Please help me ID why my rabbit died

[SherryB]

I am struggling to get an answer to why my rabbit died. I opened her up (my first autopsy) and pics are posted in the attached link along with details of her age, breed, etc.

I really have no idea but from the pics, I wondered if it was round worms. A couple people agreed. But, if that is what caused her death, why would it have killed her in a matter of hours with no previous indications that she was sick? She didn't loose weight, I didn't see any worms in her poop which I dealt with daily, she is in a wire cage and never on the ground, and she was born with me so she didn't come from another breeder with worms.

Can anybody tell me if they also think it is roundworms and if so, answer my questions above?


http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/livest ... input.html

 

[mystang89]

Afraid I don't know as I'm not real good identifying stuff from autopsy. I hope you find an answer though because its really frustrating not know.

 

[Dood]

That rabbit had a MASSIVE pin worm infection - her entire cecum is just loaded with them !

Sudden death can be caused by heavy infestations - http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_disease ... atodes.htm

Her liver also looks rather pale in the picture, which may also be caused by the worms.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Hi Sherry,

I am sorry you lost your doe, but you should be proud that you were able to perform the necropsy. You are being a good steward to your herd by doing so.

Dood is right- she has a very heavy infestation of pinworms. I had a few rabbits with them in July of 2012. The thread has some information that may be helpful to you:

pinworms-graphic-gut-photos-t8694.html

I never medicated my herd but opted to take a "wait and see" approach. I raise primarily for meat, and have butchered hundreds of rabbits since and have not seen it again. However, mine were not as severely infested as your doe.

In the second to the last photo, the liver has a reticulated pattern. This can be an indication of rabbit hemorrhagic disease. If you still have the body, I would look closely at the heart, lungs, and kidneys. Images of diseased organs can be seen in this thread:

various-rabbit-diseases-graphic-t14782.html

 

[SherryB]

Thank you. You all replied so definitively. I feel so bad now that such a sweet and productive doe could have been saved had I known this was possible.

So, how does a rabbit in all wire cages and never on the ground get pin worms?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

o, how does a rabbit in all wire cages and never on the ground get pin worms?

I believe mine got them because I was harvesting forage at a nearby ranch that has a large population of wild rabbits. If you feed hay it is possible that she got it from that if the field it was harvested from has a wild rabbit population.

However, most animals handle a parasite load quite well, and they have more of a symbiotic relationship in that the parasites do not usually overwhelm the host and cause death. Biologically, that would be counterproductive to the parasite, after all.

Your rabbit's immune system must have been compromised in other ways for them to get such a strong foothold in her.

 

[Dood]

Rodents are the main vector for the parasites. Any infected mouse feces in the food or water can introduce the parasite.

Most rabbits are minimally effected by them but some are less resistant or if stressed and/or immunocompromized the worms can flourish and destroy the intestinal lining or cause blockages.

 

[akane]

A blockage from worms, especially dying worms, can kill within hours with minimal symptoms. That's why it's suggested to treat heavy infestations with a low dose or weaker dewormer and then hit the majority a few days later. Otherwise the massive amount of worms breaking loose and the toxins from dying worms can kill an animal. If you have a vet that will do inexpensive fecals you may want to at least select a few animals if not all of them to test. Then you'll know if there are others at risk and possibly a source you need to get rid of or if it was just one stressed/immune compromised individual.

 

[Dood]

I've followed your thread on Homestead and note that you have given them Revolution (with the active ingredient selamectin) which, unfortunately, is not effective in killing pin worms.

Fenbendazole or piperazine would be a more effective choice.

 

[SherryB]

Dood, I googled and confirmed that pin worms and round worms are the same and the Revolution says it kills roundworms...? Since I have given them Revolution, can I still give them what you recommended? Can I use it on does that are PG?

 

[MaggieJ]

We're back to the need to use the Latin names instead of common names for species identification. A lot of people confuse pinworms and roundworms, but they are not the same.

This information seemed useful. You might want to take a look at it, Sherry.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_disease ... atodes.htm

I don't think your rabbit died directly because of the worm infestation. I think something else must have been going on and that the worms got out of control because of that. The problem with rabbit illnesses is that by the time they allow symptoms to show, it is often too late to help them. I'm sorry you lost her. I can imagine how helpless you felt, but there was likely nothing that you could have done to save her.

 

[akane]

Fenbendazole and revolution are quite different medications. It should be safe to combine them. They won't have an accumulative effect.

 

[Dood]

Pin worms are a type of small round worm but are not an ascarids, or large round worm, and selamectin has little effect on killing them.

This study found

selamectin was 100% ineffective in eliminating Syphacia spp <mouse pinworm>

which is a close relative to rabbit pinworms - Passalurus sp.

From - http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/16642966

 

[SherryB]

You all rock! I should be paying you all for your expert advice! If I could please ask one more question... of anything that would kill the pinworms, would any of you feel okay with me giving it to PG does? I have 2 other does PG and due around 2/21. I hate to wait until they are born and then weaned before treating the does.

 

[akane]

Not sure about rabbits but we give fenbendazole and most other dewormers to horses when they are pregnant without issues. Not anymore since we cut the herd way down and have lots of pasture so the parasites don't build but in the past we had around 20 horses instead of 4 with 2-4 pregnant every year. We had to deworm every 2-4months then to keep the parasites under control with a double dewormer hit before winter and again in spring. They'd start rubbing their tails in irritation and having GI problems if we didn't. Now we just do the dewormers with 2 ingredients before winter and nothing else.

 

[Dood]

I would wait until the kits are weaned.

A mass die off of worms can cause toxic shock and you have no idea how infested your other rabbits are.

Found this on Piperazine

/LABORATORY ANIMALS: Developmental or Reproductive Toxicity/ In the rabbit (n=5) a reproduction study using oral administration of doses of 100, 250 or 500 mg piperazine phosphate/kg bw per gavage showed dose dependent maternal toxicity culminating at the highest dose in death of does (2), abortion (1) and increases of major abnormalities in pups (23% vs 1.7% in controls). The main abnormalities observed were cleft palate and umbilical hernia, otherwise rarely seen in the strain of rabbits used. It seems thus that piperazine in doses higher than 100 mg/kg bw/day could provoke maternotoxicity, which can contribute to teratological effects as a consequence (at high dose levels).

http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/s ... DOCNO+1093

And unlike horses, dogs and cats, fenbendazole is borderline safe at the recommended dose (20mg/kg) for pregnant rabbits - http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/j ... 29je04.htm but deformities and aborting the litter have been noted at the 63mg/kg and 25mg/kg level

 

[SherryB]

Okay, I bought the fenbendazole today from Tractor Supply and I understand you are suppose to give a pea size amount per rabbit. How do I get it in the rabbit's mouth? Is it too thick to get into a syringe? Put it on an icecream stick and put the end in the mouth?

P.S. I see some are cautioning against giving it to my PG does until after they kindle and wean the kits. I will go ahead though and give it to my other rabbits. I think I will only do 2 at a time though just to make sure I don't risk killing all of them off at once....

 

[Miss M]

When I administered ivermectin, I put that amount on a popsicle stick and smeared it on the lips. They can't stand having stuff on their lips, and lick it off.