Baby bunnies with gook eye... Please HELP...

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I have 3 litters of baby bunnies right now and 1 from a litter from a mom with allergies has gooped together eyes. I've been cleaning them off, but I would like to know what causes this, is it infection? cold? allergies?


Also 1 bunny from a different litter has 1 gooped together eye, and white goop near the nose too.


Please someone, do I need to get the bunnies antibiotics or cull or is this just allergies?


Thank in advance...

 

[Akane]

I doubt that doe has allergies. I was thinking maybe too sensitive to urine or dirty nest boxes but given the white snot I'd say your doe is susceptible to pastuerella and is passing that on to the kits. Number one thing everyone has been beating in to my head is not to breed anything with bad nose or eyes or you'll have a rabbitry full of sick rabbits in a few generations. Pastuerella is everywhere and they will be exposed so only keep the ones that prove they can remain healthy.

 

[dewey]

Quote:
It's not just allergies.

Bun #2 sounds like Pasteurella (aka: snuffles), with possibly bun #1 having the symptoms.

How old are the kits? Are the eyes clear otherwise when the gunk's cleaned out? Is the gunk only on the outside, or is it inside, too?

Antibiotics can be given but they can be hard on them. For mature rabbits, without knowing the exact bacteria, a broad antibiotic like Terramycin water soluable can be given 1 tablespoon per gallon of water for 10 days or as advised otherwise, given as the only water source, mixed fresh every couple of days and kept in the frig. Live culture yogurt or bene-bac can help ward off digestive system upset.

Terramycin eye cream can help with the eyes (also in the case of nestbox eye) but sometimes can only be purchased online and so not always on hand...in a pinch Vetericyn 3x daily in the eyes or the diabetic eye solution sold at drug stores, using a sterile technique when the eyes are cleaned. VetRx can help relieve symptoms but is not a cure...neither is antibotics but supportive care for symptoms can help them through it.

It's believed that pretty much all rabbits have been exposed to it in one form or another and only show symptoms in times of stress, so culling is not always the answer.

There could be 2 things going on at once, but each can spread to the others. A nest box eye infection can be cured easily enough if caught and tx'd early.

 

[dewey]

Quote:
It's not just allergies.

Bun #2 sounds like Pasteurella (aka: snuffles), with possibly bun #1 having the symptoms.

How old are the kits? Are the eyes clear otherwise when the gunk's cleaned out? Is the gunk only on the outside, or is it inside, too?

Antibiotics can be given but they can be hard on them....for mature rabbits, without knowing the exact bacteria, a broad antibiotic like Terramycin water soluable can be given 1 tablespoon per gallon of water for 10 days or as advised otherwise, given as the only water source, mixed fresh every couple of days and kept in the frig. Live culture yogurt or bene-bac can help ward off digestive system upset.

Terramycin eye cream can help with the eyes (also in the case of nestbox eye) but sometimes can only be purchased online and so not always on hand...in a pinch Vetericyn 3x daily in the eyes or the diabetic eye solution sold at drug stores, using a sterile technique when the eyes are cleaned. VetRx can help relieve symptoms but is not a cure...neither is antibotics but supportive care for symptoms can help them through it.

It's believed that pretty much all rabbits have been exposed to it in one form or another and only show symptoms in times of stress, so culling is not always the answer.

There could be 2 things going on at once, but each can spread to the others. A nest box eye infection can be cured easily enough if caught and tx'd early.

eta: Many people do nothing but give symptom support while it runs its course....a lot depends on your kit ages...I hope someone has info for young kits.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I was told the doe has allergies when I got her. I think she is allergic to hay as every time I put it in there she sneezes. All the cages and nestboxes are clean.


I understand baby 1 from the "allergy" mom got it from her, but what about the other one? Her mom and all other siblings are fine.


I have Terramycin, but don't want to just cover it up and perpetuate any sickness... is this something they will always have? Would it be better to cull now and get rid of the doe that I was told "has allergies"?


The kits are 4 weeks old. Kit 1's eyes were clear when I cleaned them out. Kit 2 only one eye is affected but it's really goopy and the lid is pretty swollen, the eye doesn't look good either, but the other eye is 100% fine.


Edited to add that the doe "with allergies" went through a treatment of antibiotics right when I got her. She has been the same ever since.

 

[dewey]

Well, dust and such in hay can make them sneeze and some of mine sneeze only right when they get hay. I thought it was the beginning of snuffles but it was just the bermuda.

Personally, I would not just start culling all of them given that "snuffles" can be caused by several different types of bacteria, including bordetella & staph and it's believed that all rabbits harbor pasteurella, but are just asymptomatic carriers. Although, I think I would want to replace any that had a bout with slight outward snuffles symptoms that did not clear up with treatment or that had even a hint of a repeat episode after treatment.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

So I will just keep cleaning the eyes and use Terramycin, then if in like a week it's not better, THEN cull?


I think I am going to get rid of the sneezy doe anyway, don't want to deal with it.

 

[dewey]

I can only speak for what I would do. Taking care that any sneezing isn't just from dusty hay or getting water in the nose, the culling would be fairly merciless in culling for breeding stock with any with nasal discharge...like Akane mentioned, keeping only those showing resistance. Any with nasal discharge I would remove from the breeding herd.

If there's nest box eye that wasn't aggressively treated at first and it just progressed over time, perhaps like kit #1, I'd treat it and see how it goes. Once the lid is swollen the gunk needs to be gently cleaned/pulled out of the eye for the antibiotic eye gel to be effective there along with the water aniti's. I'd give it go if it was due to being lax on my part that it progressed in the first place. Simple eye infection can easily clear up with just eye gel for a few days, or eye gel & anti's if more advanced...if it's not too far advanced.

Just something to consider with the doe that sneezes occasionally......any with nasal discharge I personally would just remove from the breeding herd. Here's the thing to consider...any with sneezing occasionally (that's not dust/water related) that does not progress further with symptoms would be removed, at least eventually only if you're just building your herd if the stock was valuable stock to begin with and not someone else's culls, and if one doesn't have a larger herd to tide them over. Keeping that doe separate from others while raising some more litters from her could give you resistant stock from the kits in her litters that didn't show any symptoms and therefore didn't need to be culled. It would mean culling those that did show any symptoms. When the healthy kits are old enough to breed they can replace the doe. Note that I've only seen that presented as an option and frankly would probably consider that if a better option was not available....from that doe one could end up with 15 or more resistant rabbits to choose stock from.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Thanks!

 

[dewey]

You're welcome. All the best!