Pinworms

[Melix]

Hello to all looking for advice.

I adopted two lop eared lionhead brothers a year ago from a rescue. At the time they were 5 months old.

Within two weeks of having them I noticed they had pinworms and treated them immediately with Panacur. Since then there has been no reoccurrence.

Now that it's warmed up and the weather has been nice I started letting them out in the garden with me. I noticed in their litter box they now have pinworms again. I am currently on the 3rd day of a nine day course for both of them.

I have a few questions for anyone who can help out.

How are they getting worms? We have no other pets. Is there anything I can do to prevent them from getting the worms?

The boys usually come in the living room in the evening and I can tell they are confused about their routine being changed as apart from letting them run in the garden with me I have not let them out of their own area into the rest of the house. I feel bad about not letting them do their usual thing. I figured I should keep them out of the rest of the house until the treatment is finished.

Is there anyway to prevent pinworms?

How are they catching them?

Is it OK to let them run in the rest of the house?

I picked the panacur up from the vets and started the course, I have since noticed the expiry date on thr medication is April 2024. Hoping its still has its full strength.

Another thing I have noticed is they are still having bowel movements but nearly as much as they usually would.

Many thanks for any advice or input

 

[InspectorMorse]

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Parasitic_diseases/Pass/Pass_en.htm

plus you need to consult a Rabbit savvy Vet regarding the change in fecal output

a full examination is needed, as is the case whenever fecal output quantity changes

Monitoring Your Rabbit's Droppings

Rabbits like routine, so changing where they are kept and disruption to what they are familiar with ie keeping them shut away when they are used to ‘doing their own thing’ causes stress. Stress can cause reduced gut motility/ reduced fecal output

 

[Melix]

Thank you for your valuable input.

You are pretty quick to assume I haven't taken them to see veterinarian despite me having mentioned I had been.

This seemed like a friendly forum so I joined.

I did not expect to be reprimanded and not have any of my questions directly answered.

I am not inexperienced with rabbits. However all the rabbits I have had previously never had pinworms which is why I thought I would ask on here for advice.

They are not "shut away" they have a very large room of their own that is quite which they prefer however they usually free roam to other parts of the house. I do not want eggs and worms spreading around the whole house, if that is possible.

I care about my rabbits and had thought some people on here would have some insight.

I do not want to detract from the reason I initially posted in the first place.

If anyone else who has experience with their rabbits having pinworms are able to offer advice I would be grateful.

Thank you

 

[InspectorMorse]

Thank you for your valuable input.

You are pretty quick to assume I haven't taken them to see veterinarian despite me having mentioned I had been.

This seemed like a friendly forum so I joined.

I did not expect to be reprimanded and not have any of my questions directly answered.

I am not inexperienced with rabbits. However all the rabbits I have had previously never had pinworms which is why I thought I would ask on here for advice.

They are not "shut away" they have a very large room of their own that is quite which they prefer however they usually free roam to other parts of the house. I do not want eggs and worms spreading around the whole house, if that is possible.

I care about my rabbits and had thought some people on here would have some insight.

I do not want to detract from the reason I initially posted in the first place.

If anyone else who has experience with their rabbits having pinworms are able to offer advice I would be grateful.

Thank you

I think you completely misinterpreted my reply, no offence was intended. I will not respond more as clearly I haven’t helped

 

[Shimmer]

The article that IM posted suggests that pinworm infestation is basically a cycle of reinfestation. The rabbits are ingesting the eggs from faecal output, which generates another cycle of infestation every 4-6 weeks. The article also gives a treatment schedule using Panacur (fenbenzadole), which you now have.

If the medication that you were provided with is out of date, I would let your vet know.

A change in input or output in a rabbit is a serious concern which needs immediate attention and ongoing monitoring until it returns to normal. If they are not producing as many poos as usual, they are smaller or irregular shapes, there may be other things to get looked at eg gut blockage (maybe due to the worm burden?) and / or the start of stasis. Was your vet made aware of this when they were examined?

I've not had pinworms in rabbits before, but I would also want to stop their spread. To me, that would mean restricting them to their usual area but not letting them in areas they don't need to be in. It would also mean a greater emphasis on regular cleaning and spot cleaning in toilet areas to reduce the environmental loading of pinworm eggs, and proper disposal of the waste materials away from the living areas (and not composting it).

There's a balance between containing an infection / infestation and making things more stressful for rabbits. You are the best judge of that as you are there to monitor their behaviour.

 

[Orenoko]

Can't comment on the why as I've not dealt with this before but just wanted to add if you need more panacur you can buy online or in some pet shops without prescription (may be cheaper than the vet potentially as well). It does sound like the pinworms are present somewhere in the environment for them to have picked them up again. Worming them for longer than the 9 days could help prevent the cycle of them eating their poo and accidentally reinfecting themselves (but check with the vet first). Do you have any wild bunnies nearby? Just wondering if that may be how they've become exposed but I could be completely wrong! Hope your bunnies recover soon!

 

[Zoobec]

Thank you for your valuable input.

You are pretty quick to assume I haven't taken them to see veterinarian despite me having mentioned I had been.

This seemed like a friendly forum so I joined.

I did not expect to be reprimanded and not have any of my questions directly answered.

I am not inexperienced with rabbits. However all the rabbits I have had previously never had pinworms which is why I thought I would ask on here for advice.

They are not "shut away" they have a very large room of their own that is quite which they prefer however they usually free roam to other parts of the house. I do not want eggs and worms spreading around the whole house, if that is possible.

I care about my rabbits and had thought some people on here would have some insight.

I do not want to detract from the reason I initially posted in the first place.

If anyone else who has experience with their rabbits having pinworms are able to offer advice I would be grateful.

Thank you

Inspector Morse did not reprimand you, nor did they suggest you hadn’t taken them to a vet. She suggested a rabbit savvy vet visit to discuss the reduction in fecal output. She also did not imply you shut your rabbits away, she was explaining that rabbits are easily stressed and gave that as an example of a cause of stress.

No one suggested you didn’t care about your rabbits.

This is a friendly forum and there is a lot of very valuable advice on here.