E cuniculi?

[Ollie’s mom]

Hey! Ollie is continuing to regain strength since his apparent stroke a 10ish days  ago.

Today he had an episode where he had similar issues. He had diarrhea (never had before) and wouldn’t stop shaking his head trying to scratch his ears. He ran around like crazy rolling and crashing into everything with his legs flying out from under him(on carpet). He started pivoting around in circles uncontrollably with his head near the ground. Walked around on his tiptoes with his back legs stretched out straight (truly terrifying looking) before laying out straight on his belly and losing his ability to use his back legs.

after 5-10 min he could move again somewhat normally but was dragging his legs every few steps. he seems stiff and he’s off balance again!

no head tilt, eating a drinking normal, tummy back to normal. I did notice some eye boogers which he’s never had before. Vet just cleared him and said no ear infection.

Does this sound like another stroke? Should I just treat him for EC? I have panacur in my house but the vet didn’t recommend it because we didn’t do the blood test to confirm EC.

I hate seeing him like this. He looked so scared when he was running around. I was right next to him when this all happened. He didn’t lose consciousness or have a seizure/wasn’t frightened by something.

this is beyond stressful.

[Bam]

Oh dear 🙁 As you know, we are not qualified to give veterinary advice, since we are not vets.  Many vets will treat with Panacur on suspicion only, because E C tests are still not very reliable and can produce false negatives. I have never treated a bun with Panacur for suspected EC, but I do keep it in my rabbit first aid drawer.

I will alert the other moderators to this thread.

[Ollie’s mom]

Yes sorry I should be more clear, I know no online advise can replace veterinary care.
I am really bothered by my vet. There aren’t any others willing to see him within a 3-4 hour drive and we’d have to drive through the Willits fire to try and get to a different vet that I know is decent.

i guess I was wondering if that sounds like it could be EC. It’s hard to find info that isn’t all about head tilt. I don’t know what else can cause this sudden paralysis and lack of coordination/ weird circling.
Also wondering if it’s generally safe to give panacur. Seeing as I have it on hand… I don’t want to give him something if it could hurt him, but I don’t want to withhold treatment if this is what’s happening. I found dosage info online but it wasn’t for EC it was as a dewormer.
I just wish I knew what to do. He seems so happy and healthy besides these episodes.

[Bam]

In my opinion, this does sound like it could be EC. Side effects of Panacur are rare, and until rather recently considered pretty much nil. There is however cases where rabbits have gone into bone marrow failure after longer term use of  fenbendazole (the active ingredient in Panacur). Some vets like to do a blood count after 20 days or so, to make sure there are enough white blood cells and platelets. This side effect is considered rare, though.

You could read up a bit on fenbendazole and weigh the pros and cons. No long ago, vets would treat with Panacur on suspicion of EC only. A normal course is 27 days, and as a rule it takes quite a long time before you see improvement.

Taking Ollie on a very long car journey to see a different vet doesn’t really seem like a very good option.

[LBJ10]

I don’t know what the dosage is, but Bam is correct on the 4 week course. This is different from what you would do if you were simply “deworming”. I have to agree with Bam that this does sound like EC. He recovered so quickly the first time, so it seemed logical to conclude it was a stroke-like event. So either he had another stroke, or he is having EC episodes. We are not vets though, so we can’t provide a diagnosis. Those are just what the most likely possibilities are.

[Author]

Messages