# Good news about vent disease



## orphy (Feb 27, 2006)

:goodjob:Never thought that would happen did you. First of all a very easy way to tell vent disease from ingrown hairs is that pimples look like just that, we have all seen them. On the other hand vent disease looks like small yellow worms just under the skin. Or you can see they go very deep. They are not just ontop of the skin. Second they will open and not heal. They will get scabby and will soon infect the face and could even show up as an eye infection.

Any rabbit thought to have vent disease is immediately considered to have passed the disease. Vent disease is easily spread by you. It is not just a sexually transmitted disease. It is spread by nose to nose contact. By you petting one rabbit and then going to another. Feed bowls, dishes, feed, scoops can all be transmitters. I have some knowledge learned the hard way. The first signs are problems with breeding, small litters,kits not thriving. And this may start without physical signs. The physical signs started in my rabbits 3 months after the new infected rabbits came here. But the problems with breeding started sooner. But I had no idea of what I was dealing with.

I gave my rabbits 2 rounds of Duramune, 1x a week for 3 weeks to no avail. They were reinfecting within 2 weeks. I spent more money than I want to admitt on vet bills to fix this problem. I had biopsies done to make sure what I was dealing with. And it showed vent disease. So my vet was at a loss as to what to do. We decided to treat the rabbits with Nuflor which is a broad spectrum antibiotic, but has not been used on rabbits because of the problems with antibiotics in general. But I was left with no choice. I had already lost a third of my rabbits and figured they were going to live or die. The vet was unsure of me treating all my rabbits but went along with it.

And here is the good news. The Nuflor only had to be given twice, five days apart. So I only had the rabbits of feed for about a week. And when I introduced their pellets back, I did not lose a third of my rabbits like I did on the duramune. My girlfriends rabbitry was also compromised because we interchanged rabbits. She butchers for me so my rabbits traveled there also. She also treated her rabbits with the Nuflor and did not take away their pellets at all. She lost no rabbits had no cases of runny stools and everyone tolerated it very well. This is great news for us. Rabbits have always had problems with antibiotics and maybe now we can save more rabbits.

But one thing bothers me. You guys tend to not want to talk about vent disease. I guess because it is the same spirocete? that caused syphillis in humans. But 1.It does not transferr from rabbit to human. 2. It is not just transferred by breeding in fact you are the biggest spreader of the disease in rabbits. 3. I see alot of you who want to treat your rabbits naturally, and I too would rather give something that I can pick and give myself. But this disease is going to do nothing but spread if you don't treat it and get rid of it.
4. By not talking about it you spread it further.

But this is hope for us that we have not had before. My vet says that theoretically this could be a cure for mastitis, abcesses and upper respitory problems. This is great news and now that I am on the other end of this I can honestly say that I am glad that my rabbits and I went through this. Because now we have something new that we can use to keep our breeding stock healthy. 

This is very prevelent and you need to watch. When I go to an animal auction or a swap I carry alot of hand sanitizer and if I see an infected rabbit I tell the people what I observe and usually if they realize they quit selling and go home. But you can only do what you can do. I have even told people that if they have the rabbit treated I would still buy it. Just be on the lookout. Pimples do not swell up the vulva. Nor do they have more than one or two at a time. If you think you have an infected rabbit, you have an infected barn. Do not treat one and not everyone. And remember this is not a venereal disease, it is an infection that is transmitted by touch, and mostly ours. I hope this helps I have gotten upset that people seem to not want to talk about this. I did not want to tell people that my rabbits have this. But I am thrilled to tell people this good news that may affect all sorts of rabbit problems.:goodjob:


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## Skip (Mar 13, 2008)

Orphy I am sorry you had to deal with this. It is like lice with children, people need to communicate when dealing with transmittable illnesses. The good news like you said you were able to find a treatment that helped and will help others.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Thank you, Orphy! :bow:

I don't mind talking about it or any other rabbit problem. I would generally tend to avoid using antibiotics with my rabbits because of my own allergies to them (and truth to tell I have never had a problem with my rabbits requiring them) but this is *fantastic news* all the same. There are some ailments that definitely require more than the herbal treatments that we use for a touch of poopy butt or a minor eye irritation. And vent disease is definitely one of them!


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## Jesse L (Nov 6, 2008)

Well thats good!! Now all your rabbits are healthy.

I had a doe that I thought it might be Vent Disease, im thinking its just pimples as no other signs are occuring.

I didnt really want to talk about it at first, but i discoverd its better than just holding it in and letting the rabbits suffer, im glad i made the post as soon as I discoverd it!

Have a good one!


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## 5050 (Oct 29, 2008)

Thankyou for the information. I learned a lot from your post. Congratulations on solving the problem.


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## Pat Lamar (Jun 19, 2002)

Well, folks... there's *NO* shame in contracting a disease.... the shame is in not doing anything about it! Lice and Venereal Disease definitely fall into this category, eh?

Pat Lamar


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## pookshollow (Aug 22, 2005)

I appreciate your posting the info - it's always well to be informed. So far, I've not had to deal with this problem, but one never knows down the road . . .


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## morgansrgr8 (Oct 14, 2008)

Do you have to get Nuflor from a vet? And what all do you think this will treat successfully. Also is it very expensive?

A bunny I picked up just came down with wryneck and is sneezing. 
Should I treat everybody? Thats 20 rabbits. 

Linda and Tom


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## Jeanette (Jul 29, 2008)

Orphy,
I am curious how you and your vet stumbled upon the idea of using Nuflor? I did a little searching and most of what I found talked about disease in cattle. It is good to know that there is an Rx that we can safely use on our Rabbits for this malady. It would also be helpful to know the doses you used on your Rabbits and how it was determined. Was is done by injection; subQ or intramuscular? Why the change in feed routines?
To be able to talk to our Vets or to help someone else it would be good to know everything you all did and why.

I definitely hope I never have to deal with it but _really_ appreciate you sharing your success in beating this problem.

Jeanette
Hondo, TX

Always Learning!


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## orphy (Feb 27, 2006)

My vet came up with the Nuflor, which you do need to get from the vet, after two rounds of duramune did not work. She suggested that there may be more uses for the rabbits because of the wide spectrum of bacteria it seems to kill. As far as dosages you will need to get them from the vet. If they need some info the vet I used is Dr Cranfill at the "All Creatures Vet clinic" In Mt. Home Ark. I do not have the number handy. This needs to be done through your vet as we need to accumulate as much information as possible. The medicine is in an injection, that is sub-Q. Very simple. The feeding is changed because antibiotics usually upset the rabbits gut and kill all the good flora, that is why they get runny stools, dehydrate and die. I used porbios in their water and I would suggest that you use probios with any meds you give your rabbits. 
I am not a vet but I would wager that wry neck would not be treatable becuse most of the time it is caused by a parasite, not bacteria. Please don't just start shooting up you buns with Nuflor. Go through your vet and have them get ahold of mine if they need to. Nuflor is not real expensive, but it is more expensive than duramune. We want to use this as a tool and learn from it, not just throw it at everyone and be disappointed. Dosage goes by weight, but I can tell you that we gave it to 12 year old rabbits, dwarfs, giants and in between and it worked well on everyone.


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## Jeanette (Jul 29, 2008)

orphy said:


> As far as dosages you will need to get them from the vet. If they need some info the vet I used is Dr Cranfill at the "All Creatures Vet clinic" In Mt. Home Ark. This needs to be done through your vet as we need to accumulate as much information as possible. The medicine is in an injection, that is sub-Q. Very simple. The feeding is changed because antibiotics usually upset the rabbits gut and kill all the good flora, that is why they get runny stools, dehydrate and die. I used probios in their water and I would suggest that you use probios with any meds you give your rabbits.
> Please don't just start shooting up you buns with Nuflor. Go through your vet and have them get a hold of mine if they need to. Nuflor is not real expensive, but it is more expensive than Duramune. We want to use this as a tool and learn from it, not just throw it at everyone and be disappointed. Dosage goes by weight, but I can tell you that we gave it to 12 year old rabbits, dwarfs, giants and in between and it worked well on everyone.


I am not planning on "throwing" it at any of my rabbits. (trying not to be insulted) I was asking the details because if any of us wind up with this same disease we need to be somewhat knowledgeable when speaking to our Vet. Thanks for the additional information. You might think about adding this information to our Health sticky.

Jeanette


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## orphy (Feb 27, 2006)

I was not being insulting. I was saying that this needs to be with some vet follow up I just talked to my vet again and she is more than willing to share with your vet all this information. I really can't give you the dosages because if you give your rabbit the same as I said to and your rabbit does not respond then I feel like I am responsible. The vet needs to give you the dosages because it goes by weight. I was more talking about the wry neck, because I don't think that would work and I don't want you to get hopes up that it will cure everything but it will be a great tool. If I made you feel bad I am sorry that was not my intention. I am now slapping myself upside the head. The vet has to dispense the medication anyway, so Dr. Cranfill said she would gladly share the info and will try and see what else it can help. Sorry.


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## Honorine (Feb 27, 2006)

morgansrgr8 said:


> Do you have to get Nuflor from a vet? And what all do you think this will treat successfully. Also is it very expensive?
> 
> A bunny I picked up just came down with wryneck and is sneezing.
> Should I treat everybody? Thats 20 rabbits.
> ...



Cull the rabbit, and hope that the rest of your rabbits don't start sneezing. Wryneck is hard to treat successfully and sneezing could be pasteurella, which is not treatable long term, it never goes away. Its not worth saving one rabbit and risking your other 20.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Thanks Orphy, for all the info. I'm new to rabbits & am learning here everyday.
So far all my rabbits are healthy & I'm planning on keeping it that way but you never know what can happen.


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## Jeanette (Jul 29, 2008)

Honorine said:


> Cull the rabbit, and hope that the rest of your rabbits don't start sneezing. Wryneck is hard to treat successfully and sneezing could be pasteurella, which is not treatable long term, it never goes away. Its not worth saving one rabbit and risking your other 20.


According to the Nuflor site-http://www.nuflor.com/nuflor_glance/faq.html

"Nuflor is effective against all three major bacterial causes of BRD â Mannheimia (Pasteurella) haemolytica, _Pasteurella multocida_ and Haemophilus somnus. Because BRD usually involves more than one organism, it is vital for first-line therapy to eliminate as many of those as possible. Now itâs easy to do that with just one subcutaneous or two intramuscular doses of Nuflor.

Because Nuflor rapidly goes to work against all three bacteria, disease progression is inhibited, reducing the need for costly retreatments and the incidence of chronics." 

Considering Orphy's success with Nuflor I think I would check with your Vet first and see if he/she would be willing to try Nuflor on your rabbit.

Jeanette
Hondo, TX

Always Learning!


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## Honorine (Feb 27, 2006)

But Pastuerella is NOT curable, you can treat it and suppress symptoms but there is no cure. Depending on the strain it can rip thru your rabbitry and kill every rabbit you have, or if its a weaker strain or one that your rabbits have some immunity to it can hide, creating silent carriers, rearing its ugly head from time to time. Rabbits with pasteurella infections can be unthrifty, have lower weight gain, and smaller litters. It can spread thruout the body, causing abcesses and uterine infections. Nasty stuff, its the one rabbit malady I truly fear.

I can't suggest to anyone whose rabbit has wry neck and is sneezing to treat said animal and run the risk of infecting the rest of their herd. It just doesn't make sense, unless the rabbit is a beloved pet. Nuflor is for the treatment of cattle, and while I have no problems with off label use of it on rabbits its not cheap, I found 100 ml for $60, and it is an RX, so it has to come from the vet. Could end up being a very expensive lesson.


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## orphy (Feb 27, 2006)

Honorine is probably right. If it were my rabbits I would contact my vet and try treating one. Doing seriolgy test first. But I would not suggest this to anyone else. Seriology test run about 120. per rabbit. I would be inclined to do just in the interest of science, but it is not cost effective and you would have to keep the rabbit sequestered from everyone. I would not suggest it unless like Honorine said it was a pet and an only rabbit and you have a good income. Plus wry neck is not caused by a bacteria usually and you will have even more problems with that. This is not the answer to everything but with some help from the vets we may be able to find alot of things it will help.


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