[SquashNut]

Is a rattle in a rabbit always snuffles?
I had a little buck I was raising for back up and he started making a noise in his head and it got worse into his chest.
I have culled him and I am watching every one else.
He was the only one left in a pen of butcher rabbits that were butchered last week.
What do you usually do about rabbits with rattles?

 

[twohunnyz]

Not always. We had a Doe develop some of the symptoms of pasturella, but not all, nothing else fit what she was dealing with. Ended up she had congestive heart failure and died two years later. Never got pneumonia, always ate and drank, but was a bit lethargic. Even raised three large litters.

Did you check the Bucks organs?

 

[BackfourtyMI.]

I'm new to Rabbits as of early this summer so I don't know very much at all about them so why would you have to check his organs? What kinds of things would you be looking for?

 

[SFM in KY]

Is a rattle in a rabbit always snuffles?
QUOTE]

Apparantly not. I had one doe that "rattled" and when she started, my rabbits had been isolated on the farm for several months ... nothing new in ... and I hadn't been anywhere that I could have picked anything up either, so I basically ignored it and didn't quarantine her. Nobody else got it, she never got to the snotty nose/wet paws stage and cleared up in a few days.

I've since talked to another breeder, someone who does a lot of showing so is fairly paranoid about disease. She told me that she has found some individual rabbits and some breeds seem to be more easily stressed than others and she's found that these easily stressed animals seem to pick up what she's ended up calling a "cold" when they are stressed. Doesn't seem to be triggered by anything specifically ... she's had it happen with rabbits taken to shows and also at home, with sudden temperature changes or even relocation to another set of cage.

She says she culls them when it is practical, as she suspects part of it may be related to having a less efficient immune system. She's never had it get "passed around" in the rabbitry either so feels it is not anything contagious.

 

[SquashNut]

Not always. We had a Doe develop some of the symptoms of pasturella, but not all, nothing else fit what she was dealing with. Ended up she had congestive heart failure and died two years later. Never got pneumonia, always ate and drank, but was a bit lethargic. Even raised three large litters.

Did you check the Bucks organs?

We did loose this bucks grand sire to what may have been heart failure. So it's possible that is what was showing up early.
If that is the case he needed to be culled.
I am disapointed though he was a very nice buck.
I didn't check too closely on his organs, I probably should have. Mostly I just held him up to my ear while he was still alive and didn't put him back in his cage after I heard the rattles. Could have been his heart or his lungs. There was no discharge though. Which could be a good indicator it was his heart.

 

[twohunnyz]

There was no discharge though. Which could be a good indicator it was his heart.

Exactly. The Doe I mentioned earlier sneezed once in a while, but no discharge, no wet paws or nose, no coughing, droppings were fine, feed and water consumption absolutely normal, her usual friendly self, even raised two litters of 9 to weaning; we have reason to believe she was not in pain. But we could hear this rattle in her chest. Over the two year time period it grew worse to sound more like wheezing, until finally we had a heat wave coupled with higher levels of pollution than normal and she just wasn't strong enough to handle it. We wrestled with the idea of administering antibiotics, but not knowing with certainty what was going on, the ab treatment alone could have killed her. When we found her body she looked as if she died in her sleep.

Along with a couple other breeders, we are now watching this (very rare) breed for possible heart defects.

 

[twohunnyz]

I'm new to Rabbits as of early this summer so I don't know very much at all about them so why would you have to check his organs? What kinds of things would you be looking for?

Examining the organs, especially the liver, one can see tell tale signs of health and health problems. Also the amount of fat and the color of it are something to take notice of. In the case being discussed, we are now paying close attention to heart size.

 

[SquashNut]

I still have his heart, I will check it out today. His grand sires was the size of a golf ball when he died at 18 monthes.
I out crossed to a different line and didn't think this would show up again. I'll just have to keep culling out the bad ones.
i was thinking about going back and adding that line back into the rabbitry again, but looks like I may have to go a different direction in my breeding program.
It seems like any line of pure breds is going to have some problem or another though. I was reading on another site that one persons line had split penis. You just eat the junk.