My rabbit has EC

Hi
I've just joined following doing research as my rabbit has EC. I had never heard of it. Still in shock.

Just to give you a bit of a background - 2 weeks ago we went to see my parents (5hour car journey) and we always take our house rabbit and she has a hutch there.

We arrived late at night and the following day noticed urine stained legs but becuase we had travelled we all thought it was just that (she's not the cleanest rabbit!)

We collected our new dog (9 week old puppy) and came back - the urine staining stayed the same but last week we noticed it got worse (before it just looked that it dried and she hadn't cleaned it well). So went to vets and was told it was more than likely EC but vet said it comes from wild rabbits but that can not be the case.

She is on baytil antibiotics and panacret worming soluations. She seems fine in her personality (grumpy at times, puts pup in her place etc) and is eating normally. Her drinking has always been up and down so we gave her some water in a syringe but she is drink (within her normal range).

She's 5 and normally perfect health.

I've been sterolising and cleaning everything, we've made sure we have all her fav veg to keep her eating etc. Is there anything else i can do?

Thank you

How did the Vet come to the diagnosis of EC ?

Did Vet rule out bladder sludge/stones, a urinary tract infection ?

She needs to be on a non steroidal anti-inflammatory aswell as the antibiotic (Baytril) and Panacur. It is the inflammatory response to EC spores that causes clinical symptoms and longterm cellular damage.

I would keep your Pup away from her and the area she has access to. Theoretically a Rabbit could pass EC to a Puppy should Pup come into contact with anything contaminated by an infected Rabbit's urine.

The corse of Panacur needs to be for a minimum of 28 days and the Rabbit's environment needs to be bleach cleaned (10% bleach solution) on days 21 and 28 of treatment.

Were there any other signs of EC? Head tilt or eye rolling for example/ or weight loss beforehand or anything other than just the urine problem?

Did they test for EC at all?

Thanks
Its a new vet we've seen - moved area. She did give us the antibiotics but was convinced its EC. She's given us panacret for 9 days and we have to take her back on sat to see whether she'll need more (which seems very likley).

She never told us about the pup. Unless we leave our rabbit in her hutch there is no way we can do it - we only have two rooms downstairs and we both work shifts so only one of us at home most of the time. I will speak to the vets in the morning and see what she thinks. I think we'll probably have to get parents-in-law to have the pup but they live in a upstairs flat with no garden. Typical.

Do you count the 21 and 28 days from starting the panacret? Is normal house-hold beach ok or does it have to be specialised pet?

Thank you for replying - its been a very worrying time.

Cross over post!

No nothings - she's totally normal. We were recommended to put her on a diet back in dec so she has lost a little bit of weight (she's a bit lazy ) but nothing dramatic and the new vet was happy with that.

I've read that they should do a blood test but i wasn't offered. We'll ask when we go back.

update:
We saw the senior vet yesterday.
He, like me doesn't seem convinced its EC. At one point he thought he left a large tumor but when he went back to double check it had moved and broken up so he thought it was a large about of poo working its way through her - sure enough she had more poo last night than ever!!!

He suggested keeping up with the worming just to be on the safe side. He also suggested bathing her with some small animal stuff and using the shower head to do a big clean. Well that was fun - the water was almost brown but she was well behaved and spent ages cleaning herself (she's not the best at it).

He was really impressed with her overall health (her teeth look like a 2 year olds rather than a 5 years old) and said we may never know the cause.

He suggested not doing blood tests yet or xrays as he would like to give her a month longer (as long as no change).

I do think he was preparing us that one day she might suddenly go.

Overally i'm positve but still very confused.

Thanks for the advice!