Flop bunny syndrome - again

[Kylz69]

Hi, can anyone offer any advice
I have a lop eared make rabbit that was a rescue (stray) and I purchased him from a vet.
3 weeks ago my boy lost all use of his back legs, he was rushed to the vet and diagnosed with 'flop bunny syndrome'
He was treated with metacam and sent home, I administered 2 more metacam on successive nights.
He is also being treated with panacur and still has a week of his 28 days to go, but has just fallen out of the litter tray, and appears to be losing his legs again.
He took 5 days last time to come right, and now he is unable to move again
I tried vit e first time and didn't do anything, I'm also reluctant to administer anything non vet.
He has no head tilt and appears fine prior to these episodes
Any ideas?
Seriously is he going to get this forever?

 

[JBun]

With e. cuniculi(which is what your rabbit has) there can sometimes be a down turn after a rabbit seems to be getting better, but often the rabbit will start and continue to improve after that. You may want to ring your vet up though and discuss what is going on with your bun. It's possible your rabbit may need to be on the panacur a bit longer than the 4 week minimum.

Sometimes in severe cases, some permanent damage can be caused by the parasite, so though a rabbit does recover, there may still be some hind limb weakness that remains. As long as you aren't seeing a worsening of symptoms, then your rabbit may be responding to the medication. Unfortunately sometimes this disease can reoccur with rabbits later in life, so you will always want to keep an eye out for symptoms returning.

Are you still giving metacam? It is usually important to be giving it for more than a few days, as it is the inflammation from the erupting spores, that causes the symptoms you are seeing. Metacam can help bring down this inflammation. You may want to discuss this with your vet if you are no longer giving the metacam.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/paresis.html
http://www.woodward-vets.co.uk/information/Encephalitozoon%20cuniculi.pdf

 

[Kylz69]

I don't think he was ever diagnosed with e cunicili from a blood test, just the vet ringing the bunny specialist (I couldn't get him there as it was 4pm on a Friday)
I have been worried that he lost so much weight and I have not been able to recover that with him.
I will talk to the bun specialist this morning myself and see what they think. I'm worried he will live a life of daily jabs and panacur, the latter being no fun for anyone as he hates it.

 

[Kylz69]

Update

He is in at the specialist. They aren't sure, testing for everything under the sun. On more metacam, and think the panacur I was given wasn't the right one.
He is being kept o/night as has deteriorated again, and I can collect him tomorrow all going well.
Bill very expensive so far, so I hope we get to the bottom of it as I simply cannot afford bills that high.

Will update again when the test results are back

 

[JBun]

Floppy bunny syndrome is just a general term used to describe certain symptoms in rabbits. Often with hind limb weakness/paralysis, if it isn't due to an injury or spinal problem, it is due to the parasite e. cuniculi. Hopefully the tests will give you a better idea of what you are dealing with.

With the weight loss, as he starts to improve, the weight should also. But to help with that, you can try adding some alfalfa hay into the diet, as long as there are no bladder sludge issues. The extra protein will help with weight gain. You'll want to start with small amounts and gradually increase, as sudden introduction can sometimes cause digestive upset for some rabbits.

 

[Kylz69]

Update again

He is home from the specialists, but rather a sad little bunny
They have put on metacam oral and he is not paralysed
especially like he was last time.
There is some stuff for his tummy, which wasn't an issue last time but is now, maybe due to the amount of oral medications.
Now I wait for test results.

It's very distressing to have him relapsed while on the panacur, and due to his unknown history, I have no idea what sort of results we will have.
There is very little practical information on EC on the web, and virtually none on cases like him with relapsing while still under initial treatment.
I hope we have a happy ending as its hard on him, nights at the vets, injections, drips, daily syringes. He is a really wee creature of habit and its so hard seeing him so depressed and sad.

He is on Timothy hay (85$ for 4kg!!) and there is alfalfa in his mix, he has a massive selection of foods, and eats really well, I'm sure his weight is just due to illness. He is 1.97kg, full grown lop.

 

[JBun]

That's good all the testing is done. I'm sure it was stressful for the little guy.

A lot of what I have learned about the course EC takes and the fact that there is often a downturn after improvement, is from reading other peoples personal experiences with it, not necessarily from any technical write ups. The onthewonk site has some personal experiences, though I believe they are more head tilt cases, but some of them are EC related. You can also try a search of RO for peoples experiences with it. Also there seems to be a lot more information on EC, on UK sites. But yes, the information on it is a bit sparse and spread out, so you have to do quite a bit of digging and research to really get a good picture of what it all entails.
http://onthewonk.com/

It's also possible that not continuing to get an anti inflammatory played a part in the downturn. Panacur does affect the parasite to help get it under control, but it is a long process, and in the meantime it causes damage to the bodies cells, often in the brain and nervous system, which results in the inflammation that causes the symptoms that you are seeing in your bun. So without the metacam to bring down the inflammation, that could account for the worsening of symptoms, though of course there is no way to know for sure. Unfortunately an anti inflammatory is sometimes overlooked as an essential medication in the treatment of EC in rabbits.

 

[Kylz69]

So my bunny has tested positive to E Cuniculi, no surprises to anyone.
so the treatment option I have is 10 day courses of Panacur every 6-8 weeks to try and keep active episodes at bay. Given he already relapsed on panacur, im not holding out much hope as it being as effective as we hope it is, still better to do something rather than nothing.

Hopefully he will make a full recovery and his immune system will become stronger and hold the episodes at bay aswell, but all new territory for me, so will just hang in there and see what the future holds.

Thanks for all the advice

 

[JBun]

I'm glad you at least have a definitive diagnosis so you know for sure what you are dealing with. There is an antiprotozoal paste used in horses that has also been used for EC in rabbits, that you could ask your vet about. It's called Ponzuril. There's not a whole lot of info out there on it and it is pretty expensive, but if panacur isn't helping your bun, maybe this will prove more effective.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/cuniculi/pyrimethamine.htm
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/paresis.html