Sneezing doe with kits

[gulien]

Quick background : got 2 young rabbits this winter, the buck started sneezing and I eventually culled him. The doe has shown absolutely no signs of sneezing or discharge, so I kept her.

Got a new buck, who seems perfectly healthy, and bred her. Kits are 3 weeks old, seem healthy, and are growing like weeds, lol. Now momma starts sneezing and sometimes has a tiny bit of white goop in her eye. She hasn't lost much condition, but nursing 10 kits must be hard on her.

I was crushed to see this, as she's done such a stellar job for a first time mom, do I cull her when the kits are weaned? Should I keep a kit from her, or send the lot to freezer camp?

I think I know the answer, but I need to hear it, because it's such a disappointment.

Thanks all

 

[ladysown]

I would pull and cull the doe IMMEDIATELY. her kits should be well started.

Leave the kits in their own cage, on hay and pellets and oatmeal. The kits will still have some of momma's immunity for her milk and will be just fine without their mom.

Watch the kits for any sign of ill health and if they do have signs cull them.

In this instance I'm using cull to mean kill.

If you choose to keep any ... and I wouldn't hesitate to do so as long as the kits are healthy. BUT I would leave them in quarantine until after they kindle their first litter. I'd try to breed them early and if you have a disposable buck use him.

 

[phillinley]

We had the same issue starting last weekend with a doe nursing kits. We had a couple of extremely humid days last week and the doe and kits started the sneezing. Isolated them to a grow out pen in the yard and took the mother into the vet to get a culture on the snot to see what we're dealing with which should be back on Monday. Snot has disappeared in the mean time but the sneezing remains. Hopefully the culture comes back without the p word attached to the results.

Whether or not you kill the doe or kits, it's worth getting the culture done if you have the budget to make sure what you are dealing with and be able to take appropriate measures based on the disease if it happens to spread further in the rabbitry.

 

[gulien]

Phillinley: her symptoms also started during very humid weather, and disappeared when a cold front moved in. Not even a sneeze now. The timing has me puzzled, and I would very much like to know the results of your culture.

I haven't culled her yet, but she and her litter are essentially quarantined due to the way I'm set up. The symptoms suddenly stopped, so there's nothing for the vet to culture.<br /><br />__________ Wed Jul 17, 2013 12:08 pm __________<br /><br />Symptoms restarted with the latest heat wave, with the addition of sneezing/coughing blood. I culled her, and expected to see diseased lungs, but they looked fine.

Now I read in another thread that heat distress can cause these symptoms, and I'm afraid I may have killed a super brood doe for nothing ...

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I'm sorry you had to cull your doe.

However, just because there was no evidence of disease in the lungs does not rule out Pasteurella. The organism could still have been isolated in the sinuses- usually it is only advanced cases that have progressed to bronchitis or pneumonia that show damage to the lungs.

If she was accidentally culled due to heat distress, you still should not berate yourself. Heat tolerance is important in a rabbitry, as it is very time consuming to provide frozen bottles, and costs money to use a fan or install a misting system.

The rabbits in my growout area have a misting system because they are in sun for a part of the day. Between the shade cloth and misters I have spent well over a hundred dollars to protect them. My main BunnyBarn is in deep shade, and for the most part the rabbits are comfortable. I have used my box fan a handful of times this season, mostly for does who were near kindling and so were more prone to overheating.

If you can keep a replacement doe out of the litter, she may show more tolerance for the heat since she made it through being born in the warm months.

It would be best to keep her quarantined from the rest of your herd until she is bred. The added stress of pregnancy and kindling may bring out latent disease. Hopefully she will show no signs, and be a good brood doe like her mother. :clover:

 

[gulien]

Thanks MamaSheepdog. I hope it was the heat in a way, I don't need respiratory infections At least this cull went smoother than the last one.

I might keep one of the little chinchilla kits, if it's female. I get eyestrain trying to sex the little buggers, lol