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Rabbit Seizures

MrsBun

MrsBun

Young Bun
Hello Everyone!:) My 8yo lop Debs has been having seizures for 2 years. We first noticed something was wrong when she developed a limp on and off and would sometimes seem to loose coordination a little bit for a while i.e. couldn't stand on her hind legs properly but would then recover. We took her to the vet at this stage and he said he couldn't see anything wrong and it was probably just old age.

A couple of months later she began to have seizures. During these episodes she would flop onto her back/ side and peddle her back legs rythmically and roll from side to side (kind of like twisting) and her front paws would be pressed to her mouth. She would usually grunt and her toungue would be curled and would sometimes go blue and her eyes would roll down so mostly only white was visible. We took her to a new vet as I had since moved area and he put her on Panacur for 18 days. This had no affect whatsoever and so we left it for a while. Her fits then became longer and more frequent and she would loose coordination after each leading to a weird crab like gait. I took her back to the vet and he then gave me epifen (0.04) and said it was probably a brain tumour and she would die within the next couple of months.

The epifen worked for 11months and she has been seizure free however in the last couple of weeks she has begun having them again, albeit quite mildly.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows what it could be and if they have seen it before? Any suggestions on what to do to help? She is a brave girl and acts the same as her 2 year old "brother" when she isn't fitting and I don't want to give up trying to fix her. I don't want to up the medicine as she may be becoming resistant to it and I don't want to overdose her.

Thanks guys :wave:
 
MrsBun said:
Hello Everyone!:) My 8yo lop Debs has been having seizures for 2 years. We first noticed something was wrong when she developed a limp on and off and would sometimes seem to loose coordination a little bit for a while i.e. couldn't stand on her hind legs properly but would then recover. We took her to the vet at this stage and he said he couldn't see anything wrong and it was probably just old age.

A couple of months later she began to have seizures. During these episodes she would flop onto her back/ side and peddle her back legs rythmically and roll from side to side (kind of like twisting) and her front paws would be pressed to her mouth. She would usually grunt and her toungue would be curled and would sometimes go blue and her eyes would roll down so mostly only white was visible. We took her to a new vet as I had since moved area and he put her on Panacur for 18 days. This had no affect whatsoever and so we left it for a while. Her fits then became longer and more frequent and she would loose coordination after each leading to a weird crab like gait. I took her back to the vet and he then gave me epifen (0.04) and said it was probably a brain tumour and she would die within the next couple of months.

The epifen worked for 11months and she has been seizure free however in the last couple of weeks she has begun having them again, albeit quite mildly.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows what it could be and if they have seen it before? Any suggestions on what to do to help? She is a brave girl and acts the same as her 2 year old "brother" when she isn't fitting and I don't want to give up trying to fix her. I don't want to up the medicine as she may be becoming resistant to it and I don't want to overdose her.

Thanks guys :wave:
Click to expand...

Hello

Has your Vet established a primary cause for the seizures ? Has Encephalitozoon Cuniculi been mentioned ?

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/e-cuniculi/

http://www.kingswoodvets.co.uk/rabbit-e-cuniculi-illness/4586826046

If not I would suggest you discuss this with a 'Rabbit Savvy' the Vet.

A bit more information about seizures in Rabbits here

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/Epilepsy_Bears.htm

As your Rabbit has been on longterm anticonvulsants I assume that she has been having regular blood tests to monitor her major organ function and the level of anticonvulsant drug in her blood stream ?

''The effects of antiepileptic therapy can be assessed only through evaluation of the patient’s seizure frequency, a sometimes time-consuming process, especially if seizures are infrequent. Drugs for which relationships between blood concentration and therapeutic effect have been established can be evaluated through use of therapeutic drug monitoring, which can quickly determine whether the patient has achieved the desired drug concentration. This helps expedite the process of establishing a drug regimen for an individual patient. Monitoring is also helpful in this class of drugs because it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between drug toxicity and uncontrolled disease''.

Full text here :

http://clinchem.aaccjnls.org/content/44/5/1085
 
Hello there Jack's Jane thank you so much for your reply. E Cuniculi was mentioned however after an unsuccessful course of Panacur the vet said it was not this but a brain tumour, prescribing epifen to "ease her last days". I did mention a blood test to test for the presence of E Cuniculi spores however he said they did not have the facilities for this and there was no point, it would just cause her stress for no reason.

I quite agree that I need to find a better vet. The only rabbit savvy vet is almost 3 hrs away and this has put me off up to now as she is very stressed on jounrenys however your post and my own feeling that she deserves better than assumptions means I am going to bite the bullet and take her there :)

I will post an update once we have been
 
MrsBun said:
Hello there Jack's Jane thank you so much for your reply. E Cuniculi was mentioned however after an unsuccessful course of Panacur the vet said it was not this but a brain tumour, prescribing epifen to "ease her last days". I did mention a blood test to test for the presence of E Cuniculi spores however he said they did not have the facilities for this and there was no point, it would just cause her stress for no reason.

I quite agree that I need to find a better vet. The only rabbit savvy vet is almost 3 hrs away and this has put me off up to now as she is very stressed on jounrenys however your post and my own feeling that she deserves better than assumptions means I am going to bite the bullet and take her there :)

I will post an update once we have been
Click to expand...

That sounds to be a good plan. I will keep a look out for your update xx
 
MrsBun said:
Hello Everyone!:) My 8yo lop Debs has been having seizures for 2 years. We first noticed something was wrong when she developed a limp on and off and would sometimes seem to loose coordination a little bit for a while i.e. couldn't stand on her hind legs properly but would then recover. We took her to the vet at this stage and he said he couldn't see anything wrong and it was probably just old age.

A couple of months later she began to have seizures. During these episodes she would flop onto her back/ side and peddle her back legs rythmically and roll from side to side (kind of like twisting) and her front paws would be pressed to her mouth. She would usually grunt and her toungue would be curled and would sometimes go blue and her eyes would roll down so mostly only white was visible. We took her to a new vet as I had since moved area and he put her on Panacur for 18 days. This had no affect whatsoever and so we left it for a while. Her fits then became longer and more frequent and she would loose coordination after each leading to a weird crab like gait. I took her back to the vet and he then gave me epifen (0.04) and said it was probably a brain tumour and she would die within the next couple of months.

The epifen worked for 11months and she has been seizure free however in the last couple of weeks she has begun having them again, albeit quite mildly.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows what it could be and if they have seen it before? Any suggestions on what to do to help? She is a brave girl and acts the same as her 2 year old "brother" when she isn't fitting and I don't want to give up trying to fix her. I don't want to up the medicine as she may be becoming resistant to it and I don't want to overdose her.

Thanks guys :wave:
Click to expand...


Hi there and welcome to the Forum :wave:

I am sorry to hear of your rabbit. It's very worrying, isn't it?

I have seen rabbit seizures and they are not nice, for you or the rabbit.

Many vets would recommend Panacur for E.C. and Metacam as a starting point, but this often isn't enough. Your vet has had her on some good meds, and there are alternative treatments to try, which you could perhaps discuss with your vet when you're able.

If you want to find a good vet in your area (and I suggest you take your rabbit to see one) then you can start another thread in Rabbit Chat with the header:


Rabbit Savvy Vet needed in (your location)

...and members will help you out with their recommendations.

Alternatively you could look here:

https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/vetfinder/vets-owners-recommendations


http://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-care-advice/rabbit-friendly-vets/rabbit-friendly-vet-list/


Good luck xx
 
This is a very old thread, however I know that people (like me) look at old threads as they have similar issues and wonder what the outcome was. We changed to a new vet who have been great with both of our rabbits so far, and they recommended that the issue probably was e cuniculi and have put Debbie on a 9 day course every 3 months and we have carried on with the epiphen. The condition appears to be managed now and she very rarely has a fit, and on the rare occasion that she does it is very short and mild.

She has just reached her 9th year and is as fun to have around as ever :)
 
MrsBun said:
This is a very old thread, however I know that people (like me) look at old threads as they have similar issues and wonder what the outcome was. We changed to a new vet who have been great with both of our rabbits so far, and they recommended that the issue probably was e cuniculi and have put Debbie on a 9 day course every 3 months and we have carried on with the epiphen. The condition appears to be managed now and she very rarely has a fit, and on the rare occasion that she does it is very short and mild.

She has just reached her 9th year and is as fun to have around as ever :)
Click to expand...

:love: What a wonderful update. I think updating threats is infinitely valuable, I searched for many years on here before I actually joined
 
MrsBun said:
This is a very old thread, however I know that people (like me) look at old threads as they have similar issues and wonder what the outcome was. We changed to a new vet who have been great with both of our rabbits so far, and they recommended that the issue probably was e cuniculi and have put Debbie on a 9 day course every 3 months and we have carried on with the epiphen. The condition appears to be managed now and she very rarely has a fit, and on the rare occasion that she does it is very short and mild.

She has just reached her 9th year and is as fun to have around as ever :)
Click to expand...


Wow this is amazing :D

Thank you for updating. I am glad your new vet is helping so much with Debbie. What a wonderful find :D
 
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