Encephalitozoon in herd, what do I do now?UPDATED

[mommaebear]

THERE ARE TWO ADDITIONAL POSTS TO COMPLETE THE STORY FURTHER DOWN

About a month ago I was contacted by a man I bought some rabbits off of in the spring, he asked me if I would like to take the rest of his colony containing 3 does, a buck, and 3 litters of different ages. When I asked him why he said that his wife no longer wanted to keep them, I am suspecting now that they were sicka and that is why he was getting rid of them. We have been having a harsh cold winter but it seemed like I was losing alot of the young ones, one night they were fine the next morning it would be dead. I started working through trouble shooting trying to figure out what I could be doing wrong.
Now I have seen what happens between the good health and quick death and have lost about 12 5 week old bunnies from my own litters and the new ones, and the symptoms sound just like encephalitozoon.
What do I do now? I have no clue, aside from a costly vet bill because my vet isists on seeing each individual rabbit. Am I about to lose my whole herd, and all my new litters? I really need some help and wish there were a search function on here so I can find the info I need without sifting all the pages.

 

[Brody]

There is a search - up along the blue banner ... third from the right ...
I'm not clear on what you are asking - but I'm also exhausted - will read more carefully when my head clears ...

 

[DevonW]

Dr. Jay Hreiz recommends 20mg per kg of body weight of Fenbendazole (Panacur, etc) orally every day for 4 wks to treat it.

 

[mommaebear]

I have been doing alot of reading and have found some great resources. But I am still concerned for my whole herd and wondering if they might all be at risk. I've decided the litters that are due I will be removing the mother except for 2 feeding times a day and keeping things SUPER clean. I hope this will help move past this. I also found a great link through Rabbittalk.com about wry necks and will be looking into treatment options. I hope to post my findings and results(also hoping to do a Nacropsy and investigate) and try and keep you all informed in hope of helping someone else if this problem every happens in their herd, but I really hope it doesn't.

You so you all know symptoms include:
Wry-neck
Convulitions
weight lose
appetite lose
dehydration
back leg paralasis
darting eyes
unresponsive pupils
and ultimately so far death

If anyone has any ideas or tips I am always happy to hear them

 

[Jack]

Ok, why does it seem like E. Cuniclui?
This isn't a sudden death type of disease, it's a long term, degenerative disease, unless certain things happen, and I doubt that they are, second 80%+ of the domestic rabbit herd has it, and in most cases it shows up only in the old and infirm.

If you gave us symptoms it would help, because, I can tell you from experience, that if you are loosing them from weather related stress, and you give them the treatment, they will loose weight and condition and that will kill some esp. in a harsh winter.

Also, those are the signs of encephalitis, and E. Cuniclui is not the only cause of it. There are a number of diseases that cause numerological signs.
And like I said, E. Cuniclui is a parasite, and not a fast killer. You need to do a necropsy on the animal, or find a university, dept. of Ag, or Vet who will.<br /><br />__________ Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:48 pm __________<br /><br />Oh, and BTW, E. Cuniclui is
PASSED IN UTERO
so, it does no good, the kits already have it.

 

[curlysue]

I think Jack is right.Several years ago i had what i thought was ECuniclui.only one rabbit got sick and with treatment he lived 3 more years.

 

[DevonW]

It could also be something like weanling enteritis, high levels of mycotoxins in the feed, cocidiosis. Sudden death is rarely E.C.

 

[mommaebear]

Alot of my research says that inutero is the second way it is transmitted, the first is by spores in the urine of an infected rabbit and either injested or inhaled.

I have the symptoms listed in the 4th post from the top

I don't have any old or infirm rabbits, my oldest adult is 3 years old, and none of rabbits over 5 months seem to be getting it yet. It seems to have hit the smaller ones first starting after week 5 of age when they are weaning. When I got the additions to my colony about a month ago the youngest litter was 4 weeks old, the next size up was 6-8 weeks old, and then 12 weeks about kept them in the house for a few weeks and was losing a bunny every couple of days, sometimes 2 in a day in the 6-8 week size. I figured the transport and stress was too much for them. Over the next two weeks once the first wave of bunnies were dead they all seemed pretty fine, I moved them into the big pen with the Mommas, with a heatlamp in the shed. Here it drops to -40c and is normal for us. I started to find a few bunnies from that 6-8week group dead and thought I had moved them out too early, and then the 12 weekers started to drop one at a time. But then the weather warmed to -10c very mild and it was still happening, and then the bunnies from the 4 week group started dropping off too.
I never saw what happened. I remember one night coming home super late and checking the pens after midnight. My littel spunky grey bun was hopping around the same as he always was. I picked him up and pet him a bit he felt of good condition and chubby. By 9 the next morning I went in to find him newly dead, and overnight had wasted to skin and bones. I started working through everything I could, making sure there was always water, their food was kept consistant, and I stopped giving them their scraps(about a garbage cans worth every 2 days between the three pens) cleaned and changed all the bedding way more often. Before I knew it I was left with just one bunny, from one of my original herds litters, and another from the new rabbits, both about 8 weeks as of last week. I moved them both in the house with my three litters between 4-5 weeks old(the mom's made a joint nest).

Now the new litters in the house, of course I lost a few early on in the first two weeks, then everyone seemed great and fine, all of a sudden last week I started losing bunnies again. I would be out of the room for a few hours then come back and find a bunny dead out of the blue. All the dead rabbits had the same posture from begining to end, head right back, eyes, open, front legs stretched strait out and down making a strait line up the legs and chin, and all were wasted in body condition and super skinny.
So last friday the one remaining 8 weeks old bunny I had from the new herd died. I noticed a tiny bit of brown scum right on the edges of the nose. I had noticed this with the other rabbits but assumed that because they were outside in the cold and freezing and dead the ooze was so little it seemed like it was just death sepage, or maybe they got hopped over and some stomach contents oozed up once they were dead. So the one brown bunny died, went from fully healthy 6 hours later, wasted and dead in the same postition.
That same night about 4 hours later one of the black bunnies from the new litter(4weeks) had something going on. It was perfect the last time I was in there. After the older bun died I checked them all and threw them on the scale to see if any was dropping behind the littermates, they were all great, moving normal, acting normal, slurping up treats and pets. There he was on his side in the posture I had found so many dead, then he would relax, try to move the front feet to stand up while the back legs kicked a little in slow motion, it's eyes were open and never blinking or closing, the pupils completely unresponsive. then he relaxed and seemed to rest blinked and looked around with his eyes darting everywhere, and all of a sudden he started rolling, his head shot to the side and back, around in a circle right back them finished in the full back position in full spasm. at the same time the back legs shot right out, the front ones stiffened too. Then it was over again. I tried to set it up right, but it just looked around slow with a wobbly head and rolled over without even trying to find footing. It was skinny almost like it was squished. I thought it had been sat on or hopped on by the mother and may have suffered a spinal cord injury. I broke it's neck to end it.
Yesterday woke up and fed the bunnies in their own cage, only 2 remained with their mom in my bathroom because they seemed to still need nursing. Everyone was great, wonderful. At about 10am I saw a bunny in that same cage not following the crowd and just acting strange. I went and checked it, it seemed a little slow and weak in the back end, and was just acting strange. I noticed it had lost it's chubbiness I had felt 2 hours ago. I checked the sex to know which it was and out popped a little turd, completely normal looking, no runs. Looking back I never once saw any signs of runs on alny of the animals and for a few of the dead ones found perfect little turds in between their legs sitting on the bottom one.
I checked them all again the rest were all perfectly fine. 20-30 minutes later I found another little black on in the same cage. withing six hours I watched the progression from that point and it followed up to the level of the bunny I saw frieday that I thought was trampled, and the eventual death.
Then later that night in the bathroom, I noticed one of the bunnies looked like it was getting skinny. I checked it out and seemed perfectly fine except for the sudden skinniness. I did would I could to keep it hydrated and fed, but within 2 hours I watched the whole process again.
Now at the same time I brought in a bunny that was 3lbs 3 days prior to my bringing her in. She looked she was normally very social when I came to the pen and the first one there, and I found her huddling with about 4 others in a nook. I thought it weird and went to see, and she didn't run which she always did when I approached. I picked her up and thought that with this cold snap she may just need a little time in the nice warm house. She felt a little thinner, but not much really. By the next day in the house she was wasting away, not eating or drinking, and progressed throught the same steps as the others. In the end her bone stuck out everywhere and she had dropped to barely 2 lbs. Now I have my three pounders dropping off. Now knowing the signs I have a days notice, I have 2 died over night, 2 in the bathroom one now very thin, and was good yesterday the other moves a little less than the healthy ones, so I thought I would try early care and to keep him fed and hydrated, and know there are 2 more outside I suspect are a little off and will be the next.
So I have concluded it starts after week 4 or 5 of age. The youngest go first, and fastest within 2-6 hours. The ones who did not die younger hit a second wave at the 2lb mark, and then after that stops it moves on to the 3lb rabbits, and the older the rabbit the longer the process reaching 2 days of full symptoms, and possibly an additional day for symptoms that may have been overlooked.
At this point I am thinking that it is E. cuniculi becuase of the symptoms and the urine factor, I also feel that maybe these lines of rabbits I got off that guy are sensitive and suseptible to it and that is why it is hitting early. I think they may have had it from the last place and suffered but not in these numbers, I think that either the stress of the move and adjustment has compromised their ability to cope and is allowing the parasite to accelerate(much like Yeast in people, it is always there but becauses a problem when the balance is shifted and it has a chance to grow) or the stress could have been from contact with orgnaisms from my rabbits or a stronger strain of E. cuniculi, since they were from the other side of the country.

Ok, why does it seem like E. Cuniclui?
This isn't a sudden death type of disease, it's a long term, degenerative disease, unless certain things happen, and I doubt that they are, second 80%+ of the domestic rabbit herd has it, and in most cases it shows up only in the old and infirm.

If you gave us symptoms it would help, because, I can tell you from experience, that if you are loosing them from weather related stress, and you give them the treatment, they will loose weight and condition and that will kill some esp. in a harsh winter.

Also, those are the signs of encephalitis, and E. Cuniclui is not the only cause of it. There are a number of diseases that cause numerological signs.
And like I said, E. Cuniclui is a parasite, and not a fast killer. You need to do a necropsy on the animal, or find a university, dept. of Ag, or Vet who will.

__________ Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:48 pm __________

Oh, and BTW, E. Cuniclui is
PASSED IN UTERO
so, it does no good, the kits already have it.

 

[Jack]

NO, you realize that CLOSE CONTACT (a rabbitry) will spread ANY disease, have you checked the trays to find out what type of poos they have, did you shake the sick rabbits to listen for a water belly, I'm sorry, but, you seem STUCK on a disease, YOU NEED TO GET HELP OR GET OUT, by that I mean, separate (individually cage, at least 10 feet apart) quarantine your herd, or just put them all down and sanitize.

E. cuniclue is one disease, as a matter of fact, it is often misdiagnosed by Veterinarians as....
PASTURELLA, due to
ear infections- a major cause of wry neck, and .... loss of balance
a terminal rabbit looses control of it's body, any disease can cause most of those symptoms right before they die,
E. cuniclui doesn't cause a discharge, pastueralla or other Bacterial illnesses do.

So, please treat, 28 days of Feb, 20mg/kg... and by the 28th day, you won't have to worry, I'm pretty sure that all the rabbits will be dead.

The point is, if you were a doctor, bout now, I would be leaving your office, threatening to call the med board and go after your license, E. cuniclue takes MONTHS to get to this point, and it's in INDIVIDUAL rabbits, you would loose seemingly healthy rabbits, that start to show signs of wry neck (for weeks or months) that progresses to hindleg paralysis..... NOT A BUNCH OF RABBITS WALKING IN A CIRCLE AND KEELING OVER DEAD BY THE LITTER

Now I've said my bit, and your the one loosing rabbits, PLEASE READ, and pay attention to the time frames mentioned, you need more help from someone you will listen to.

 

[mommaebear]

It seems like something has been lost in translation. If I was sure of what it is I would have treated with Feb already and be on it by now, especially at the rate I'm losing rabbits. I'm here trying to learn and understand and give the full picture and story to my knowlege. Not discredit you Jack. Yes a colony makes it easy to spread diseases, yes I have been isolating the individual sick rabbits, and can see there is no runny poop in any of them even when so close to death. You are right I'm losing rabbits fast and relize my whole herd could be gone in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately the vets around here don't even want to bother with rabbits unless you are prepared to fully treat and jump through all their hoops including having the whole herd seen individually. I'm isolating in a rural area where rabbits are exotic pets and rare and no one raises for meat or otherwise. and chances are I know way more about rabbits now than the vet here, why would I pay someone less experienced than me? If I had somewhere to turn I would be there already, but I don't so I'm here.
After reading and researching none stop for days now I figured someone here might know more than I do and be able to either help eliminate things from my list of possible suspects or at least give me a list to look into like one of the past posters did. And I looked into every single one of those and found a key symptom that is missing is the runny poop. Also I've noticed that when I got the rabbits I had problems with some young rabbits with wall eyes, white spots, and ruptured lenses/eyeballs, wich is another symptom associated with E.cuniclue, and since so few people seem to be able to be definate about it I need to explore every option.
The only discharge I have seen is the tiny bit of brown at the time of death not other time. Looking back at my records about 10-15 days ago I treated all the outdoor rabbits that have died these past few days for gunky eyes that appeared suddenly, and dissappeared after the first cleaning, and have had no other cases of gunky eyes except in those who have died but not all. I'm not an expert but it's a pretty early troubleshooting step to check for bloating, bubbles, and water sounds. Ears all look clean and healthy as far as I can see, even though I understand that there are things I can not see, but I doubt ear infections is such a fast spreading fatal disease. And I haven't seen a single rabbit walking in circles.

The alternative here is to cull the whole herd and after a whole year of trying to find any large breed rabbits around here I'm not prepared to do that until I've given it a fair shot and all I could.

Like I said I've been educating myself none stop, but I can't brainstorm alone and I need other's wisdom and experience to help me sort this out. If anyone has any questions ideas or things to check on any of my rabbits please throw it out there and I will try it and report back. With 24 rabbits and only 3 carriers available above what I am already using, I can't quarantine them all. If you want me to open one up and check things out just tell me what I should be looking for even if it seems obvious just so I have a list to make sure I don't over look anything.

6 bunnies are left and I have not yet lost a complete litter.

Jack I'm am listening to you and acting on your info, going back and looking over the info I have found contrary, so where is the help instead of the insults? Because I could really use it!

NO, you realize that CLOSE CONTACT (a rabbitry) will spread ANY disease, have you checked the trays to find out what type of poos they have, did you shake the sick rabbits to listen for a water belly, I'm sorry, but, you seem STUCK on a disease, YOU NEED TO GET HELP OR GET OUT, by that I mean, separate (individually cage, at least 10 feet apart) quarantine your herd, or just put them all down and sanitize.

E. cuniclue is one disease, as a matter of fact, it is often misdiagnosed by Veterinarians as....
PASTURELLA, due to
ear infections- a major cause of wry neck, and .... loss of balance
a terminal rabbit looses control of it's body, any disease can cause most of those symptoms right before they die,
E. cuniclui doesn't cause a discharge, pastueralla or other Bacterial illnesses do.

So, please treat, 28 days of Feb, 20mg/kg... and by the 28th day, you won't have to worry, I'm pretty sure that all the rabbits will be dead.

The point is, if you were a doctor, bout now, I would be leaving your office, threatening to call the med board and go after your license, E. cuniclue takes MONTHS to get to this point, and it's in INDIVIDUAL rabbits, you would loose seemingly healthy rabbits, that start to show signs of wry neck (for weeks or months) that progresses to hindleg paralysis..... NOT A BUNCH OF RABBITS WALKING IN A CIRCLE AND KEELING OVER DEAD BY THE LITTER

Now I've said my bit, and your the one loosing rabbits, PLEASE READ, and pay attention to the time frames mentioned, you need more help from someone you will listen to.

 

[ladysown]

i read all that and my gut instinct is that you have something VERY odd going on. I'd cull the lot...or try to send anything that seemed remotely healthy off to get necropsied at the local ag university. Something needs to be figured out.

You could, if it's cunniculi...treat with ivermectin. I've heard from a number of sources that it's effective in treating it. can you get ivermectin at your local feed store?

 

[Jack]

Ok, the Eye thing (moon eye isn't) but the ruptured lens, which looks like, a ruptured lens, is E. cuniclui, and so treat, but what I am trying to point out, is that, it's not known as a fast killer, something that knocks down weakened rabbits one by one, or weakens rabbits so they die,

Now, that said, you entire herd has it (if one does the ALL do, but probably aren't showing signs)
I haven't heard of a rabbit dieing of it, short of death due to general neurological degeneration. Something else is going on, if it isn't hitting the digestive system, then it's something else like pastueralla, and ABX should work, BUT, I would hold off treatment (except for a dose of Ivermectin, which won't really cure it, but kinda freeze it.)

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm
she has some really good info. I hate to say it, but short of someone coming out and helping you, or you brainstorming by yourself (make a list)
you are now encountering why doctors hate telemedicine. I can't help you, only help you help yourself. If you want it to stop, I would suggest starting a ABX to treat for pastuerella, and get the rabbits out, and listen for chest congestion, as you can have pneumonia with little coughing and sneezing. My point was get off the cuniclui before your herd is gone. Move on to the next thing that you think it is and treat (ever watch HOUSE?) Virus or Bacteria, one you support the rabbit and hope for the best, the other you can fight.

__________ Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:41 pm __________

Gunky eyes ~ a sign of pastuerella
OR a cold (rabbits can get those too, you know)

which can go into
Pneumonia, ever heard of walking pneumonia, you keep going, then it get to a point and you stop
guess in a rabbit they stop living at that point. The signs would be pretty subtle, a cough/sneeze more, some discharge, and once the liquid got enough to choke them, they lay down and drown. If they progressed from a cold to pneumonia or from eye type pastuerella to chest, that could explain,
how were the sick ones, really thin, lost a lot of fat, not weigh loss from dehydration, because the fat shows you that, what SEE is just end state, if a rabbit falls over in a day it's condition, it's fat stores will be mostly intact.

__________ Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:46 pm __________

OK, so, one last point, At this point (which is right before burning the whole place down, spraying it with bleach and starting over)
I would go as broad spectrum as possible, here is the though, they are going to die, in the end, you don't have to be able to say "they were infected with X"
rather you can say, They were cured with Y
not sure, and worried the cure may kill them all, then divide the group, first the symptomatic/non-symptomatic (they all should be in individual quarantine to slow the spread) and then you take your best guesses and see what works,

I would shotgun the ABX, maybe one group PCN-G the other Tetracycline. Also, could this be liver/kidney damage from what you used on their eyes?<br /><br />__________ Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:49 pm __________<br /><br />Read up on pasturella, it causes ear infection, spreads easily and kills quickly.
eye/nasal infection moves into the ears, and the lungs and kill the rabbit.

 

[mommaebear]

Yes I love House, and that is exactly why I didn't throw around diagnosis, and tried to share the symptoms to see what other people would come up with without being bias to my ideas.
I also agree and have thought from the begining that there is a good chance of having multiple diseases either dormant or expressing themselves. I know that the in the herd I got there was some Coccidiosis I am very sure, having seen the liver with white spots on a rabbit with a broke leg I dressed out, so chances are I should assume they all have it even if it is dormant.

Now I have made a little head way. The two 3lb rabbits I brought in today are seeming to improve. at first I was really worried for the one that seemed the worse, she didn't want to move, eat or drink. I made up a paste of smashed apples, pears, and powdered hay. At first only the healthier one would eat a bit, but after a few hours I had the sickly one eating at first a small amount and increasing over the day. Now they are both looking and acting better, and I've found them both eating the hay in the pen finally and being less lethargic, and have high hopes but still have to wait and see.

This leads me to my current theory. Because EC expresses symptoms in weakened animals, and normally only affects a few with a weakened system I think that maybe the stress my outdoor rabits have been experiencing in this cold snap could be the factor lowering them to a point where the parasite has a chance to flourish. To me that would make sense with the age waves it seem to be foloowing. The younger bunnies were stressed quicker because they were younger. With the older bunnies and rabbits they could deal with the cold stress better but over time it has run them down, taking each stage in progression according to age. I figured that since EC is found quite commonly in the kidneys(other areas to of course) that with the close proximity to the spine it may be moving up through th spinal cord, and causing the neurological symptoms as it progresses.
With the small kits in the litter the stress could be the result of moving from the nursery in our bathroom, and the last stage of weaning finishing up. With kits just like babies they have less defenses and health buffers to allow them to ride it out, and surcum much quicker.
Now this theory can also apply to other diseases and illnesses common in rabbits.
I did think of a respitory issue since the wry neck could also be a sign of trying to find a position to breath easier, and with oxygen deprivation over time the end closer to death could be expressed in the same way once the body hits it's primitive state of trying everything it can to survive before it dies. My only issue with this is the back leg paralysis(which doesn't nessessarily cross it off the list), and because the only sign of discharge is at the end, and I have never heard a sneeze or cough from one of my rabbits yet, and I do sit sit with them at feedings and pay close attention to them, that is how I know when something is wrong with one of them. The gunky eyes could be a flare of something that weakens the system allowing what ever is killing them to catch up and make headway, whice leads back to the multi disease theory.
http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm

I actually did find this link early on and found it very helpful to sort some of the mixed info I was finding. She mentioned though that there is a common cattle wormer(I know I should be looking to see what it is, but at this point an trying to wind down for the night, and my eyes are bugging out from being in front of the comp all day) that could be used to try and treat. I have not been looking into treatments right now wanting to be sure of the actual sickness first. I know I read that Feb could do more damage than good especially if it is not EC, and unlike House don't have the facilities or knowlege. So I was wondering if the dewormer were worth a shot to get my hands on some from a farmer friend, and if it would be a safer option to try and see what happens. If there are any medications I could try that whould have a minimal effect if the diagnosis is wrong I would be very happy to hear about them as an option to research, because I know that there are alot of people here that have the knowlege in there head, and have used the treatments first hand or heard of it, and lets face it sites give you options and let you choose, and I just don't know the risk level of each medication having never had to treat any of mine yet.
I do know I need to find a way to make my rabbits life outdoors less stressful is another step of the puzzle, but the extreme cold is a huge factor that we have one more month of for sure.
These are just my thoughts and updates before I take a break for a bit but thought I should update everyone just incase some new ideas come up so I can get back to reasearching either later tonight or tomorow morning.
Thank You Jack I know where you were coming from, and am glad things worked out like this instead. And thankyou to everyone else I will be looking into all you thoughts and ideas and researching them to my ability when I find the time.

 

[Jack]

ivermectin
and she uses it at a few times the recomended dose
Also check out Lufeneron, it works by inhibiting the growth of chitin, which prevents the cyst from lasting, and allows the body to effectively attack the parasite.
I question the time frame of E. Cuniclui, because it's a wasting disease, so it takes time, nothing I have read would put quick symptions then dead.
Coccoidosis etc. are much quicker

http://www.radil.missouri.edu/info/dora ... GE/bac.htm
check out this link

 

[mommaebear]

The bunnies in the house are still alive and seem to be bouncing back quite literatlly! Just starting my day so lots to check, tend, research and weigh to see if maybe I can help make life a bit less of a battle for the buns in this cold snap

 

[MaggieJ]

Let's hope that that bit of good news is the beginnings of better things for you and your herd, Momaebear. :clover:

 

[Jack]

and proof its not e. cuniclui
a rabbit dosen't bounce back from that

if it's pasturella, your herd can carry it, not showing any signs until this happens again

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

Please check out the link Iput in the last forum for the Merck vet manual-- one there, you can explore all the 'common' symptomology and get some treatment ideas.
Gatorade and pedialyte are great for rehydrating animals, giving them energywhen theyare down. And sub Q injections of dextrose, as well, for energy and fluids (also good for GI Stasis====)

 

[mommaebear]

Frosted-I tried to search the link but couldn't find it, if you find time can you post it for me?

Just a thought to play with the not being EC because of recovery

What if the the decline in body mass and weakness was the stressor that resulted in the parasites ability to thrive, and by stopping the decline in time and bringing them back up to health was done in time for the body to be able to keep in in check and fight back the parasite? When a rabbit is dosed with ivomec it only stops the parasite in it's track but the rabbits still are able to recover when they are all ready as far a a wry neck if I am reading Barbie's link proper, so why wouldn't it work the same if you restored the haelth of a bunny early on to the point where the stress that was causing the oppertunity is removed? It's just a thought.

So far with giving the buns a little love and attention and a chance to warm and have a break I have not had another occurance, but there have been times as such before a new wave in the past. So I figure I'm not prepared to dose my rabbits preventatively with ivomec because I am taking the time to learn the risks and how safe it could be. So at this point I am trying to find Depo-Medro(steroid) so that if it gets that far again and the rabbits are rolling with a wry neck I have an option to try since once they get that far they die anyways.

I have 4 maybe 5 litters due this next week. My current plan is to bring them in to deliver, keep the cage super clean, and after a few hours of rest the mothers will be returned to the pens outside and brought in once or twice a day for a good nursing session with their litter, and once again cleaning any urine immediately since that is how the spores are transmitted IF it is EC(which I will admit I am still not 100% sure yet, and still open to other ideas that fit what is happening).


I have also considered dosing all the mothers with imovec either right before or after they delivery as a prevention, just once and weaning at 4 weeks to try and avoid it being transmitted if it is that. But I am not quite sure yet if this is a good option and continue to learn in hopes of deciding what I should do because time is running out.


the two bunnies I brought in the bathroom were wonderful by this afternoon and I moved them back outside into the comfiest pen and they are still doing good so far.

It's been a long day I'm out for the night, Thanks for your imput and stopping in.

 

[Jack]

The single mega does of Ivermectin, seems to be MUCH better tolerated than the long course of Feb.