What do these lungs/livers pics tell you? Illnesses.

[wildeden]

Backstory:
I've been having the joys in my barn of rabbits not doing so well.
I've only been to two or three shows since January and I quantaine all new rabbits and when I come back from shows. My herd has been around 30 rabbits in size.

When the temperatures here in Maine began to move into spring with some extreme hot days for us (70F+) then cold nights (~35F), I began noticing two things.

1) everyone seemed to have been sneezing (that I attributed to pollen or the hay). The pollen levels have been constantly high here. I removed the old hay, presuming that it was sharing mold spores and started running my fans in all the stalls for the rabbits. I treated everyone for 10 days on Duramycin-10. Every symptom appeared to clear up in my rabbits.

2) I lost about three-four litters due to bloat and jelly poops. Some of these litters had been drinking the antibiotic water so perhaps it killed their good gut flora. After losing the litters and the seniors had been treated with the tetracycline, things seemed fine for a while.

3) I had never treated my herd with Corid before (I'm still learning) and figured it'd be good to start that. I've already done 5 days on, about to go 5 days off of it before returning to being on the final 5 days.

So now, some of my seniors seemed to not be faring well.

Figuring it's the dreaded "P." that might be occuring. In fact, the rabbits that left the property for shows earlier this spring are housed in a different area than the rabbits whose pictures I am sharing in this post. Every rabbit has had dividers up as well between cages.

Rabbit #1 (Butchered 2 Days Ago)
Symptoms:
wasting away
pale games
runny nose

Rabbit #2 (Butchered 2 Days Ago)

gasping for air
went off feed

As of today, I have two more questionable rabbits. One I am quite sure I am butchering (Rabbit #3)...while I haven't seen white snot, I picked up her today and could feel wet particles blow onto my face while I was restraining her to look at her gums. She's also going off her feed.

Then there's my unfortunate situation of my foundation doe...who I'll cull if I need to...she's going off her feed as well. Her gums look like this today:

Again. All mentioned rabbits here with their images have never left my property, never been to a show who have been afflicted. And they are housed away from the rabbits who have been to shows.
No doubt I'm probably dealing with coccidiosis, likely pasteurella...somehow...Given that my rabbits haven't been places, who are sick, I suppose I can chalk this up to either stress from extreme weather changes that Maine has blessed me with? Or maybe my clothes happened to pick something up and transfer it to other less resistant rabbits in my barn?

This has been such a bummer. I am willing to cull hard but it's setting me back massively. I probably can't show the rest of the year and it's putting me behind in breeding.

 

[Miss M]

Rabbit #1: liver looks normal, lungs look like pneumonia.

Rabbit #2: liver looks abnormal (but not coccidiosis), lungs look like advanced pneumonia.

Pneumonia can be caused by Pasteurella, but other things can cause it, too. Sounds like it's contagious, though.

I'm sure some other, more knowledgeable members will weigh in. Just wanted to put my $.02 in. Those lungs are not good at all.

I'm really sorry you are dealing with this.

 

[MaggieJ]

I tend to agree with Miss M on the condition of the lungs and livers. My only question is, did you bleed them out when butchering? This sometimes seems to affect the colour of the lungs.

Disclaimer: I've not had extensive experience with rabbit illnesses. Partly good luck and partly because a small rabbitry with no one going anywhere tends to stay healthier. I think the natural diet helps too: many weeds have medicinal properties.

 

[michaels4gardens]

Bordetella bronchiseptica, and Pasteurella, negatively effect everything else going on in the rabbit, and will cause a pneumonia out break when the herd is stressed, by heat and other factors, [including allergies], the respiratory problem is likely one or both of these, -- and-- antibiotics, that are not accompanied by a good probiotic ,[like Bene-bac],-will cause more trouble then they will fix. -and will weaken the immune system of the animal ,and is opening the door to many more disease problems .

 

[wildeden]

My herd is currently on Probios with their food and have been supplemented by plantain and comfrey. Some are getting sweet potato and banana peel. I just received some first cut hay today.

After a week long process, my entire rabbitry has been disinfected via vinegar and sunshine (for up to 2-3 days) before the items returned back into the barn. Any cages I couldn't haul out, I sprayed thoroughly with vinegar.

I've been culling hard and am continuing to do so but man, this sucks

I am appreciating hearing everyone chime in.
It's at least a bit reassuring to know that sometimes it can be the environment causing some of the problems and it may not be entirely my fault. I've very attentive to my animals so I'm bumming hard.

Would love to hear others' insight and experience with similar situations. <br /><br /> -- Sat Jun 07, 2014 9:18 pm -- <br /><br />

I tend to agree with Miss M on the condition of the lungs and livers. My only question is, did you bleed them out when butchering? This sometimes seems to affect the colour of the lungs.

They were bled out but the second rabbit may have aspirated a bit.