Help! Sneezer!

[Cottie]

My big buck is sneezing. =(

I went in to add more bedding to the colonies, and he started sneezing. One sneeze. Then two. Then five.

The fur under his nose is slightly wet. No matted fur, though.

He was immediately quarantined. Should we cull?

 

[AmysMacdog]

I'd watch him first. Maybe he had something in his nose. You did the right thing quarantining so quick. I hope he is ok.

 

[Sinnfox]

The fresh bedding makes me think he might have been reacting to that...i had a rabbit that was allergic to hay first time he sneezed i freaked...so I watched him...no matted fur only a few sneezes when i gave his hay...so I stopped the hay and he didn't sneeze again. May be hope that it was just a reaction to the bedding

 

[Miss M]

I agree with the others, it sounds like it could be allergies. Some rabbits start sneezing with a different kind of hay, or if you shake the dust out (outside the rabbitry) before giving it. You may want to try shavings instead, though.

I had a doe that sneezed. She gave us lots of meat bunnies that sneezed, too. :? One of them I thought for sure was going to just up and explode one day, it sneezed so much! No goop, no snot, no matting. Just allergies.

 

[Cottie]

The bedding was pine shavings, low dust, same as I always use. Maybe he got an errant fuzz in his nose. I'm going to keep an eye on him for a few days. If he seems 100% better, I think I'll keep him quarantined for a week. If he keeps sneezing, I'll do it for a month. Sound reasonable?

 

[Marinea]

I would quarantine him without any of that bag of shavings. I think most of us can point to a time where we got a bag of something that just wasn't the same as it usually was. Getting him away from those shavings might help you be sure.

A month sounds more than reasonable to me.

*fingers crossed it's just allergies*

 

[ladysown]

if it proves that it's just allergies, I would still look for a different buck to breed from.

I do not understand why people want to keep "allergy" rabbits.

Rabbits that sneeze are a "first sign that something is wrong". Sneezing is an indicator. Mind...the odd sneeze from water up the nose, diving into the food bowl type of thing.. that's just "silly rabbit" stuff. But repeated sneezing, with no outward sign of other issues (matting etc), that you are fairly sure is allergies. I do not understand breeding from those animals.

All you do is pass that "defect" along to the offspring.

The concern about doing so is that
1. it can cause excess concern/worry that something is dreadfully wrong.
2. it can negate the need for vigilance. as over time the concern become oh it's just allergies. So people don't pay the close attention that they need to.

Just something for you to consider.

I'm going to be culling out two animals this week that for all intents and purposes look and act healthy, but when picked up and carried about wheeze. Why do they wheeze? I have no clue. I've culled wheezers in the past and they have seemed perfectly normal in their lungs/general body condition, but it's a concern/stress that I do not need in my drive for strong herd health.

 

[Miss M]

I kept mine because she was the only doe I had at the time, and then when we got others, she was still my son's pet. Since I knew it was just allergies, I let it slide. We actually kept a doe from her, who does not sneeze, and a buck, who doesn't sneeze either. I will be buying replacements for them both, not growing out replacements, but they've helped get our rabbitry going.

I'm not saying it's a good idea to keep allergies in your rabbitry. It is an immunity issue that you really don't want to encourage, and it will usually be passed down.

 

[Cottie]

My other buck is unusually aggressive today. He's also wheezing a lot. Same wet fur under the nose, but no sneezes. No heat distress - the building is 75 degrees max with good air movement.

 

[ladysown]

ack... so not good.. just not good. Bedding or ???? ACK.

Feeling for yeah.. it's a tough place to be in.

 

[Cottie]

Can't be the bedding. It's the same bedding I always use, and it's on the other side of the building. The sneezes yesterday I could have chaulked up to perhaps a particle flying into his nose, or the sound scaring him and snorting food. But both of them gave me pause a few days ago. Something wasn't right, even though everything LOOKED right.

I think they've picked up something from the chickens, sadly. I don't know what. I'm always cleaning up chicken mess around them, no matter what I do to keep the chickens away. Now they're perching on the feeders at night. Or maybe that exposure weakened them to be susceptible to something else. Or maybe it's totally unrelated. They've been with chickens the whole time, but the mess issue has gotten substantially worse lately. I went in today after cleaning yesterday, and you couldn't tell I cleaned a bit.

I think we're going to cull Skipper. I hate to do it, I really do. He's just not his normal self - more scared aggressive than leave me alone aggressive like usual. Something is wrong.

 

[MaggieJ]

Skipper may be feeling vulnerable. Rabbits are prey animals and try to hide illness/weakness as best they can. Chickens scratching under rabbit cages are not usually a problem but if they perch on the cages and their poop contaminates the rabbits, then there can be problems. Salmonella is one disease that is thought to be able to pass from chickens to rabbits.

 

[Cottie]

Sure as I posted about how mean he is, he was a total sweetheart last night. Nary a scratch or a hiss (bark? grunt?). He probably hates quarantine and wants to get on my good side.