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In recent years, more and more Russians are engaged in rabbit breeding. Rabbit meat is valued for its extraordinary taste and aroma and dietary properties. In addition, you can get a large number of rabbits in a relatively short time due to the fertility of the animals. But growing does not always go smoothly; there are pitfalls.
Rabbits, like any domestic animal, suffer from various diseases. Many ailments are deadly for eared pets if the problem is not noticed in a timely manner and the animals are not treated. Rabbit disease myxomatosis is a serious and dangerous disease. One sick rabbit can destroy the entire population. The symptoms, features of the course, methods of treatment and vaccination will be discussed in the article.
Symptoms
When working with rabbits, you need to monitor their condition daily. In addition, the owner must understand the symptoms of the most common rabbit diseases, including myxomatosis, in order to prevent the infection from spreading to the entire herd. Any illness makes the rabbit inactive and lethargic. Animals refuse to eat food or drink water.
You can understand that a rabbit has myxomatosis if you know the symptoms:
- This serious and dangerous disease begins in the eyes. The mucous membrane becomes inflamed, as with conjunctivitis: redness and swelling appear around the eyes. After a few days, the eyes of rabbits with myxomatosis begin to fester, swell and become inflamed.
- Rabbits become slow, lethargic, and lie motionless in the cage most of the time.
- The rabbits' temperature rises sharply, up to +42 degrees. You can even do without a thermometer by touching the animal’s body.
- The fur becomes dull, hard, without shine, and falls out in clumps.
- Over time, swelling appears on the lips, ears, nose and eyelids. The genitals of rabbits often become inflamed.
- Advanced myxomatosis leads to partial immobilization of the animal. Even the ears that always stick out lie on the floor, since the rabbit is not able to lift them.
- Often the severe stage ends in a coma, from which the animal most often does not emerge.
- Fibrous nodes form on the head, muzzle and paws.
The incubation period of the disease can last from 5 days to 2 weeks, depending on the persistence of the virus, the form of the disease and the animal’s immunity. It is not always possible to detect disease in rabbits at the beginning of development. This is exactly what is depressing, because treatment does not start on time. The mortality rate in rabbits from myxomatosis is high; up to 95% of cases can rarely be cured; most often they die.
In addition, myxomatosis often occurs with concomitant infections, in particular pneumonia. You can get rid of the disease with timely vaccinations.
How do rabbits become infected?
What causes myxomatosis in rabbits? The infection usually develops in animals with the beginning of the warm season, when insects that carry the virus appear:
- midges;
- flies;
- mosquitoes;
- fleas;
- lice.
The myxomatosis virus is also transmitted by rodents: mice, rats. Rarely, infection of livestock occurs through sexual contact.
Types of disease and features of its course
Rabbit myxomatosis is a serious disease that can wipe out an entire herd overnight.
The disease occurs in two forms:
- edematous;
- nodular.
Edema form
Edematous myxomatosis in rabbits occurs quickly, within two weeks. Sick animals rarely survive; almost all die. To prevent the spread of myxomatosis, animals need to be examined and audited daily. Any suspicious rabbit should be placed in quarantine cages.
Myxomatosis begins with inflammation of the eyes, they begin to water. Animals suffer from conjunctivitis and blepharitis, and a dry crust forms around the eyes. It is difficult for animals to rotate their heads because any movement causes pain. Later, myxomatosis spreads to the nose, as evidenced by a runny nose that makes breathing difficult. The rabbits begin to wheeze.
With myxomatosis, growths resembling swelling form on the body of a rabbit. They can be very large, even as large as a walnut. Liquid accumulates inside the growth. A rabbit suffering from myxomatosis loses its appetite and is not happy with any food. At the last stage of the disease, the ears droop - this is evidence that the pet will soon die.
Nodular myxomatosis
This form of the disease is considered mild and treatable. At the first stage, no changes are noticeable in rabbits. They continue to eat as usual. You can see the onset of the disease by tiny nodules on the head. Sometimes they go away (become unnoticeable), but then they appear again, increasing in size. At this stage, it is advisable to begin treatment for myxomatosis.
The next stage of the disease is accompanied by lacrimation, discharge of pus from the eyes, causing them to stick together; rabbits cannot see anything due to severe swelling. Enlarging nodules spread to other parts of the body and turn into swelling.
If measures are not taken and treatment is not started, the nodular form of myxomatosis may enter the edematous phase after 10 days. The animal has difficulty breathing and begins to wheeze. The appearance of a rabbit with growths is unpleasant.
After a month of treatment, the disease subsides, but the rabbit remains a carrier of the myxomatosis virus. The danger to other animals does not decrease. It is impossible to immediately breed recovered rabbits to produce offspring. It is possible to completely rid an animal of the disease myxomatosis with antiseptics and antibiotics if treatment is started in a timely manner.
Treatment and care
Myxomatosis, a terrible disease in rabbits, has been known since the 60s of the last century. Despite the fact that many years have passed, there is still no clear answer regarding the treatment of rabbits at home. There are veterinarians who believe that a disease such as myxomatosis is incurable even at an early stage of development.Although some specialists still try to save patients by using antibiotics.
Over the years of breeding animals, rabbit breeders themselves have developed the following care features:
- Rabbits with myxomatosis are placed in a warm place. Due to decreased immunity, they do not tolerate cold and heat well.
- Despite the fact that animals refuse food, the diet needs to be varied. The food should be tasty and fresh. You can add pumpkin pulp and fresh pineapple juice. Clean water should always be in the drinking bowl.
- In case of complete refusal of food, rabbits are force-fed from a syringe, otherwise they will not have the strength to fight the disease.
- To ease breathing and eliminate wheezing, aromatherapy with eucalyptus or tea tree oil is performed.
Folk recipes
For more than half a century of the history of myxomatosis, rabbit breeders themselves have been looking for ways to rid their pets of a serious illness. They have come up with many ways to treat the disease in rabbits
Here are some recipes:
- Fry sunflower oil and blot the sore spots with a cotton swab. You can only use unrefined oil that retains its nutrients.
- Camel thorn helps quite well in the treatment of myxomatosis. If such a plant does not grow in your home, you can purchase the herb at the pharmacy. You need to take a jar of thorns and pour boiling water over it. After two hours, strain and inject the solution into the shin. For an adult rabbit, 5 ml is enough, for babies – no more than 2 ml. Treatment of myxomatosis can only begin after consultation with specialists.
- The healing of numerous wounds left after the opening of edema is facilitated by urine. Before use, keep it in the sun for at least two hours. The areas affected by myxomatosis are treated with the resulting “medicine” using a cotton swab.The wounds will heal faster. And mosquitoes cannot stand the smell of urine.
Treatment for myxomatosis at home:
Vaccination as a method of prevention
Any pet owner understands perfectly well that it is better to prevent a disease than to treat it. As a rule, rabbit breeders raise purebred rabbits, so the loss of livestock is not cheap. To protect animals from death, you need to take care of preventive vaccinations against myxomatosis. There is a special preparation for vaccinating rabbits - an associated vaccine. It can be administered to rabbits under the skin or intramuscularly.
Why are vaccinations given? Firstly, furry pets produce antibodies that can resist the myxomatosis virus. Secondly, the animal’s immunity increases. The myxomatosis vaccine begins to work in 9 days and remains effective for up to 9 months. During this period, you can safely breed animals to produce healthy offspring.
Rabbits need to be vaccinated from mid-spring. At this time, insects, the main carriers of the virus, actively reproduce. The vaccine is administered to animals once a year. The cost of vaccinations in veterinary hospitals is quite high. But it must be carried out without fail, otherwise you can lose your entire livestock overnight.
Many rabbit breeders, who have devoted many years to breeding animals, vaccinate against myxomatosis themselves, purchasing the vaccine from veterinary pharmacies. The instructions describe all recommendations regarding dosage.
We administer the vaccine against myxomatosis ourselves:
Instead of results - is meat edible?
Animal owners and veterinarians have different attitudes to the issue of consuming meat from rabbits that have had myxomatosis.There is still no clear answer. Although, from a medical point of view, meat cannot harm the human body.
It is clear that the meat of a rabbit that has died from myxomatosis or another disease should not be eaten under any circumstances. It is best to burn dead animals to prevent the spread of the disease.
Some rabbit breeders slaughter sick animals at the first sign of infection. The meat must be washed in cold water. During cooking, it is well fried or boiled for at least two hours. It is better to pour out the broth.
Let's return again to the question of whether it is possible to eat the meat of a rabbit that has had myxomatosis. Some people, despite proven safety, still prefer to destroy sick animals because they believe that the virus can harm health.
The meat of sick rabbits can be eaten, but not every person can consume it. After all, the appearance of sick rabbits cannot but cause disgust. Look at the photographs posted in the article: the animals do not look like themselves, they are just some kind of monsters, overgrown with tumors, with swollen red eyes.
There is also a group of people who believe that sick animals should never be eaten, since meat retains negative energy.
Is it possible to reincarnate a rabbit that has recovered from the disease and after what time?