Myxomatosis in rabbits: causes, treatment

In recent years, more and more s are engaged in rabbit breeding. Rabbit meat is valued for its unusual taste and aroma, dietary properties. In addition, a large number of rabbits can be obtained in a relatively short time due to the fertility of animals. But growing does not always go smoothly, there are pitfalls.

Rabbits, like any pets, 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 kill the entire livestock. The symptoms, features of the course, methods of treatment and vaccination will be discussed in the article.

symptomatology

Catching 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 ailment makes the rabbit inactive, lethargic. Animals refuse to eat, drink water.

You can understand that a rabbit has myxomatosis if you know the symptoms:

1. This serious and dangerous disease begins with the eyes. The mucous membrane becomes inflamed as with conjunctivitis: redness and swelling appear around the eyes. A few days later, the eyes of rabbits with myxomatosis begin to fester, swell and become inflamed.

   

2. Rabbits become slow, lethargic, lie motionless in the cage most of the time.
3. In rabbits, the temperature rises sharply, up to +42 degrees. You can even do without a thermometer by touching the body of an animal.
4. The coat becomes dull, hard, without shine, falls out in tufts.
5. After a while, the swelling appears on the lips, ears, nose and eyelids. Often the genitals of rabbits become inflamed.
6. Running myxomatosis leads to partial immobilization of the animal. Even the always protruding ears lie on the floor, because the rabbit is not able to lift them.
7. Often, the severe stage ends in a coma, from which the animal most often does not come out.
8. 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 immunity of the animal. It is not always possible to determine the disease of rabbits at the beginning of development. This is just depressing, because the treatment does not start on time. The mortality of rabbits from myxomatosis is high, up to 95% of the diseased 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 the help of timely means of vaccination.

How do rabbits get infected?

What causes myxomatosis in rabbits? The infection, as a rule, develops in animals with the beginning of the warm season, when insects appear, carriers of the virus:

• midges;
• flies;
• mosquitoes;
• fleas;
• lice.

The myxomatosis virus is also carried by rodents: mice, rats. Rarely, infection of livestock occurs sexually.

Types of disease and features of the course

Rabbit myxomatosis is a serious disease that can wipe out the entire herd overnight.

The disease occurs in two forms:

• edematous;
• nodular.

edematous form

Edematous myxomatosis in rabbits proceeds quickly, within two weeks. Sick animals rarely survive, almost all die. To prevent the spread of myxomatosis, animals should be examined daily and audited. 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, a dry crust forms around the eyes. It is difficult for animals to rotate their heads, as any movement causes pain. Later, myxomatosis progresses to the nose, as evidenced by a runny nose that makes breathing difficult. The rabbits start wheezing.

On the body of a rabbit with myxomatosis, growths resembling edema are formed. They can be very large, even the size of a walnut. Fluid accumulates inside the growth. A rabbit suffering from myxomatosis loses its appetite, no food pleases it. At the last stage of the disease, ears hang – this is evidence that the pet will die soon.

Nodular myxomatosis

This form of the disease is considered mild, treatable. In the first stage, rabbits do not notice changes. They continue to eat as usual. You can see the beginning of the disease by tiny nodules on the head. Sometimes they pass (become barely noticeable), but then reappear, increasing in size. At this stage, it is desirable to begin treatment for myxomatosis.

The next stage of the disease is accompanied by lacrimation, discharge of pus from the eyes, from which they stick together, the rabbits do not see anything due to severe swelling. Enlarging nodules spread to other parts of the body, turn into swelling.

If you do not take action and do not start treatment, the nodular form of myxomatosis can go into the edematous phase after 10 days. Animals have difficulty breathing, it 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 is not reduced. It is impossible to recover rabbits immediately to get offspring. It is possible to completely rid the animal of the disease of myxomatosis with antiseptics and antibiotics, if treatment is started in a timely manner.

Treatment and care

About myxomatosis, a terrible disease of rabbits, has become known since the 60s of the last century. Despite the fact that many years have passed, there is still no clear answer about 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 experts are still trying to save patients by using antibiotics.

Over the years, rabbit breeders themselves have developed care features:

1. Rabbits with myxomatosis are placed in heat. Due to a decrease in immunity, they do not tolerate cold and heat.
2. Despite the fact that animals refuse food, the diet needs to be diversified. Food should be tasty and fresh. You can add pumpkin pulp and fresh pineapple juice. Clean water should always be in the drinker.
3. With a complete refusal of food, rabbits are force-fed from a syringe, otherwise he will not have the strength to fight the disease.
4. To facilitate breathing and eliminate wheezing, aromatherapy is carried out with eucalyptus or tea tree oil.

Traditional recipes

For more than half a century of history of myxomatosis, rabbit breeders themselves have been looking for ways to rid their pets of a serious illness. They came up with many ways to treat the disease of rabbits.

Here are some recipes:

1. Sunflower oil is fried and sore spots are blotted with a cotton swab. You can use only unrefined oil, in which nutrients have been preserved.
2. Not bad helps in the treatment of myxomatosis camel thorn. If such a plant does not grow with you, you can purchase grass at a pharmacy. You need to pick up a jar of thorns and pour boiling water. After two hours, strain and inject the solution into the lower leg. For an adult rabbit, 5 ml is enough, for babies – no more than 2 ml. Treatment of myxomatosis can be started only after consultation with specialists.
3. Urine contributes to the healing of numerous wounds left after opening the edema. Before use, it is kept in the sun for at least two hours. The places affected by myxomatosis are treated with the resulting “medicine” using a cotton swab. The wounds will heal faster. And mosquitoes can’t stand the smell of urine.

Treatment for myxomatosis at home:

Vaccination as a way to prevent

Any pet owner is well aware that the disease is better to prevent than to cure. As a rule, rabbit breeders raise thoroughbred rabbits, so the loss of livestock is not cheap. To protect animals from death, you need to take care of preventive vaccinations against myxomatosis. For vaccination of rabbits there is a special preparation – an associated vaccine. It can be administered to rabbits under the skin or intramuscularly.

What are vaccinations for? First, fluffy pets produce antibodies that can resist the myxomatosis virus. Secondly, the immunity of the animal is increased. The vaccine against myxomatosis begins to act after 9 days, its strength lasts up to 9 months. During this period, you can safely happen animals to get a healthy offspring.

Rabbits should be vaccinated from mid-spring. At this time, insects, the main carriers of the virus, actively multiply. The vaccine is administered to animals once a year. The cost of vaccination in veterinary hospitals is rather big. But it must be carried out without fail, otherwise you can lose all the livestock overnight.

Many rabbit breeders who have devoted more than one year to breeding animals vaccinate themselves against myxomatosis by buying the vaccine at veterinary pharmacies. The instructions describe all recommendations regarding dosage.

We administer the myxomatosis vaccine ourselves:

Instead of results – is meat edible

Owners and veterinarians have different attitudes to the issue of eating meat from rabbits that have recovered from myxomatosis. There is still no single answer. Although, from a medical point of view, meat cannot harm the human body.

It is clear that the meat of a rabbit that died from myxomatosis or another disease should not be eaten in any case. Dead animals are best burned to prevent the spread of the disease.

Some breeders slaughter diseased animals at the first sign of infection. The meat must be washed in cold water. During cooking, it is well overcooked or boiled for at least two hours. It is better to pour out the broth.

Let us return again to the question of whether it is possible to eat rabbit meat that has had myxomatosis. Some people, despite proven safety, still prefer to destroy sick animals, they believe that the virus can harm health.

The meat of sick rabbits can be eaten, but not everyone will be able to consume it. After all, the appearance of sick rabbits cannot but cause disgust. Look at the photos 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 another group of people who believe that sick animals should not be eaten in any case, since meat retains negative energy.