My rabbit has EC

A few months back I posted on here about my rabbit dragging her hind legs and your replies told me it was possibly EC so I took her to the vet who confirmed it. He gave her pancur which cost a bomb and now I know its just worming stuff. He also said don't try and keep her away from the parasite cus chances are she will catch it again cus it can live for months outside a host. He told me when it does to give her the 6 week coarse of pancur again. We started giving her pancur on the 20th of Feb and she made a full recovery within 3 weeks so that was obviously the problem. Now we have noticed her beginning to drag her leg again (nowhere near as bad as before, last time she was paralised completly in her back end) so I was just wondering if it would be okay to worm her again now to nip it in the bud before it gets worse. I can't really afford to take her to the vet to have him tell me what I already know and charge me twice as much for pancur. So please could I have some advice on if it would be safe to worm her again to see if that helps before I take her to the vet again as I am almost certain that this is EC because shes never had any other health issues.

Look forward to your replies. Many thanks.

Edit: It was Lapizole not Pancur he prescribed her.

I am affraid I would advise you to take her back to the Vet. Whilst it may well be that she requires another 6 week course of Panacur it would be inappropriate for anyone unqualified to just say 'yes, go ahead and give it' as there may be other problems going on.

Also it is necessary to treat active EC with anti-inflammatories aswell as Panacur to try to minimise longterm permanent damage caused by the inflammatory response to the EC spores.

Jack's-Jane said:

I am affraid I would advise you to take her back to the Vet. Whilst it may well be that she requires another 6 week course of Panacur it would be inappropriate for anyone unqualified to just say 'yes, go ahead and give it' as there may be other problems going on.

Also it is necessary to treat active EC with anti-inflammatories aswell as Panacur to try to minimise longterm permanent damage caused by the inflammatory response to the EC spores.

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He didn't give her any anti-inflamatories last time. Now I look at the bill, it was Lapizole. Which is just another worming meds or so I'm told.

When treating any rabbit for EC the really important thing is to ensure that the accommodation is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected on days 21 and 28, at the RWF conference earlier this year they said that these were the days which were particularly critical in the regime to eliminate ec not just from the rabbit, but from the environment. If the envioroment is not thoroughly cleaned and discinfected the rabbit will become reinfected.

janice-arc said:

When treating any rabbit for EC the really important thing is to ensure that the accommodation is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected on days 21 and 28, at the RWF conference earlier this year they said that these were the days which were particularly critical in the regime to eliminate ec not just from the rabbit, but from the environment. If the envioroment is not thoroughly cleaned and discinfected the rabbit will become reinfected.

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Unless you bleached the whole area then it is unlikely you killed the parasite in the external environment, which will probably be the reason she has it again.

Did you vet confirm EC by taking bloods? These are generally extortionate and dont actually confirm that EC is causing the symptoms - Just that they are a carrier. It's more about ruling out other things such as ear infections with regards to head tilt etc.

I would order Panacur/Lazipole from www.vetuk.co.uk - Much cheaper, but as Jane says pop back to vets first just to get the go ahead. If the symptoms stop, dont stop the treatment.

As Janice says, proper cleaning on says 21 and 28 is extremely important.

I disinfect the area (just to keep it clean) once a day with a normal animal disinfectant (wont kill the parasite) and once every week (days 7,14,21,28 ) I use a 10% bleach solution, vinegar and steam clean the area. I also treat an active case for 6 weeks, not 28 days, so therefore continue to do major clean on days 35 and 42

*Edited to say: Most likely risk of contamination comes from where bunny eats, especially where they have wee'd. Litter trays and food bowls are prime example, so if not replaced, thouroughly cleaned in bleach. I would also chuck out any toys which cant be cleaned.

I should think you vet will be fine with you buying the panacur elsewhere, but I would pop along for a check up anyway :wave:

vicki267 said:

Unless you bleached the whole area then it is unlikely you killed the parasite in the external environment, which will probably be the reason she has it again.

Did you vet confirm EC by taking bloods? These are generally extortionate and dont actually confirm that EC is causing the symptoms - Just that they are a carrier. It's more about ruling out other things such as ear infections with regards to head tilt etc.

I would order Panacur/Lazipole from www.vetuk.co.uk - Much cheaper, but as Jane says pop back to vets first just to get the go ahead. If the symptoms stop, dont stop the treatment.

As Janice says, proper cleaning on says 21 and 28 is extremely important.

I disinfect the area (just to keep it clean) once a day with a normal animal disinfectant (wont kill the parasite) and once every week (days 7,14,21,28 ) I use a 10% bleach solution, vinegar and steam clean the area. I also treat an active case for 6 weeks, not 28 days, so therefore continue to do major clean on days 35 and 42

*Edited to say: Most likely risk of contamination comes from where bunny eats, especially where they have wee'd. Litter trays and food bowls are prime example, so if not replaced, thouroughly cleaned in bleach. I would also chuck out any toys which cant be cleaned.

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He didn't confirm it by taking bloods but while the vet was taking a look at her as well as her back end being paralised she did a huge wee all over the table so he said it looked like EC and the Lapizole he gave her made her better.

I took her back to the vet yesterday and he said it was fine to give her the treatment (which I bought in pets at home) and see how things go from there and the fact she made a full recovery last time is a good sign.

This time I want to completly eradicate the parasite but the problem is because we have a secure garden we let her run around alot so it would be impossible to clean the whole garden. We have a cage inside thats big enough for her that our piggle George is in at the moment which I'm sure (even though he wouldn't be very happy about it) we could move her into because its plastic and metal where as her house outside is wooden and would be alot harder to sterilize.

I'm not sure if I should start another thread asking for tips about sterilizing the envrioment from EC or could I just ask for advice through this one?

Anyway I'd love some tips on how to kill the bug!

Thanks for all your replies xxxx

Well the parasite is expected to have a life span outside the bunny for about 28 days.

Therefore as she is an outside bunny, I would consider moving her inside for at least one month.

She is likely to wee and poo on the grass, so giving a high area of contamination. Is there anywhere else that she could have to run around which she hasn't used before?

If it were the winter then the parasite would most likely live less than 28 days in the environment but seeing it's the summer now it may still take around 28 days.

If you can keep her inside, I would do the bleach solution on her hutch outside on a nice day, then give it another quick going over before you move her back into it.

* Vetuk are half the price of pets at home