Preventing and Treating Rabbit Paratyphoid (Salmonellosis)

1 Symptoms

Salmonella has a very wide natural host range, carried by mammals, reptiles, and birds, and spread by rodents and flies. The disease is highly contagious and any rabbit of any age, sex, or breed is susceptible. The main natural route is the gut: rabbits fall ill after eating contaminated feed or water, and infection can also enter through the umbilical cord. Poor husbandry, sudden weather change, bad sanitation, or other illness lets gut Salmonella multiply and turn virulent.

The incubation is 3 to 5 days; a few acute cases die suddenly with no warning. Most show dullness, lowered or refused appetite, fever, and diarrhea with foamy mucus. Prolonged scours leave them thin with rough, dull coats. Pregnant does abort, with red, congested, swollen vaginal mucosa and sticky or purulent discharge; the weak fetuses die quickly. Does that abort have a high death rate and, if they survive, often fail to conceive again.

2 Prevention Measures

The main defense is to keep susceptible rabbits away from sources. Control rodents and flies in the facility to remove vectors, and keep feed, water, bedding, hutches, cages, and tools clean and uncontaminated.

Vaccinate: before and early in pregnancy, inject the doe with 0.8 ml of Salmonella typhimurium aluminum-hydroxide inactivated vaccine subcutaneously or intramuscularly to control outbreaks.

On detecting the disease, isolate and cull affected rabbits at once and disinfect cages, hutches, and tools with 2% caustic soda or 3% lysol. People who handled sick rabbits should disinfect themselves too.

3 Treatment Methods

Antibiotics: (a) chloramphenicol, 2 ml intramuscularly twice daily for 3 to 4 days, or orally 20 to 50 ml per kg once daily for 3 to 4 days; (b) oxytetracycline, 40 mg per kg intramuscularly daily in two doses for 3 days, or 100 to 200 mg per rabbit orally in two doses daily for 3 days; (c) streptomycin, 0.1 to 0.2 g per rabbit intramuscularly daily in two doses for 3 to 4 days, or 0.1 to 0.5 g orally twice daily for 3 to 4 days.

Sulfonamides: succinylsulfathiazole 0.1 to 0.3 g per kg daily in 2 to 3 oral doses; sulfaguanidine 0.1 to 0.2 g per kg in two daily doses for 3 days; or sulfadimidine 0.2 to 0.3 g per kg once daily for 5 days.

Garlic remedy: crush clean garlic and mix 1 part garlic to 5 parts water to make a 20% juice; give each rabbit 5 ml by mouth three times daily for 5 days.