Does anyone know any thing about rabbit syphilis (vent disease)?

Question

My rabbit has been battleing health issues for a while and we can't seem to cure him. We have treated him with baytril and other medication to treat hutch burn and pyoderma. We recently have come across info about rabbit syphilis, and we think this is what he has. His genital area is always wet with urine and he gets nasty scab type things on his scrotum. I read that you treat the syphilis with injected benzathine/procaine penecillin, but I also read the penicillin can kill rabbits because it will give them diarrhea really bad. Has anyone had to treat their rabbit with penicillin, or for syphilis? Help I don't know how to help my little guy. We do take him to a vet, but the vet isn't too expirenced with rabbits.

Well we just toke the bunny to the vet today with all the info we had gathered on rabbit syphilis. The vet toke a cell scraping, and no syphilis. So I'm really stumped now. The vet said things looked normal under the microscope, but his white blood cells were high, meaning some sort of infection. Here are the symptoms in more depth.
Hutch Burn-treated with daily bathing
Black scabs on the scrotum-we dab them with a diluted (10 water-1 iodine) iodine solution
Weepy eyes-clean with saline treat with terramycin
Gimpy leg from parrelesis-we give him rimadyl because we think it pains him. He gets around fine he just shows a little tenderness to the leg.
He did have fur mites but they are gone now. he also had pyoderma but that has cleared up with baytril. He also shows sensativity to yougurt drop treats, he gets diarrea. The vet now put him on trimethp/sulfamthzl at 1 cc 2 times daily.
So right now he is on 1/4 rimadyl every other day and the trimethp/sulfamthzl he also gets daily baths.

Answer 1

I've a couple of links below for you

http://www.radil.missouri.edu/info/dora/RABBPAGE/bac.htm#VI.

http://homepage.mac.com/exoticdvm/mammal/PhotoAlbum72.html

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/171321.htm

The Benzathine/Procaine penicillin is fine to use as an injection. I've used it for rabbits that have jaw and tooth abcesses with great success, even learnt to give the shots myself. If it does affect your rabbits digestive system remove all food except hay and water, but I have to say out of 5 rabbits that have been treated with this (one was having shots every 2 days for a year or more), none have shown any signs of side effects.

Good luck!

Oh! If you have a vet that is willing to learn with you about the care of rabbits I suggest you get 'Textbook of Rabbit Medicine' by Frances Harcourt-Brown. It's a brilliant resource and by nudging your vet along you'll be helping every other rabbit that enters the surgery. Rabbits savvy vets can be made, I've done it with mine!

Answer 2

Rabbit Syphilis

Answer 3

It sounds like you are describing vent disease. The vents are located on either side of where you sex a rabbit. If it has that it will probably have some kind of gew oozing out of the vents and you will smell a really strong odor coming from the vents.

I don't have a lot of experience with vent disease even though I've raised rabbits for a very long time. Normally to cure something like that you need a pretty strong antibiotic like penicillin G I think. Normally you give the rabbit yogurt afterward to encourage good bacteria growth.

My recommendation is to contact the American Rabbit Breeders Association at:

http://www.arba.net

They are the experts on rabbit diseases. They have a veterinarian called Dr. Chris Hayhow that is an expert on rabbit diseases or you may try looking up some of the writings on vent disease by Dr. Terry E Reed. Dr Reed was the leading veterinarian on rabbit health when he was alive.

I guarantee that if you pose your question to the ARBA they should be able to answer your question and give you a lot of info on the subject. They also might be able to provide you with a list of some good rabbit veterinarians in your area. Another good source to try might be contacting Purdue University's veterinarian program. They know a good deal about rabbit medicine. The ARBA works with many veterinarian schools and keeps up to date on the latest research and funds many programs on rabbit health research.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Does anyone know any thing about rabbit syphilis (vent disease)?
My rabbit has been battleing health issues for a while and we can't seem to cure him. We have treated him with baytril and other medication to treat hutch burn and pyoderma. We recently have come across info about rabbit syphilis, and we think this is what he has. His genital area is always wet...

Answer 5

Rabbit syphilis is a relatively rare sexually transmitted (venereal) disease of pet rabbits. This disease is caused by a slender, spiral bacterium (spirochete) transmitted by direct contact between infected and uninfected rabbits. Transmission is more likely to occur in rabbitries than in a household. In fact, exchange of bucks breeding males) among rabbit breeders helps spread the disease.

Infected rabbits develop multiple raised, crusted and sometimes bleeding ulcers on the external genitalia, around the anus, and on the face (particularly the nose). Affected rabbits remain alert and the condition usually disappears after several weeks. Treatment is recommended and involves antibiotic injections.


Here is a site about the Penicillin cure:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1473713&blobtype=pdf

But much evidence suggests that using Ceftriaxone repeatedly
can cure it.

Answer 6

I think your vet has the diagnosis correct. Syphilis is highly contagious and they will all need to be treated. You can put a dab of pure aloe on the vent area to promote healing. The treatment should clear it up in a few weeks though. Sounds like you caught it pretty early. Don't use tree tea oil as it can be toxic in small animals. Typically in urine scald you will find the inner sides of the back legs inflamed and missing fur not just around the vent area.

Answer 7

Well I would get a vet that knows about rabbits!!! I would then make sure his cage is clean and sterilized.. and
The rabbit may have Orchitis... this is an infection or inflammation of the testicles and may have pus forming bacteria may be involved..
DO not give them penecillin..a vet that knows about cavies, rabbits will know what is best to give them.. you do not want to give them anything that will make them sicker..because once rabbits get or are sick they will continue to go down hill and it may be had to get them better.. take care and good luck..