Gut parasites and ivermectin?

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Catlyn

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I was cleaning Iris' scent vents since they'd gotten pretty dirty. Since i was already looking at the area, i noticed that her poop hole had something weird on it.
She pushed out what seemed like worms? I saw two of those, barely a millimeter thick and maybe half a centimeter long white/semi see-through things wiggling slightly.
I'd never seen anything like that before, but i think that even those two tiny things shouldn't have been there.
I haven't seen any change in Iris' behaviour, habits, eating or activity, so it is odd that i happened to see these two tiny stringy worm-ish things come from her.
I called the vet office and they said that we should go to our nearest vet and have them prescribe Xeno (ivermectin) (nape-of-the-neck drops) for Iris. They said that any vet should be able to guide us through the right dosage and administration depending on the concentration and the rabbit's weight.
But since we cannot get a hang of her stable weight, it seems like we'd have to take Iris to the vet in the morning. If we can get a time that fast. Our local vet doesn't seem to be doing priority-visits.
Though i've only heard of ivermectin being used for mites, fleas and such? Does it work against possible internal parasites too?
 
Sounds like it's pinworms. Ivermectin isn't usually an effective treatment for them in rabbits. You can try it but it probably won't work very well. It's fenbendazole (eg. Panacur) that's used to treat pinworms in rabbits. Because rabbits tend to easily reinfect themselves during treatment, the course is now extended from the old recommendation of 2 treatments 10-14 days apart, to 20mg/kg once a day for 5 days then one more dose at 10-14 days, or just a 10 day straight course.

Medirabbit: pinworms
 
Well. I am once again reminded that keeping rabbits happily in Estonia is just a pain in the fluffers.
Went to local vet, they didn't have what we needed, we were offered some other med, profender. Called other vet to confirm if it's safe or not, ended up not taking it.
Fast forward to today. We had business in vets' town so we also dropped by vet 2, they had the safe med we needed but it wasn't enough for Iris' weight for a full course. Went to vet office 3, the ones who on phone had reccommended ivermectin. Office 2 said that they would be more likely to carry enough of what we needed. Were guided to the pet pharmacy next-door. They didn't have the off the-counter stuff, told us to look at the vets' side. Back to the receptionist, it said that since Iris wasn't on account with them, we'd have to book an appt. for just the checkup because apparently they cannot prescribe stuff without ever having seen the rabbit. And also deliver some poops for inspection way earlier than that. The nearest checkup time we got is 31st with a general-esque doc. Had we waited for the bun-vet, the nearest time would've been more than a month from now. And since parasites need to be rid of before the vaccination, we will have to do at least three separate trips to the vet that is 220km back-and-forth.
If it were to turn out that Iris' parasites will have decided to begone on their own by the time we get the test and checkup results, i'd be seriously seething at something.
I knew what i was getting into when i decided to keep on housing rabbits after Musti, but man, this is more than mildly frustrating now.
 
If you have any livestock farm stores, fenbendazole is a common livestock dewormer. You may be able to find a bottle typically used for goats, cattle, horses. You want the liquid and not the paste, preferably. I've bought it in 125ml bottles. If you can only find tubes of paste, it's possible to use those, just more complicated.

This lists international brand names, though make sure to only look at ones with just fenbendazole and not another antiparasitic added.

https://www.drugs.com/international/fenbendazole.html
 
Mmh, no hope with that. Estonia is firmly sticking to the principle that prescription meds need a vet's say in it, which means that barely anything is avaliable from the stores without a proper approval. I've also noted that a lot more things need prescriptions to be bought. It's one of the recent protocols approved to prevent misuse of medications both in people and pets. It is definetly safer that way for many reasons but it also makes stuff difficult.

Screenshot_20230119-000927_Samsung Internet.jpg
This is a screenshot from our medical board's database on veterinary medications that have fenbendazole and that also have an active permit to be sold. The most righthandside column with the R's and K's is whether the med is prescription based only or off-the-counter respectively.
Well, i don't really mind waiting a bit if Iris continues showcasing her usual self, as long as we get to the end result of eliminated parasites and continuously healthy Iris.
 
Well that doesn't make a lot of sense. Have the one antiparasitic with the more potent praziquantel be non prescription, yet the safer plain fenbendazole be prescription. I guess that's government for you.

Along as she isn't showing any signs of digestive upset or reoccurring GI stasis, you should be ok waiting until her appointment.
 
Went to the vets again today. The poops that i'd delivered yesterday had been examined and the results showed that instead of the pinworms, Iris has some sort of parasite that is invisible to the naked eye.
She was prescribed oral antibiotic Bactrim, 2.2ml twice a day for 10 days.
The vet said that Iris should be all right for her checkup on the 31st if we start the med today.
 
Was it coccidiosis? What about the pinworms? Are they still going to treat that?
 
The vet did mention a bacteria which sounded like "emeria"? She didn't say anything about pinworms being present in the poos, but i'll have the chance to ask about it on our appointment.
 

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