New to BB but not bunnies

[tronbunny]

Hello y’all hoomins and furbabies! ?
I’ve been a bunnymom for 14 years. First bun was a girl lop with us for over 9 years.
Since then we’ve had and lost a rescue girl ?. We now have 2 boys, 3 year old stray/rescue lop (Jarvis) and 5.5 yr old netherland (Bently).
Currently we’re battling EC with Bently.
I noticed Vanessa has been journaling the strategies she’s used with Lancelot.
Our struggle began when Benz started eating less and less. His vet got back alarming titre levels for EC. We’ve been treating with Ponazuril and metacam for over 30 days. Didn6see much improvement for 3 weeks. It’s been exhausting ?.
Anyway, we’re here to share and offer support where we can.
Cheers!

[tobyluv]

Hello and welcome to Binky Bunny! I hope that Bently will keep showing improvement and be better soon.

[Luna]

Hi! EC can be a long battle, so hang in there .

[LittlePuffyTail]

Hi and Welcome to BB!

I’ve also been a bunny Mom for around 14 years.

I currently have two white buns, one little lop named Bindi Loo and a big, uppy eared called Sterling.

[vanessa]

I’m sorry you r having a rough time. Ec is truly frustrating 🙁

[tronbunny]

Bently has improved, but not 100%
His primary symptom has been anorexia/appetite.
We’ve been treating with Ponazuril and meloxicam for the inflammation. Sub-q fluids almost daily and involuntary syringe feeding. The blessing is that he’s always been good about his hay. Hay and orchard grass has been his primary sustenance. We’ve been using Ranitidine and ciprohexidine for attempts to stimulate appetite and in the absence of normal food consumption, metacloprimide and cisapride. I’m not sure what part of the treatment protocol is responsible for the improvement over the last month but we expect to continue for another 2 months. He did not really seem to turn around until week 3. I know that one day the EC will take him, but at just 5.5 years old, it’s truly not time.

[jerseygirl]

Welcome tronbunny : )

Would love to hear more about the boys and your past rabbits.

Im sorry you are dealing with EC. It’s pretty stressful. Good that you are starting to see a difference. It does go that way for many, only seeing real improvements 3-4 weeks into medicating.

Is there any reason why your vet did not prescibe panacur also?

[tronbunny]

My vet is not a fan of panacur. He’s very concerned about bone marrow failure and liver involvement. The Ponazuril seems to be doing the job and we will wait another 6 weeks before taking another titer test. I’m open to a week cycle of pancur or Ponazuril every few months for suppression of out breaks. Again, we’ll see how his writers look and how he responds as the meds taper off.
His best buddy, Jarvis is a little lonely and hangs out around Bently’s pen. The last time B had stasis and spent the night at the vet, we had to have a few days of re-bonding. Plus, I’m still monitoring B’s water intake and output. That’s hard to do with the two together.
We’re down to 100ml sub-q fluids every 3 days. I wish he’d get back to greens.
His hay intake is pretty good.
I’m expecting a shipment of SPS orchard grass next week. Both boys are plowing through the last of 10lbs of KMS Hayloft 3rd cut timothy. Still slow on the 2nd cut. Maybe we’ll have a couple of playdates this week to work on bonding again.

[jerseygirl]

Well…panache fragrance has been around for a lot of years but it’s not everyones cup of tea..
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Don’t worry, Ive seen that autocorrect for panacur quite a number of times.

True about the risks of Panacur. Some vets will do routine bloodwork to monitor for this side effect.

I had an interesting chat with a vet last year about the whole treatment thing for EC (or may have been for head tilt specifically). It’s one of those things they don’t truly know if it’s the medication that helps in recovery or purely just time that an animal will sometimes recover. And the whole “do know harm” ethic. Sorry, im probably not explaining the convo very well!

Some years back, Id heard about using ponazuril alongside panacur and even suggested it here on the forums. Not so long ago, I watch a video by a California based vet that works with Rabbit rescues and she’d mentioned that this med didn’t do what they had hoped. The video was from 2014.
It might be one of those meds that some swear by and some are less convinced. Im very curious is your vet is seeing benefits of using it!!

I don’t know if you saw it in Vanessa thread, but we did have a little discussion about toltrazuril (Baycox specifically). We’d learnt just how alkaline it is, so it cannot be given neat. Is ponazuril a paste preparation that can be given as is?

It can be tough because part of the process when using wormers if parasites dying off and releasing toxins. So a rabbit may feel even more “off” when going on these meds. But after that part is past, they should *fingers crossed* start to improve.
Same with anti-inflammatories meds. They are so necessary, but they can have a side effect of lessening the appetite. Then there is the steriodal anit-inflamms that can suppress immune system. Ugh. So it becomes a balancing act.

You sound as if you are covering a lot of bases for Bently and have an attentive vet. Here’s hoping you see more and more improvements! {{{Bently}}}

[vanessa]

Of the 3 vets I’v seen with Lancelot, 1 says “we are killing rabbits with panacur” – I’d like to read the evidence… another was perfectly willing to give Lancelot back-to-back prescriptions of panacur with bloodwork, and a third is not opposed to it, but wants to see neurological symptoms first…

[tronbunny]

I loathe autocorrect sometimes ?
The Ponazuril we use is Bayer Marquis paste at $250USD for 120cc. That has gotten us to 9 weeks. We’re supposed to go 12 weeks until the next blood titer check.
I’m fairly certain the Ponazuril and meloxicam has played a part in his recovery. Cyproheptadine is supposed to be an appetite enhancer and antihistamine that targets some of the inflammation.
We’ve scaled back the regimen to one round of meds per day. Bently has regained some appetite but I’m not sure if returning to cyproheptadine dissolved in simethicone is doing that. I’ve weaned him down to 1/4 recommended dose of metacloprimide, no cisapride,and 1 dose .02ml meloxicam. We still supplement with 10-15ccs of critical care.
He actually takes his meds willingly (never, ever before) and has started to willingly eat half of the critical care. We do not need to provide sub-q fluids as of about 2 weeks ago. His weight is stable. He eats about a 1/2 cup of greens overnight now. His hay intake has slowed, because we’re out of his favorites and the farm is currently out of stock. So we make do with a tablespoon or so of Sherwood pellets. He runs when he knows I have an Oxbow digestive tablet, but doesn’t want the Bunspace “cookies” as much anymore. I’ll post more about this journey in the care forum, later.
The next step is to rearrange the living space and have re-bonding dates with his best buddy, J-man who is 3yrs old about 2 years younger than B (he’s 5.5).

[Author]

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