Panacur: 9 days or 28?

One of my girls has had difficulty moving her hind legs. She is eating well and seems happy otherwise but the problem has been going on for around 6 months. Vet originally said arthritis but I just took her again last week and another vet has said it could be caused by a parasite.

I have been giving her Metacalm and Panacur for nine days now as instructed, but she doesn't seem any better. I notice the Panacur information leaflet says 28 days, but the vet just told me to use one 9 day course. Question is, should I keep giving the course for the full 28 days as per the leaflet or bring her back to see what else she recommends?

How old is she, what investigative work has been done by the vet?

She is getting on a bit - probably 7 or 8. But they have just done a physical exam.

If it is an active case of E Cuniculi, 28 days is the usual recommended course, and a 9 day once won't help much. It's difficult to say whether EC is actually the culprit, of course, though.

Thanks. Can EC be picked up via a blood test or anything? Or is it a process of elimination?

You can get tests done. I think they take poo samples but you have to do it more than once to see if the levels go up or down.

Some say you can get titres done, and you can, but many rabbits test positive for it, but don't have the actual illness because many carry it dormant without any issues. So a positive tire doesn't mean much. I was told the only conclusive diagnosis is a PM.

28 days so I have been told

The EC spores are alive for up to 28 days so you will need to treat over a 28 day period. I would also suggest a bleach out at days 1 and 28 (some say 21 too).

We are currently in day 2 of a 28 day course with 10% panacur (stronger than the paste) with 9 indoor bunnies! We bleached yesterday - 9 parts water / 1 part bleach and yes it must be bleach not disinfectant. Make sure you fully rinse the cage / hutch / floor area etc after.

I've used the same method as a preventative measure every 4-5mths under our very rabbit savvy vets guidance in regard to the panacur and and the bleach advice came from a woman in America who I got hold of when our little girl bun had severe head tilt and a high EC titre so as we had given anti bs, had an x ray and ears were fine, we had to assume it was EC.

Buttercup made a full recovery. Metacam was also given to help with any pain and inflamation as this awful parasite causes lesions in the brain so I am told.

Buttercup had her first bout of headtilt in Oct and was treated with 9 days of panacur paste. Then at the end of February last year it came back ten times worse - we thought it was the end of the road for her.

You should see her now! happy, healthy and just a very slightly raised head that you wouldn't notice if you didn't know.

I think it is worth trying the panacur - speak to your vet again.

Good luck and best wishes for your bun and you x

I would say the full 28 days, panacur (paste) or lapisol (liquid)

the problem is that if physcial symptoms show, getting rid of the EC may not reverse the damage already done to the nervous system/brain...but getting rid of the EC should mean the symptom don't get worse and some bunnies can recover or compensate for their handicaps....all this assuming it is EC causing the problem...a 28 day dose won't cause any problems, so you might as well do it

OK thanks everyone, will persevere and see how it goes!

Sky-O said:

Some say you can get titres done, and you can, but many rabbits test positive for it, but don't have the actual illness because many carry it dormant without any issues. So a positive tire doesn't mean much. I was told the only conclusive diagnosis is a PM.

Click to expand...

I'm sure you're right.

What was interesting though was that Nino, not only did he have a positive titre, but he also had microabcesses on his kidneys which fitted with a past active EC infection and this was picked up on Xray. :wave:

ETA Jonny, I think the symptoms are hard to distinguish between arthritis and EC infection. Fortunately the treatment for arthritis is daily metacam anyway and I can't see any reason if your vet agrees why not to try the full 28 days of Panacur over the 9 really, daily metacam is important for EC treatment anyway. So, I suppose you can't lose too much trying both for a month if your vet agrees and see if there is any improvement after this. At age 7/8 I would expect arthritis to be quite a possibility especially as cold weather is setting in. There are certainly things you can do to help such as warmer living conditions, heat pads to sit on, moderate daily exercise, other supplements like glucosamine/chondroitin. Hope bunny feels better soon