kit with wry neck, HELP?

[DarayTala]

I found a kit with wry neck today. A week and a half old, and it doesn't seem to have any injury, just holding it's neck to the side. This was in my new colony (going on 5-6 months) and I really hope we aren't dealing with pasteurella again. I did notice a doe sneeze a few weeks ago, but dismissed it as there was no discharge and I had just put down more bedding. Is it possible she had it and gave it to the kit? Is there another explanation/and/or cure for wry neck? Could it be something else? I don't know whether to cull the kit or try and treat? If it got it from the doe, should I cull her now too or let her litter grow up beforehand? So confused and worried right now, especially after my first run in with P. Please help?

 

[ottersatin]

It is hard to maintain a healthy herd when everybody is housed together.
If these were caged rabbits I would suggest that you CULL any rabbit
that shows any sign of if illness or genetic weakness.
This may sound cruel, but by doing so you will achieve an almost
disease free herd. One Man's rose is another Man's Daisy.
We all must do what we feel is best for our Herd.
I dealt with Pasteurella quite a number of years ago,
and I do not EVER want to deal with it again!
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I would deworm the rabbit with ivomectin pour on first to see if that helps.. It isnt always the P word.. Some times it is a ear infection .. Check her ears for ear mites ect. So many people jump the gun

 

[grumpy]

Wry-Neck is a "weird" malady....

It could be "worms". I might not be.
It could have been stepped on.
Maybe it wasn't.

In years past....I immediately culled
any that displayed this problem.
I had a very nice young doe start to
show the symptoms a month or so ago.

I hated to kill her because she was due
to kindle in a week or so. I left her be.
Hoping she might pull out of it. Amazingly,
she did. She holds her head upright with no
tendencies of tilting it to the left side.

Sadly, at the far end of the building,
I had another young doe begin to show
this problem a couple of days ago. Rarely,
do I have this problem more than once every
other year or so. I began looking for a common
denominator. Something linking the two does to the
same problem. I found only one.

Their maternal grandfather. RK-01.
He was one of my herd-buck's for over 4 years.
His blood runs through much of my stock.
I had to put him down earlier this spring
because he developed wry-neck as well.

That's three for this year!!
I'm not raising the "AH-HAH!" flag just yet.
I'm like everyone else that has to deal with this
unfortunate circumstance. I'm just looking for the
answers that I haven't found yet.

grumpy.

 

[Cottie]

In a week and a half old kit, it's probably caused by e cuniculi. It's a very common fungus. Most rabbits carry it, and kits are more likely to develop wry neck from it via transmission during birth. I would not treat with ivermectin. It doesn't have very positive outcomes clinically, and it can't really get where it needs to be. No need to cull the mother or fear for the rest of the herd, because the fungus is so common. Some just succumb to it, particularly the young and infirm.

You may also want to check deep in the kits ears. A common cause of wry neck in other animals in something lodged in the ear canal - bit of dust, a tick, some other small insect.

 

[Dood]

e cuniculi. It's a very common fungus.

it is not a fungus. It is a single celled parasite similar to coccidia.

I just double checked and stand corrected it IS a fungus

As it is not a 'worm', typical de-wormers are not very effective against it but fenbendazole does work and should be administered every day for 28 days in a row.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

e cuniculi. It's a very common fungus.

it is not a fungus. It is a single celled parasite similar to coccidia.

I just double checked and stand corrected it IS a fungus

As it is not a 'worm', typical de-wormers are not very effective against it but fenbendazole does work and should be administered every day for 28 days in a row.

:lol: Yup, I did the SAME THING, Dood! Evidently that is a fairly recent thing...it used to be classified as a protozoa.

 

[Cottie]

:lol: Yup, I did the SAME THING, Dood! Evidently that is a fairly recent thing...it used to be classified as a protozoa.

I was doing a lot of research on it when Miss M first posted, because I'm really intrigued by organisms that "can't" be treated. It was pretty interesting that all the "medical" literature referred to it as a parasitic protozoa, while all the research literature approached it as a fungus.

It's really a sneaky little spore, in that it infects "good" cells, sneaks into the brain and starts replicating like crazy. There's some interesting stuff about NSAIDs having anti-fungal properties against other varieties of Microsporidia, naproxen and ibuprofen seeming to act equally well. A quick search for naproxen and microsporidia reveals some pretty nifty results (such as sites linking R.A. with microsporidia infections). So I'm curious if a combo of Fend and NSAIDs would act a good treatment, or if a herd known to have it could benefit from low-level doses of NSAIDs in their water as a prophylactic (assuming that's even safe for rabbits).