Enteritis and Cocci and Worms....oh my!

[PiratesGirl]

I bought a large group of meat rabbits from a family that was selling out. They were housed on the ground in large dog crates. Of the ones that have been processed, almost all had white spots on the liver. In the last batch, two of them had worms. I treated for Coccidiosis with Corid a couple of weeks ago. 1/2 tsp per gallon of water (per the Corid website), 5 days on, 5 off, 5 on. I gave probiotics in the water for 5 days afterward. I also bought Safeguard....but was only able to worm about half of the adults, and none of the babies, due to time restrictions. Is there a way to treat with Safeguard in the water? That would be the ideal situation since I think I should worm everyone at this point and I unfortunately don't have the time or help to dose them individually.

I had a litter a couple months back (before any treatments) that all had large chunks of poop stuck between their legs. Not diarrhea....just poop as far as I could tell. I soaked them in warm water and got them cleaned up, and they were all fine after that. Now I have it happening to three out of five litters (all Mini Lops in case that makes a difference). All are around 8 weeks old. All have some poop stuck around their butts, some have a lot, and one has full blown diarrhea. In the cage with the diarrhea kit I removed pellets and am feeding only hay.....but mom and the other kits aren't too thrilled about that! All are now getting probiotics in the water. I normally put ACV in the water but am not doing that with the probiotics. I did recently start giving a little bit of oatmeal, BOSS and pumpkin seeds in a rotation. I'm just wondering if this annoying sticky poopy butt is normal-ish....or if I have a bigger problem on my hands!

Is there anything I can do for the diarrhea kit? Should I separate him from the litter? Should I just clean up the others and keep an eye on them? Your advice is much appreciated!!

 

[MaggieJ]

Welcome to RabbitTalk, PiratesGirl! :hi:

I hate to say this but it sure sounds as though someone sold you a lot of problem rabbits. :evil: I'd likely be sending them all to freezer camp, disinfecting everything and starting fresh.

Sticky poopy butt is not normal. Occasionally you may get a rabbit with cecal pellets stuck to it, but generally the rabbits consume these straight from the anus as they are produced. (See cecotrophy if you are not familiar with this rabbit practice. Here's an excellent article: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

Regarding the eight-week-old kit with diarrhea. I'd put it in an isolation cage and give it only grass hay and kitchen oatmeal, no pellets. If you can get any of the following plants, they are all safe for rabbit food and good medicine against diarrhea:

- raspberry, strawberry or blackberry leaves
- the lawn weeds plantain or shepherd's purse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_major
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsella_bursa-pastoris

These plants work fresh or dried and it is a good idea to have some on hand for these situations.

It's always a good idea to list your location in your profile, just your state or province, so that we know approximately what your climate is like. Depending on where you are, these plants may or may not be growing yet.

Hope you can get the situation under control. sorry I can't help with advice on the medications but I don't use them.

 

[akane]

There are lots of versions of fenbendazole. You just have to find them and calculate the dose
http://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/ ... 80507.aspx


This is liquid but I'm not sure if it's stable enough to go in water
http://www.amazon.com/Durvet-Safeguard- ... B000HHLVB8

Look for cattle or goat versions. There are also granules for dogs that is to be mixed in the food including wet food. It didn't say if there were any meat products/flavorings. Just the active ingredient amount. There should also be some type of dewormer to go in the water for chickens but I'm not sure if fenbendazole is one of them.

With the liquid versions I can do 20 animals in 30-40mins. Draw correct amount, grab animal by head or nose, squirt it in mouth, and move on to the next one. People have commented on my speed and aim for horses. I just twist their muzzle a little which for some reason causes a horse to go calm, stretch it's neck, and open it's mouth. Aim and squirt. Rabbits have a gap between their front teeth and molars so you just shove the syringe in there and try not to push it out the other side. You don't even have to take them out of the cage. Just scruff their neck or hold their head near the front of the cage and squirt. If you load up several syringes at once you can just go down the line.

 

[PiratesGirl]

Culling the lot of them is not an option.....I spent way too much money and the majority are to be bred for show :/ All of the "problem" rabbits are gone now though. Like I said....the previous litter with the sticky poop butts are all fine now. I was just trying to find out if maybe worms could be causing that problem. They should be clear of the cocci now....

The Safeguard I have is for goats. 10% Suspension (100mg/ml). It takes me at the minimum 5 minutes per rabbit because I have to weigh them all.....none are the same weights. That's my problem. So I need to figure out how much to put in a gallon of water. I think I saw somewhere that you can do 3cc per quart, so 12cc per gallon. Does that sound correct? How many days? Do I have to change out water daily? More than once a day?

I do have a TON of blackberry leaves, almost year round (Western WA) so I will give some of those. How much should I give? Daily or how often?

Would pictures help?

 

[ckcs]

Diatomaceous earth (food grade) is supposed to kill parasites and worms in humans and animals. If unfamiliar with it, there is a wealth of information online.

 

[MaggieJ]

I've never known blackberry leaves to cause a problem but if your rabbits have never had greens, perhaps a handful a day. Please remember that while these plants are wonderful for combatting poopy butt, they do not deal with the underlying cause. If it is a mild digestive upset, they are enough to help but in more serious illnesses about all they can do is stop the diarrhea symptoms and prevent the accompanying dehydration.

 

[PiratesGirl]

Update: The kit with the full blown diarrhea seems perfectly fine today. He does have some poop stuck around his butt, but his genital area is clear. Also, I wanted to say that none of the babies are acting sick in any way, and I have not lost any to diarrhea or what I would suspect to be enteritis. Maggie, I have seen you respond to a few posts suggesting the plants you suggested to me for poopy butt cases. So is it more normal than I'm thinking? What it seems like to me is that their poop is just a little more sticky than normal, that they have not learned to groom themselves yet, and that they are climbing all over each other causing poop to get stuck on backs and sides. Am I just wishful thinking? If that is the case, will the blackberry leaves help combat the stickiness? Should I just plan to give it to everyone daily, or only if I notice sticky poop? Thanks again for all your advice

 

[MaggieJ]

Young rabbits fed mainly or completely on pellets are likely to have some problems with poopy butt during the weaning phase. I was horrified by some of the statistics I heard about "acceptable losses" to enteritis. I had been raising rabbits for maybe three years at that point and never lost a kit once their eyes were open. (My good luck didn't last forever, of course, but enteritis was not the issue then.)

I have very rarely had problems with poopy butt bunnies, but then I have always fed a lot of healthy weeds and other plants. It is ironic that people who feed pellets have trouble with feeding greens, whereas those who raise their rabbits with copious greens from the get go rarely see problems, even though greens are often condemned. It is sudden changes that can do the damage.

If you have lots of blackberry leaves to feed, I'd make it a regular supplement, both for the rabbits' health and enjoyment. If your supply is limited, maybe it would be best to just feed it as needed as a regulator. Don't forget to look for the plantain, shepherd's purse and other berry leaves as well. Just knowing where you can get them when needed is a big help.

Even if you do not feed greens as a major part of the buns' diet, introducing any or all of these five plants is a helpful thing to do. It can head off a lot of problems.