Epilepsy

[Taylor]

Does anyone else have a bun with epilepsy? I have had my bun for 2 and a half years. He is not fixed but suffers from seizures about once a month or so. When not “sick” he is completely normal so we have had a hard time in deciding on medicine or procedures. Recently our vet gave us Diazepam to give to him when he has seizures. The first time we gave it to him it seemed to work as planned, calming him and he didn’t have anymore. However for the next week or so he would have one or two small seizures every day or two days. After about a week and a half he was having them regularly again and so we tried the medicine again. This time he was almost on edge. Since he has had a lot of trouble with controlling his urinating. He has always peed where he wasn’t suppose to from time to time but now its like he isn’t controlling it at all. This is making it hard to keep up with keeping his room clean and hes started to develop sore hocks because of all the pee he steps in throughout the day when I’m not home to clean it up right away. Does anyone else have a bun with epilepsy that could give me any tips? Has anyone had them fixed? Or had experiences with this medicine? 

[Bam]

Are you certain this is epilepsy? Has he been treated for e cuniculi? E cuniculi is as a rule the first thing you suspect when a bunny has seizures. It’s a microscopic parasite. It tend to attack the brain and/or the kidneys and/or the heart. Loss of litter-box habits/bladder control is another symptom commonly seen with e cuniculi.

Epilepsy does occur in rabbits but it’s much more rare. E cuniculi is a parasite up to 80% of rabbits are believed to be carriers of. Standard treatment is dewormer called Panacur (fenbendazole) for 28 days.

Diazepam is a bensodiazepine. It’s given to alleviate seizures of any kind, not specifically epileptic seizures. Most commonly it’s used as a tranqulizer/sedative. In rare cases paradox reactions are seen, meaning the patient gets agitated and excited, an ongoing seizure can get worse, muscle cramps can occur – the exact oposite of how the drug is supposed to work. 

[DesertBunny]

That’s what it sounds like to me.  (EC)  Having just lost Jet; he had the same things. Head turn, loss of motor functions, and about two years ago he went through the most violent bunch of seizures I ever saw. Every time he did it (about 5 in one night!)  he stiffened up like a board. I thought he was dead. Or dying. Then he would come out of it and was okay for a while until it hit again. Would literally tear himself right out of my arms and flop around on the floor like a fish out of water.

The next day (this stiff always goes down on a weekend!) he went to the Vet and started Panacur. It bought him some time (about 2 years) before he finally left me.

EC can also cause cataracts! My vet told me that. Jet and my first bunny both had them. My new bunny, Skye, will be getting blood work done when he gets a little older. The odds are he probably has EC too. Most bunnies do. But this time I want to be as proactive as possible.

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