This post is meant for informational/educational purposes only. I am not a vet, and this is one case of rabbit syphilis. Like all other posts on these forums, this information is not diagnostic nor should it dictate how you treat your rabbit. Always consult with a rabbit-savvy vet prior to making medication/treatment decisions.
Background: Wick has reoccurring ringworm around his mouth since Nov. 2017, treated with itraconazole (oral), clotrimazole (topical), and silver sulfadiazine (topical) each time. Starting this year, the ‘ringworm’ was not behaving the same. Wick’s first wave of ringworm aggressively ran away from the medication, while the waves this year seemed to not care if a day of treatment was missed — it was very ‘weak’ and didn’t grow, but more so scabbed.
Diagnosis and Cause: Wick had a treponema (name for rabbit syphilis infection) blood panel done, and it came with a weak positive. It is transmitted a few ways: 1) sexual contact with an infected rabbit, 2) direct contact with sores of an infected rabbit, or 3) during birth from an infected mother. Since Wick is a single rabbit, and I already had suspicions that he was raised in a poor environment, he almost certainly was already infected when I received him at 9 weeks old. This raises the question why the symptoms are only occurring now, and just like many infections, it seems it can be dormant until it shows itself after a stressful event or just eventually over time. The weak positive coincides with the slight increase found in Wick’s blood inflammation levels (inflammation occurs when the body is fighting off something).
Symptoms (congruent with syphilis): Typical signs of rabbit syphilis are sores around the genitalia primarily and around the face. Wick had atypical symptoms (which have been documented in recent years), where it was only around his mouth. This is why it was difficult to differentiate it from his past ringworm history. One could potentially facilitate the other, but at the moment, I am unsure. Another atypical symptom is inflammation of the nose, which Wick had, but I had credited to his bout with a UTI and having runny nose occasionally due to hay dust.
Decision for treatment: Rabbit syphilis is typically treated with penicillin injections. For separate reasons, Wick had already been on penicillin injections for two medical incidences, so I discussed this with the vet. We decided to do a dual-treatment with penicillin injections and azithromycin, which is an oral medication. Both are administered daily for 21 days.
Reactions to treatment:
1. Penicillin injections: Wick tolerated this in the past, so nothing too new. Only change is this is now every day instead of spaced out, so he is developing scabs, which makes finding a new stick point difficult. He is more antsy prior to the injection.
2. Azithromycin: Wick had immediate gastric distress after the first day. Enough that he was posturing, flexing, and refusing food. It was worrisome, but he eventually came around to eating hay. The gastric distress lessened after each day. A distinct observation is the medication seems to coat the inside of Wick’s mouth, so he does not like to eat even treats afterwards. I force fed water to try and help after an administration, but this didn’t work. After experimenting, I found banana (figures!) after the medication works, and this would de-coat his mouth so he could resume eating after the medication right away.
Current Progress:
– Nose is no longer inflamed
– Consistent egg/tear-dropped shaped poops, but in normal quantities.
– General gassiness which merits daily simethicone dosing; tolerable
Future: Wick will be on treatment a bit longer, and then we’ll probably have another panel done to see the state of the infection.
Update: Another titer was done and the positive got slightly stronger. With this in mind, we’re going to bench doing other treatment and just observe to see how things go, with plans to retest in 6mo to a year if nothing happens.
The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
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