How to avoid EC?

I hear so many stories on here about buns with EC, I'm constantly worrying about my boys. How can it be prevented?

by keeping your rabbits clean..it can be spread through spores in urine..so if you handle anyone elses rabbits wash your hands thoroughly before you go back to yours
Treating with Panacur as follows
The paste you can buy in pet shops in green and white box says a 9 day course but
The 9 day course is a waste of money as is purely a wormer
If your rabbit has worms..and they are rare in rabbits..then you should treat them for EC as the worms can carry it..so 28 days will be needed
The 10% cat and dog Panacur can be used
9 days will kill the worms but not any EC protazoa in the buns system so therefore wasting your time and money and not protecting bun

You should do a 28 day course for all your rabbits if you haven't done so before ..repeat if you introduce a new rabbit..the new one and your resident ones must be treated
and follow the bleach cleaning routine
thoroughly clean all areas on the 21st and 28th day of course
During this time try not to let buns on any grass areas as obviously these cannot be cleaned

Rinse bleached areas VERY well before returning rabbits to them

EC was only identified a few years back but it is now thought 75% of the domestic rabbit population may carry it, although not all present symptoms and some never will
At times of stress or ill health the EC can become active and start affecting the rabbit

This advice was given out at the RWA conference last year by rabbit vet Neil Forbes who has been researching the disease

By giving a full course of panacur to your existing rabbits and thoroughly bleaching all surfaces they have access to on days 21 and 28 of treatment.

If your rabbits are on grass or carpet. Removing them from this area by placing them on totally new surfaces, keep them off these areas for at least 6weeks otherwise re-infection will occur.

If you are introducing a new rabbit to your group, you need to give the new bun at least a 4 week course of panacur and your pre-existing buns a 9 day course to prevent infection by the new bun.

Why do you have to bleach on day 21 and 28?

If the space the rabbits are in has live spores and has not been cleaned on these days, the bunnies will be reinfected with EC. These are the optimum days for doing this, this timing is as a result of reasearch that has been done in the past couple of years.

So how would i do Lyrics room? Its a bedroom with carpet

Thanks for the replies. Confuzzled though - are they only at risk from EC if they have worms? :?

My Inca has EC just now. She is a very clean Rabbit, and i keep her room very clean.
She also had a 28day course of Panacur at the Rescue before she came to me.

Unfortunately although i feel there are ways to minimise the risk, i think that some buns will just get it.

I have just spent the last three hours bleaching their room and cleaning all their carpets, blankets and towels, i usually do this every fortnight anyways, yet she still managed to get EC!!

bluebunny said:

So how would i do Lyrics room? Its a bedroom with carpet

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If you have carpet the best you can do is thoroughly clean the carpet and then cover it with something like thick card for about 6- 8 weeks to allow the spores to die by themselves. Another option would be to thoroughly steam clean the carpet ... having patch tested a corner first.

janice-arc said:

If you have carpet the best you can do is thoroughly clean the carpet and then cover it with something like thick card for about 6- 8 weeks to allow the spores to die by themselves. Another option would be to thoroughly steam clean the carpet ... having patch tested a corner first.

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What could i use to clean it?