Okay, this may be a long post, but I have had strange happenings in the barn.
All of it may be related or unrelated. I'm going to try and keep this straight, but let me know if I'm missing any details that may be helpful.
I'm going to start in chronological order, but mind you, I didn't think they had anything to do with each other until later, and I'm still skeptical that it does.
So, I had rescued an english angora baby a while back. He was matted, underweight, and had lots of difficulty standing on his front legs, I assumed neurological. With care and a proper cage and nutrients, he got into top shape. He was named Finnegan (because he's and angora, and his hair would fall out and grow in again, poor old Michael Finnegan begin again, lol). He was a friendly fixture in the born, even siring a fiber litter. Now, 6 months ago, he started going off feed a bit, which is normal for him as it got close to shearing time, so I got him nicely cut and fresh. But then the next day, he had no use of his legs, much like when he was a baby. At this point, he is now up in age and assumed whatever his issues were as a baby resurfaced. I made the decision to put him down, instead of suffering the remaining part of his life.
Next, a few weeks ago, I noticed our rex buck, Ace, his right ear was flopped. So I pulled him out to see if he had an ear infection or mites. Everything looked perfect and clean, no redness. I went ahead and treated him with ivermectin in both ears. I also noted he had a little clear eye discharge, so I applied a dab of terramycin, just to be safe. When I was doing the right eye, his outer eyelids didn't close, but his third eyelid did. Checked the left and they reacted normally. He's not young, but not terribly old, but I began to worry about a stroke. I checked his mouth and teeth for infection, none felt or seen, but it looked like he was dribling a lot of water on his chin when drinking, so still worried about stroke. So, I set him on the ground to see if there was any lameness in his limbs, nothing. He was moving totally normal (taking his chance to run away from me even to explore). So, I have been playing quarantine and monitor since then. I gave him a water bowl along with bottle, just in case. The eye drainage went away immediately, I don't think it was anything. Everything else is the same, active and perky, broken ear and unblinking outer eyelids.
Next, and last, I had a Satin angora, named Anemone. She has had no issues of anything. She was in full coat and it started to molt, so I gave her a pluck and clip, and still, she was acting and looking great. The next morning, I decided to check on everyone before work, and she just seemed off. She was hunched into herself, she felt chilled, and I tried to encourage her to hop, and she just slowly moved away from my touch. She also hadn't touched her food since the night before, which is not like her. I didn't have a lot of time, so I gave her extra hay to sit on and hopefully eat. When I came back around noon to check her, she couldn't stand and had her front legs splayed out. Also keeping her balance to stay upright seemed to be a challenge. Now there's big alarm bells, because she has always been a healthy rabbit, but she was getting up in age (not old, just older). I took to the internet comparing her symptoms with other posts and experiences, it sounded like spinal issue or e. cuniculi with the limb lameness. So I did a deep dive of e. cuniculi finding out how common it is to hide in rabbits, and the fact that most rabbits do have it especially if not treated routinely, and can show various symptoms when the parasite takes hold. That's where I began to wonder if those other rabbits were all connected in it being e. cuniculi. I decided it doesn't hurt to treat everyone for it, just in case. Fortunately, I was heading into town the day Anemone had her sudden symptoms. So I got liquid safeguard and found the right doses. Got back to her at about 5, and she had died while I was gone. It seems to me she had seized when she died, by the way she was stretched out and eyes open, but can't say for sure as I wasn't there. I then worried about rhdv, but I didn't see any discharge that would suggest a hemorrhage. I placed her in the freezer, planning on doing an autopsy when I had the time. I'm still going to treat everyone like it's e. cuniculi, especially since Ace's symptoms are still present. The only thing with Anemone, though, is I thought e. cuniculi wasn't so quick acting, but this was over the course of a day from symptom to death. I'm a couple days into dosing the barn and all is well, Ace is still the same and none of the other rabbits are acting weird. Then this morning I saw a post about someone who described the symptoms of her cats who got bird flu and died. The symptoms sounded very close with Anemone, very sudden and limb lameness... None of the other rabbit incidents seemed that abnormal, but Anemone just seemed so sudden. Has anyone had experience with bird flu and rabbits? Is this just e. cuniculi that acted fast? Random spinal injury? Rhdv?
I'm sure I'll never truly find out, I'm just going to monitor and treat what I can and hope for the best, but maybe someone has a better clue that I may be missing.
All of it may be related or unrelated. I'm going to try and keep this straight, but let me know if I'm missing any details that may be helpful.
I'm going to start in chronological order, but mind you, I didn't think they had anything to do with each other until later, and I'm still skeptical that it does.
So, I had rescued an english angora baby a while back. He was matted, underweight, and had lots of difficulty standing on his front legs, I assumed neurological. With care and a proper cage and nutrients, he got into top shape. He was named Finnegan (because he's and angora, and his hair would fall out and grow in again, poor old Michael Finnegan begin again, lol). He was a friendly fixture in the born, even siring a fiber litter. Now, 6 months ago, he started going off feed a bit, which is normal for him as it got close to shearing time, so I got him nicely cut and fresh. But then the next day, he had no use of his legs, much like when he was a baby. At this point, he is now up in age and assumed whatever his issues were as a baby resurfaced. I made the decision to put him down, instead of suffering the remaining part of his life.
Next, a few weeks ago, I noticed our rex buck, Ace, his right ear was flopped. So I pulled him out to see if he had an ear infection or mites. Everything looked perfect and clean, no redness. I went ahead and treated him with ivermectin in both ears. I also noted he had a little clear eye discharge, so I applied a dab of terramycin, just to be safe. When I was doing the right eye, his outer eyelids didn't close, but his third eyelid did. Checked the left and they reacted normally. He's not young, but not terribly old, but I began to worry about a stroke. I checked his mouth and teeth for infection, none felt or seen, but it looked like he was dribling a lot of water on his chin when drinking, so still worried about stroke. So, I set him on the ground to see if there was any lameness in his limbs, nothing. He was moving totally normal (taking his chance to run away from me even to explore). So, I have been playing quarantine and monitor since then. I gave him a water bowl along with bottle, just in case. The eye drainage went away immediately, I don't think it was anything. Everything else is the same, active and perky, broken ear and unblinking outer eyelids.
Next, and last, I had a Satin angora, named Anemone. She has had no issues of anything. She was in full coat and it started to molt, so I gave her a pluck and clip, and still, she was acting and looking great. The next morning, I decided to check on everyone before work, and she just seemed off. She was hunched into herself, she felt chilled, and I tried to encourage her to hop, and she just slowly moved away from my touch. She also hadn't touched her food since the night before, which is not like her. I didn't have a lot of time, so I gave her extra hay to sit on and hopefully eat. When I came back around noon to check her, she couldn't stand and had her front legs splayed out. Also keeping her balance to stay upright seemed to be a challenge. Now there's big alarm bells, because she has always been a healthy rabbit, but she was getting up in age (not old, just older). I took to the internet comparing her symptoms with other posts and experiences, it sounded like spinal issue or e. cuniculi with the limb lameness. So I did a deep dive of e. cuniculi finding out how common it is to hide in rabbits, and the fact that most rabbits do have it especially if not treated routinely, and can show various symptoms when the parasite takes hold. That's where I began to wonder if those other rabbits were all connected in it being e. cuniculi. I decided it doesn't hurt to treat everyone for it, just in case. Fortunately, I was heading into town the day Anemone had her sudden symptoms. So I got liquid safeguard and found the right doses. Got back to her at about 5, and she had died while I was gone. It seems to me she had seized when she died, by the way she was stretched out and eyes open, but can't say for sure as I wasn't there. I then worried about rhdv, but I didn't see any discharge that would suggest a hemorrhage. I placed her in the freezer, planning on doing an autopsy when I had the time. I'm still going to treat everyone like it's e. cuniculi, especially since Ace's symptoms are still present. The only thing with Anemone, though, is I thought e. cuniculi wasn't so quick acting, but this was over the course of a day from symptom to death. I'm a couple days into dosing the barn and all is well, Ace is still the same and none of the other rabbits are acting weird. Then this morning I saw a post about someone who described the symptoms of her cats who got bird flu and died. The symptoms sounded very close with Anemone, very sudden and limb lameness... None of the other rabbit incidents seemed that abnormal, but Anemone just seemed so sudden. Has anyone had experience with bird flu and rabbits? Is this just e. cuniculi that acted fast? Random spinal injury? Rhdv?
I'm sure I'll never truly find out, I'm just going to monitor and treat what I can and hope for the best, but maybe someone has a better clue that I may be missing.
