To cull or not....I just don't know

These two rabbits have me so lost!! I had posted earlier about the doe's ears and she had pasturella and a staph infection! We've treated her and her kits seem healthy. There are five little bunnies. I was going to put the doe down after her kits were weaned and now they are and I can't do it!!! Her ears look terrible, half gone and the one has a loop so it could potentially get torn. I was going to hand these two french lops back to the breeder as we found they are really hard to handle and of course, with everything they've gone through she does not want them back. I don't blame her.
I am very careful with what I sell and give away and I won't be able to get rid of a rabbit that looks mangled like this doe. Do I just put her down? It seems so unfair to a rabbit that could have a great chance but who will assume the responsibility? With new puppies due in August and another move I just want to be free I know there are lots of rabbit people on here and I need your help!
The buck was also treated but his eye is bad now. His eyes were fine before but now he appears to have cherry eye and sometimes his eye is bulging and other times it looks blue. I was going to sell him too but I can't.

What is the responsible thing to do? Cull or treat and give away? Now I know they have the potential to have it again. Why would I want to pass that on?

The breeder has never had a case in her rabbitry so I won't be pointing fingers at her. Our place is brand new and our two other rabbits were and are still perfectly healthy. I'll never know where this came from. I just hope the babies are fine. I was told if they don't show any symptoms by the time they are 8 weeks they will be ok. Is that true?

Help? Pretty please?

We have all been where you are now. To cull or not to cull? I think if you read your own post, you have pretty much answered your own question. You know the animal can still live a life but will always have a disease that can potentially come back and maybe can be passed on to healthy stock. THis makes selling them difficult. FInding a willing soul to take them, warts and all, difficult. Plus you have all the other things going on in your life and you want to be free of the situation.

If you cannot put the animals down yourself, you either find a friend to do the job for you or spend the money and have a vet do it.

It's a tough decision but I think you know what is best.
*huggs*

hard as it is, if culling enters your mind, it's usually the best option. the stuff you don't cull is the stuff that has you "wow-ed" from the start and all the way through, if there is a doubt in your mind, it is your answer.
sucks i know, but is still the option you won't regret down the road.

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Agree 100%, Tara

I hope I am reading this post wrong but are you saying, Tara, that I need to get my affairs in order and stop crying wolf or is that a general poke to anybody that has these problems. We all do. I was worried about someone saying I was taking the easy way out. I've been thinking about this for a month now.

I'm not taking this decision lightly especially because these are my daughters rabbits. I'm looking at the health of my whole farm and the chances of cross contamination are pretty high. I have dogs running around and dogs eat poop, my kids will forget to wash their hands between touching the rabbits and then going to see the newborn puppies etc. Is this worth me being a nag to my poor kids because they won't be able to touch anything? I don't think so.

In this case I don't think anything is going to 'feel' right.

But Tara, thanks for your words of encouragement at the end of your post. I do have a decision to make and I hope it's the right one.

Why not sell/give her away as a pet? Someone will take a great 'rescue' story. Hell I'd take her, whatever her ear condition, however I don't have a setup for her.

You don't have to cull if it's something you want to avoid. Consider her for pet material and see where that brings your mind. You do what feels right to you, and if you're struggling to cull it means you haven't given up on her; just my opinion.

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I just had my husband put down a good breeding doe the other day. I should have done it several weeks ago but wanted to give her the benifit of doubt. She got better then much worse...so the other day I had NO doubts about it. She was taken by our dog and licked all over, I thought she was fine but then her nose started to swell a bit, seemed to get better then got really horrible looking and her eye started to run horribly. I am not sure if the dog hurt her nose and it got infected or it was Pasturella. Either way she was not doing good. Buy Betty:(

Chapter 2...
I have 2 other rabbit of the same breed now have stightly swollen noses...are they ramming their faces to the cages or are they getting sick? I don't know. I recently got a couple of goats and maybe the rabbits are mad and charging them from inside the cages? I haven't seen this but it is a possibility.

I have them separated for several days and am going to watch them. If they show more signs of Pasturella then they will go as well.

From what I have read/been advised in the past is that if you have a Pasturella outbreak (rabbits that show signs and get sick), there is no point in keeping them unless you are willing to expose all other to it. It is indeed in the environment and as many diseases it shows when there are stressful times for the animals. It takes time, money and emotions to deal with a rabbit that has been sick like that and it will most likely be a recurring thing. I personally would no longer breed a rabbit that has had a bad illnes like Pasturella. Too much chance of more sickness for the rabbit and other rabbits too.

If keeping as a pet and you want to invest what it takes...sure, but most of us just don't have the time and money to devote to 1 or 2 animals.

I have tried both ways...nursing to health and culling. The onee I nursed back to health got sick again twice and finally died. Of course it is your decision and it is a hard one, but in my opinion if they have been sick and still are sick or in bad shape, cull them. It is horrible and I get upset every time something has to be put down, but sometimes it is what needs to be done.

I wish you the best of luck, it is a hard decision, I feel for you.

Hugs...

I agree.

I can't say it better than ChickenCrack...about pasturella.

If this was just an ear disfigurement it would be a decision based on weather you wanted to cull or rehome an ugly rabbit.

Pasturella is different. Apparently many rabbits carry it and it does not affect them in the slightest. Other get snuffles. It is incurable and highly likely to be passed on to the rest of the herd.

I had a herd of a rare breed that was highly susceptible to snuffles. I was convinced to treat them and treatment became a full time job. I put my foot down, liquidated the whole herd, was rabbit free for half a year, then started anew and have never regretted my decision. This time, any sign of snuffles and I bring out the metal pipe, not the bottle of medicine.

Hhmmm.....the ugly ears don't bother me at all. I'd never put an animal down because it was 'funny looking'.

As for the pasturella, if it's going to keep coming back it makes absolutely no sense to keep them I've treated, and treated and treated. I think it's time. I hope these baby bunnies we have will be fine. We'd all be devastated if they had to put down too. I will not sell them to anyone who has other rabbits and I will keep my fingers crossed that they have immunity to it rather than infection.

I think it is important for my kids to see that sometimes there are hard decisions to make and that sometimes we can't save every animal. When it comes to a contagious disease I do believe they will understand.

Thank you Chicken crack and Schipperkesue! I was really needing a personal experience to be shared.

And in regards to cryng wolf, I am not one to continue in the path of making the same mistakes over again. Although it happens to the best of us. I don't even know what my mistake was. Perhaps bringing a rabbit home with a weepy eye was the start of pasturella and nobody knew. Perhaps going to a poultry/rabbit sale and coming home with it on me was it. I do think it is strange that the rabbit breeders let everybody touch and handle their rabbits. The general public can bring all sorts of bugs into a show like that.

For now we will stick with the two pet rabbits we have who are perfectly fine. I can't figure that out either as they were in contact with the sick ones.

It has been a rough go. I have decided though, that perhaps my daughter can be a proud new mommy to a biewer yorkie as a breeding prospect. That's where my knowledge is!!

Thanks again to all of your comments and advice!

Okee dokey, 4pm today. The vet is only charging me $40 for both.

Is there anyway to disinfect dirt?

chickadee wrote:Okee dokey, 4pm today. The vet is only charging me $40 for both.

Is there anyway to disinfect dirt?

Typically, dirt is quite sanitary if it's primarily earth/composted matter, so no worries

It can be done. Scoop it up into an oven proof container (roasting bags?) and bake it until the internal temperature is 212 degrees then turn the oven off. If you have large amounts to sterilize, steam is process used in many green houses. You could rent a unit that is for steam cleaning engines for example and steam the area. Old time farmers used to leave the infected dirt unused for several years. I guess the strain of the bacteria will determine how long they can remain viable in soil. Good luck with that and sorry for your hard decision.

Can you move your bunnies to another spot for a few months?

The baby bunnies? I was going to clean the cage, spray Virkon and move it to a different location. We are moving too so maybe that will give a fresh start. The other two healthy adult rabbits are separated already. I could also get my hubby to scrape the ground with the bulldozer and haul it out to the bush. Dirt is a hard thing to clean

bleach

If you move the bunnies, I wouldn't worry about the dirt. Pasturella will not live long off an animal. When your dirt dries out it will be gone.

Sweet!
They have now gone to bunny heaven

http://picasaweb.google.com/lrbchina/Littleredbook#5345979092390476434

Schipperkesue, cute picture. That must be bunny heaven?