Sooo Chummy has EC (what now)?

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Ghillie

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In January I adopted a wonderful little bunny from a nearby rescue. She was pregnant when she came into the rescue and raised a litter of five babies there. Her babies (now about 9 months) are all still at the rescue. Today I found out that one of her babies, who's only contact with other bunnies was his littermates and mom, has EC and it's showing up as white spots in his eyes. That means he likely picked it up from Chummy. He was housed next to a rabbit recovering from head tilt but never came into contact with them.

Earlier in the week I began to suspect my other rabbit, who Chummy is bonded to, has EC because he appears to be having kidney problems despite his healthy house rabbit lifestyle and the fact he is only 3. His excessive water intake/excessive peeing has been going on since before I had Chummy, however. (Last summer I took him to a vet who thought everything looked normal. His litterbox habits were good, I just thought he was drinking a large amount which was his normal.) I took him to a different vet Thursday for a urine sample, and am waiting for blood results. I asked the vet about preventatively deworming the rabbits regardless, because they'd been in contact with my parents cat and dog, and he said he prefers being conservative with administering dewormers unless there is actually a parasite present.

I'll definitely bring this up with my vet on Monday. I'm just not sure what to expect as far as treating the buns goes. Any insight? Should I just go ahead and worm the rabbits with Panacur since I don't need a prescription, regardless of what's up with Bramble since chances are they are infected? (I'll obviously still treat Bramble according to what the vet says to do). I'm guessing that would save me money because I'm a broke university student hoping to save money where possible.
 
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I would go ahead and worm with the Panacur. Panacur is very safe and some rescues dose with it just to be safe without doing any tests because it is so common they just assume the rabbits have it. Some rabbiry owners also give panacur to any new rabbits coming into their rabbitry.
 
...Some rabbiry owners also give panacur to any new rabbits coming into their rabbitry.

I would hope there aren't a lot who do that. It's better to quarantine a new rabbit and watch for symptoms/illness than to treat without a reason.

For the rabbit with kidney problems, was a blood titer also done?

Kits can get EC from their mother, who can be a carrier with no symptoms. Stress/illness can then be a trigger that activates the infection. If you do start the panacur you need to give it for at least 28 days.
 
I would hope there aren't a lot who do that. It's better to quarantine a new rabbit and watch for symptoms/illness than to treat without a reason.

For the rabbit with kidney problems, was a blood titer also done?

Kits can get EC from their mother, who can be a carrier with no symptoms. Stress/illness can then be a trigger that activates the infection. If you do start the panacur you need to give it for at least 28 days.

I actually think its a good idea for the rabbitries to automatically treat with Panacur- they say in the UK 80% of the rabbits tested show they have been exposed to it- so there's only a 20% chance they don't have it.
 
Treating a rabbit with a wormer or even any animal with a wormer is not a good thing to practice everytime you get a new one. Yes a large majority of rabbits are exposed to the parasite but only few show symptoms. If you treat even the ones without symptoms you will cause the parasite to adapt and mutate in order to survive. This means you would be creating a resistance to one of the few very effective wormers available to treat the rabbits who actually need the wormer.

If I have a breakout of EC (which has been suspected and proven through necropsy) I end up treating others that may have come into contact. I don't treat my whole rabbitry but may treat the surrounding rabbits.

Since yours are showing symptoms then I would treat. Like said previously the rabbit needs an accurate dose and to be treated for at least a month
 
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