Here are a few diseases to watch out for:
Snuffles: Sneezing or long sessions of sneezing. Thick white snot in your rabbits nose? – This is what is called “the Snuffles” or pasteurella multocida. It is incurable and very contagious. Do not breed this animal. It should be culled immediately.
Diarrhea: Watery or mucus–covered stools. Some can be fatal in 12-48 hours.
• Enterotoxemia—sudden acute diarrhea often In 4–8 week old rabbits resulting in death within12–24 hours.
• Tyzzer’s Disease—Just like Enterotoxemia,
but caused by a different bacteria.
• Coccidiosis—This disease attacks the liver causing severe diarrhea.
• Mucoid Enteritis—caused by bowel blockage.
• Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy—Highly contagious diarrhea for rabbits.
• “Mild” diarrhea—if you are alert, it should stay mild.
Rabbit Hemorrhagic Diseass: RHD is a viral disease that can wipe out your entire herd in a matter of days. It is most noted by these three types:
• Sudden and violet death, and then more dead rabbits. It is exceedingly contagious.
• Rabbit goes off its feed and shows lethargy and trouble breathing. Body temp soars to 105–106 degrees, then cools off just as the rabbit dies.
• Bloody nasal discharge, tightness and arching of the back, noisy respiration as the rabbit struggles to breathe. With this variety, the rabbit may be dead in a matter of hours. In some younger rabbits, it may recover and show immunity. These survivors tend instead to be dormant carriers of the disease, spreading it throughout the herd in feces and urine for at least a month maybe longer.
Myxomatosis: nasty virus carried by wild rabbits and transferred by mosquitos. It is fatal. It’s most common inEurope, but is also present in California and Oregon. It comes in two forms:
• Rapid death – you won’t see it coming. Just poof! Dead rabbit.
• Delayed death – slight redness of the eyelids, loss of appetite, elevated temperatures.
Whenever a rabbit goes off its feed or appears abnormal, AND if the rectal temperature is elevated above 103.5 degrees F, kill the rabbit and bury the carcass. In many cases, this is the only way to protect the rest of the herd.