Quarantine question

[lidtfedtkanin]

I would love to hear how everyone deals with your show rabbits. Do you keep your show stock quarantined from your pet/breeding/meat stock? Have you ever had a rabbit get sick after going to a rabbit show? Are you show stock on permanent quarentine if there is more then one show every couple of months? I am contemplating how to do things if I start showing this upcoming year.

Thanks

 

[skysthelimit]

Buns get QT for 30 days after the show as if they were a new bun. I usually don't get to go to more than a few shows in a season, and with four breeds I don't take the same buns all the time, they age out in between shows, it's more of a rotation. When I am finally able to do successive shows, I will probably pull out the show string and keep them separate until they are retired. I could see this getting crazy though. If I took a group,then put them in QT. Two weeks later I took another group, I would not put them in the same QT, they would need a separate, and so on...JW would be one of the breeds that would go to muliple shows.


Yes, the JW got sick last May, 5 days after the show, and that started the massive ME/ERE deaths in my barn that resulted in losing 90% of my kits. They were in QT, and I brought them in after the required time. They survived, but I lost many.

 

[LilacGal]

I haven't had any get sick at shows, but I have been doing this for only a few months. It could happen but I currently only have 5 rabbits and all but one has been to a show in the last month. So I don't separate them out when they get back.

 

[lilrabbitry715]

All of my rabbits are separated! They don't share anything. The only time they meet is to bred.

I bought a brood doe and she seemed old and tired so put her in with my young one and it turned out after she was bred she had a vent outbreak! The buck I bred her to, I purchased at the same time from the same breeder. Yeah that will never happen again. I will only purchase rabbits under 12 week's of age.

 

[lidtfedtkanin]

I will have to come up with some creative re arranging to make this work. I was hoping it was uber rare to bring something nasty home.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I am on the fence about QT after showing. Ideally, I would like to QT the show string, but I really don't have the facilities to do so.

I did have an outbreak of Pasteurella after my show rabbits were exposed at a show- but I am now thinking that it may have been "P" (or something else) that was already in my herd. The rabbits that were affected afterward were mostly does with litters and they were not on the same tier in the rabbitry as the ones shown. "P" is usually spread by direct contact, or at least in sneezing distance, and the affected rabbits did not fit that criteria.

Most breeders I have spoken to do not have a separate area for their show rabbits. If you can take the pain of culling any that show illness it may make for a healthier herd overall. I culled all rabbits that sneezed and had a small blob of white snot. None were ever severe- no matted paws, etc.- but I think my herd is healthier now than it was prior to my mass cull. But it was a painful experience especially since the decision to cull was taken from me.

If you are going to be showing on a regular basis culling any rabbits in your herd that show illness after exposure will make for a healthier herd... but if you run into a very virulent strain of Pasteurella it can decimate your barn. So it is definitely a fine balancing act.

 

[luvabunny]

I have been showing for over 2 years this time, and over 10 years a decade ago.
I do not quarantine my show stock, and I have never felt a rabbit "came home with" something picked up at the show.

I went to 10 shows last year, all in the OKC, Tulsa, Wichita area, and did not see any rabbits I would be concerned being around. As I am not part of any of the committees who put on these shows, my assumption is that the committees are VERY strict in not allowing sick animals into the show barns. It could be different in your areas.

Anyone who shows can complain to the show secretary about sick animals in the showroom, who will immediately have them removed. If it continues, those people may be permanently banned from showing and ARBA.

The final decision on whether to show, and whether to quarantine your show animals is completely up to you. It is my opinion that just like children, the more they are exposed to, the more immunities they build and the higher the resistance becomes. There will always be a risk however.

Anyone here can tell you that even bunnies kept in the equivalent of a glass bubble still get sick sometimes. It just happens.

 

[lidtfedtkanin]

Thanks everyone for your input. I do appreciate everyones perspective! I am still not sure what I am going to do but getting some different thoughts helps me think about it further.