Baby Rabbit exopsed to Rabbit Syphilis

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impressionrabbitry

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Bartow, Florida, USA
I need help! My 9 week-old does were in the same cage yesterday as a rabbit that has Syphilis. They did not breed and I do not think that they even groomed eachother. I am worried but they look ok. The bad thing isthree other does were in the cage for a bit longer and all three are showing symptoms... I need to know what to do with these little girls. Going to the vet is out of my budget. The rabbit that has syphilis has not been clinically diagnosed but she has a very red genital area and it just looks weird... like her butt is popping out. I just need some opinions on what I should do with my does to prevent them from getting sick.
 
I am not a fan of home treatment because I have had a very bad experience with it. I nearly lost my first bunny to a medication allergic-type reaction, and ended up spending over a thousand dollars at the emergency vet, where he stayed for 4+ days at death's door, which was a harrowing experience for me emotionally.

That said, the treatment for syphillis is injection of penicillin G, which can be purchased at most farm supply stores. I am not sure of the dosing, but it should be diluted 1:1 with a sterile saline solution or distilled water. It is a one-time injection that should not need to be repeated and it is relatively easy to do. It is done sub-cutaneously, and you can find videos on how to do sub-q injection on this forum and other places. The skin near the neck is tented and you inject into the layer between the skin and the underlying body wall. Make sure no penicillin leaks out or gets on the fur because it is toxic if taken orally for rabbits.

Naturestee fostered a litter of rabbits that got syphillis from their mother so she would know dosages. You can PM her for that info.

As for the mom, make sure she does not have a prolapsed anus instead of syphillis. Anal prolapse is not uncommon in rabbits--basically the very end gets turned inside out so you see a very angry red area of skin around the anus. It usually can be pushed back in if it is a prolapse, but cannot if it is syphillis. If it is a prolapse the only treatment will require vet intervention--stitches are usually needed from what I understand.
 
Thank you! They are not showing any signs of hiving problems at all and it is not their mom that has the problem but another jr rabbit that is unrelated to them. However they were in the cage near her. Is the condition you said about the anus something my girls could catch?:lookaround
 
A prolapsed anus would be a physical problem- part of the insides push out of the anus. This would require vet treatment.

However, syphilis can sometimes look like that. That's how it looked in my very young babies that had it. As I said in the pm, I don't know the actual dosages because my vet calculated them and did the shots for me. My vet did one shot a week for 3-4 weeks (I forget, exactly).

Can you take a picture of the rabbit with the swollen/protuding anus? Maybe we can figure it out. However, a vet would be preferred for that.
 

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