Questions on worms

Hello
I have been reading these threads on worms and am a little concerned I may be getting paranoid now... I took Twitch to the vet yesterday for the 2d time in 2 weeks, as he needed to get his vaccinations done. I noticed he'd been scratching his ears a bit more than usual and also had this 'head tilt', so I assumed he had ear mites. The vet couldn;t see anythg and said he seemed all clean, but gave him that anti-mite drop on his neck just in case.
But now I'm reading the stuff on worms, and especially E-Cuniculi and am worried he might have that.... this morning I noticed what looked like threads in his poo but didn;t worry becasue it looked more like hay than anythg else (and certainly did not look like the worms I've seen on pictures)... but then I read about all the other symptoms, like the head tilt, and the fact that he has been drinking probably twice more than before in the last few days and he's had a very healthy appetite too... He only started eating greens a week ago (refused it before), so maybe it's the fibre? I mean he looks in great shape, and the vet said he was completely healthy.... am i just paranoid? And I don;t want to have to take him to the vet a 3rd time! i know he doean;t like leaving the house!
I'll take another look at his poo at lunch, but I thought maybe some of you could give me clear tips about how to know if he has worms before it really affects him?? Thanks!

Hi!

If he has worms you probably wouldn't mistake them for bits of hay. They are quite obvious to spot if you look at his droppings, and are white. I have only even seen dead ones thankfully, but if you want to take action as a precaution you can panacur your bunny. You can buy panacur online at www.vetuk.co.uk and it's only somthing like 3.60 (postage is free). The headtilt concerns me though....did your vet check for a middle ear infection or mention E.C?

Actually just re-reading your post....your vet treated him with a spot on for a suspected case of ear mites??? You would treat him with ear drops :shock:

I don't think your vet sounds very clued up on bunnies :roll:

Oh my god are you serious?? She was very young, but well.... I told her I;d seen him tilt his head after scratching his ears (he doesn;t do it a hell of a lot, but enough for me to get concerned), and she checked his ears and said he had no discharge in them at all, they were clear, so she said he might have some mites around his head or on his body, so just in case, she gave him this drop on his neck....

I am 99% sure the stuff in his poo was not worms then, but i'll double check at lunchtime. I'll keep an eye for the head tilt and see if he keeps scratching.. I mean, I assume they do scratch, like all animals....
To be honest I'm getting a bit fed up with these vets as they never mentioned worms to me for example, which I think is important, and she didn;t seem bothered by the fact that Twitch does this strange head tilt a few times a day.

Do you think I should give him the panacur treatment anyway? If I did this every 6 months, does that mean it would be very unlikely that he catched EC?

charlie82 said:

Actually just re-reading your post....your vet treated him with a spot on for a suspected case of ear mites??? You would treat him with ear drops :shock:

I don't think your vet sounds very clued up on bunnies :roll:

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On the contrary, her vet was right - I was given xero 450 for my rabbits when they had ear mites and this is a spot on treatment :? This is the link for the stuff I used and it clearly states it is for fur mites and ear mites.


http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1500

christelle said:

Do you think I should give him the panacur treatment anyway?

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Yes - rabbits should be given panacur as a preventative treatment 2 - 4times a year

pfiou! that's a relief!
I have just bought 3 packs of Panacur, They say you should give one syringe per 2.5kgs, and it;s one dose a day for 9 days... my bunny is only 1kg, so should I give him a bit less that 1/2 a syringe a day for 9 days? Can i use the rest of the syringe the next day or does it go off?

It's the blue marks along the syringe they are talking about. Each blue line is a dose and per 2.5kg the rabbit should have one dose so if your bun is about 1kg then you need to give him 1/2 a "blue line dose" If it is his first treatment and you have any concerns about EC or worms it might well be worth giving him the 28day treatment just to be on the safe side - sounds like you have bought enough!! And yes, you can keep using the syringe until the course is finished.

brilliant than you so much! I should get them before the end of the week, so I will start treatment straight away.

So bunnies should be wormed 4 times a yr? isn't that a lot? My bunny doesn't live on the grass, he's on the balcony outside... are there moments in the year when they are more prone to getting worms?

Just to clear something up for the OP.

Conventional parasitic worms are obvious in the stools as small whiteish threads however Encephalitozoon Cuniculi is a protozoa and as such invisible to the naked eye.

It is more widely secreted as spores in the urine and has a host of unpleasent side effects including head tilt.

The usual course of action for head tilt, given that mites or canker were not visible, is a course of antibiotics (Baytril) and a 6 week course of Panacur.

Have a look at this thread it'll give you some ideas as to what other people do - personally I think 4times a year is over cautious but I do mine every 6months, but I do have a lot of bunnies coming through

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1105

Thanks for all the replies. I have had a closer look at his droppings and there are definitely no worms. I think it;s just the food he's digested....

however I have ordered the Panacur and will give him a 28 day treatment to make sure he's ok. I dont see him do the head tilt that often, maybe a couple of times a day. It's just been a few times in the last few days and he never did that before... when he scratches his ears, then he sometimes does a little head tilt.... i really hope it;s not these worms that attack the brain!

sorry just noticed one thing you wrote.... did you mean mites or CANCER??? Are you serious?? If he has no mites then it could either be EC or cancer??? well that's a nice choice isn;t it...!!?

christelle said:

sorry just noticed one thing you wrote.... did you mean mites or CANCER??? Are you serious?? If he has no mites then it could either be EC or cancer??? well that's a nice choice isn;t it...!!?

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:shock: :shock: :lol: :lol: Sorry shouldn't laugh - Sooz meant canker when she wrote canker - aka gunky looking stuff in their ears

thank god I really freaked out for a second there!! I can imagine it must be funny, so no apologies for laughing!

The vet said the ears are all clear, so I don;t think it;s mites (and he doesn;t sccratch that much). I'll do the treatment and hopefully that will get rid of whatever may be there!

Sorry, Canker is an old fashioned term for the debris that builds up in the ears from mites.....a vroen crusty substance.

With Torticollis or headtilt the rabbits head is usually constantly held at an angle....is your rabbit just shaking his head and scratching at his ears?

yes he is.... he doesn;t seem disorientated at all mand his head is as normal. It really seemed to be just a little tilt that would happen when he was scratching his ears. He seems to be scratching a lot less now so I assume it must have been mites....

christelle said:

yes he is.... he doesn;t seem disorientated at all mand his head is as normal. It really seemed to be just a little tilt that would happen when he was scratching his ears. He seems to be scratching a lot less now so I assume it must have been mites....

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That sounds very much like mites to me.

well since the vet has put the anit-mites product on him he's fine, not scratching anymore.

However he does seem to have a bigger appetite! I gave him a small handful of pellets yesterday and a good handful of greens, and this morning the bowl was completely empty! I weighed the amount of pellets we give him everyday as I saw some people say they give their bunnies about 15g of those a day, and when i give twitch a handful it is about 40g!!