Causes and Prevention Methods of Yellow Urine Disease in Baby Rabbits
When raising rabbits, yellow urine disease in baby rabbits is very common. Yellow urine disease is the common name for acute enteritis in baby rabbits, referring to the yellow diarrhea passed by affected baby rabbits, not to baby rabbits urinating yellow urine. In fact, yellow urine disease in baby rabbits would be more aptly called yellow feces disease in baby rabbits. It is unknown why it was originally called yellow urine disease.What causes yellow urine disease in baby rabbits? How to prevent and treat it?
I. Causes of yellow urine disease in baby rabbits
1. Seasonal factors
A large amount of evidence has proven that the hot and humid summer season is the peak period for yellow urine disease in baby rabbits. Some rabbit farms may even describe it as an outbreak, causing massive deaths of baby rabbits. According to our observations on our rabbit farm, without any drug prevention, when the rabbit house temperature was 25 degrees, no baby rabbits were found to have yellow urine disease, but when the temperature reached 27 degrees, yellow urine disease was found to appear. It can be seen that excessively high rabbit house temperatures in summer are an important factor in the occurrence of yellow urine disease in baby rabbits. In other seasons with lower temperatures, the incidence of yellow urine disease is relatively much lower.
2. Factors related to the doe's milk
Yellow urine disease in baby rabbits is closely related to baby rabbits consuming the milk of does with mastitis. However, not all baby rabbits nursed by does with mastitis will develop yellow urine disease. Moreover, many does without mastitis also have baby rabbits that develop yellow urine disease. Many people believe this is because the doe has subclinical mastitis, which is why the baby rabbits develop yellow urine disease. The theory of subclinical mastitis in does still awaits further research by scientists to confirm. We are just rabbit raisers, and all we know is that many does with mastitis have baby rabbits that do not develop yellow urine disease. This shows that when a doe develops mastitis, the baby rabbits will not necessarily develop yellow urine disease, and when a doe does not have mastitis, the baby rabbits will also often develop yellow urine disease. In short, mastitis in does is not the only causative factor for yellow urine disease in baby rabbits.
II. How to prevent and treat yellow urine disease in baby rabbits?
1. Inject rabbit staphylococcus vaccine
Does should be injected with rabbit staphylococcus vaccine before mating, so that baby rabbits are born with relatively high maternal antibodies and thus have resistance to the disease.
2. Administer sulfonamide drugs
Does should be given sulfonamide drugs for 3 consecutive days after giving birth (0.5 grams/day) to prevent mastitis. For does suffering from mastitis, local block therapy can be adopted: inject procaine penicillin at 3~5 points around the affected area, supplemented with hot compresses, for a relatively good effect.
3. Adjust the doe's feed formula
Adjust the feed formula for lactating does. First-time does should be fed more green, succulent feed to avoid milk that is too rich and causes the doe to develop mastitis, and also to avoid baby rabbits sucking excessively rich milk and developing indigestion that leads to enteritis.
4. Oral chloramphenicol eye drops
Baby rabbits should be given 2~3 drops of oral chloramphenicol eye drops per rabbit before nursing to prevent yellow urine disease. For baby rabbits suffering from yellow urine disease, gentamicin or chloramphenicol injection can be given orally, 2 times daily, 2~3 drops each time, for 3 consecutive days, which generally brings recovery.