Briar losing weight-vet says possible Coccidia? I'm worried about my girl

[Cloe-trash]

So I took Briar into the vet because I noticed one day that she had gotten thin very quickly, despite having a great appetite and no issues going to the bathroom.

After an exam he said she looked fine on every other count. Her teeth and coat looked fine, she ate for him when he put down some timothy hay, and he said her belly sounded normal. She just was underweight.

He sent me home with some alfalfa and said to resume pellets since I had worked her onto an all-hay diet at the other vet in the office's recommendation. Which she is of course happy because she gets to be spoiled with pellets and alfalfa. Still eating fine, still cheery and asking for pets. And we got bloodwork done just in case.

Well I got the results today and he said that her liver count is up, but she's so young (about a year and a half) and indoor only so that there's not a lot of things that would only have her losing weight and high liver count. He's planning on treating her for Coccidia and said that they have some sort of medicine that is normally used for large animals but they can dose it for her, he didn't say what medicine exactly it was. She'd be on it for I think he said about 10 days and then we have another appointment on the 4th and we will see how she is doing then.

Anyway I'm really worried for her, and I wanted to get your guys input as well, or see if any of you have had similar issues. She is my baby and I want to do everything I can to help her.

 

[woahlookitsme]

Did the vet do a fecal exam while you were at the vet to diagnose coccidia? If not I would ask them to perform one. You should be able to take a fresh stool sample to the vet to have them test it. The treatment for coccidia should be Albon (I have had to treat for coccidia before)

As far as if coccidia affects the liver I am not sure?
Also how old is your bunny?

 

[Cloe-trash]

There is a form that affects the liver. She is about a year and a half old.

And he didn't do the fecal exam at first he just did a simple exam but I want to call him tomorrow to ask him about the cost of the medicine and I can see if its somethin I could do for cheap just to make sure

 

[Cloe-trash]

I want to add that aside from being underweight and the high liver count I haven't noticed any issues with her. She still has energy and is affectionate as usual, eats fine, her poop seems to be normal, I didn't even notice a different until I saw how much her spine showed when she laid a certain way

 

[JBun]

A high liver count can indicate possible hepatic coccidia. And when it is this type, a fecal test sometimes won't indicate whether or not there is coccidia. With the weight loss(if it's not just due to insufficient calories in the diet) and the abnormal liver results, I would probably want to go ahead and treat for coccidia if it were my rabbit. The fact that your rabbit is still eating well and active, is a good indication that she will recover fully with treatment.
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Hepatic_coccidiosis_rabbits.htm

So the coccidia med, used as a med for large animals, is probably Marquis(ponazuril, toltrazuril is similar). It's probably the best med to treat coccidia with, as it's the most effective, but it can be more expensive. The other common med is the one that woahlookitsme mentioned, Albon. It's a sulfa antibiotic, and it's often what is prescribed, and likely is cheaper. If you can afford it, I would go with the Marquis. It's the better of the two, though it can sometimes affect appetite, so you'll want to keep a close eye on her eating.

 

[Cloe-trash]

Thank you so so much for this reply JBun it really reassures me that she's going to get out of this okay and of course I will continue to monitor her as best I can <3

I dont have much money after paying for her bloodwork and first exam but I've got about $50 do you think that will be enough to cover the treatment for her? I don't want to delay it if I can avoid it I just don't get paid until next thursday

 

[Aki]

You should phone your vet to ask for sure but from what I know it's treated with antibiotics and the treatment isn't very long (about 5 days, to be repeated after a week or two, I think, so you'd only need a bottle of the thing). So I don't think it would cost more than 50 dollars to get it over the counter (which you should be able to do at your vet considering your rabbit was already examined and that the treatment was recommended by them) - I just checked and in France a bottle of a thing like Toltrazuril (which is one of the possible treatments in this case) is around 19 $.

 

[Cloe-trash]

So it ended up being $56 for a two-week treatment.

I got prescribed Ponazuril like JBun said. .5ml every 24 hours for 14 days.

I was able to pay for it thankfully and just finished scrubbing her pen, cleaning her litterbox, and giving her her first dose. I just want to squeal a bit because I have worked with her ever since I bought her to the point where I can lay her on her back in one arm and trim her nails, and it worked for giving her her medicine as well. She took it so well I am so proud of my baby girl!

I'm looking forward to her feeling better soon. I have an appointment on the 4th so the day after she's finished her medicine for a followup to see how she's doing then so hoping she recovers fine.

Thank you all so much for your replies I feel so much more hopeful for her now as after some of the Coccidia stories I have read I was terrified I was going to lose her (and I'm hoping to get her as an ESA as well so I would have been heartbroken)

 

[Nancy McClelland]

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