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Brain inflammation caused by e.cuniculi

personalj

New Kit
First of all- Hi everyone :) I hope you'll understand me because english is not my first language :)
My rabbit- Fiona is 4 years old. At the beginnig of the year he(yep, he :D ) lost a lot of weight, unfortunately none of vets in my city couldn't help us, so we had to go to the best rabbit-savvy vet in my country. The diagnosis was clear- the molar teeth were too long and hurt lounge. We managed to deal with this problem, but he was still weak. Luckily, he gained some weight but I saw that something was wrong, he sometimes was running around the room for few minutes, every time taking the same directions. We started treatment only with panacur (30 days) because there were no other symptoms. After this treatment everything was ok. Despite eating a lot of hay teeth grow extremely fast. Two weeks ago, suddenly he started having panic attacks: proptosis eyes, fast breathing, his heart was beating strongly and muscle shaking. He coulnd't eat, drink, swallow. We went to the vet immedietaly, he said that it's e.cuniculi but it has attacked the brain, not the spinal cord. I know that these are not typical cuniculi symptoms but we're 200% sure that protozoan has caused it, we did even some rtg to see if it's not an inner ear infection. We came back to panacur, he also received for 10 days vitamin b in injections and sulphonamides (sul-tridin) in order to support nervous system. I was feeding him with synergine for 3 days and luckily he started eating by himself. We put some pillows to cage beacuse he was running in circle and sometimes hit walls. After 4 days was better, he had only few panick attacks a day and stopped running in strange way but he only eats critical care, avoids hay :(Which is terrible in our case. Of course he is still "different", doesn't behave like a healthy rabbit but I hope it's just a matter of time and giving him the right treatment. A week ago symptoms were stronger so we're still giving him sul tridin and of course panacur. I know that recovering from e.c is a loong way with a lot of ups and downs. We visited our vet yesterday and unfortunately one tooth is already touching a cheek but he really can't have corrected it right now:( He is so weak that 2 months ago the doctor gave him only premedication and he woke up after 8 hours :( So now, when e.c showed up and the nervous system is weakened even premedication is a huge risk :(
I absoulutely trust our vet, he works only with rabbits,he saves these poor ones who were thrown away in some forest etc... But my question is: what can I do more to streghten him enough to survive the surgery? Because sooner or later we will have to do it. Did any of you have some experiences with this strange kind of e.c?
:wave:
 
Poor Bunny :cry: Whilst EC may be the primary problem there are other possible causes of the neurological symptoms you describe. That aside, it seems that his dental problems are going to be a major hurdle to overcome given his debilitated state. If he is only eating a very small amount for himself you are going to need to supplement this with syringe feeds in an attempt to get some weight on him before the Vet attempts to treat his Dental problems. As you obviously realise the dental problems are going to get worse as he cannot eat hay/grass. So it may be that the Vet has to take the risk of carrying out a Dental sooner rather than later.

I do not know whether you can obtain a prebiotic called Avipro Plus in your country. This would help your Rabbit absorb nutrients.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...epage&q=prebiotic nutrient absorption&f=false

http://www.viovet.co.uk/Vetark_Avip...ekBwT70LBPpyT-Yd7qog2lPZ8DjU-poyTRBoCdWTw_wcB



Has the Vet run a full blood profile ?
 
Jack's-Jane- thank you for a reply :)
Actually, his weight right now is excatly the same as it used to be when he was healthy and full of energy :) We've conudcted a blood test and it shows anemia but liver and kidneys work properly. So anemia was caused only by lack of enough food, but after 2 months of nutritious feeding (rodi care, fruits etc) I guess it's no longer a problem. I'm totally aware of this risk and possibility of dental, we also have some painkillers so I will give it to him when I see he suffers a lot. Doc said that probably in May we will have to correct teeth.
This prebiotic isn't available in Poland but we've got Bio-lapis which is quite similiar, it's made for rabbits only, also contains glucose and vitamins, but Doc told me that it doesn't work for some rabbits, and guess what- Fiona had after that a little diarrhoea so we give him prebiotic for humans and vibovit (I'm not sure if it's available abroad, it contains a lot of vitamin b, we no longer give him injections as they are painful- vitamin b is quite oily)
I see that he suffer for a rare kind of e.c... So please keep your fingers crossed. I've just realised how terrbile and hard to cure cuniculi is... After one month of Panacur which is the most important during treatment, it appeard so suddenly :(
 
Jack's-Jane- thank you for a reply :)
Actually, his weight right now is excatly the same as it used to be when he was healthy and full of energy :) We've conudcted a blood test and it shows anemia but liver and kidneys work properly. So anemia was caused only by lack of enough food, but after 2 months of nutritious feeding (rodi care, fruits etc) I guess it's no longer a problem. I'm totally aware of this risk and possibility of dental, we also have some painkillers so I will give it to him when I see he suffers a lot. Doc said that probably in May we will have to correct teeth.
This prebiotic isn't available in Poland but we've got Bio-lapis which is quite similiar, it's made for rabbits only, also contains glucose and vitamins, but Doc told me that it doesn't work for some rabbits, and guess what- Fiona had after that a little diarrhoea so we give him prebiotic for humans and vibovit (I'm not sure if it's available abroad, it contains a lot of vitamin b, we no longer give him injections as they are painful- vitamin b is quite oily)
I see that he suffer for a rare kind of e.c... So please keep your fingers crossed. I've just realised how terrbile and hard to cure cuniculi is... After one month of Panacur which is the most important during treatment, it appeard so suddenly :(

Yes, EC can prove to be very nasty. Unfortunately the cellular damage caused by the EC spores is mostly irreversible. But that does not mean to say that a Rabbit who has had an 'active' case of EC will not be able to live with whatever damage is done. It really depends on the exact nature of the damage. For example EC can cause renal damage and if this occurs then the outlook may not be too good. That was one reason why I asked if the Vet had run a blood profile.

One other thing is that it is thought to be important to try to minimise the inflammatory response to erupting EC spores. It is the inflammatory response (for example inflammation within the effected cells of the central nervous system) that causes clinical symptoms (apparently in Fiona's case the 'panic attacks') and longterm cellular damage. So in addition to the Panacur many UK Vets also prescribe a non steroidal anti-inflammatory eg Meloxicam in an attempt to minimise the cellular inflammatory response.

I really hope that Fiona will be strong enough to cope with the Dental treatment and that he can make as much of a recovery as possible from his illness.
 
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