SNUFFLES IN RABBITS
FACT and FICTION: Any breeder who has been involved with raising rabbits for any length of time will be
painfully familiar with the disease condition commonly called “snuffles”. It is an inflammation of the nasal passages and
sinuses, resulting in sneezing and a mucus discharge from the nostrils. It is caused by a highly contagious bacteria called
Pasteurella multicoda (PM). Often the first sign detected is sneezing. Closer examination may reveal a thick whitish yellow
nasal discharge. The nasal discharge stimulates the rabbit to rub its nostrils with the inside of its front legs. Any rabbits
demonstrating these signs can be diagnosed with 100% certainty as having snuffles. There are virtually no other respiratory
diseases in rabbits. Allergies in rabbits are not manifested by a runny nose as they are in humans. Allergies in rabbits most
commonly cause itchy skin and reddened mucous membranes.
Between 20% and 70% of the rabbits in any rabbitry carry PM in their nasal cavity without exhibiting any clinical signs of the disease. A rabbit’s immune system can keep the number of PM organisms in check, and will prevent disease signs from appearing, but it cannot completely eliminate them from its body. If in the other hand, the rabbit becomes stressed, its immune system is weakened, allowing PM organisms to multiply unchecked. This break down in an immune system can happen is less than an hour.
There are five strains of PM, serotypes A, B, C, D, and E. If your rabbits are carrying PM type A, they will develop antibodies to type A organisms as part of their immune system response. However if one of your rabbits is at a show or if a rabbit is introduced into your barn from another rabbitry, a different strain of PM could infect your herd. In all probability they are not prepared for this new strain and many animals will succumb.
Prevention: There is no treatment that will eradicate every PM bacteria from a rabbit to effect a complete cure. Try to do everything possible to prevent the disease from arising, as once it shows up, it will continue to sporadically appear regardless of how you treat it. Specific measures you can take tp prevent PM are:
1) Don’t take rabbits to shows! A car ride & proximity to rabbits with various types of PM is not worth the medical risk.
2) Isolate all new stock and stock returning from shows! Your show stock is expendable, your breeding stock is not.
Ideally, your breeding stock should be a closed shop, in perpetual quarantine from other rabbits and from people who have recently been in other rabbitries.
3) Get the best ventilation you can in your rabbitry! PM spreads through the air in aerosol form. With poor ventilation, bacteria hangs in the air, waiting to be inhaled by other rabbits. Change your air at least 10 times/hour.
4) Two days before taking rabbits to a show, medicate their water with tetracycline powder. Continue this treatment during the show and for three days after. This will help fight off infection by new strains of PM.
Treatment: Any animals with snuffles should be culled. One animal’s removal has very little effect compared to the damage if could cause on the whole herd. Even for fancy breeders, the best thing to do is to cull it.
If you must try to save an expensive rabbit, isolate it and put it outside in the fresh air. This serves two purposes; a) To isolate it from the herd and 2) the superb ventilation outside will greatly assist in driving the symptoms away.
Once outside, start antibiotic treatment with “Procaine Penicillin G”. It is to be given intramuscularly at a dosage of 1mL per 5 kg of body weight, twice daily for ten days. PPG is a bacteriocidal, that is, it kills bacteria (unlike other antibiotics which merely limit bacteria growth, and after treatment, symptoms are liable to restart at the previous level.) Still, the best method of control is to cull any rabbit with PM symptoms. Even when a rabbit stops showing PM symptoms, it will remain a subclinical carrier and will spread bacteria to your other rabbits.