Hello everyone, I have had my rabbit Buddy for almost a year now. He is about a year old Netherland Dwarf and has been having seizures for about 5 months now. We noticed that he started having seizures so we brought him to our regular vet who then suggested we go to an animal exotics vet that is more specialized in rabbits. At the exotics vet they did some blood tests on him where he was diagnosed with e cuniculi. Every month after that we have brought him to the exotics vet each month where his blood has been tested for e cuniculi levels and his levels have remained the same 1:8192, which is a relatively high amount of the parasite (1:64 is high). Each month he has been on a new medication plan. His first medication plan in August consisted of Albendazole (50 mg/ml for 21 days – this is an anti-parasitic medication, however, his levels stayed the same as before), Enrofloxacin (50mg/ml – antibiotic), Probi (probiotic), and Levetiracetam (100mg/ml – seizure medication. We tried this at 2 times per day and 3 times per day, but he still had seizures), and milk thistle (for gut health). In September his e cuniculi titer stayed the same as before, despite the anti-parasitic medication. His second medication plan in September consisted of Fenbendazole (100mg/ml – anti-parasitic medication), Probi (probiotic), Phenobarbital (50mg/ml – seizure medication), Levetiracetam (100mg/ml – seizure medication), and milk thistle (gut health vitamin). In November, his e cuniculi titer stayed the same once again, despite trying another anti-parasitic medication. However, his C-reactive protein levels did decrease (C-reactive protein measures the inflammatory response and when this goes down, this is an indication of a reduction in inflammation. They suspected that the continued high titers with Buddy is that he has been fighting a significant infection and it will take some time). His third treatment plan in November consisted of Fenbendazole (anti-parasitic medication – 2^nd round), milk thistle, Enroflaxacin (antibiotic), Metronidazole (antibiotic), Probi (probiotic), Phenobarbital (50mg/ml – seizure medication), and Levetiracetam (100mg/ml – seizure medication). His previous medication plan consisted of 7 medications and I am worried about the negative side effects this may have on his health. We decided to stop going to our exotics vet because we felt like his best interests were not being taken into consideration, and currently we only go to our regular vet. Our regular vet, who I know has our rabbits’ best interests in mind and I have trusted her with my other rabbits for the past 15 years, says that there is not anything else we can really do for him and this is incredibly unsettling to hear. After our visit with our regular vet, Buddy is on two seizure medications (Levetiracetam and Phenobarbital) as well as milk thistle. She also gave us a medication to put up his nose (this medication is supposed to slow the synapses in his brain to hopefully stop the seizure activity in that moment) if he is ever having several seizures in a day or if he is having a grand mal seizure.

The number of seizures has been different each month. Some months he would have a few a week, and in October he had practically no seizures. He has less severe seizures where he is chewing at the air and swatting at his face but he also has grand mal seizures where he is rolling over and doesn’t know where he is at and when he comes out of them he freaks out and runs into everything. It takes him a moment to come out of them, but knock-on wood he does. One day a few weeks ago he had a less-severe seizure once every minute for about 30 minutes. The following day, we brought him to our regular vet where he received a steroid injection (which didn’t seem to resolve his problems because he had more seizures the following week). Just by looking at him you would not even be able to tell that he suffers from this disease because he is such a happy friendly little rabbit who binkies and makes happy noises all the time.

I would also like to mention that we have had nothing but negative experiences with the exotics vet that we are going to and would like to just keep going to our regular vet. The very first thing that the exotics vet mentioned when she first saw Buddy (when she hadn’t even examined him yet and we didn’t even know that he had e cuniculi yet) was that we should consider putting him down. I understand that this could eventually be a possibility but he is so happy and not before trying everything we can for the guy. Also, for every medication they give us, they don’t fill it up enough for how long we need to give it to him and when we go back to get more they charge us again, which makes me feel like they are only about the money and not what is best for the animals. I also question whether he needs to be on all these medications or if they are putting him on 7 medications hoping that it will cause another health problem so that we have to keep coming back and giving them more money. And every time we call to make an appointment the receptionists have a nasty attitude whenever they pick up. I want to do what is best for him, but am conflicted about what is best for him.

I am just wondering if anyone else has a rabbit whose e cuniculi levels would not go down despite trying several medications and if you found a solution to your rabbit’s e cuniculi problems? I know that this disease is incurable but I am still hoping that I can somehow bring his levels down to a level in which he can live as much of a normal life as possible. At this point, I feel like we have tried a million medications and nothing seems to be working. Buddy is my third rabbit (he is currently the only animal in my house) and I do as much as I can to give them the best lives possible. I’m just praying that there is something we can do because we had to put our last rabbit down exactly a year ago and I’m not ready to lose Buddy as well!