Coccidiosis advice please

A rabbit at the Centre has coccidiosis (confirmed by faecal sample).

They clean their rabbit's areas twice a day, spot clean in the evening, very throughly in the morning.

I went in with the rabbit last week, what is the risk to my bunnies? Should I be treating them all as a precaution?

If it's fecal-oral transmission through contaminated faeces, food and drinking water then what are the chances of it have being spread via you? xxx

allie1904 said:

If it's fecal-oral transmission through contaminated faeces, food and drinking water then what are the chances of it have being spread via you? xxx

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I don't know. If, theoretically, I walked in something that had touched her faeces (such as some hay or even poo itself), then potentially, can I bring it home via my shoe (which would be the only risk, although I did sit down in there too, so that may also be a risk), and then walk it round my home?

Is that possible? Or is that no possible? the reading I'm doing isn't telling me.

Do you know which strain of cocci it is?

Many bunnies carry it anyway so even if you did carry some home and it end up somewhere which gets ingested by your bunnies, chances are that unless it's one of the really nasty strains, the dose would be insufficient to cause illness anyway. In most bunnies it is self-limiting and their own immune system will deal with it, without it causing a problem. It mainly becomes a problem when they eat a large volume of infected oocysts which then replicate, meanwhile the bunnies ingest more oocysts and the numbers build up that way. It seems very unlikely to me that this will happen, especially as the cysts take 2 days to become infective so daily litter tray cleaning will prevent that reinfection if indeed there is anything there to start with.

As a precaution you could swish down any areas of hardstanding with boiling water as this will kill any oocysts which may be lurking. I have found myself in a similar situation before (with hepatic cocci, so a nasty) and I didn't give my buns any medication, I just boiling watered the patio and the soles of my shoes and kept a close eye on the buns - who were all fine.

Hi Tracy,one of my bunnies Honey had coccidiosis,she is free range and lives with Blue and Baby,they have never contracted it.She is always getting some kind of parasite which they dont get.I know its highly contagious but this is my experience :wave:

Thanks Santa, no, I don't know what strain it is, I could try to find out, but I'm unlikely to get an answer.

Said bunny is showing formed poos with mucuous, no blood, no diarrhoea or anything like that. She has also been ill for quite a while and whilst she has deteriorated, she is not yet near 'deaths door' our biggest concern was actually flystrike. She was ill with something else when she arrived which might account for low immunity.

I will do that, I'll boil my shoes, and I'll boil all the floors outside, and my shoes rarely go upstairs, but I can't boil my room.

In fact, I may even have not worn my normal shoes last week, which would have been even better.

Also, thank you Maizey, that's really helpful.

I'm trying to find some research as well but not finding alot

Maizey said:

Hi Tracy,one of my bunnies Honey had coccidiosis,she is free range and lives with Blue and Baby,they have never contracted it.She is always getting some kind of parasite which they dont get.I know its highly contagious but this is my experience :wave:

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It's quite possible that Blue and Baby were already symptomless carriers of it and it only affected Honey by growing 'out of control' for some reason - either because they suddenly infected her or because she had it all along but an underlying immune problem meant that her body couldn't cope with the numbers. Especially with some of the 'milder' strains its entirely possible for buns to be symptomless carriers

What treatment is bunny getting, do the vets know the issue with the toltrazuril dosing (i.e. the FHB book has the dosage listed incorrectly, which has led to many vets not using it as they are seeing side effects...but the side effects aren't seen at the correct dosage).

Santa said:

It's quite possible that Blue and Baby were already symptomless carriers of it and it only affected Honey by growing 'out of control' for some reason - either because they suddenly infected her or because she had it all along but an underlying immune problem meant that her body couldn't cope with the numbers. Especially with some of the 'milder' strains its entirely possible for buns to be symptomless carriers

What treatment is bunny getting, do the vets know the issue with the toltrazuril dosing (i.e. the FHB book has the dosage listed incorrectly, which has led to many vets not using it as they are seeing side effects...but the side effects aren't seen at the correct dosage).

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She is going to have Septrin for 7 days, I believe.

The problem is, the specialisms of the vet lie outside that of rabbits, which is causing a bit of a problem.

I saw what you said about the dosing when I read Jane's thread and I think I'm going to pass that whole thread onto the Manager who can read it and have a think about what she wants.

Hey Sky-O. I'm sorry to hear this - coccidiosis is not nice. I don't know about the risks of spreading from the centre to your house. I should think it's highly unlikely your buns will contract it. I don't know to be honest, as G+P had it at the same time. The centre need to be aware that any grass the rabbit has been on since becoming infected will contaminate any other rabbits allowed to graze on it. I was caught out with that. Any hard flooring or hutches should also be thoroughly disinfected with Jeyes fluid, both now and at the end of the treatment period.

Lots of vibes for affected bun.

Santa said:

It's quite possible that Blue and Baby were already symptomless carriers of it and it only affected Honey by growing 'out of control' for some reason - either because they suddenly infected her or because she had it all along but an underlying immune problem meant that her body couldn't cope with the numbers. Especially with some of the 'milder' strains its entirely possible for buns to be symptomless carriers

What treatment is bunny getting, do the vets know the issue with the toltrazuril dosing (i.e. the FHB book has the dosage listed incorrectly, which has led to many vets not using it as they are seeing side effects...but the side effects aren't seen at the correct dosage).

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Hi Santa,
I have taken fecal samples from Honey and Blue to be tested,not Baby he is my wildy,and he came after the last episode.Honeys have always come back positive and Blue negative.I was treating Honey and Blue,just as a precaution with tolrazuril,1.6mls for two days both rabbits are just over 5kgs,advice from an exotics vet.It left both of them anorexic,I have since learnt its meant to be mixed with cola.The next time they were tested Honey have ovum, which was treated with panacur