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EC

Tamsin

Administrator
Staff member
Is EC curable? I recall hearing mention that rabbits with it are treated with pancur, is that right? The reason I ask is a couple of times I've heard of rabbits that have to homed seperately because they have this and are hense contagious. Does the treatment not stop them carrying it?

If they can be treated then I'll pass this information on and then perhaps it will be easier for the rescues to find homes and the buns can also have the oportunity of being bonded.

Thanks,
Tam
 
Hi Tam, ok lets see if I can explain this :lol: EC is and isn't curable. The symptoms such as hind leg weakness, head tilt, incontinence can not be cured but the parasite can be killed and stop any further damage. I assume this then makes it safe to have them with other rabbits.
The RWA/F have not long done a study into EC and found that fenbendazole/panacur should be given at the rate of 20mg/per kilo of bunny for 28 days maximum.
Here's a couple of links I found really helpful when trying to find out what Sweepie had.
http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/health/vet-talk/cuniculi.html
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-2/e-cuniculi.html
EC positvive bunnies can be kept with others, simply treat the others with a full course of the panacur if your vet feels they are at risk.
My vet won't treat the others, probably as she didn't see Sweepie and can only take my word for it and none of the others are showing symptoms.
Angela
 
This is some information on EC that was on an email list.

Hope it helps!

Louise

think everyone should keep this for reference on how to treat EC. A lot
of EC is now proving resistant to the bendezole drugs due to prvious
treatment becuase of worming or previous EC treatment. Non symptomatic EC
rabbits are being treated proactively and this is also causing resistance.
This EC treatment has had phenominal success rates in the states and so
far I have not heard of a rabbit it did not work for. Personally if any
of my rabbits have any EC issues now I would head straight for this
protocol and bypass the bedezoles altogether due to the fact I lost one of
my bunnies to EC resistant to bedezoles. Its something to tuck away god
forbid you ever need it. It is based on a similar protozoan found in cats
and horses.


It is the cat toxoplasmosis protocol and should be in a cat
medicine book at the vet's office as it is standard and used worldwide. The
metacam is not in that protocol but should be used because the die off of
cells as the protozoans hatch from the cells/die cause inflammation. Horses
being treated for a similar disease, EMP, are given a nonsteroidal
antiinflammatory as part of their pyrimethamine treatment too (although
horses can use a different sulfur drug). The treatment time that has
apparently worked best for most was 8 wks, not just 4. That is the
internet report for EMP also --- 8 wks. Although the protocol kills the protozoans
pretty well, they keep hatching from spores in the tissue. The rabbit needs
the longer treatment apparently to handle that. From experience you
will notice improvement after 5-10 days.

More information (the researchers who found the pyrimethamine info. and
suggested it as a possibility to my vet) is www.medirabbit.com.

Protocol


metacam each day Dose depends on rabbit weight.


For a 1.5 kg (3 lb) rabbit (these may have to be made by a compounding
pharmacist)

Folic acid 5 mg/ml 1 ml by mouth once daily (give this
dose a few hours after the others below, to help get max effect- this is not
in the medicine book but was suggested by a research article i read online;
and, yes, the dosage is that high)

Pyrimethamine 1 mg/ml 1 ml by mouth once daily (don't compound
medicine with a sucrose based sweetener)

sulfadiazine 50 mg/ml 1 ml by mouth twice daily

It is not infallable but seems to have worked
for rabbit when panacur and oxibendazole could not help any
more.

What happens in this protocol is that the sulfadiazine keeps the protozoan
from adapting to the killer drug, pyrimethamine. So Pyrimethamine keeps its
effectiveness. I am not a vet, and this is just how I remember/interpret
the information that medirabbit researched, what i have read online, and what
vets prescribed/did.
 
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