EC and incontinence/wet end rabbits: Help please

I have had an e-mail from a lady who wants advice on her two EC positive 'wet' (presume incontinent) rabbits. She has had them on Lapizole for 5 weeks with no improvement on the wetness.

She is worried about fly strike - I have of course given her the advice re bathing and drying, appropriate bedding, Rearguard etc

I have also added some more info on Lapizole/Panacur, and also the information that 'not all bunnies that test positive for EC are displaying symptoms directly related to EC' etc.

However I am a bit stuck as none of my EC rabbits (chronic or acute) has ever had this problem, Mine have had a variety of symptoms (none quite the same) including head tilt, weight loss, blindness, renal failure, pareisis etc. But none with incontinence.

Can anyone think of anything else I should ask/say?

She cannot post direct as does not have computer and e-mailed me via her daughter in laws computer!

Many thanks for any help. Thought I'd seen it all with EC - but not that one!

I'm going through this ATM with one of mine

She's always drunk and wee'd loads since I've had her (I got her just over a year ago from Freecycle)...but this has progressed to weeing so much that the hutch is sopping wet and needs a full clean on a daily basis. She has lost her litter training and is constantly wet around her tail. Panacur helped at first, but doesn't seem to help any more.

The vet initially treated for a UTI, because that's the most common cause of incontinence, but we're now edging towards kidney disease. We have a vet appt. on Monday, so I'll let you know what happens.

The strange thing is that she is fine in herself...she's lively and eating well :?

I would ask the vets to run a full blood profile to check liver/kidney function. Also ask if the rabbit is drinking more than normal and if it appears to be loosing weight.

Generally excessive urination in EC positive rabbits indicates liver/kidney damage. Fenbendazole cannot undo any damage already done, only prevent more occuring. This is why the rabbits may not appear to be 'recovering' after Lapizole administration.

I would also recommend getting their bottoms shaved and applying a barrier cream to prevent urine scold rather than the stress of consistant bathing.

Sometimes a secondary bacterial infection can occur with EC so perhaps some abx may be in order.

This thread may also give some useful info re a med that can help

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=117820

Janex

Sooty has EC related incontinence but it showed signs of improvement after about a week on panacur he needed a bit of retraining but was wee free in two weeks. He was also however being treated with baytrill and cranberry juice for the first week as we weren't quite sure if it was an infection or EC and there is some evidence that the two together work better than just panacur alone. I would have thought that if it was just EC it should have started to clear by now, unless it was left quite late for treatement and some permenant damage has been done...

Thank you so much for these - I shall cut and paste them into an e-mail and send them back to the lady (Pam Turner) via her daughter in laws e-mail (!!)

I also was worried that there might be something other than actual EC causing this, and suggested she ask her vets to check out anything else - and am really glad to see others who have experience of this particular problem also feel that that may be possible. . I have asked about water intake and weight loss but haven't yet got a reply I suspect her contact with e-mail is intermittant.

I shall also pass on the tip about shaving - and if anyone can get back to me with any of the other info that would be great.

Oh - and good luck at the vets tomorrow to abbymarysmokey!

Just to update about Crunchie's vet visit...

She went in for blood tests and bladder x-rays today.

Very surprisingly her blood tests were on the low side of normal..so no EC induced kidney failure as we expected :shock:

X-rays showed that she had no bladder sludge or stones.

The vet had a good feel of her bladder, and could feel no tenderness at all...so UTI is unlikely.

The vet now thinks it is either:

1. A disc injury or arthritis causing loss of feeling in the bladder...she's been started on Metacam as treatment

or

2. Loss of muscle control and slack bladder causing leakage...she will require oestrogen tablets for this.

Thank you to kayj for the heads up on oestrogen treatment for incontinence (link to kayj's thread in Jane's post above).

Thank you for updating us on this.

I have e-mailed everyone's comments to the rabbit owners daughter in law (!) and she e-mailed back to say she sent them onwards with many many thanks. I await any more updates from her on her results.