minor respiratory illnesses

[akane]

We are having a repeat of what happened about a year ago. I can't remember if it was fall or spring. I had some young mini rex, got a new doe from a barn who had experienced "snuffles" before but no sign of illness then, after quarantine I put her in colony, no one got sick, I then put the young mini rex outside after being inside, and suddenly the temp plummeted against predictions. They all ended up with snotty noses, everyone panicked, I let it play out, and all rabbits recovered to go to pet homes. Which led to the guess of bordetella. Well I just put some young mini rex out in colony during 40-55F weather to have a short drop in temp and they all have snotty noses with no one else sick, none of the kits younger than them sick, no new rabbits, etc...

I'm thinking we've got something minor kicking around. I'm debating what to do with them this time. PTS really doesn't seem necessary since this has proven to be minor before and there is no reason like new rabbits or signs of spreading to think it's anything else this time. I can quarantine outside but they will remain a bit stressed by the cooler temps. Our temps are suppose to raise back up to 55F again tomorrow but that's not the 66-68F in the house or I can quarantine inside but the inside rabbits are all healthy as well with new kits coming so I'm not sure I really want to bring snotty nosed rabbits back.

I think I might culture this time depending what the farm vet charges to see what shows up and he won't condemn me for saying no I don't want to treat them and they will be put down if necessary unlike my usual vet I use for small animals and the dogs who would probably have me shot in the back as I was leaving. Great vet, extreme rabbit and small animal knowledge, but very big pet/antibreeding mentality. She wasn't happy to hear we were breeding rabbits when I took Twix in after her difficult birth although finding out they were pedigreed show rabbits did make things a little smoother.

 

[ladysown]

i'd get a culture done. But my guess...you have a pasturella bug floating about that shows up in times of stress and then as the immune system kicks in, shoves it back into hiding.

 

[akane]

No one really gets sick though. At 66F which soon dropped to 57F but still impressive for Jan all the sneezing mostly stopped and the mucus has gone from slightly white to clear with no other cases. It doesn't act like pasteurella that everyone has brought up. Only the very young and stressed get it and they recover very quickly (I'm not sure we'll get them in to culture before it's dried up) with no treatment just lessening stress. I haven't seen it in an adult. One 4month old that incident a year ago had clear mucus for one day that might have been from fresh hay instead. Otherwise it's confined to 8 week old mini rex kits who experience moving and temp stress. No one I've sold rabbits to has had illness either even when I sold that litter at 5 weeks because the doe was put down when they were slightly under 2 weeks so they'd been eating solid food on their own for at least 3 weeks. I don't sell kits to go from inside to outside at a new home with a new herd though. I adjust them here first.

Most of my mini rex adjust well by now but while this litter was from a 5th generation buck he was bred back to my first mini rex doe. Over the generations breeding a litter inside and moving them out during warm spells then keeping the ones in the best condition a few weeks later seems to have built up rabbits that handle temp change well. Apparently until I went back to generation 1 on one side and then had an unpredicted drop to 20F. I wonder if that creme doe who probably brought it in the first place isn't carrying it and spreading it when I add to colony with her instead of cages as well as the stress. I moved some netherland x mini rex with a bit of a temp drop considering they weren't bred for it and they have less meat on them but they were put in a cage on top and never suffered any symptoms.