How to look after E Cuniculi bunny UPDATE rolling over

My bunny has been showing signs of EC since Monday. She's still not eating much, just nibbling grass and cucumber, and to start with she wasn't pooing either, though now she has loose poos. I've been to the vets twice for metoclopramide injections and I'm giving her and her boyfriend panacur and just trying to encourage her to eat when I can but her head tilt and shakiness are getting worse by the day.

Is there anything else I should be doing? Is it normal for them to be off their food when they have EC? How long is it normally before you see an improvement? The head tilt and shakiness is quite alarming! Thanks

Has she had an anti-inflammatory? It is inflammation as a result of contact from the EC spores that causes the symptoms.
Is she drinking ?

I asked the vet for a painkiller (which would be anti-inflammatory) but she didn't want to giver her one in case it irritated her guts more, or at worst caused ulceration. I wasn't too convinced...I've had a rabbit with stasis before who they gave Metacam to.

I don't think she's drinking much, if at all.

Just an update...and could still do with some advice...
Polly is still very bad with symptoms of EC, but is now eating and drinking ok, though I think she's lost weight.

Her EC symptoms got worse over the first few days and have now been the same since about Friday. She has very bad head tilt and when we pick her up, she goes very floppy. If we then put her down, she rolls over and over on the ground uncontrollably. Has anyone else seen this? How long does it take to see some improvement? She is on Panacur (now 10% solution from VetUK).

Thanks

She does need to have a course of Antibioctics and also thre metacam as mentioned before..the head tilt may or may not improve..will keep fingers crossed it does

and a small bit of advice..if her tilt is very bad..keep her in a smaller space than usual with nothing she can hurt herself on if she rolls on her own
Also if you bed her on hay cut it into small lengths..a bun rolling can get long strands tangled round their legs or even their necks

ok thanks! I will take her back to the vet and insist they give her the metacam! You might remember Polly? You matched her up with one of your bunnies, Humbug. He's doing fine, grown quite a big and a lively chap but lovely and cuddly.

Our Barry got ill with EC last year; I kept him in a well-padded laundry basket for three weeks until he stopped rolling around but the head tilt improved after that and now there's no sign of it anymore - he's even more active than he was before his illness!

Thanks for that, it's good to hear a happy ending. It's horrible watching her roll about and there hasn't been much improvement so far, so hopefully she'll recover like your bunny did Do you know why they roll like that?

I think they feel dizzy and nauseous and and as if they were on a roller coaster - apparently lifting them off the ground makes it even worse. Your bunny should also suffer from the rapid eye movement (can't remember the proper name for it) which is another indication that its balance has gone awol.
It really is horrible to watch but I was sure that I was doing the right thing as Barry was eating and drinking a lot (with some help from me) all the time. Funnily enough, I feel like he actually understands what I did for him because now he actually runs to me for cuddles instead of disappearing under the bed every time I approach him - I guess it's his way of showing gratitude for saving his life.

its called nystagmus - when their eyes flick back and forth, like watching a train. sometimes the head goes with it. i've not had a bunny with EC but at college they recommend comfy confined space as someone else said, and limit the amount of movement around them as thats what they try to focus on when their eyes/head are moving. if is darker, quiet and still they are more likely to settle. ATB for the recovery!

Ive only just seen this post....i have a head tilt bun, after 6 months he still rolls a few times a day, but apart from that copes fine, he still has head tilt.

I tried stemetil injections to stop him from rolling so much, i dont know how much help they were, but might be worth a try

How is your bun today? My boy couldnt even walk for about 4 - 6 weeks, when he eventually did, it was baby steps for ages, and alot of rolling....hope your bun gets through this

Thanks for the advice! So much more helpful than the vet....anyway she's still pretty much the same. She rolls quite often and spends time just lying on her side. She can't get up very easily, but when she's up she can walk a bit but I wouldn't call it hopping.

We've brought her in the house now to keep a better eye on her. I'm trying to keep her friend Humphrey with her but I don't think he'll appreciate being cooped up in here!

I just hope she recovers like your bunnies did.

Friendly fox how is your bunny? My rabbit Izzy is showing signs of EC and i had to take her to the vets this morning, I was given Panacur for her and she is very wobbly on one back leg in particular. I have now brought her indoors as she seems to have lost so much weight; I 've left her Husbun Pumpkin in the hutch as I think she needs time away from him as otherwise he will not leave her alone but I will bring him into the house every day to come and see her.

Hi Carob, Polly is much better than she was. On Monday it'll be 3 weeks since the symptoms started and she improved quite a bit about a week ago. I found the symptoms got worse to start with though. Does your bunny have head tilt? Polly still has that but doesn't seem to be rolling any more. I think the metacam has helped. She lost some weight too but her eating is now back to normal. Is yours eating and drinking ok? Hope Izzy gets better soon.

Hi :wave: Izzy does eat and drink ok it's just that she seems to be dragging her legs behind her the vet has given her avipro plus (as she is underweight) and panacur so we'll se what happens. Thanks for replying!
p.s. no she does not have head tilt.

We've been through head tilt before. Panacur for 21-28 days and metacam. The panacur kills the parasite, but then the healing process involves infalammation. This on the brain is the problem The metacam helps to lessen the problem. We found most vets are unwilling to use metacam, as they don't know the doseage and metabolism rates in bunnies fully. We use a specialist zoological vet, and our current house bunny in on 8 drops of metacam twice a day for his arthritis, with no ill effects, he just gets sleepy for about an hour. He was on an anti-ulcer medication when his eating was reduced, but now just has maxalon (oral metacopleramide). He takes his meds off a spoon, think he's addicted !

The biggest problem we found with ec bunnies was the thrashing, which is solved by using a smaller hutch or box, and padding them with towels. Make sure they get plenty of fluids, as they find it hard to get to a bottle or bowl. Critical care food, the one from Oxbow is really good. Use a 50ml cather syringe and it's a lot easier. We tried other critical care foods and none of the buns would touch it. There is a pre-mixed syringe paste of probiotics and fibre you can use too, but we got better results with the critical food mixed with bio-lapis probiotics.

Some will recover fully, Bay, always had a tilted head afterwards and would go in circles if excited, but he lived another 18 months before old-age finally took him.

Colin