Bunny with + Pasteurella- What else to do?

Question
My bunny is on SMZ TMP for his infection and has been isolated from my other bunnies. What do I do for the house and other bunnies? I am not picking up the other bunnies unless I change clothes and I am keeping his food bowl and bedding separate from theirs.  What else should I do for the house as my guys have free range of the house sometimes.  Also, he just had teeth grinding done is not eating much.  I have supplemented with Critical Care and Pedialyte and will get fluid from the vet in the morning. Any other suggestions?

Answer
Dear Megan,

First, if the Pasteurella bunny is bonded to the other bunnies DO NOT SEPARATE THEM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.  Upper respiratory infections are *not* easily transmissible among rabbits, and the others have already been exposed.  It is actually more stressful for the sick bunny to be separated from his mates, and this will make him more susceptible to illness.

Second, I have to wonder how experienced the vet is with rabbits.  Trimehtoprim sulfa is a very old drug, and I have yet to see a modern strain of Pasteurella that is susceptible to it.  If so, you're very lucky. But the only way to know for sure is via culture and sensitivity test:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/culture.html

We've had cultures of Pasteurella come back sensitive to the sulfas, but the medication doesn't actually seem to work well against the bacteria in a living rabbit.

These days, many rabbit-expert vets are treating Pasteurella with zeniquin (marbofloxacin) or Dicural (difloxacin), both of which are fluoroquinolones that appear to be highly effective against most strains of Pasteurella.  Pasteurella is also often sensitive to penicillins.  Although you must never give oral penicillins to a rabbit, as they can be deadly, *injections* of duplocillin/bicillin every 48 hours can be combined with zeniquin for a powerful antibiotic attack on the bacteria.

You might want to use the list linked here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

to see if you can find a rabbit-experienced vet for a second opinion.    But the first step is to get bun back with his pals, before they reject him.  Taking him out when he's already sick is a bit like closing the barn door after the horse has already gotten out.

I hope this helps.

Dana