Oxytetracycline for rabbit respiratory?? ok?

[Noblegarden]

I picked up one of my New Zealand rabbits this morning and her breathing was rattling -- I know putting her down would be the best fix - but,
She is eating and drinking fine, good weight, no snot (no stains, no crusty feet, or snot on feet), no sneezing - normal pee & poops. She shows no signs until you pick her up then you can hear rattling.
I also don't know if I'm paranoid - but I heard sneezing coming from different rabbit cages (like one or two sneezes) - yet I checked them all - no rattling, no snot, no mucus/wet, nothing. I want to treat the one rabbit if possible. Worse case I'd be putting down a lot of rabbits - like maybe over half my herd - I have so much money invested in them it's a scary thought. Hard to think about when they aren't showing more signs.

So I went to the feed store and all they had was Oxytetracycline soluble powder. I am familiar and know how to use Tetracycline Soluble Powder, but not the Oxy-
Is it the same type thing? I am honestly going cross eyed while trying to figure out the dosage as well. It goes by weight of the animal, not by gallons of water (tetracycline I mixed 1/4 tsp with 1 gal of water). Any ideas?

PS-- I washed my hands between each rabbit, and I also picked up more pro-biotic to go along with the antibiotic.

 

[Dood]

Orally it is deactivated / rendered inert by the high amounts of calcium in rabbits diets, injectable is okay.

 

[michaels4gardens]

Orally it is deactivated / rendered inert by the high amounts of calcium in rabbits diets, injectable is okay.

I 'm with Dood on that-- oral was ineffective in my experience, but garlic tops and other onion family greens worked pretty well.-- also-- if you have blue sagebrush [big mountain sage, - not white sage] growing close by you it is also fairly effective in my experience.[for short term use]

 

[Noblegarden]

Orally it is deactivated / rendered inert by the high amounts of calcium in rabbits diets, injectable is okay.

I will take it back tomorrow, the Tetracycline Hydrochloride should be ok to mix in the water though right?
https://www.kwcages.com/tetracycline-so ... -4-oz.html

I 'm with Dood on that-- oral was ineffective in my experience, but garlic tops and other onion family greens worked pretty well.-- also-- if you have blue sagebrush [big mountain sage, - not white sage] growing close by you it is also fairly effective in my experience.[for short term use]

So in the meantime could I go to the store and get green onions and let her eat that? I will go scouting for the big mountain sage tomorrow as well. I've heard garlic tops work the best, but that it can be difficult to get the rabbit to eat it - is that true?

 

[michaels4gardens]

my rabbits love garlic tops, and garlic chives, -- also-- if you are going to raise rabbits "naturally" ,-growing some garlic chives is a great idea. as you can keep harvesting them most of the year, and a pot or 2 can be taken inside to harvest through the winter. [they are great in salad and stir-fry also] that way if you have a rabbit that gets snotty,poopy, or "off feed" you can pull a good size handful for them each day for a week or 2 until they get better [or don't] [I like to combine garlic chives and big mountain sage for treatments ] I have yet to have a rabbit not respond well to this treatment [but I have only production age rabbits, no old pets] feeding sage needs to be a short duration treatment as feeding a lot of it for weeks "could result" in toxin buildup

 

[Dood]

Tetracycline type drugs in general do not work orally in rabbits due to the calcium levels.

here is a list of antibiotics and whether they are recommended for rabbits and how to administer them - http://www.rabbit.org/health/antibiotics.html

 

[Noblegarden]

So - I returned the antibiotic this morning, went out and got garlic chives and garlic plants from the plant nursery. Got home gave all the rabbits probiotic and some of the garlic chives -- been sitting with them for about 5 hours, no sneezing. Took the doe in question out and no rattling - maybe she was grumbling at me the other day?? I listened with a stethoscope for a bit and nothing. Guess I'll go knock on wood? Our pollen level in the valley was really high yesterday (tapering off today, but still high), could that have been the cause for sneezing? I don't know - these rabbits will be the end of me, making me worry.

Thank you Dood for that link of antibiotics - I will keep that for reference
& Thank you too michaels4gardens for telling me about the garlic chives, garlic tops and mountain big sage --- though I could not find any of the sage Will look again tomorrow. Any idea where I can buy it? I asked our plant nursery to special order it, but I don't think they will. Hopefully I'll find some tomorrow though growing wild.

 

[michaels4gardens]

most of the "sage brush" with the bigger leaves is the right kind, -- but-- the lighter gray kind with smaller long skinny leaves is white sage, [I have no idea if white sage works ] - if you buy, / order sage smudge sticks, they "generally " come in white and blue, blue is what you need.