removing doe from the litter?

[JessicaR]

Messy doe has started to sneeze and her bottom is very dirty. I am assuming it would be alright to remove her from the kits now? They are 4 weeks 1 day old and eating and drinking on there own, they do still nurse occasionally. Is it ok to go ahead and dispatch her now or should I wait and see if the kits are ok without her.

Should the kits be used for meat only or would it be alright to pet some out? My DD friend wants 1 for a pet and it would be the only rabbit in the house. The kits all look healthy, no sneezing, no dirty butts, and they are very friendly.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I think your safest option is to cull her right away. The kits should be fine without her, but even if they are not her presence sounds like a danger to the rest of your herd. Losing a couple of kits makes better sense economically than losing mature rabbits if she spreads pasteurella through your herd.

*Is there another post about Messy doe that I missed or don't recall?

 

[JessicaR]

yes I have posted before about her. She would pee in the nestbox no matter where I put it, and she has bad feet.

I am hoping its not pasteurella! Is it possible she always had it and is just now showing signs of it? When I first got her I kept her in quarantine for a month and she was fine except for the feet, and now 3 months after I got her she is starting to sneeze and rub her nose :evil: I havent seen any discharge but she has too many strikes against her anyways and I dont want to risk the others.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Go ahead and dispatch her now, then keep those kits in quarantine. It can take up to three months for any symptoms to show....

 

[JessicaR]

Thanks for the help, even if it isnt good news I am going to go ahead and cull her before my daughter gets home from school.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

While researching Black Floyd's abscess I read somewhere that rabbits don't get colds, so nasal discharge/sneezing is always pasteurella. Also, it is believed that all rabbits have it or at the very least all rabbitries do- and it is other stresses to the immune system that allow it to manifest itself.

I have rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle which makes it very easy to disinfect the cages. You may want to spray the entire rabbitry down to be safe.

Sorry to hear of your problem, but at least it is a doe that is out of favor anyway. Fingers crossed that you don't have further problems!

 

[ladysown]

nasal discharge is NOT always pasturella

Could be infection from hay up the nose, bordatella, pneumonia (though often pasturella based sometimes is ventilation based), rabbit VD, as well as other things.

Bordatella is treatable.

The problem is.. unless you can rule something out, generally cheaper to cull than to treat especially if needing to go to a vet office.

BUT given that THIS particular doe has a number of issues... I'd cull now and not even hesitate. once kits are three weeks old they can live without momma.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

nasal discharge is NOT always pasturella.

That is good to know.

However, it is probably best to cull any animals that become ill to preserve the health of the existing herd as well as future generations. In a pet situation I would make the effort, but not in a breeding program, unless it was an animal that has outstanding qualities that others in the herd lack, or an endangered breed where the loss of even a single animal would have a devastating impact.

 

[JessicaR]

She is now dead I cant believe I did it! My hands were shaking the whole time, and I thought I was going to get sick
Couple of things.
I am a bigger wuss than I thought! I didnt expect so much blood! Once the fur was off and she no longer looked like a rabbit I did better.

I wasnt expecting the pellet to go all the way through it blew off part of her nose.

She was hard to skin? either I am a weakling or it was because she was an older doe.

Her liver looked good, but her lungs were a pink and white speckled color, I think that is a sign of pasteurella right?
Is it ok to eat the meat? I have it resting in the fridge right now, then plan on freezing it for awhile, then cooking it in the slow cooker if it is safe to eat.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

(((Hugs!))) Good job. It is not easy to do to a rabbit that you haven't always thought of as destined for the freezer- and even then it is not a joyful occasion by any means.

I've never seen the pellet go all the way through the head, either. That must have been upsetting.

Floyd was a mature buck and hard to skin also. The young fryers are much easier, and don't have as much connective tissue, or it is not as strong anyway. There was also more blood than with the younger animals.

Could you post pics of the lungs so we can see them? If they are showing signs of pasteurella I would like to know what to look for when butchering.

We didn't use the meat from Floyd, but he had a huge abscess. I didn't want to risk it, although I was told it would be safe. I don't recall what was said about the respiratory type.

You should be very proud of yourself for getting the job done so quickly. I know it was a hard decision to make, but you made the responsible choice.

 

[JessicaR]

Sorry no pics. But on this website is what her lungs looked like only not quite so lumpy
http://www.lbah.com/rabbits/pasteurella.htm

 

[akane]

so nasal discharge/sneezing is always pasteurella.

There are about a dozen respiratory illnesses you could deal with besides pasteurella. That's why not everyone's herd gets wiped out by a rabbit showing respiratory symptoms and why I have no problem petting out rabbits that remain healthy or recover quickly on their own. Sometimes it's something mild that goes away on it's own and sometimes these things only show up in times of stress and then go away. A test found 80% of healthy looking rabbits already carry pasteurella anyway and are just suppressing it like we do with many illnesses such as cold sores (herpes simplex 1) and chicken pox. Although those are virus and rabbit illness tend to be bacteria.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I visited the link- when I butchered Floyd I was afraid I'd see the same abscesses riddling his body, but there was only the one.