Treatment and Prevention of Infectious Rhinitis in Rabbits
📝 Summary
Infectious rhinitis in rabbits is hard to eradicate and easily relapses, so prevention matters most: low density, good ventilation, clean hutches, steady warmth and the Pasteurella vaccine. For outbreaks, florfenicol, tilmicosin or tylosin now work better than the overused penicillin–streptomycin combo.
1 Treatment
The standard plan is combined penicillin and streptomycin injections: 30,000–50,000 IU penicillin plus 10,000–20,000 IU streptomycin per kg, mixed and injected intramuscularly twice daily for 3–5 days. But heavy farm overuse has bred resistance, so this sometimes fails.
Better drugs now are florfenicol, tilmicosin and tylosin — long-acting, used once every 1–2 days for 1–3 doses. For stronger effect, add a maxingshigan injection to ease breathing difficulty.
2 Prevention
Prevention is the best control:
1. Don’t buy breeding stock from herds with obvious rhinitis — even apparently healthy rabbits there carry many bacteria and can break out under transport, environment or management stress.
2. Don’t crowd cages above three tiers; keep enough space between rows and buildings. Good airflow and low density lower the rate.
3. Keep the hutch clean, disinfected and ventilated; low ammonia and dust mean less rhinitis.
4. Warmth in winter, ventilation in spring/autumn, warmth at night — cut day-night swings.
5. Pasteurella vaccine every 5–6 months for adults, monthly or every 45 days for kits — though its preventive effect is modest and outbreaks still occur.
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