We had brought our white senior does to the judging table, and the judge had already examined each rabbit individually. Then, before she had begun making her placements, I saw that one doe had a glop of whitish mucous dripping from her nose. What to do? I hated the thought of embarrassing a fellow exhibitor, but the health of my own rabbits was at stake. I said, so that the judge could hear, “That rabbit has a snotty nose.”

The judge examined the rabbit again, agreed that the nose was snotty, disqualified her, and sent her off the table. The judge then cleaned her hands with disinfectant, but of course, everything the rabbit had come in contact with had been contaminated.

The exhibitor did not, as they should have, remove the rabbit entirely from the show room. The exhibitor left the rabbit in its carrier with their other rabbits in the show room until their other breeds had been judged. The correct, and responsible action would have been to remove the rabbit from the show room.

Because some rabbit exhibitors are so careless is why some rabbit breeders have quit going to shows altogether. Indeed, your best defense against bringing home “snuffles” or another rabbit disease from a show is to keep your rabbitry clean, mind the air quality of your rabbitry, and cull any sick rabbits from your herd.

I’ve seen, on the various rabbit forums, some breeders blithely recommend use of penicillin or other antibiotics to a breeder who says their rabbits have respiratory infections. This is just plain wrong! When rabbits that have snuffles (respiratory infections) are treated with antibiotics, the symptoms may be masked, but the disease is not cured! The rabbits remain carriers of the pathogens, and may break with the symptoms again too.

It seems that many rabbit breeders assume that the only truly worrisome cause of snuffles is pasteurella multocida. In fact, according to Dr. Wendy Feaga, “There are at least four different bacteria responsible for this disease.” Dr. Feaga says that none of the causes of snuffles are curable. So, if someone tells you, “Oh, it is probably just bordetella, just give the rabbit some pen G,” they are giving very bad advice.

Dr. Feaga has found, when doing necropsies on rabbits that had snuffles, that the rabbits had pockets of infection throughout their bodies, so it is not limited to the respiratory system. She wrote, “Snuffles can have several different presentations leading me to often refer to this disease as the snuffles complex. Classic snuffles is a thick nasal discharge which can be seen at the nostril at rest or when the rabbit sneezes. Other forms include abscesses in the lungs, skin, jaw, middle ear, behind the eye, reproductive tract, joints, naval and hocks.”

The responsible thing to do, if you have a rabbit with snuffles, is to humanely put it down. Don’t try to cure it, don’t keep it around as a source of infection for your other rabbits and your fellow exhibitors’ rabbits. However emotionally attached you are to that rabbit, you can become just as fond of a healthy rabbit that is not a danger to other rabbits.

If you have a sick rabbit, accept responsibility in a mature, adult fashion. Don’t be like the rabbit breeder with whom I had a very bad experience. I had agreed to haul a rabbit home from a show that a friend had purchased. During the trip, I heard the rabbit sneeze several times. On examining the animal, I found it to have a snotty nose, and I promptly put it down. It was a danger to every other animal I that I had with me. When I told the seller about the incident, the seller went batshit crazy. Until then, I was willing to give the seller the benefit of the doubt; I thought this was probably just an anomaly. But the seller said terrible things to me, and began calling their friends around the country to tell them what a terrible person I was. It seemed that the seller was actually extremely embarrassed that they had sold a sick rabbit, and instead of being professional about it, they decided to pitch a childish temper tantrum. They did not even refund the purchase price to the rabbit’s buyer. What that seller’s dreadful behavior has led me to conclude is that they probably have lots of sick rabbits that they are in denial about.

Here is an example of how carelessness in health management of the rabbitry can get perpetuated. I know of a breeder who borrowed a buck from another breeder. While at Breeder A’s house, Breeder B noticed, and objected to, sneezing by Breeder A’s rabbits. Yet, Breeder B allowed the rabbit breeding to commence. Later, Breeder A gave two rabbits from the breeding to Breeder B. The rabbits seemed to be healthy. Within a few months, one of those rabbits turned up with a snotty nose. By then, Breeder B was emotionally attached to the rabbit, and was in denial about the rabbit’s illness.

On various forums, I’ve seen some rabbit breeders excuse every symptom of respiratory disease as “allergies.” Whereas, the responsible breeders will promptly, humanely terminally cull any rabbit that has a respiratory illness. It is no coincidence that the most responsible rabbit breeders are also the most successful ones in the show room!