TREATING Pasteurella

[HANSON301]

Hi everyone.
Has anyone treated Pasteurella with Penicillin, Bimeda or Durvet® Duramycin?
something i can get from without a vet...

HELP!

 

[Schipperkesue]

No. Nothing works, not even the expensive vet purchased drugs. Intramuscular Noromycin injections will repel the symptoms for a little bit, but puts them off food.

I have been on the medication merry go round. Never again. For me, the cure is an ax.

 

[Peach]

Unfortunately, pasturella is not curable. It will spread to your herd, and can end up costing you a whole lot more than one rabbit. You can cover up the symptoms,but under stress, it will return and in that time spread aswell. Hope this helps and sorry about the current situation goodluck!

 

[Dood]

You rabbit will always be susceptible to an outbreak and can infect other rabbits you own but I know of several pet rabbits that have been treated by a vet and lived long mostly healthy lives.

Most oral antibiotics don't work so injectable is the way to go.

The protocol at the clinic i worked for was to give the clients rabbit an injection of penicillin and send them home with liquid enrofloxacin for a week. Then after 7 days they came back in for another injection and possibly more antibiotics and so on until the vet felt the rabbit was in the clear.

Enrofloxacin can have severe side effects in rabbits and clients were told what to watch for and to stop the oral antibiotics if they had symptoms. These rabbits then had to come in daily for injections but most people didn't due to the costs.

Unfortunately most people brought their rabbits in when it was way too late and they couldnt be saved. Those brought in with minor symptoms fared much better but still the treament would often last more than a month. Once a rabbit was treated and 'cured' the clients were warned to bring the rabbit in at the slightest sign of infection for another shot of penicillin and they were told not to get another rabbit until this one passed. Unfortunately one family didn't listen and the new bun died very swift even with prompt medical treatment. She likely caught it from their first rabbit as two others from the litter were clients and showed no symptoms.

The house bunny society might have more suggestions as they usually do try treatment.

Good luck.

 

[skysthelimit]

If you have other bunnies, it's not worth it. It can be treated, symptoms abated for periods of time, but never cured, and the rabbits can STILL infect others.
Unless this is your only rabbit, a house pet, and not you, nor others that live in your house, will come in contact with anyone who has rabbits, then I wouldn't attempt it.

 

[HANSON301]

Thanks everyone, that is what i was afraid of. and yes i have more rabbits.
i moved him out of the barn and he is getting his last meal....

 

[skysthelimit]

Sorry.

I just culled my last Angora doe after a long battle with myself.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Thanks everyone, that is what i was afraid of. and yes i have more rabbits.
i moved him out of the barn and he is getting his last meal....

You may find the chronicle of our experience with Pasteurella to be helpful...so sorry you are dealing with this.

my-pasteurella-journey-t12109.html

 

[akane]

There are a lot of possible respiratory illnesses and various strains of pasteurella. Not all are deadly or need treatment. Nearly every rabbitry has something in it. It's estimated by some that 80% of rabbits are carrying pastuerella without symptoms. After we got our creme d'argent from a not so stellar rabbitry (reason we never got a purebred buck for her) we would have a certain line of kits develop respiratory symptoms for about 2 days and then clear up without treatment when they were moved from indoors to outdoors and had a temp drop or if the weather got extreme. They were only sold as pets where they did fine or butchered so we didn't really worry about it. One adult came down with it for a day once and otherwise we never saw it beyond newly weaned kits under stress with a certain mini rex bloodline in them.

Rabbits with mild symptoms might be able to go to an indoor, low stress pet home with no or minor treatment depending on their immune system and what they have exactly. Not really recommended to breed them after they show symptoms except possibly for meat since you will just be breeding more rabbits sensitive to that particular illness.

 

[dayna]

My "advice" might be met with a lot of criticism. But it's my herd, my risk, my choice.

I have a doe that had ALL the classic symptoms of the dreaded "P".

I started her right away on injectable LA200. I ordered BunnyVac and did the required vaccinations. I treated her rather than culling her.

She's been symptom free since, her kits have all been healthy and symptom free. No other rabbits have shown symptoms.

When she was ill her weight got down to just over 4 pounds. She's now slightly over 9 pounds! She's a delight to own, a fabulous mother, and other than her illness has been SO HARDY. I decided to keep her BECAUSE she got better so quickly.

She had guey white snot, sneezing, matted snot covered legs, wheezing, and a temp.

That was a long time ago.

 

[dynastydwarfs]

Due to the need to conserve the genetic variability of a limited gene pool (and not able to replace lost lines) - I have had to look at breeding in resistance to Pasturella rather than culling mild cases. In my country import of new stock is forbidden and the genetic pool available here is relatively small. I have found extreme cases proved unable to breed so were culled. Access to antibiotics is likewise limited or difficult or both (for many reasons it would take a lot to explain). It has forced me to use stock with mild symptoms that might be pasturella (testing would require samples to be sent to USA and VERY expensive) and try to breed for resistance stock for the last decade or so. By and large this has been successful - symptoms have almost disappeared in my herd. At present time I have only one animal that seems to be susceptible and he is isolated from the herd. Neither tetracycline nor penicillin G based antibiotics have eliminated the runny nose nor reduced the regular bouts of sneezing so he makes a good subject for an experiment I am trying with alternative medicine. I have used alternative medicines and herbs extensively with great results so when someone posted that they had cured Snuffles with herbs (and the rabbit was confirmed as clean afterwards), I decided to duplicate it. It involves feeding fresh catnip and fresh lemon balm leaves EVERY DAY for a minimum amount of 3 months. So far I have fed him these for 1 month and already his sneezing has sharply declined in frequency and intensity. His nose is dry for long periods of time now and his paws are much less matted. I still have 2 months to go but I live quietly in hope. He is one of my best Netherland Dwarf bucks with type and colour intensity (and his colour is quite rare here). I thought I would pass this on if anyone wanted to try it as well. The poster emphasized that need to feed fresh 2-4 leaves of each plant EVERY DAY for a full 3 months or more for a chance of success. I do know that my poor buck avidly devours the catnip and lemon balm leaves when I put them into his cage so there is not problem getting them into him.

 

[squidpop]

Same thing Dayna said happened to me. I treated a rabbit and the Pasteurella never came back. But there are lots of different bacteria that can cause Pasteurella so maybe my rabbit didn't have a virulent strain or had a different bacteria than the P that other peoples rabbits on this forum have gotten that killed off their entire herd. I traveled to a specialist rabbit vet and she prescribed zithromax which is a newer antibiotic so perhaps the virus had less resistance to it than older antibiotics like baytril.

 

[ottersatin]

I am glad to hear that so many have had excellent results
with their treatments in improving the health of their Rabbits
that encountered the Pasteurella disease. It does show possible promise
to an actual CURE! This would be a boon to Rabbit breeders everywhere.
I wish everyone the best of luck, However I am still He**bound on sticking
to my continued breeding toward resistance. After what took place in my Herd
so many years ago, I just refuse to risk the entire herd for the Life of
one or two Rabbits! The price to me is just too much to pay.
But I am hoping that all is well for all who are willing to place
their herds at risk.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[MamaSheepdog]

It involves feeding fresh catnip and fresh lemon balm leaves EVERY DAY for a minimum amount of 3 months.

I do know that my poor buck avidly devours the catnip and lemon balm leaves when I put them into his cage so there is not problem getting them into him.

This is very interesting, and thank you for sharing. I hope it works!

I have never tried feeding Lemon Balm, but have plenty of Catnip here. I tried feeding it to my bucks and non producing does (it inhibits milk production so should not be fed to pregnant or lactating does), but my rabbits were never interested in it.

Until, that is, I had a doe who was developing mastitis due to over-abundant milk production. She wolfed her catnip down, proving to me that animals do indeed self medicate if given the chance. I wonder if that is the case with your buck as well?

Please keep us updated on his progress!

:hi: to RabbitTalk, DynastyDwarfs!

 

[skysthelimit]

I have an abundant supply of lemon balm. Tried it and it didn't work in my case.

And that is the problem with treating for any respirator illness, there are so many strains. Those of use with many rabbits might not have or want to take the time and expense it takes to figure out which illness it really is, and treat an animal for the rest of it's life, with the possibility of trying many things and not having them work, or possibly risking the entire herd. Though, exposing the herd and seeing who dies and who doesn't would be a quick and dirty way to see who is resistant. That doesn't seem right, but that's what you're doing if you keep an ill rabbit with a communicable disease, even if it seems mild. Rabbit Russian Roulette.

It might seem crude, but a couple hundred dollars of vet bills for a $40 rabbit, or wiping out a herd worth $$$$ and 3 years of work for one rabbit doesn't work for me. The best way to breed for resistance is to cull those that show signs and keep those that don't. My rabbits get exposed to enough germs that I am not keeping a totally sterile barn, but if they were going to get sick, they would have by now. Still I try to protect them when I can.

You have to count the cost and see what works for you. I tried for several months and still came to the same conclusion. I've culled for less than that.

 

[Zass]

I have tons of lemon balm, for my herd though, too much fresh quickly leads to cecotrope over production, so I only feed it sparingly when it's green.

Along with the mint and comfrey, it seems to be taken better in quantity when dried.

 

[dynastydwarfs]

The person who suggested it said that either herb on their own does not work - it has to be BOTH fed together to have a chance - and yes, I agree that there are so many different strains of respiratory diseases that what will work for some will fail for others. I now refuse to use Baytril having found it useless for past problems - prefer the tetracyclines especially the oxytetracyclines and the pencillin G LA (bicillins or tricillins). In my case my herds of Netherland Dwarfs and Jersey Woollies have been bred for high disease resistance. Mucoid enteritis is now unknown to my stock and so is coccidiosis - in fact any gastro-intestinal diseases no longer appear in either kits or adults. My aim has always to have a herd that does not need any drenching or coccidostats and only antibiltics if sick - and it has been achieved. Likewise I have bred for tolerance to diet changes and stress - mine can travel and tolerate different foods (greens or pellets) and waters with minimal problems. Pasturella is the last disease for me to work on. This buck I am treating has been around several does over the last 2 yrs and none of them have developed any symptoms - with luck, this boy is the last. As for one rabbit compared to a herd - when one rabbit represents half of an entire bloodline or is a colour that NATIONWIDE is rare, then that rabbit has a non-monetary importance in this case. The calici virus (called VHD or RCD) is legal here and frequently strikes studs to further reduce colours and genetic variability. I lost over half my stock 6 years ago and it has been a mission to rebuild especially since getting more stock was very difficult or no longer available. I guess these are my reasons why I have not "culled" this rabbit but sought a treatment instead.

 

[akane]

If a common illness wipes out a large portion of my rabbits they obviously weren't worth breeding. That may even mean the entire breed in the area is no good if they are a less common breed. I'd either give them up or bring in an outside bloodline including crossing in another similar breed that is more successful to help recover the immune system.

I decided that anything which recovered on it's own was worth keeping alive even if I didn't use them for future generations. The original breeders of that MR line I mentioned had some characteristics I wanted so I kept breeding them and using some of the offspring that never got sick. Anything that doesn't recover on it's own I put down. In the 2 cases it happened the rabbits were so sick by then that I didn't even use them for dog food. They just went downhill so rapidly without treatment it was obvious within days they weren't going to recover. Sadly one of those was a favorite who we were training to be a therapy animal because of her wonderful personality and interesting color. I spent months asking myself if I did the right thing putting her down instead of treating when we could keep her without breeding her or only sell her offspring to pet homes if future litters remained healthy. The vector and rapid decline pointed towards a strong strain of pastuerella instead of more mild respiratory illness so it was probably the right call.

 

[dynastydwarfs]

I guess we all have to do things the way we see fit. I agree re common illness so long as it does not eliminate a colour gene or even a breed from the country. Unfortunately due to RCD (which cannot be treated and cannot have immunity developed except by vaccination) some of our breeds are on the edge of extinction and importation is forbidden by the govt. For those who do not know about RCD - it has a 80% death rate - it is far worst than mxyomytosis - it is highly contagious (up to 3.5 months active on surfaces/hay/other aniamls. If it worked in humans like it does in rabbits, it would be regarded as worst than ebola virus or bird flu and would wipe most cities clean of people. Only Austraila and my country allows it because rabbits are regarded as a pest species. Even vaccination does not give full protection to a herd - many breeders including myself have lost vaccinated stock. If a rabbit is chronically sick with pasturella, then yes, I agree that these must be eliminated but I have bred with rabbits with mild but recurrent symptoms due to the genetic scarcity and kept up treatment until I could get kits from them. It is now at the point that out of a herd of 100+ animals, only one has mild symptoms. Due to his importance to my breeding programs I thought it worth finding a cure. Sadly I have found that if I bring in outside bloodlines that are not related to mine, I end up having to put some down as they develop symptoms so now I keep to a more limited group of breeders. I know it goes against all advice but by breeding from animals with mild symptoms (and that includes wryneck), I have found that my stock has become symptom-free over time. I am not saying that everyone should do this, I am merely relating how sometimes playing hunches and testing out alternatives can work - in this cases, it was a matter of desperation to preserve non-replaceable stock.

 

[Dood]

Sadly I have found that if I bring in outside bloodlines that are not related to mine, I end up having to put some down as they develop symptoms

Have you kept track of the rabbits you sell? Do they infect the other rabbits in the home or neighbourhood they travel to?