Lifelong wormer??

<3jackyboy<3 · Nov 13, 2014

Hiya, my rabibit Nala was wormed in may this year, as after reading reccomedations of re-working times, I thought that she would be due to have some more wormer! However, one day after orderin the wormer over the counter, my vets called and said that rabbits were different to other animals, and only needed to be wormers if you were introducing them to another rabbit?! Very confused at the moment! Any advice?

thank you!!

dumblepaws · Nov 13, 2014

So i think there's a standard suggestion that rabbits should be wormed every 3 months

However, the "worming" is mainly done as a preventative to E Cuniculi, and not the actual worms.

Worms aren't that common in bunnies and if you keep an eye on their poops, you will see the worms if there are any and know to worm them

EC is a parasite which i think over 50% of bunnies have been exposed to, but it generally only has symptoms if the bunny is stressed or has a lower immune system due to other illness/stress. If there are symptoms, they're really nasty head tilt type stuff that you'd really want your bunny to avoid. However, there's a risk of building up immunity to the worming medicine if it's used too much so that if the bunny did get EC, it would be less effective, and also a view that worming for 7-9 days is pretty ineffective and it should be 28 days if the bunny exhibits symptoms of EC.

So there's another school of thought that says even if your bunny does come into contact with EC, it will be ok unless it's stressed/ill, so if you worm them when they're stressed/ill e.g. bonding or boarding or moving house then it will prevent EC flaring up.

So there isn't any conclusive advice really. But I'm probably going to give my two wormer every time they come home from boarding in case the boarding was stressful (approx 2x per year)

<3jackyboy<3 · Nov 13, 2014

dumblepaws said:
So i think there's a standard suggestion that rabbits should be wormed every 3 months

However, the "worming" is mainly done as a preventative to E Cuniculi, and not the actual worms.

Worms aren't that common in bunnies and if you keep an eye on their poops, you will see the worms if there are any and know to worm them

EC is a parasite which i think over 50% of bunnies have been exposed to, but it generally only has symptoms if the bunny is stressed or has a lower immune system due to other illness/stress. If there are symptoms, they're really nasty head tilt type stuff that you'd really want your bunny to avoid. However, there's a risk of building up immunity to the worming medicine if it's used too much so that if the bunny did get EC, it would be less effective, and also a view that worming for 7-9 days is pretty ineffective and it should be 28 days if the bunny exhibits symptoms of EC.

So there's another school of thought that says even if your bunny does come into contact with EC, it will be ok unless it's stressed/ill, so if you worm them when they're stressed/ill e.g. bonding or boarding or moving house then it will prevent EC flaring up.

So there isn't any conclusive advice really. But I'm probably going to give my two wormer every time they come home from boarding in case the boarding was stressful (approx 2x per year)

Thank you!!

the vets said that because she had taken the full 28 day initial course (without having any signs) as a preventative, she should now be protected for life!!

Tamsin · Nov 13, 2014

Rabbits aren't out and about like cats and dogs to pick up worms, so unless there is a reason then really no need to treat routinely. Treatment for worms is a short (weekish long) course, which would have no effect on E.C. which needs a full 28 days plus full clean for treatment. There is also the possibility that regular worming courses would give EC a change to build resistance against pancur making future treatment less effective.

Lifelong wormer??

<3jackyboy<3

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dumblepaws

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<3jackyboy<3

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Tamsin

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