Garlic as a preventative for coccidiosis in the rabbitry?

[Sabine]

I have been having problems with coccidiosis in my rabbitry recently and I am exploring options of treatments and future prevention. I'd rather not go down the road of medicated feed but have read up a lot on garlic as a preventative. I am just wondering if anyone has used it. How to administer it? Powder or flakes? How much per day per kg?
P.S. My whole rabbitry has already been treated with conventional medication but the problem has not been fully eradicated.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hillrise]

Coccidiosis is terribly persistent. Technically, it's always there, but usually at a controlled level.

Do you use all-wire cages or is there wood?

Any wood that's been in contact with a rabbit that's had coccidiosis needs to be destroyed. All of the wire, feeders and bottles need to be sterilized--use a torch on all of the metal, bleach and hot water on everything else. Disinfect twice per month by washing everything down with a mixture consisting of 8 ounces of Clorox bleach per gallon of water. Let it set at least 20 minutes, rinse thoroughly, and then let it get completely dry. Anything that can't be disinfected should be quarantined for at least a month away from animals.

Supposedly garlic works to a degree for prevention (cuts mortality down about half if given after coccidiosis has been introduced). The study I saw said .5g/kg body weight.

 

[Sabine]

My rabbits are in solid wooden hutches and spend most days outside in runs. Perfect disinfecting is not an option as I don't want to change to wire bottom cages and i also can't disinfect the lawn. Controlling the level is my only option.
I lost one doe who was infected with coccidiosis. Although the postmortem revealed an infection that was not the reason for her death. I medicated all my rabbits (including the pets) for 7 days but after another fecal sample the infection still showed in one rabbit. I am a bit reluctant to keep medicating.

 

[hillrise]

You'll have to keep them away from any hutch that was in contact with an infected rabbit, otherwise the issue will probably remain. A month should be enough time to let the coccidia die off.

Could you "pasture" them in an X Pen or something, maybe with a bottom so they can't dig out, on a section of lawn no infected rabbits were on? If your runs are moveable and mostly wire you could disinfect them and put them in a new location...

Otherwise...do you have a friend with wire cages that you could borrow?

Keeping the rabbits where coccidia has been will only keep the problem going, probably at the same high level unless you continually keep them medicated. I worked at a kennel that had a coccidia problem pop up in one of the puppy runs, and it was a LONG time before we could use the run again (she had tests done on soil samples to see where the level was at so we'd know when it was safe again).

 

[Sabine]

I have made a plan of action as follows:
1. Get all pets (8) tested and keep them on clean stretch of grass for the moment. Test results should be in tomorrow.
2. Get the breeding stock tested and keep the runs on concrete for the moment.
3. Get Baycox and treat the infected rabbits.
I moved some of them into plastic bottom hutches as we don't have wire bottoms. I hope this will keep things under control.
I am wondering if there is anything that can be sprayed on the lawn to speed up the recovery?

 

[CCWelch]

Problem is that coccidiosis lives inside every rabbit, it is when it gets out of control that it becomes a problem.
Like a yeast infection in a human, the yeast is always present but it doesn't cause problems til there is an overgrowth of it.

 

[Sabine]

CCWelch wrote:

Problem is that coccidiosis lives inside every rabbit, it is when it gets out of control that it becomes a problem.
Like a yeast infection in a human, the yeast is always present but it doesn't cause problems til there is an overgrowth of it.

I suspected something like that. At what level can you call it out of control though? The coccidiosis in one of my rabbits was only detected by accident. No rabbits has actually suffered from a clinical infection so far:?

 

[CCWelch]

If your rabbits are not showing any ill effect then I wouldn't worry about it. If you are worried, you can get a product called Sulfamet or a product called Corid and give it to your bunnies in their water for 5 days each month.
Corid is actually a B vitamin that keeps it under control.

 

[Sabine]

CCWelch wrote:

If your rabbits are not showing any ill effect then I wouldn't worry about it. If you are worried, you can get a product called Sulfamet or a product called Corid and give it to your bunnies in their water for 5 days each month.
Corid is actually a B vitamin that keeps it under control.

Are these two products just B-Vitamins or is there anything else in them?
I started adding Garlic. It seems to have disappeared out of some of their food bowls but I am not sure if they may have just kicked it out and it got mixed up with the litter. I also have some powder which is a garlic supplement for horses. It smells very strong!

 

[CCWelch]

There are other things mixed in. Sulfamet is an actual drug, Corid is a B-vitamin form but it is cheaper to buy the Corid than the amount of vitamin you would need. There is also other stuff mixed in with the vitamin in the Corid but I cannot remember what off the top of my head.

 

[CCWelch]

I would worry about upset stomachs from garlic, it ranks right up there with cabbage as things rabbits should not have.(Or at least way back when they weren't supposed to.)

 

[massie777]

I want to start using Corid in my rescue to prevent coccidia and was wondering how much you usually put in the water and where you can buy it?