What to Do If a Rabbit Has a Cold? Treatment Methods and Care Measures
The common illness in rabbit farming is actually the cold. Not only do people commonly catch colds, rabbits do too. Although a rabbit cold is not a serious illness, if left untreated it can spread and become a serious illness, and when the condition develops severely it can even be life-threatening. Moreover, these colds are the most easily transmitted, causing large-scale illness and affecting growth. If a pregnant rabbit catches a cold, it will even affect fetal development. So what should be done about a rabbit cold, how should it be treated, and what preventive measures should be taken? Let's take a look together next.
1. Causes of Colds
Poor air quality, chilling from temperature drops after shearing, sudden exposure to low temperatures, excessive ventilation at night, no heating in winter, and hot, humid summer days - in short, wind-heat and wind-cold are the main causes of colds. Failure to do a good job of cooling and dehumidifying or of keeping warm and protecting against the cold is the main trigger for colds.
2. Treatment Methods
After discovering that a rabbit has a cold, feed it antibiotics. You can use the antibiotic medicines used when people have colds, but reduce the dosage by one third. It should be taken with warm water, and more warm water should be given every day. After administering the medicine, change the environment and place the rabbit in a dry, well-ventilated place. In winter, pay attention to protecting against the cold, open doors and windows less, open windows at set times for ventilation, provide cotton wadding for warmth, or provide heating. Usually let it out more often to move around; it cannot stay in the cage all the time. Activity enhances resistance.
3. Environmental Hygiene
Excrement contains a large amount of bacteria. If the excrement is not handled properly and not cleaned up in time, the pathogens will multiply in large numbers and cause some diseases, possibly including colds. Concentrated feed for consumption should be steamed at high temperature for disinfection before being made. Green feed brought in from outside should be washed clean. Dry feed that has been stored for a long time should be kept in a dry place and sun-dried again before feeding. Newly purchased rabbits from outside must be quarantined and raised for one to two months before they can enter the farm.
4. Use of Medication
Oral aspirin: one tablet for an adult rabbit, half a tablet for a young rabbit, once in the morning and once in the evening. For those with clear runny noses, use 1% ephedrine nasal drops, three times a day. Or take Lianqiao Jiedu tablets orally: one tablet per dose for adults, likewise twice a day, morning and evening. For those with fever, streptomycin should also be injected, with the dosage calculated by body weight: 10 mg per kilogram, twice a day for three consecutive days.
Because farmed rabbits are raised in groups and mostly kept indoors, the air environment and living environment are not the best, so they are prone to catching colds when the seasons change and temperatures fluctuate. I hope the above content is of some help to friends who have questions.