Clinical Types of Infectious Rhinitis in Rabbits

1 Causes

Pasteurella multocida is the main pathogen behind infectious rhinitis; it lives in almost every rabbit’s nasal mucosa and stays dormant in healthy rabbits, but multiplies and causes disease once resistance drops.

The disease is somewhat seasonal — not strongly — and occurs year-round, peaking in spring and autumn. The bacteria can be isolated from most rabbits’ nasal mucosa without signs, but under stress (high density, poor management, bad air, long transport, sudden weather change) resistance falls, the bacteria multiply and move into the lower airways, causing lung disease.

2 Clinical Types

The three main forms are septicemic, pneumonic and nasal.

1. Septicemic type: an individual rabbit may eat normally one day and be found dead the next with no warning. Most show lethargy, refusal to eat, shortness of breath, fever, and pus or watery discharge from the nose, and usually die within 1–3 days. This form can appear alone or follow the pneumonic or nasal types.

2. Pneumonic type: acute fibrinous purulent pneumonia and pleurisy. The rabbit loses appetite or stops eating, is depressed, breathes with loud, laboured sounds, and discharges thick yellow or milky nasal mucus; it usually dies of respiratory failure or sepsis.

3. Nasal type: watery or thick purulent nasal discharge and frequent sneezing, with little effect on spirit or appetite. Some nasal-type cases last months or even one to two years, until the signs fade or the rabbit dies after shifting to another form.

Tip: infectious rhinitis can hit rabbits of any age, with low cure rates, high relapse and long courses — a very stubborn disease. Prevent it well; once it appears, it may be too late to undo the damage.