Diamond
Well-known member
A little over a month ago I had a run of mucoid enteritis run through my rabbitry, affecting weanlings, growouts, and a couple of juniors who I had set aside as breeding stock. Among all of my "little guys" I had about a 20% mortality rate.
The symptoms first appeared after I had switched to a different brand of feed. I pulled the feed, gave lots of hay, rolled oats, dandelion leaves, etc and drenched individual rabbits with the infant simethicone drops (gas-X for babies) then added it to crocks (not bottles or my watering system) at appx 3 cc per 8 oz water. I managed to pull most of them through from what looked like the brink of death.
Rumor had it that the brand of feed was notorious for causing stomach problems and deaths in rabbits; however, another litter of weanlings who had never had the feed (I did not feed the "new" brand to my doe barn) started showing the same mucoid enteritis symptoms: lethargy, bloated "watery" tummy, mucousy stools.
It had been brought to my attention that e. cuniculi is often an unrecognized culprit in mucoid enteritis among young rabbits. Being a registered nurse, I always want to find the evidence when it comes to identifying and treating communicable disease. Here is a copy of an email I sent to a friend of mine who runs a commercial rabbitry and has also been losing about 20-30% of his growouts to mucoid enteritis, containing what my research has discovered and the plans I have implemented.
"So I've been doing research on enteritis in young rabbits, and there is a lot of evidence that e.cuniculi is a common cause of this.
The organism is well-tolerated in healthy adult rabbits but young ones are very susceptible to it, especially during and after the stress of weaning.
E.cuniculi is a protozoan-type microorganism that can live dormant in an encysted form for long periods of time in the environment; because of this it is impossible to eradicate. It can actually be passed in the urine of heavily affected rabbits because it migrates into the kidneys.
The organism migrates through the body tissues during its active phase; it can cause 'wry neck' when it gets into the middle ear organs; when it affects the digestive organs its neurotoxins cause the gut paralysis associated with mucoid enteritis/ bloat and then the hind leg paralysis that occurs in the late stages of this form of enteritis.
There are multiple evidence-based studies that the organism is sensitive to fenbendazole and oxibendazole in its active phase of life (when it is migrating, producing toxins, and reproducing). I traced some Internet rumors that it is sensitive to ivermectin and piperacillin and could not find any evidence-based research to back up these claims.
In the past, I have given oral boluses of SafeGuard liquid goat dewormer (fenbendazole) at the recommended rabbit dosing of 20 mg/ kg (10 mg/ pound) - the concentration of the product is 100mg/mL) so it titrates to 0.1cc per pound of live rabbit (5 pound junior is 0.5cc).
I have cut corners with my weanlings and growouts, witholding water for 12 hours then adding the liquid SafeGuard to the water at 3 to 4 cc per quart; I have noticed that a pen of 6 to 8 growouts will consume this volume in a few hours if they are thirsty. And with the bigger rabbits, they drink more volume in a similar amount of time.
The fenbendazole has a very short half-life (12 hours) and treatment is recommended for 3 consecutive days since its therapeutic window is so short. I keep giving them the treated water for about 2 days, because I am reaching a more constant level in their system as opposed to the wide peak and trough value of oral boluses.
The withdrawal period of the medication for slaughter animals is 7 days, meaning that the meat is considered free of metabolites from the medication 7 days after treatment.
I have treated my whole herd with either the oral bolus x 3 days or the water bottle method x 48 hours (appx 4 to 5 bottle changes). I am going to retreat does at breeding time with an initial oral bolus then the water bottle method; and again when the kits are 4 weeks old, then treat the kits with the water bottle method at weaning time.
We will see if there is any reduction in the enteritis problem..... it is certainly worth a try.
When I notice a litter showing symptoms of mucoid enteritis, I treat them with the simethicone infant drops ($3 a bottle at BiMart), I give a few drops as an oral bolus and then place a crock in the cage with about 3 cc per 8 oz water; it has a sweet flavor that encourages drinking and helps reduce the discomfort from bloat, encouraging the rabbit to try and eat which will stimulate gut motility.
Some of my litters who were drastically affected and had about a 20% mortality are now completely recovered and on target for where they should be in their weight. They started eating like pigs once they had recovered from the enteritis, going through about 50% more feed than they would have compared to unaffected litters; 'making up for lost time'.
Susan"
The symptoms first appeared after I had switched to a different brand of feed. I pulled the feed, gave lots of hay, rolled oats, dandelion leaves, etc and drenched individual rabbits with the infant simethicone drops (gas-X for babies) then added it to crocks (not bottles or my watering system) at appx 3 cc per 8 oz water. I managed to pull most of them through from what looked like the brink of death.
Rumor had it that the brand of feed was notorious for causing stomach problems and deaths in rabbits; however, another litter of weanlings who had never had the feed (I did not feed the "new" brand to my doe barn) started showing the same mucoid enteritis symptoms: lethargy, bloated "watery" tummy, mucousy stools.
It had been brought to my attention that e. cuniculi is often an unrecognized culprit in mucoid enteritis among young rabbits. Being a registered nurse, I always want to find the evidence when it comes to identifying and treating communicable disease. Here is a copy of an email I sent to a friend of mine who runs a commercial rabbitry and has also been losing about 20-30% of his growouts to mucoid enteritis, containing what my research has discovered and the plans I have implemented.
"So I've been doing research on enteritis in young rabbits, and there is a lot of evidence that e.cuniculi is a common cause of this.
The organism is well-tolerated in healthy adult rabbits but young ones are very susceptible to it, especially during and after the stress of weaning.
E.cuniculi is a protozoan-type microorganism that can live dormant in an encysted form for long periods of time in the environment; because of this it is impossible to eradicate. It can actually be passed in the urine of heavily affected rabbits because it migrates into the kidneys.
The organism migrates through the body tissues during its active phase; it can cause 'wry neck' when it gets into the middle ear organs; when it affects the digestive organs its neurotoxins cause the gut paralysis associated with mucoid enteritis/ bloat and then the hind leg paralysis that occurs in the late stages of this form of enteritis.
There are multiple evidence-based studies that the organism is sensitive to fenbendazole and oxibendazole in its active phase of life (when it is migrating, producing toxins, and reproducing). I traced some Internet rumors that it is sensitive to ivermectin and piperacillin and could not find any evidence-based research to back up these claims.
In the past, I have given oral boluses of SafeGuard liquid goat dewormer (fenbendazole) at the recommended rabbit dosing of 20 mg/ kg (10 mg/ pound) - the concentration of the product is 100mg/mL) so it titrates to 0.1cc per pound of live rabbit (5 pound junior is 0.5cc).
I have cut corners with my weanlings and growouts, witholding water for 12 hours then adding the liquid SafeGuard to the water at 3 to 4 cc per quart; I have noticed that a pen of 6 to 8 growouts will consume this volume in a few hours if they are thirsty. And with the bigger rabbits, they drink more volume in a similar amount of time.
The fenbendazole has a very short half-life (12 hours) and treatment is recommended for 3 consecutive days since its therapeutic window is so short. I keep giving them the treated water for about 2 days, because I am reaching a more constant level in their system as opposed to the wide peak and trough value of oral boluses.
The withdrawal period of the medication for slaughter animals is 7 days, meaning that the meat is considered free of metabolites from the medication 7 days after treatment.
I have treated my whole herd with either the oral bolus x 3 days or the water bottle method x 48 hours (appx 4 to 5 bottle changes). I am going to retreat does at breeding time with an initial oral bolus then the water bottle method; and again when the kits are 4 weeks old, then treat the kits with the water bottle method at weaning time.
We will see if there is any reduction in the enteritis problem..... it is certainly worth a try.
When I notice a litter showing symptoms of mucoid enteritis, I treat them with the simethicone infant drops ($3 a bottle at BiMart), I give a few drops as an oral bolus and then place a crock in the cage with about 3 cc per 8 oz water; it has a sweet flavor that encourages drinking and helps reduce the discomfort from bloat, encouraging the rabbit to try and eat which will stimulate gut motility.
Some of my litters who were drastically affected and had about a 20% mortality are now completely recovered and on target for where they should be in their weight. They started eating like pigs once they had recovered from the enteritis, going through about 50% more feed than they would have compared to unaffected litters; 'making up for lost time'.
Susan"
