How To Tell If A Rabbit Has Tularemia

Introduction

We know that you love your bunny. You want to keep him as healthy as possible, right? Well, a disease called tularemia can infect humans and rabbits as well, so it’s a good idea to learn the symptoms so that you can take care of your pet (and yourself). Tularemia is caused by the bacteria Francisella tularensis. It can cause severe illness in both people and rabbits when it infects them. The good news is that this disease is very rare in humans or rabbits. Also, with prompt medical treatment for both species, recovery is usually complete. People usually get tularemia by being bitten by infected ticks or deer flies or by coming into contact with infected animals (like rabbits) or their carcasses. Let’s take a look at some of the symptoms and what to do if your rabbit gets sick:

Tularemia is an infectious bacterial disease of rodents and rabbits.

Tularemia is an infectious bacterial disease of rodents and rabbits. It can also affect humans, domestic animals, and other wild animals such as deer and birds. Tularemia is common in rabbits, but rare in people.

The infection is transmitted to humans by ticks or biting flies that have bitten infected rodents (especially rabbits). Transmission to humans can occur through contact with infected animals or ticks (e.g., a child who handles an infected animal may contract tularemia if bitten by a tick later on).

You can be exposed to the bacteria that cause tularemia through:

Tularemia can be transmitted to people through:

Bites from infected ticks, deerflies or mosquitoes. These can happen if you are spending time in areas where rabbits live. They also occur when you are working with animals that may have tularemia (such as hunting) or if you have skin contact with infected blood or tissue.
Eating undercooked meat from an infected animal. This occurs mostly when hunters eat game that had not been cooked thoroughly enough to kill any bacteria present in the meat.
Inhaling fine particles from the environment (dust) contaminated by rabbits, their droppings or animal carcasses with tularemia bacteria on them when these materials dry out slowly after being wetted by rainwater or dew overnight while they’re buried in the soil near rabbit burrows

Symptoms of tularemia include

Symptoms of tularemia include:

fever
swollen lymph nodes
skin ulcers
swollen eyes
swollen joints, especially the knees and elbows
pneumonia. Tularemia can also cause inflammation of the lining of the intestines and diarrhea.

Prevention of tularemia involves

Avoid contact with rabbits and rodents.

Rabbits are carriers of the bacteria that cause tularemia, and they can be infected by ticks, fleas, biting flies or direct contact with other animals. People can get sick after handling infected rabbits or rodents like squirrels and muskrats. It’s important to avoid handling sick animals because you can also become sick if you touch a rabbit with tularemia without washing your hands afterward.

Treat any bites from ticks as an emergency situation because this may be the first sign of infection in some cases (see below).

Wear gloves when handling animals so you don’t accidentally touch their fur or saliva or wipe your nose on your sleeve later in the day (or night). You should also wash thoroughly after working around animals because even if you wear gloves, there may still be some tiny amounts of blood on them from scratching at fleas or ticks during their grooming process – especially if those critters are really hungry! Remember: “Prevention is key!”

Tularemia is rare in rabbits, but you should know what to look out for.

The usual symptoms are fever, skin sores, and swollen lymph nodes.

You can be exposed to tularemia bacteria through:

inhaling small amounts of infected rabbit droppings or urine
biting an infected rabbit’s skin (like if you were trying to clean your rabbit)

Conclusion

We hope readers will find this information useful and now have a better understanding of how to tell if a rabbit has tularemia.