Snuffles is an upper respiratory infection caused by pasteurella and/or bordetella bacteria. Symptoms of snuffles include nasal discharge that is typically white in color, ocular discharge, sneezing, excessive grooming, and matting on the front feet. Sadly, the disease is fatal in later stages. There are multiple strains of pasteurella and bordetella, some more infectious than others.
Here's the sad truth: snuffles is not curable. This is because while the outward symptoms may be suppressed, the lung damage from the disease is irreparable. Regardless of what treatments are administered, the rabbit will still be infectious and should be kept away from other rabbits.
If you are uncertain whether your rabbit has snuffles or not, isolate it at least 6-8 feet from other rabbits, but ideally in another room entirely. The disease is spread through fomites (little particles) in the air, which can only travel so far without a secondary carrier. Make sure you wash and sanitize your hands in between handling possible infected rabbits and your healthy ones. Also, give your healthy rabbits some Immunize pellets daily to lower the risk of them getting infected. Immunize will not cure rabbits that are already infected, but it will strengthen the immune systems of healthy rabbits and lessen the likelihood of infection.
Just about every rabbit naturally carries pasteurella and bordatella in their bodies. In small quantities, the bacteria does no harm, and the rabbit is not symptomatic. The rabbit's immune system is strong enough to prevent overgrowth of the bacteria. However, when there is too much of the bacteria for the rabbit to handle, the disease irreversibly takes hold and the rabbit becomes symptomatic. Some rabbits can handle more of the bacteria than others. This is largely due to genetics. Some rabbits are just genetically stronger than others. Susceptibility is also linked to environmental factors. Stressors such as weather, air quality, ammonia, shows, or other disruptions to the norm can lower the immune system and leave the rabbit more susceptible to infection.
When bringing a new rabbit into the herd, make sure to quarantine for 14 days before it gets a cage in the rabbitry. You never know if the stress of transport or going to a new place could have triggered snuffles or any other disease.
As with most diseases that affect rabbits, prevention is the best cure. The best way of preventing outbreaks is through proper ventilation and sanitary living conditions. There should be plenty of fresh air circulating throughout the rabbitry, and there should never be a strong odor. Ammonia damages the lungs which provides an opportunity for pasteurella/bordetella to take over. Making sure your cages are clean helps prevent this. On the flip side, don't go too crazy on sanitizing everything. If your rabbits are kept in a completely sterile environment, they won't build a strong immune system. This means going to a show or even a minor change in the weather could cause illness. Just practice common sense.
Sometimes, even with all of that, you will still have a rabbit succumb to the disease out of the blue. This happens to everyone at some point. For whatever reason, the rabbit had too much of the bacteria in their system for them to handle. This doesn't necessarily mean you have an outbreak. However, it's very important that the rabbit is put to sleep instantly so that they do not infect any other rabbits. Keep a close eye on the rest of your herd (especially those that lived within 6 feet of the infected animal) for a week or two afterward. I also strongly recommend giving Immunize.
Some vets will offer swab tests for pasteurella and bordetella. However, unfortunately these tests are not 100% accurate - in fact, these tests are only accurate approximately 2/3 of the time. This means you might well get a false positive or a false negative. One problem is that because most rabbits naturally carry the bacteria but are not infectious, they may test positive but never fall ill. The other problem is that these bacteria (pasteurella in particular), are very fragile and short-lived, and will often get destroyed during transit and not show up on the test. So really, these tests are not very conclusive.
Another option is a necropsy. These tend to be more effective than swab tests, because the lab will easily find the telltale lung damage in infected animals. As with any necropsy, it's important that the body be examined as soon after death as possible for the most accurate results. However, if the rabbit has white snot, then there's really no point in doing a necropsy as there's not much else that could cause the symptoms of snuffles.
On that note, discharge that is not white could be indicative of an issue other than snuffles. Clear discharge is often due to stress or ammonia. It could be the initial signs of snuffles, but isn't necessarily. Green or yellow discharge can be caused by an inhaled pellet, which is a totally separate issue. Scabs on the nose are typically from either vent disease or injury. And bloody discharge could be caused by an injury, or (hate to say it) RHD virus.
If you are interested in furthering your knowledge of this disease, I advise talking to your vet and/or an experienced breeder or ARBA judge and getting their opinion. In the meantime, I hope this article helped further your knowledge of the disease.
Here's the sad truth: snuffles is not curable. This is because while the outward symptoms may be suppressed, the lung damage from the disease is irreparable. Regardless of what treatments are administered, the rabbit will still be infectious and should be kept away from other rabbits.
If you are uncertain whether your rabbit has snuffles or not, isolate it at least 6-8 feet from other rabbits, but ideally in another room entirely. The disease is spread through fomites (little particles) in the air, which can only travel so far without a secondary carrier. Make sure you wash and sanitize your hands in between handling possible infected rabbits and your healthy ones. Also, give your healthy rabbits some Immunize pellets daily to lower the risk of them getting infected. Immunize will not cure rabbits that are already infected, but it will strengthen the immune systems of healthy rabbits and lessen the likelihood of infection.
Just about every rabbit naturally carries pasteurella and bordatella in their bodies. In small quantities, the bacteria does no harm, and the rabbit is not symptomatic. The rabbit's immune system is strong enough to prevent overgrowth of the bacteria. However, when there is too much of the bacteria for the rabbit to handle, the disease irreversibly takes hold and the rabbit becomes symptomatic. Some rabbits can handle more of the bacteria than others. This is largely due to genetics. Some rabbits are just genetically stronger than others. Susceptibility is also linked to environmental factors. Stressors such as weather, air quality, ammonia, shows, or other disruptions to the norm can lower the immune system and leave the rabbit more susceptible to infection.
When bringing a new rabbit into the herd, make sure to quarantine for 14 days before it gets a cage in the rabbitry. You never know if the stress of transport or going to a new place could have triggered snuffles or any other disease.
As with most diseases that affect rabbits, prevention is the best cure. The best way of preventing outbreaks is through proper ventilation and sanitary living conditions. There should be plenty of fresh air circulating throughout the rabbitry, and there should never be a strong odor. Ammonia damages the lungs which provides an opportunity for pasteurella/bordetella to take over. Making sure your cages are clean helps prevent this. On the flip side, don't go too crazy on sanitizing everything. If your rabbits are kept in a completely sterile environment, they won't build a strong immune system. This means going to a show or even a minor change in the weather could cause illness. Just practice common sense.
Sometimes, even with all of that, you will still have a rabbit succumb to the disease out of the blue. This happens to everyone at some point. For whatever reason, the rabbit had too much of the bacteria in their system for them to handle. This doesn't necessarily mean you have an outbreak. However, it's very important that the rabbit is put to sleep instantly so that they do not infect any other rabbits. Keep a close eye on the rest of your herd (especially those that lived within 6 feet of the infected animal) for a week or two afterward. I also strongly recommend giving Immunize.
Some vets will offer swab tests for pasteurella and bordetella. However, unfortunately these tests are not 100% accurate - in fact, these tests are only accurate approximately 2/3 of the time. This means you might well get a false positive or a false negative. One problem is that because most rabbits naturally carry the bacteria but are not infectious, they may test positive but never fall ill. The other problem is that these bacteria (pasteurella in particular), are very fragile and short-lived, and will often get destroyed during transit and not show up on the test. So really, these tests are not very conclusive.
Another option is a necropsy. These tend to be more effective than swab tests, because the lab will easily find the telltale lung damage in infected animals. As with any necropsy, it's important that the body be examined as soon after death as possible for the most accurate results. However, if the rabbit has white snot, then there's really no point in doing a necropsy as there's not much else that could cause the symptoms of snuffles.
On that note, discharge that is not white could be indicative of an issue other than snuffles. Clear discharge is often due to stress or ammonia. It could be the initial signs of snuffles, but isn't necessarily. Green or yellow discharge can be caused by an inhaled pellet, which is a totally separate issue. Scabs on the nose are typically from either vent disease or injury. And bloody discharge could be caused by an injury, or (hate to say it) RHD virus.
If you are interested in furthering your knowledge of this disease, I advise talking to your vet and/or an experienced breeder or ARBA judge and getting their opinion. In the meantime, I hope this article helped further your knowledge of the disease.