Rabbit diseases: symptoms and treatment, which are dangerous for humans

Rabbits are pets with strong immunity. The main enemies of their he alth are parasites and viruses. Fur animals get sick rarely, but seriously. You can guess about the disease by a change in behavior and loss of appetite. But lethargy is a symptom of many rabbit diseases. The main of them, animals become infected through food, water and sick fellows. But only a veterinarian can determine the exact cause and diagnosis.

Cysticercosis

The disease is caused by cestode tapeworms. Parasites infect the liver of rabbits. Cysticercosis occurs on rabbit farms. The disease is often discovered after slaughter. Acute symptoms appear when a large number of parasites enter the body.

Signs of cysticercosis:

• apathy to complete loss of reactions;
• diarrhea;
• loss of appetite and weight;
• yellowing of mucous membranes;
• enlarged liver.

The disease is dangerous for young animals and adults with weak immunity. A he althy rabbit gradually adapts to the presence of tapeworms in the body. Symptoms and treatment are about the same as for helminthiasis. Cysticercosis is treated with the tapeworm drug Praziquantel. They also check the quality of water and feed to prevent re-infection.

Coccidiosis

The disease is caused by coccidia bacteria. Microorganisms parasitize in the tissues of internal organs. There are intestinal, hepatic and mixed forms of coccidiosis.

Rabbits become infected through food, water and contact with a fellow carrier. The more bacteria enters the body, the more severe the disease. Coccidiosis is dangerous for the immunity of animals.

Signs of the liver form:

• the animal drinks a lot, but eats little;
• sits hunched over in the corner of the cage;
• the animal has a swollen belly.

Liver damage is accompanied by jaundice, diarrhea. The pet is losing weight. In a chronic state, it can stay 3-4 weeks. In the acute phase, rabbits suffer from diarrhea, go into a coma, and die within ten days.

With intestinal coccidiosis, the following symptoms are added:

• blood and mucus, green in litter;
• pale mucous membranes of the mouth, eyes;
• tousled wool.

The disease appears on the fourth or sixth day after infection. Intestinal coccidiosis is more susceptible to rabbits, elderly and animals weakened by other diseases.Due to rapid weight loss, convulsions begin, and food refusal quickly leads to intestinal stasis. Coccidia are difficult to detect in feces, even with laboratory tests.

Coccidiostatics, antibiotics for secondary infection and probiotics to restore intestinal function are administered to animals against pathogens.

Pasteurellosis

Infectious disease causes Pasteurella. The bacterium affects the respiratory and digestive organs. There are two types of pasteurellosis:

• acute - develops and leads to death within two days. Manifested by high temperature (41 degrees), loss of appetite, pallor of mucous membranes, swelling of the respiratory tract and intestines;
• chronic - loss of appetite accompanied by diarrhea, shallow breathing, purulent discharge from the nose.

Sources of the pathogen are domestic and wild birds. The acute phase of the disease is treated with antibiotics and sulfonamides. Treatment will help if you start it at the first sign. In chronic pasteurellosis, a sulfanilamide drug and an antibiotic alternate.

Myxomatosis

Myxomatosis virus is transmitted by mosquitoes, fleas, ticks and other blood-sucking insects. As well as rabbits that have recovered from the disease. Myxomatosis is a systemic disease, at the beginning of development it affects the skin, penetrates into the lymph nodes and spreads throughout the body.

Symptoms:

• apathy;
• lack of appetite;
• swollen eyelids, wet eyes;
• clouded hair around the eyes;
• large blisters on the muzzle, under the tail;
• blue mucous membranes;
• folds on the scalp.

The condition of the rabbit worsens within three days: straight ears sag, eyesight and hearing fall. The disease is accompanied by a high temperature of 41 degrees. There is also a nodular form. Instead of blisters, nodules appear on the skin. Then necrosis begins in their place.

Symptoms occur on the third day after infection or after an incubation period of up to ten days. Against the background of chronic myxomatosis, a secondary infection caused by staphylococcus pneumoniae develops. There is no cure for the virus. Rabbits are vaccinated with a complex vaccine against myxomatosis and viral hemorrhagic disease. With the nodular form, 50% of animals survive. Relief occurs on the tenth day, and recovery on the thirtieth or forty-fifth day.

In acute edematous myxomatosis, rabbits die or the disease becomes chronic. In this case, rabbits should be treated with antibiotics for the secondary infection.

Fascioliasis

The disease is caused by the trematode parasite. Fascioliasis is a disease of animals that are fed grass from swampy areas. Pathogens live in the liver.

Symptoms:

• oppression;
• refusing food;
• jaundice of mucous membranes.

Sick rabbits have a painfully enlarged liver. Animals are given anthelmintic drugs, grass and water from other sources.

Listeriosis

The disease got its name from the bacterium-pathogen - Listeria. Dangerous microorganisms are transmitted through the feces of sick animals. Listeriosis in the hyperacute phase has no symptoms. The rabbit suddenly dies. The acute phase in pregnant rabbits is recognized by miscarriage, subsequent loss of vital activity and baldness. Death occurs on the second or fourth day.

The disease is incurable. Only vaccination against listeriosis is carried out. Immunity in vaccinated animals lasts for 5 months.

Tularemia

Carriers of the disease are rats, mice and rabbit lice. Tularemia has no obvious symptoms. In sick rabbits, the lymph nodes are inflamed, which is also characteristic of staphylococcosis. Only a specialist can recognize tularemia, but there is no cure.

Sick rabbits are destroyed, the premises are disinfected, and grass from local fields is excluded from the diet of he althy animals.

Infectious rhinitis

The causative agents of a bacterial disease are staphylococci, pasteurella, streptococci. Rabbits become infected from sick relatives and humans. Bacteria live on dishes, bedding, clothes and shoes.

Rhinitis Symptoms:

• frequent sneezing;
• Redness of the nose;
• white highlights;
• scab around the nostrils.

As a result of weakened immunity, concomitant diseases develop: otitis media, conjunctivitis, stomatitis, skin abscesses and sepsis. Rhinitis caused by the bacterium bordetella is complicated by bronchitis and pneumonia. Without treatment, the animal will die in 1-2 months.

If a rabbit is sick with an infectious rhinitis, you need to strengthen its immunity. Derinat or Ribotan is used for immunomodulation. In the acute course of the disease, antibiotics are prescribed. A solution of furacilin prepared from an effervescent tablet is dripped into the nose - 500 milligrams are dissolved in fifty grams of boiling water. After cooling to room temperature, drop by drop into each nostril 6 times a day.

Trichophytosis - ringworm and mites

Skin disease is caused by a fungus. Its spores are found in bedding, feed, and animal hair. Lichen often affects rabbits. Symptoms of trichophytosis appear on the eighth or fourteenth day:

• flaky skin;
• wool falls out.

Blisters appear in the bald patches and become covered with a gray crust. Similar symptoms occur with itch mites.

Trichophytosis at the initial stage is treated with emollients and antiseptics. The affected areas are lubricated with petroleum jelly, fish oil. The next day, the crusts are removed, the hair is cut around and the salicylic acid solution, Yam ointment, nitrofungin or mycoseptin are applied. Against ticks, therapeutic baths in a solution of non-guvone or bromocyclene are used.

Inflammation of the lungs

Pneumonia develops due to bronchitis caused by infection or adverse conditions.

Symptoms:

• high temperature;
• shortness of breath;
• cough;
• mucous, purulent nasal discharge.

It is possible to cure a rabbit at the beginning of the disease with the help of antihistamines, antibiotics, vitamins, immunomodulators.

Poisoning and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract

Intestinal diseases include:

• formation of a hairball in the stomach - the hair sticks together, stiffens and blocks the digestive tract;
• enteritis - inflammation of the small intestine, often develops against the background of diseases that destroy the microflora;
• Gastrointestinal stasis or bloating - occurs due to poor quality feed, lack of fiber.

Gastrointestinal diseases are dangerous for domestic rabbits, as they refuse food, suffer from constipation and die from intoxication.

When poisoning, already familiar symptoms appear: lethargy, loss of appetite and impaired stool. To help the animal, you need to balance the diet with fiber and eliminate foods that irritate the intestines, such as cabbage.

Fleas

Blood-sucking insects settle in wool, carry the causative agent of myxomatosis and cause anemia.

Flea symptoms:

• rabbit often itches, bites fur;
• black dots are noticeable at the withers and along the spine.

Fleas are combed out, animals are bathed with anti-flea shampoos. Treatment solutions are applied to the neck and back.

Worms

Helminthiasis is caused by parasitic microorganisms of tape, round or flat shape. Sources of infection - feces, green fodder, water. Often the worms do not cause symptoms. But you should be wary if the pet eats a lot, but loses weight and often vilifies.

What can be infected from a rabbit to a person

Diseases transmitted to humans:

• fascioliasis;
• tularemia;
• pasteurellosis;
• listeriosis;
• cysticercosis;
• scabies;
• hemorrhagic disease.

You can get infected from ornamental and farm breeds. Gloves should be worn before contact with sick animals. Helminths enter the human body after eating the liver and meat of rabbits.

Prevention measures

How to keep pets he althy:

• cover cages with mosquito nets;
• find out about the epidemiological situation in the veterinary clinic;
• vaccinate against myxomatosis, pasteurellosis;
• change the cage and dishes after the recovery of the animal;
• wash drinking bowls, feeders, regularly refresh bedding;
• comb wool 2 times a week;
• for normal digestion and prevention of the formation of lumps in the stomach, feed hay from meadow herbs, branches of fruit trees, vegetables that contain fiber;
• to prevent obesity keep in a spacious cage, let out for a walk.

In order for animals not to get sick, you need to buy organic food from trusted suppliers, keep the cages clean and warm.

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