E. cuniculi baby makes a miraculous recovery

[squidpop]

4 or 5 days ago I posted here saying one of my 5 week old rabbits lost coordination and fell over and couldn't roll back over that night and by morning I found her paralyzed - only could blink and move whiskers and I thought she had E. cuniculi and was taking her last breaths and was as good as dead. Well, she didn't die, I kept checking in on her expecting to find her dead but she was still breathing. It dawned on me that maybe she was just paralyzed and wasn't really getting worse but would live for days until she starved to death. I couldn't stand the thought of that so I took her to the vet.

My vet is probably a good vet- he just has not treated many rabbits at all though. When I brought her in he looked at her butt and the towel she was on and saw the urine which was orange- orange because all my rabbits are eating something that is turning their urine orange- and her urine also was sludgey with calcium-- so he thought she had diarrhea and was sure she had coccidosis-- but I knew she had not had any diarrhea or gastric problems and it wasn't coccidosis- the feed I have has coccistat in it, so I had to argue and convince him it was orange sludgey urine- not coccidosis. I also told him that E. cuniculi had symtoms of paralysis and coccidosis didn't so I was sure it was E. cuniculi.

He seemed to have never heard of E. cuniculi but thank god he finally looked it up on his computer and when he read the symtoms of E. cuniculi and that it caused paralysis and it was fairly common he finally believed me. Once he knew it was E. cuniculi he also seemed to know which drugs to use. He said "we could get a test but it would take too long and baby bunny wants to live" and he gave her three injections, one was a type of parasitecide that is a derivative of ivermectin, he also gave a steroid for inflammation, and an antibiotic called Convenia.

I must admit I did not think she would live and I had doubts my vet had used the right drugs, but he must have because the next morning she was sitting up. She wasn't coordinated enough to eat on her own so I syringe fed her mushy pellets and mushy flax seeds I blended up for her (night before I had syringe fed water and electrolytes). She hated that her face got dirty when I fed her but she couldn't wash it because she would fall over if she tried - so I would hold her up so she could try to wash her face, it was cute. 30 hrs after I took her to the vet she was able to eat on her own again. 48 hours after all those injections she seems as good as new. I've never seen an animal that looked so much like it was going to die - live like that.

Does anyone have any experience with E. cuniculi? I wonder if she will relapse? Do you think she needs to be dosed again with the Parasiticide?

 

[MaggieJ]

That is amazing, Squidpop!

I've never had a rabbit with e. cuniculi, so I cannot comment on what follow-up might be needed, but hopefully someone with experience of this disease will know. Sounds like your vet did well, in spite of his initial ignorance about rabbit illnesses.

Please post updates about this bunny. If the treatment is effective long term and the bunny does not relapse, there will be a lot of folks who want to know about it. If you could ask the vet about the dosage and how he arrived at it (dose per pound of rabbit, for instance) you would be providing an important service to the rabbit community.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

What great news, Squidpop! I'm glad she is getting better!

I don't know about the followup either. I do know that Convenia is used (off label) for dogs with parvo... and I just googled it to see the other indications for use, and found this (emphasis in bold type is mine):

CONVENIA is indicated for the treatment of skin infections (wounds and abscesses) in cats caused by susceptible strains of Pasteurella multocida.

http://www.drugs.com/vet/convenia.html

E. Cuniculi is thought to be caused by the dreaded "P" when it invades the ear (or brain?), so it will be interesting to see if it works long term.

As Maggie said, please keep us updated and find out the dosage of the meds used if you can.

Good luck! :good-luck:

 

[Miss M]

WOW! That's awesome! :bouncy:

Yes, please get more info from the vet. Explain that there is not a lot of info out there for treating rabbits, and that not many vets know how to treat them, so he would be providing a valuable service to the rabbit community at large. :hooray:

One site I read said to give ivermectin every three months for life. But I have to confess, I gave it once a week for three doses, and haven't given it since. Now, my bunny didn't make a miraculous recovery, but I suspect a lot of your success was the steroid along with the ivermectin derivative. I didn't have a steroid to give, and I didn't take him to the vet. Inflammation is thought to have a significant part in the turned neck and rolling, so the steroid would have helped big time with that!

E. Cuniculi is thought to be caused by the dreaded "P" when it invades the ear (or brain?), so it will be interesting to see if it works long term.

??? E. Cuniculi is a parasite (or fungus, they're not sure), that as far as I know has no Pasteurella connection?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

E. Cuniculi is thought to be caused by the dreaded "P" when it invades the ear (or brain?), so it will be interesting to see if it works long term.

??? E. Cuniculi is a parasite (or fungus, they're not sure), that as far as I know has no Pasteurella connection?

My mistake... I thought I had read of the "P" connection on Barbi Brown's site. :?

 

[squidpop]

I'll try to find out more about what my vet did exactly and doses. From what I read E. cuniculi is a protazoa that 40% to 80% of rabbits carry and usually it just hangs out and rabbits show no symptoms but sometimes it travels to the brain or spinal cord and causes inflammation and tissue damage paralysis- wry neck symtoms. They think rabbits that are affected may have something wrong with their immune system and it happens most often to young or old rabbits or rabbits with some other illness weakening their system. People with compromised immune systems, aids patients can also get it.

Barbi Brown's rabbitry has a really good page on it http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm
she says she has treated 100s of rabbits and beat it. Her treatment method is like what my vet did - Ivermectin + antibiotic + steroid or something for inflamation like metacam.

Also, I think Convenia is a good antibiotic - my vet has used it now on this baby rabbit and three of my other rabbits- one of them had a puncture wound that was getting infected another after he was neutered and another that got bit by another rabbit and got stitches -- none of them had bad reactions to it and it caused no stomach upset. My vet said he also used it on a group of rabbits that had fly strike and infections and it cured them. I think it would be interesting to know if it would work for Pasteurella. From what I remember Its a single shot and lasts for 7 days so you don't have to keep administering meds which makes it easy- but I'm sure if it was for pasteurella you would treat longer.

 

[Miss M]

My mistake... I thought I had read of the "P" connection on Barbi Brown's site. :?

Okay, I was wondering! :shock: :lol:

They think rabbits that are affected may have something wrong with their immune system and it happens most often to young or old rabbits or rabbits with some other illness weakening their system.

It also seems connected in some cases to dehydration. In the case of our bun, I had changed him to a different kind of water bottle a week before. It never occurred to me that he wouldn't figure the new one out.

Barbi Brown's rabbitry has a really good page on it http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm
she says she has treated 100s of rabbits and beat it. Her treatment method is like what my vet did - Ivermectin + antibiotic + steroid or something for inflamation like metacam.

If I'm not mistaken, she no longer gives antibiotic unless there is reason to believe there is a need for it. <br /><br /> -- Sat Mar 15, 2014 2:17 pm -- <br /><br /> Yes, here it is, not quite halfway down the page:

I no longer give antibiotics unless there is an active infectious process involved such as respiratory infection or purulent weepy eye.