costly and difficult. It would be wrong and unethical to spread pasteurella by selling or giving away rabbits from an infected herd.

Thanks Maggiej. I'm not selling animals they are going to our table. I just spoke with the breeder about the possibility of Pasteurella. He has over 300 rabbits and he is an upstanding member of Ontario Provincial New Zealand
Rabbit Breeders Association. He would have noticed anything like that in his heard. He also figures I have nothing to worry about. The sneezing did start when I added wood chips. As for your questions.
We have 3 adult rabbits. 2 NZW and one Cali. Both the NZW and the Cali does are pregnant.The Cali came from a different breeder. The rabbits have been kept separate from each other. In the video I posted I show how they are separated. is that enough to keep disease contained? These rabbits will not be going to the vet, unless I fear they are too ill to be consumed by us. If that were the case they would be culled. The hutches are Brand new so there is no possibility of contamination of any sort. They are outdoors and ventilation isn't an issue either. I cover over the hutches in the rain with a big blue tarp. I will keep my eye on them to see if anything changes in the near future. As I stated earlier the sneezing has stopped so I assume that is a good thing..no?
Thanks again for all your help, it truly means allot to get help from you all

Maybe the wood chips threw dust into the air that she was sensitive to, and now that it has settled, so has her sneezing?

Is she still acting normally? Eating, drinking, normal bunny berries, urinating, etc.? Looking generally bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?

Okay... almost certainly an allergic reaction to the volatile oils in the wood chips. Strong aromatic smell... The rabbit starts sneezing. After a couple of days, the oils dissipate... The rabbit stops sneezing.

We put down wood shavings in the colony prior to adding the rabbits. The aroma was so strong it made my eyes sting and my sinuses fill up. It delayed our plans by several days while it aired out. I am quite confident that you have figured it out correctly.

tfb4me":1gcfkegl said:

Ok thanks for moving it to the correct place. Anyway I just recently switched from straw bedding to wood shavings in thier boxes. The straw wasnt very good at absorbing the urine in the bucks box. That is why I switched. Im wondering if she may be allergic to the wood shavings.Yes Maggie your 100% right she is new to our home. She was replaced by the breeder. The first doe he sold us died of heart failure within 2 weeks of bringing her home. I will keep an eye on her paws for matting. I do see them all wiping thier faces all the time. So im not to sure if thier all sick of if this is somthing rabbits generally do all the time. Interesting to say the least...Thanks for the valueable information though..

Click to expand...

what type of wood chips do you use? Make shure that the chips don't have alot of dust that may be causing the promblem. I belive that cedar wood chips are bad for rabbits. I would add some hay too to the boxes

It's true that cedar shavings/chips are considered harmful to rabbits. Pine can be aromatic, but it does dissipate fairly quickly. Aspen is likely the best, but may be hard to find.

One way to tell if it's the wood chips is to wait till they dry out, the oils dissipate, the sneezing stops and put a couple of handfuls of fresh wood chips in with the rabbit. If the sneezing starts up again it's the wood chips.

The chips are mostly spruce and pine. I got them free from a friends dad. I will try adding fresh chips in a day or 2 to see if she sneezes again..Thanks to all for the replys again..

I had a couple of rabbits develop snuffles recently, and found a product called Vet Rx. It's a natural herb formula, and all I can say is that I followed directions on the bottle and it worked great. Here is a link to info on the product:

http://www.drugs.com/vet/vetrx-small-fu ... emedy.html