E cunicili.

My beautiful boy has been diagnosed with this horrible disease. I have brought him inside to nurse him and keep my eye on him.

I'm giving him panicur. He's unsteady on his feet and has convulsed a few times.

He is eating but he's refusing to have his pellets. He's eaten hay, a few strawberries. Half an apple and some Savoy cabbage leaves.

He's still pooping and weeing, his poops are smaller than they usually are though.

Is he eating enough? Is their anything else I could be doing for him?

He doesn't seem to be drinking either.

I'm sorry to hear your poor bun has this. We had a bun with EC quite a few years ago and despite the hard work, they do survive!

One of the main things is to find a rabbit savvy vet as quite a few are unsure how to treat buns especially EC buns.

Your bun will need a 28 day dose of panacur as the spores that cause EC can live that long outside of the body so a bun can re-infect themselves.

Also metacam is a must - this is pain relief which will be needed as your bun will be feeling very unwell and this in itself may be the thing that is stopping him from eating. Also metacam is an anti-inflammatory that helps to reduce the swelling on the brain caused by EC.

Basically, aggressive treatment with panacur and metacam is needed and then you will need to address each symptom as it comes so for example eye drops if the bun's eye is staying open or gets mucky from being on the floor, gut stimulants if the bun isn't eating. Try to get some raspberry or blackberry leaves and anything herby that the bun likes. You can also syringe food and water but if you are unsure I would suggest taking the bun back to the vet and asked to be shown how to do this.

Good luck, hope your vet is rabbit savvy enough, we had to see 6 or 7 vets across three or four practices before we found one who really knew what he was doing. :wave:

Just to add: the chances are, the bun isn't convulsing, he is rolling because he is trying to see the world as he knows it, find his balance etc. I agree, it does look like convulsions but it is unlikely that it is. You may find keeping him in a smaller cage with rolled up towels he can rest against is helpful right now.

Has EC been confirmed by blood testing or just based on symptoms ? If the latter then it may be advisable to give a covering antibiotic too. A middle ear infection can cause symptoms that mimic the neurological symptoms of EC.

As one of the family has said, a non steroidal anti-inflammatory such as Metacam is essential to try to minimise inflammation within the central nervous system. It is inflammation that causes the clinical symptoms

If he is not drinking then I would speak with the Vet about him having some subcutaneous fluids. If it is EC this can effect the kidneys too, so it is especially important that he does not become dehydrated. Syringing water orally may not be possible if he is very 'dizzy'. Doing so may make his dizziness worse and there is a risk of him aspirating the water.

I hope that your Rabbit starts to show signs of improvement soon. It can be a long road, but recovery is possible.