# E-cunicul in a 10 day old bunny.



## mybunnylove (Nov 4, 2014)

HI All

I'm a hobby breeder of minilops. One of our latest litter of 3 was sadly put to sleep last night after developing a tilted head and general weakness, vet says its e-cunicul parasitic worm. We have two gorgeous babies remaining but I have some concerns about them, very sleepy compared to previous litters but no other signs as yet. Does anyone have experience of this please ? I have already lost two 12 week old babies bought by me (not bred by me), one with bloat and the other with diarrohea, and a further one who survived due to early treatment, but its getting very, very costly and heart breaking. 
The breader I originally bought from uses Easicox, but I cannot seem to get hold of it and don't know whether it deals with this particular parasite. Vet is unsure whether its a good idea to treat these babies, but said I may not know for another couple of weeks whether they will be okay. The infection seems to have come via Mum, so we are treating with Panacur.
Would be grateful for any advice please . . . . . . . .http://www.petforums.co.uk/images/smilies/frown.gif


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## Amelia66 (Feb 15, 2011)

The only way EC can be treated/managed is by the vets. They say 50% of rabbits carry it but not all show signs. The spores are carried through infected urine so make sure everything is fully cleaned/boiling water and pet safe cleaners for hutches ect. To avoid/ minimize infection spreading. 

They can urine test for it to see if they are infected, did the vets do this to confirm? You can also blood test your other rabbits to see if they have it if you are worried.


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

Poorly rabbits need to be seen by a vet - we seem to live there - and yes, keeping rabbits is very, very expensive. I'm afraid I don't know at what age you can start giving Panacur - 28 day course plus hutch bleaching. (Panacur alone isn't enough)

Can I suggest you ask Lil miss - she will know the doses and cheapest way to do it.

Of course, it may be that your remaining buns have a different problem.

Re the other buns you lost - young rabbits digestive systems are very vulnerable, so the fewer changes the better. It is best to keep the diet the same (I'm sure you did that), then make any changes very, very gradually. Even a move to a new environment can be enough to trigger digestive problems such as bloat or stasis.


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## Lopside (Mar 20, 2012)

Sick rabbits are very costly if you go about treating them the correct way. I would have thought that for a baby rabbit to suffer from EC damage then maybe the litter is weak anyway. By the sounds of the rest of the litter it's only a small one and they don't seem 100%. Did you take the mother to the vet also? Maybe you need to think hard about her having a litter again. Is it her first litter? If not how old is she and when did she have her previous litters. I ask because it's estimated the majority of rabbits carry EC and never develop a problem. It possibly only causes trouble if the rabbit is run down/stressed and it attacks the brain / renal/ nervous system for example. 
Panacur will successfully treat it buy the whole environment also needs a good deep clean. All your rabbits ideally need treating too at the same time. Hope you have lots of money and patience!


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## emzybabe (Jun 30, 2009)

There are no nasty side effects to panacur, so I would treat babies and mum for 28 days thoroughly cleaning wih a 10% bleach solution in days 21 and 28. By which time they should be old enough that the bleach smell won't upset mum too much. You need to wash hands between rabbits and ultimately worm all of you rabbits for 28 days, if you have a lot of rabbits you will find the panacur dog liquid cheaper to use. If you have other pets you should also look at worming them. 

Ultimately good hygiene plays a huge role wih parasites, litter trays with hay racks over so they don't eat contaminated hay, daily emptying and cleaning of the litter tray, weekly scrubbing with soap then a good disinfectant like f10 of the hutch and patio if there not on grass. 

If they are showing sings of the parasite like upset stomach then they need to be treated with a course of the antibiotic septrin.


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## MerlinsMum (Aug 2, 2009)

Easicox deals with Coccidiosis, a protozoal parasite, which either attacks the intestine or the liver. 

It may be that yours have both Coccidiosis (which can cause bloat and other intestinal disorders) and E. cuniculi (which isn't a worm, but another protozoal parasite). 

Infection with one might weaken the system to allow the other to take hold as well.

As has been said, many rabbits have EC but don't succumb to it, but it might easily take hold if, say, there was a coccidial infection as well.

There is a medicated rabbit pellet you can buy made by Heygates which contains a coccidiostat, although it's not always easy to find, and isn't designed to be a substitute for good hygiene. Long term effects of feeding a coccidiostat are unclear, but back in the day when most rabbit pellets contained one, it often didn't work fully and a subclinical level of coccidiosis remained in some cases, as they were meant to be fed to young growing meat rabbits and not for life.


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