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snuffles for the third time in 4 months

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Alpha Buck
one of my rabbits as had the sneezing bouts with white discharge from the nose yet again in the last 4 months & he had the injection plus the medicine which i had to syringe every day for a week the last 2 times of him getting it but the 3rd time he had the depocillin injections every other day for a week.
The vet said he should be fine but i am keeping an eye on him, he does seem nervous most of the time & i am wondering if it is because something is upsetting him with him having it so often, plus my other 2 rabbits have never had snuffles & 1 of them share the wendy house with him all the time?
Is this common or not.
 
This Q + A is from the All Experts Site

Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D.
Date: 3/10/2004
Subject: Pasteurella

Question
I was wondering if you knew of any tests that could be done to see if a rabbit has pasturella. There is no snot, no symptoms to sample for a culture. See, we have separate groups of rabbits, and we'd like to bond them, but fear that one group might have pasturella (they're domestic rescues from the wild). Like I already said, there are no symptoms that they do, except they have a wet nose. Are wet noses a sign? If not, do you know why my bunnies have them? It's not white, it's clear.

Thanks

Alexandra and Bunns

Answer
Dear Alexandra,

Even if the new bunnies do have Pasteurella, this bacterium will not necessarily be transmitted to anyone else. We have had *many* bunnies who tested positive for Pasteurella (via culture and sensitivity testing, which is explained here: www.bio.miami.edu/hare/culture.html), and not one ever had an uninfected companion contract the microorganism. Pasteurella is really quite a delicate beast, and many experienced vets now suspect that a rabbit will contract it in infancy, or not at all. Transmission is suspected to occur via contact with infected bodily fluids (snot, saliva, etc.), but a healthy adult rabbit exposed to such fomites usually isn't all that susceptible. The immune system handles it.

And some rabbits with Pasteurella never show any serious symptoms. It's just not the horrible demon it's made out to be: it's simply a bacterium that's not uncommon in rabbits, and in some immunocompromised individuals, it can cause disease that may manifest as an abscess, an upper respiratory infection, or even an acute systemic infection.

But it is quite treatable, though the specific rabbit-safe antibiotic that would be best to use can be determined only via culture and sensitivity testing.

Even if there is no pus, and the nasal discharge is clear, your vet can take a deep nasal culture and see if the bunnies are harboring any Pasteurella (see the article at the URL above). If they are, it's really not a big deal. But the only way to know is via culture and sensitivity testing.

I hope this helps. Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana (Krempels)


So it looks as though the thinking is that a Bun is most likely to contract Pasteurella at birth. But if a healthy adult Bun comes into contact with it his/her immune system should cope with it.
Stress can bring the symptoms of 'Snuffles' out

Janex
 
My little nethie had a serious case of snuffles in March which hit him really quickly - thank god I took him the same day I heard him wheeze as the onset was so quick.

My vet advised me that the antibiotic baytril should be a LONG COURSE i.e. minimum of 3 weeks, to get rid of the infection.

Luckily it worked for my little man, and his bonded partner luckily didn't pick it up from him.
I've also been told that stress can trigger a reoccurrance, so I keep things like his vet trips short and sweet, and I don't make too many changes to his accommodation as he's a little old man.


Hope yours is OK.
 
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