Any thoughts on my bunny?

Hi, it's been a while since I posted on here but would like to know if anyone has any thoughts on waht could be wrong with my bunny, Lucky.

Until last August she was regularly stopping eating and pooping, often very suddenly and sometimes after she had what appeared to be a seizure. It was happening every 2 months. Since moving house in September she's been ok, until last Thursday and it's happened again.

She's been tested for E.C. which came back negative, but from what I've read she seems to have a lot of the signs, loss of use of back legs, shivering and sometimes rolling onto her back with her eyes rollling too. However, she doesn't have any head tilt and doesn't go round in circles in one way. Also, this has been happening for the last 2 years on and off and the last vet we saw about this suggested she'd have got a lot worse if it was EC.

Sometimes she'll be eating fine, binkying around the living room and suddenly she'll sit down and when we go and check her she's shivering and not taking treats, which she normally goes crazy for.

The vets have also mentioned epilepsy, but she doesn't always have an actual seizure, just goes quiet, shivers and doesn't take treats as well as loosing control of her bowels.

Each time we go to the vets she has metacam & maxolon and we have the maxolon, fibreplex and critical care formula to home nurse her. We also have panacur which we gave to her last August for 7 days after not being well the last time, we're considering giving that again as it may have been a coincidence but after the last course she went 6 months without an episode.

So, anyone any ideas as our vets can't put their finger on anything even though they are very good and rabbit savvy and it would just be comforting to have any idea of what we are treating!

Don't really know what to suggest other than to send vibes for your bunny. Wesley had a 28 day course of panacur when he had headtilt with antibiotics and metacam and took several months to recover.

hurricanhoney said:

Don't really know what to suggest other than to send vibes for your bunny. Wesley had a 28 day course of panacur when he had headtilt with antibiotics and metacam and took several months to recover.

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Thanks, we're keeping on over night watch on her as she's eaten ok tonight and pooped ok, just gone quiet and a bit shivery again. Given her the usually maxalon and started the panacur... hoping she's going to pick up like she normally does and be binkying around her cage in the morning, if not it's going to be the third trip back to the vets in less than a week!

Appreciate the vibes, we just wish we knew exactly what it is we're treating, it would make it just that little bit easier

Do YOU get cold sores (HPV Virus) ?

If so have a read of this (scroll down to the Lagomorph references)

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/S/00dis/viral/Herpes_simplex_Inf_Hhog.html

Or Cerebrospinal Nematodiasis :

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Cerebrospinal_nematodiasis_lagomorphs.htm

:?

I can only tell you what I read about EC recently, but I understand that giving your rabbit panacur can effect future EC test results. Also, if there was any EC there then if it did do some damage Panacur will not cure the damage done, only remove the parasite that's causing it.

There are a lot of if's there I know, plus you said the test came back negative.

I'm just wondering if you'd given panacur previous to the first episode as on another thread there were concerns at what damage panacur could so. I don't know what these problems were though, as they didn't mention them.

Does your bun have access to the garden? Have you made sure there's nothing out there that's poisonous to a bun.

Did the vets suggest anything to help if it is epilepsy?

You could draw your vets attention to the posts Jacks-Jane has given you. And see if the labs they use have the methods for checking Histopathological tests for those results mentioned.

Sending healthy vibes. I hope you manage to find out what's the matter soon.

Hi,

Good news, Lucky was bouncing round the cage when I got up in the early hours, quite happily muching and pooping and she was the same again this morning.

Jacks Jane, neither of us get cold sores, but it made for some interesting reading and soemthing to bear in mind anyway. I think next time we're down at the vets I'll print them off and see what their thoughts are.

Marmites Mum, the vet has suggested medication for epilepsy if her episodes start getting more regular- e.g. weekly. But because they can't diagnose it and the side effects are horrible at the moment I don't think it's worth the risk. Also, they suggested brain scans, but we'd have to fly her to the UK and she gets so stressed in a car, there's no way she'd cope in a plane

Re the Panacur, I didn't mention in my stressed and tired state last night, but the Panacur last time was also given as we were moving house and we are due to give her another course anyway according to the vets instructions. We hadn't given any Panacur before the first episode, we'd got her from the animal shelter so they may have given some but it happened about 3 months after.

She doesn't go in the garden during the winter- she's a house rabbit and really doesn't like the outside very much, she's a bit of a girl :roll:

Anyway, at least she's looking ok again this time, it's so worrying. One time we took her to the emergency vets after sitting up with her all night and his words haunt me everytime she's ill as he told me we have to prepare that one time she might just not pull through

I don't like vets that that feel the need to say that. Most animal owners are well aware when their animal is poorly and if things are bad as bad could be. Reiterating it for effect is not the best thing they could be doing!

I'm glad everything is ok this morning x

she was tested for ec which came back negative but has she been treated for e and if so at what dosage? this sounds very very similar to dora who had a limp (NO head tilt) and lost weight she then wee'd more than normal got urine scold and had siezzures her symptoms were off and on for over a year the siezures bieng the latest she too originally had a negative test for ec, her test recently after the siezures was positive on the tetra count? (sorry if that wrong name) and she was put onto an offlicense double dosage of pannacur and a high dose of metacam, for 28days this seems to have cured most of the problems though she still has fits when you turn her onto her back (ie bum checks etc) so some permaneant damage has been done, she had been pannacured in the past too, if not ec it could be toxiplasmosis (sadly no treatment) a nerve or nuerological issue or epilepsy, thinking of you and your bun xxxx