What are the prevention and treatment methods for rabbit hemorrhagic septicemia?
The pathogen of rabbit "hemorrhagic septicemia" belongs to Pasteurella multocida. When the external environment changes, or feeding and management are poor, the rabbit's resistance weakens, and the Pasteurella on the respiratory tract mucosa seizes the opportunity to become active and cause disease. The body tissues suffer hemorrhagic septicemia, hence the name "hemorrhagic septicemia" disease, abbreviated as "hemorrhagic septicemia."
(1) Symptoms
1. Acute type: the affected rabbit suddenly falls to the ground and dies, showing no clinical symptoms. But most diseased rabbits show: listlessness, cessation of eating, difficulty breathing, body temperature rising above 41°C, serous discharge flowing from the nasal cavity, sometimes diarrhea, shivering and spasms, and the course of disease is generally death within 3-5 hours and 12-24 hours.
2. Subacute type: the affected rabbit has difficulty breathing, often sneezes and coughs, mucous and purulent nasal discharge flows from the nasal cavity, rales can be heard in the lung area, joints swell, conjunctivitis occurs, and the rabbit dies with diarrhea.
3. Chronic type: the upper respiratory tract mucosa of the diseased rabbit shows catarrhal inflammation, mucous, serous and purulent secretions flow from the nasal cavity, and the rabbit sneezes and coughs. It often uses its front paws to scratch and rub the nasal area, thereby transferring the pathogen to the ears, eyes and scratched skin, causing conjunctivitis, keratitis, otitis media, wound suppuration, etc. If not treated carefully and promptly, it will ultimately lead to malnutrition, emaciation and death.
(2) Preventive measures
1. Strengthen scientific feeding and management of the rabbit herd, conscientiously do a good job of environmental sanitation, improve the body's constitution and enhance disease resistance, with special attention to preventing colds caused by climate change and the invasion and harm of parasitic diseases.
2. The manure, sewage and garbage removed from the rabbit house must undergo piled composting and fermentation treatment, with strict disinfection and regular quarantine inspection.
3. For newly introduced rabbits, the epidemic prevention principle of isolated observation and feeding for 15 days must be adhered to, and only after confirming they are healthy and disease-free may they enter the facility for scientific feeding.
4. For rabbits suffering from particularly severe disease, they must be decisively and promptly culled and eliminated, and the carcass and other waste must be arranged for disinfection treatment at the bottom.
5. It is particularly important that "rabbit pasteurella vaccine" preventive injection must be carried out every year to cultivate a healthy rabbit herd.
(3) Treatment methods
1. For affected rabbits of excellent and high-priced breeds, inject "anti-hemorrhagic septicemia serum" subcutaneously at 4-5 ml per kg of body weight, and inject once more 8-10 hours after the first injection; for the remaining breeding rabbits, "anti-hemorrhagic septicemia serum" may be injected subcutaneously at 2-3 ml per kg of body weight to form a temporary herd immunity effect.
2. Use penicillin or streptomycin containing 20,000-30,000 units per ml to administer nasal drops to diseased rabbits, 3-5 drops per rabbit each time, 3-4 times daily, for 5-7 consecutive days.
3. Use 1% ephedrine solution and chloramphenicol eye drops simultaneously as nasal drops, 3-4 drops of each per time, 3-4 times per rabbit daily, and at the same time orally administer sulfamethylpyrimidine or sulfadimethylpyrimidine at 0.1 g per kg of body weight, twice daily.
4. For valuable breeding rabbits suffering from this disease, penicillin at 10,000-20,000 units and streptomycin sulfate at 5,000-10,000 units per kg of body weight may be used for simultaneous intramuscular injection, twice daily, for 3-5 consecutive days.
5. For diseased rabbits with a relatively long course of disease, use sulfaquinoxaline calculated at 225 g added per ton of feed, mix evenly and feed 3 times daily.
6. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment formula: per kg of body weight, use honeysuckle 5 g, chrysanthemum 3 g, coptis 1.5 g, phellodendron 2 g, scutellaria 1.5 g, dandelion 8 g, red peony root 1.5 g, decoct together into 500-1000 ml of juice, divide into 10 portions and mix into a small amount of concentrated feed to feed.