Is this vent disease?

[mmsa417]

This doe was fine when I got her, and now when I'm doing my pre-breeding check up, her vent is just a mess. This doe hasn't come into contact with any other rabbits and was put into a brand new cage.

I'm looking it up trying to figure out what it is, because I've never had this problem. I remembered hearing about vent disease and how it was a rabbit std. The only thing is it's hard to tell from the pictures I've seen. Some are puss-filled and just really bad. This is just red, it looks like there is no separation from the genitals to the anus. The anus itself is really swollen and you can actually see it pucker. There seem to be 2 little scabs on the bottom part of it.

My first thoughts were that she self mutilated herself or something, but then it does look like some of the milder pics I've seen of vent disease. Any thoughts? Sorry if this picture is not the best. Taking it one-handed wasn't the easiest, and the light kept making the wetness shine. ><

If this is not vent disease, any clues what it is and what I can do to treat it?

 

[rawfeeder]

Yes, that certainly looks like vent disease to me.

You need to give your whole rabbitry a treatment of penicillin. They can be carriers without showing symptoms (how it came into my rabbitry!) and it is highly contagious. I did 14 days of daily injections of Penpro for everyone. If you have access to Pen G you can do once per week shots as it stays in their system longer than the Penpro.

 

[mmsa417]

It also looks like it could be hutch burn, it's hard to say. This rabbit has not been in contact with any of my herd and if it is vent disease it should only be passed by contact or sexually or so I've read.

 

[Dood]

Vent disease

It has an incubation period of 3 to 16 weeks. How long have you had her?

It's not hutch burn as the areas around the vulva as well as the feet would also show damage from her sitting in her wastes and the fur on her feet and in the genital area looks to be in perfect condition

More info - http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_disea ... h_gen.html
Photos of a mild case caught early - http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f22/vent-d ... lis-13349/

 

[mmsa417]

I got her in October and like I said she has had NO contact with any rabbits at my place, so I'm pretty sure she came with it as I got her directly through the breeder. Which really irks me- I just hope that the breeder didn't know. None of my other rabbits have shown any signs of problems either.

I'm still torn about it being vent disease though - I mean she has no scabs and crusties like in that mild case caught early picture. It's just really swollen. I will have to get a better picture because this one makes it look worse than it is. She also absolutely no signs of anything on her face, mouth, cheeks, eyes, everything looks perfect. But I will probably just take her to the vet anyway to know for sure. That way if it is vent disease, I can at least see how the injections are done and if further problems arise I will be able to do it myself.

Here's my next question, is this fully curable if proper dosage is given? Will I ever be able to breed her? I spent $200 on this doe from a top end breeder (she is gorgeous too), so I'm a little frustrated at the thought of not being able to use her. I'm also scared to death that she may pass it to my other rabbits. On top of that she is a sweetie, so the thought of just culling her is not really an option. I'm just hoping this can be cleared up and isn't something that will just stay in her system. One of the links won't load, but will try in another browser. Thanks for the help and info! I have already read a lot, but a lot of the information seems to conflict which makes it hard to know which is true and which isn't. ><

__________ Wed Jan 15, 2014 4:05 pm __________

Oh and sorry but to clarify about the scabs as I noticed I mentioned it in the my first post here - but I can't tell if the 'scabs' are bits of poop or not. As they're brown, and when I checked again last night there was only one little spec instead of 2. The scabs in the pictures I've seen look whitish/yellowish, which she doesn't have.<br /><br />__________ Wed Jan 15, 2014 8:38 pm __________<br /><br />As an update, I made an appointment with the vet for tomorrow. Thankfully it's not too expensive for a visit and she can get taken care of.