MOST COMMON DISEASES OF RABBITS IN OUR FARM

We will deal with the diseases of rabbits from a practical and application point of view, without too many technicalities.
Rabbits are animals that are very sensitive to the environment and enormously weak in the face of any external phenomenon or infectious agent. Due to its fragile constitution as small animals, its rich bacterial flora capable of exalting itself to the minimum change and its sensitivity to fright with repercussion to neurovegetative balance, the cunicultor must establish a series of preventive barriers against any eventuality that involves the alteration of the order or quiet on the farm.
Although we define the rabbit as a small animal, scary, shy, distrustful and sensitive to external stimuli, we will also break a spear in its favor indicating its nobility as a sociable animal, alive, active, fertile, etc.
It is important to know the most common pathologies that are possible to control or eradicate. Among the parasitic, we highlight scabies, pinworms or intestinal worms, coccidiosis (liver and intestinal) and cysticerci.
The cunicultor should establish priorities to clean up his farm. First of all, to fight against easily resolved diseases, establishing control plans to later eradicate them with precise treatments. There are several pathologies that do not kill animals but weaken them and alter their production.

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THE MOST COMMON DISEASES THAT WE HAVE TO CONTROL

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VERMINOSIS
Etiology
In rabbits, nematodes of different families are identified, with the most frequent being the Pinworms, Trichostrongilus, Trichurids, Filarias that are capable of causing an important decrease in fertility and immunity, as well as digestive disorders in breeding animals and even in fattening rabbits.
The most frequently found species is Passalurus ambiguus. The adult forms lodge in the caecum and proximal colon, descending to the rectum during the cecotrophy phase. The eggs are excreted in the morula stage and are subsequently ingested through the cecotrophic process, producing a cycle of direct reinfestation and between different animals, which makes it difficult to eradicate the process.

Prevention
In addition to keeping the animals separated from their feces, in clean and disinfected beds, it will be necessary to perform anthelmintic preventive treatments 3 to 6 times per year according to the material and equipment of each farm. It is advisable to deworm always one week before any vaccination.

Treatment
There are several products on the market that must be supplied through drinking water or injected subcutaneously. Levamisole, Fenbendazole and Albendazole are currently used; Other products such as Piperacinas and Pirantel have a much more limited employment.
To take care of the correct dosage because by defect they do not develop their action and by excess they can cause diarrheic disorders and abortions.

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METRITIS AND PIOMETRA
Etiology
It is a local infection of the uterus or womb of the rabbit, usually caused mainly by staphylococci, and to a lesser extent by pasteurellas that produce a clinical and variable lesions.

Prevention
The basic hygienic measures, especially in the environment of the female cage, as well as the sanitary control of the males (which act as transmitters) are the basic control tools.

Treatment
Animals clinically affected by this process should be eliminated immediately. To avoid the extension of the process, an antibiotic treatment will be applied to the breeders, preferably parenterally.

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MASTITIS OR MAMITIS
Etiology
Inflammatory process of the mammary glands, which appears in lactating females. Bacterial infection in which may be involved: Staphylococcus spp (mainly aureus), Streptococcus spp, Pasteurella spp, and to a lesser extent Klebsiellas, Enterobacteria and Pseudomonas.
The infection usually affects one or two breasts, which allows the rabbit to continue raising its rabbits, but can progress to the rest. The lesions of the nipples due to the type of nest, cage floor, bites of the kits when suckling, sharp material in the nest, etc., can produce the infection that is easily transmitted through skin lesions, internal and penetrating through the nipple canal.

Symptoms and injuries
The breasts become inflamed, are hard, hot and generate pain in the animal. The kits are malnourished. The affected rabbits are restless, lose their appetite, reject the kits and present hot, turgid, reddened and painful breasts. The milk secretion becomes a creamy, purulent liquid that makes your children sick.

Prevention
When making the cover the rabbit is usually lactating and at the time of palpation should be observed the breasts of the females as a routine measure.
The cleaning and disinfection of the nests is essential, as well as that of the floor of the cage of the males, recipient of several females and possible source of contagion; in case of artificial insemination, special care should be taken both with the males and with the insemination material and the management that is carried out on it.
Do not move rabbits from a sick rabbit to a healthy rabbit. Avoid contagion through the different management actions (coverings, palpations) Special care should be taken with the possible transmission through the application of injectables to animals (vaccines, antibiotics, hormones, etc.). Therefore, one should always use a needle per animal for any injection given to an animal.

Treatment
The elimination when the animal is affected is a necessary measure.
Although the knowledge of the causal germ by means of analysis and its antibiogram can be of great help, the general
treatment should consist of:
Monitor the sources of infection: male and female carriers, dirty and contaminated material.
Thoroughly disinfect the floor of the cage.
Inject, subcutaneously, an antibiotic, preferably with a delayed action. Penicillin-Streptomycin, Spiramycin, Tilmicosin, Sulfamides-Trimetroprim or Oxytetracycline can be used. The choice of one of them and its time of application will depend on the clinic and sensitivities of the germ involved.
Toxemia of pregnancy or Ketosis

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COCCIDIOSIS
Etiology
The coccidiosis is caused by some microscopic parasites, of the family of protozoa and the genus Eimeria. There are two clinical forms: hepatic and intestinal, infesting both adult animals and rabbits. The first ones resist it and become animal carriers and disseminators of these; the young, mainly in weaning and two weeks later, succumb in different degrees depending on the species involved.
The coccidiosis of the liver (hepatic), is due to the Eimeria stiedae and that of the intestine (intestinal) to several species of which the most pathogenic are: E.intestinalis, E.magna, E.irresidua, E.flavescens. They are usually associated and located in different areas of the intestine. The coccidia are intracellular parasites, however they undergo some transformations on the outside (sporulation) necessary to re-infest other animals. They can remain infesting for more than a year, presenting a great resistance to physical-chemical agents.
Hepatic coccidiosis is fundamentally chronic, insidious and rarely fatal. It is frequent in family backyard farms, where it is a finding that is found when the animal is slaughtered.
Intestinal coccidiosis has a strong immunogenic component, since the introduction of oocysts determines the establishment of a defensive state in the face of further aggressions.

The pathogenic role played by coccidia is very varied, depending mainly on the species, the age of the animals and the number of parasites involved. One of the most important factors is to contribute, together with other enteric agents, to exert a traumatic, inflammatory and irritative action on the intestinal mucosa, generating problems of malabsorption of food and reduction of productive yields.

Prevention
Avoid rabbit contact with excrement. Keep the bed dry and clean (in certain cages and in the nests). To carry out a strict hygiene, in which the flaming will predominate (the coccidia die with a heat of + 50º C).
Establish a chemoprophylaxis at low and continuous doses through the food by the addition of coccidiostatic additives. The most used are Lerbec (Methylclorpindol + Methylbenzoquato) Robenidine, Salinomycin and Diclazuril.

Treatment
Besides strong action of cleaning and disinfecting means, using heat and destruction of feces, providing anticoccidials, oral treatment may be necessary in the regrowth of the disease or if there is a failure in coccidiostats

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PLANTAR NECROSIS (BAD LEGS)
Etiology
The weight of the animals, the inadequate soil of the cages, the humidity, the dirt and the cold in the exploitation act as favorable factors. The evolution of the disease is generally chronic, appearing in the tarsus of the hind legs to, in function of the gravity, produce ulcerations and abscesses in all the legs, and more rarely in the mouth and posterior part of the body.

Symptoms and injuries
The observation of the legs differentiate us symptoms that may be local based dry and cold crusts (Aseptic or uninfected), which have no serious complications or more generally, with swollen and wet crusts (septic) cracked with exudate and abscesses

Prevention
When having a hereditary component it is convenient to avoid the offspring of the affected animals and to control the trophism and the quantity and quality of the hair that covers the plants of the hind legs of the same ones.
Avoiding humidity and ensuring good ventilation, as well as cleaning and disinfecting cage floors, are the main attentions. In case of doubt or in heavy animals, placing a footrest in the cage will reduce the problem.

Treatment
In the aseptic forms, by means of the placement of reposapatas and local application of a disinfectant tincture, the scab can disappear with time. Cleaning and disinfection should be done every fifteen days.
In the septic forms, heal the wound by applying a spray of an antibiotic, antifungal and healing solution. A parenteral antibiotic treatment may also be necessary. The treatment can last about 15 days. The elimination of severely affected animals is not ruled out.

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PSOROPTIC SARNA (BAD EAR)
Etiology
The causative parasite is the Psoroptes cuniculi mite that sucks the lymph, tissue juice and blood, for which they sting with their stylet-like quilíferos in the stratum corneo of the skin. The eggs are usually deposited at the edges of the affected skin portions. They develop quickly, usually in one or two weeks.

Prevention
The bottom of the inner wall of the pavilion of the ear will be monitored. This disease, very widespread, is due to the lack of hygiene and can be easily avoided by observing from time to time and always when a specimen is entered, the bottom of the pavilion of the ear in the individuals that are kept for future breeders.

Treatment
It will proceed to the application of ointment or antisharmonic emulsion to all the reproducers, complementing it with the pulverization of antisarnicos products on pits, walls, and material of breeding.

CONCLUSION
For a correct diagnosis of our farm we should evaluate in what situation our animals are and compare it with the nearest farms to correct problems and establish a future plan. This type of diagnosis can be made when the breeders are associated and have the advice of a veterinary technician who knows all the associated farms.

SOURCE:
http://www.conejos-info.com/articulos/enfermedades-mas-comunes-en-cunicultura

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