Rabbit with possible e cuniculi

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ipoGSD

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So one of our pet bunnies has become very wobbly and weak in his hind legs. We're assuming its e cuniculi. We have been giving about a large pea size dose 1x daily of the safeguard horse deowrmer in the white tube. He weights about 3 lbs.

I havent seen any improvement in how he's walking. Its day 4. I do realize he will be needing a 28 day treatment. But will he ever walk right again? As of right now he struggles to hop and then after a few hops he falls over. He is such a sweetheart but if his legs don't improve, i truly think it would be mean to keep him alive :( <br /><br /> -- Mon Oct 24, 2016 10:32 pm -- <br /><br /> Ps and yes we have been giving him a couple drops of metacam daily with it
 
ipoGSD":lf6vri9n said:
So one of our pet bunnies has become very wobbly and weak in his hind legs. We're assuming its e cuniculi. We have been giving about a large pea size dose 1x daily of the safeguard horse deowrmer in the white tube. He weights about 3 lbs.

I havent seen any improvement in how he's walking. Its day 4. I do realize he will be needing a 28 day treatment. But will he ever walk right again? As of right now he struggles to hop and then after a few hops he falls over. He is such a sweetheart but if his legs don't improve, i truly think it would be mean to keep him alive :(

-- Mon Oct 24, 2016 10:32 pm --

Ps and yes we have been giving him a couple drops of metacam daily with it

I had it turn up once in my herd and used Safeguard but used the liquid. About day 7 was the first notable change in his stability. By day 20 you'd have never known anything was wrong but continued the full 28 days.

For a probiotic I used Bene-Bac powder on his treats and it worked well. (keep that gut working) I didn't use Metacam at all but don't see how it would hurt anything.

Not sure about the paste but bet your rabbit will come out of it.
 
Homer, thank you. Your experience gives us hope that he will hop right again.

Having this happen really makes me regret not deworming them all sooner. I think i will do regular dewormings in the future. Possibly cocci prevention too. Dont want to chance that happening next <br /><br /> -- Wed Oct 26, 2016 2:08 am -- <br /><br /> What i do find odd is, he has absolutely no twist in his head ay all. Just very little control over his back legs. :(
 
Mine never had "head tilt" you could see either. It was his movement (rear end flopping around , leg movement) and TERRIBLE condition as well as weight lose that put me in treatment mode.

Hang in there! Some days they look better and then some days worse for awhile. Just my experience, your mileage may vary. ;)
 
Awesome!! Yeah his back end is all over the place. Tho his weight is still good and appetite is also.

I have given some dewormer to the others even tho no signs, a few days apart not daily as they have litters and what i read said give lower doses. I figured a little is better than none.

Also given ivermec too. Said to give weekly for e cuniculi
 
Safeguard horse dewormer is also good for routine prevention? I have Holland lops, so maybe even a bit smaller than pea size? Following.....
 
michaels4gardens":hcd6a8dx said:
I used garlic chives -- symptoms have not returned,,,
I've never had any luck getting them to eat it...

no.jpg
 
Update

So Oswald (lol @ his cute name) our blue rex pet bunny is FINALLY getting better!

The safeguard horse dewormer & weekly ivermec was not helping at all. He was actually getting worse and he had been being treated for 2 weeks give or take..

Last ditch chance.. i decided to try something, I will say i am NOT a vet but it was either TRY this or we would have had to say goodbye to him as he literally had no control over his legs by the time i tried this experimental treatment. It was cruel to keep him but i figured i can give him 2 days and see how he does..

On top of the daily safeguard, i started giving him some metronidazole. I had some left from one of my dogs. Using a 250mg pill BUT im using a tinyyyyy bit. Basically i use a paring knife to scrape the pill, once i get enough powder that covers the point of the paring knife, thats the amount i use. Along with some prednisone. Same amount of powder. The pred is from a 5mg pill. I mix both those powders into his once a day safeguard treatment.

Within a day i thought i seen improvement but wasnt sure if i was just being hopeful. After day 2 he was starting to stand and hobble around.

Its now been about 5 days of this treatment and I'm happy to say he has even been binkying!!! His cage is in our living room and every time we look at him he is standing normally and we havent seen him fall at all today. When i took him out tonight for his meds, he even kicked me. I hate rabbit kicks but was so happy to see him do that. He is still weak in the hind end but i do think he will be ok :)

I plan on giving him this mix of meds for the 28 days (even tho he was started on safeguard on the 21st of Oct) the safeguard alone was not working. So i figure he should have the full 28 day treatment as of when it started to work.

He will still be getting his weekly ivermec during this too.

I have no idea where he got this e.cuniculi. the hay? The weeds from the lawn or playtime on the lawn? His mom? But i definitely plan on treating my bunnies for this and cocci several times a year. Lesson learned!

-- Sat Nov 05, 2016 4:27 am --

Homer, as for the ivermec. Ive read it stops the parasite from traveling further. Dont know how true this is. Ive read so much but as much as I've read, theres still not much concrete proven info on e.cuniculi & its treatment.



Macksmom, i think a larger pea size would be good. Fenbendazole is somewhat safe so even if its a little too much *in theory* your buns should be ok. Oswald weighs almost 5lbs, and the amount to treat it is larger than even the biggest pea. The amount for his size is .5 ml but for a preventative a large pea size might work? (Got free oral syringes from CVS pharmacy)
 
Homer i realize some of these meds aren't good but didnt see those links, ty! Im glad you showed me them. What i might do is do a course of 5 days on and 5 days off while still continuing the safeguard. So far he is doing phenomenal! <br /><br /> -- Sun Nov 06, 2016 4:01 am -- <br /><br /> I dont get it.. oswald was doing SO good. Now tonight hes doing pretty bad. On top of his back legs acting funny again his front legs arent working right.

I spoke to my daughter about him and told her its mean to let him stay like this.

I DO NOT get it! I actually had hope for him.. :'(

Funny thing is, he was the only one who is like this. Im wondering if its something else besides cuniculi. But no matter what it is, its not getting better. I will be saying goodbye to him tomorrow
 
I'm really sorry for you and your daughter to hear this. :encourage: The hardest part I have found in treating a rabbit (had them over 45 years now) that is ailing is they hide it so well. By the time we see it more times than not it's to late for us to get these issues turned around. It may not seem like it right now, but you're making the right decision for the little guy.
 
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