I need some help-possible fur mites?

[werecatrising]

I'm sorry you are going through this. I just wanted to point something out about rodenticides. People think they are safe if they keep them put away, but they are not. Rodents can drag the stuff back to their nests. They can also be eaten by another animal after being poisoned but before dying. I have seen so many animals die due to secondary poisoning.

 

[gentle giants]

Pam, where would I get Nutri-Cal,a nd what form of vit E would be best? Could I use a "popped" soft gel like people take, and what would the dosage be? You know, it really DOES look similar to malnutrition--but they are eating their heads off! Could this feed be that bad? Does anyone know anything about Cargil feeds? Vet seemed to think it was good brand, and I have been using it a long time.

 

[pamnock]

A lot of online stores carry Nutri Cal as well as a lot of rabbit supply companies.

http://www.discountpetdrugs.com/nu4ozpabyev.html

Feed generally isn't the culprit, but it doesn't hurt to check it out.

I have had a couple incidences over the years where the rabbit's suffered a sudden, unexplained weight loss despite eating well. They did recover and gain weight back.

Pam

 

[TinysMom]

I get vitamin E capsules at the grocery store and I poke a hole in the capsule and squirt out the vitamin E into a spoon and then get it into a syringe and feed it to them that way...

I suppose you could also put some over their food - but I like knowing that rabbit X has X amount of vitamin E.

This is interesting because Acacia has been starting to go bald on her back - I thought it was overgrooming by other rabbits but am not sure - she's not losing weight though...and all of my other rabbits are fine....no balding.

 

[Maureen Las]

Nutircal is also sold at pet co and petsmart ..don't know of other pet stores and is labeled for cats and dogs

 

[gentle giants]

pamnock wrote:

I have had a couple incidences over the years where the rabbit's suffered a sudden, unexplained weight loss despite eating well. They did recover and gain weight back.

Pam

I have too, but with a little extra feed they gained it back easily, and there was no fur loss with that.

Peg, is one whole pill ok for one bunny?

 

[Maureen Las]

Can you start another bag of food with a different lot number
Can you getnew bags??

I wouldn't use the bag that you have been....

 

[TinysMom]

gentle giants wrote:

Peg, is one whole pill ok for one bunny?

When I used vitamin E - it was because I thought (and still think) that some of my baby rabbits were developing flopsy. What we got was in capsule form (liquid inside a gel capsule) and so we'd stick the pin in and press the liquid out.

Please remember - we'd lost one rabbit that went downhill very quickly - was gone within a couple of hours - and then Bandita started showing the same signs and she was a smaller bunny. So we were doing what I'd call a "hail Mary" treatment - you do it and pray it works.

We used 3-4 capsules I believe (we'd squeeze out enough to get 1 cc if I remember right) and we gave that to her every hour for the first several hours.

Once again - let me stress this....

We did not do this at the recommendation of a vet. We did not have time to get to a vet.

The symptoms appeared to match what we found on the internet for "flopsy" and one cure was to get vitamine E into the rabbit as soon as possible...hence our method.

Seeing a vet is preferable to dosing something like this on your own - but my nearest vet is 70 miles away one way...and it was like 4 am in the morning - so I had to fight for her life pretty quickly.

If I was in your shoes - I would probably do 1 capsule per day - just to make sure she's getting enough vitamin E. The capsules really don't have "that much" in them...

 

[Maureen Las]

How are things???

What's going on"???

I've had this on my mind all day:?

 

[gentle giants]

Well, the fecal sample showed no signs of parasites. So I went and bought a bag of Purina feed, ( I had been using Cargill) and some oats and black oil sunflower seeds, and we will see if that perks them up any in the next couple of days. I also gave Honey and Hope, the two having the most problem with wieght loss, a dose of vit e last night, and I'll continue with that for a few days to see if it helps. At any rate, I don't think it will hurt.

 

[Flashy]

I'm sorry that didn't show up anything. However, just because it didn't show up, doesn't necessarily mean there is not anything there. I think, from what I can remember, worms only show up in fecals are certain times of the cycle.

I'm glad you have other food though and I hope it helps.

Keep us updated if you can.

x

 

[Maureen Las]

Flashy wrote:

I'm sorry that didn't show up anything. However, just because it didn't show up, doesn't necessarily mean there is not anything there. I think, from what I can remember, worms only show up in fecals are certain times of the cycle.

I'm glad you have other food though and I hope it helps.

Keep us updated if you can.

x

Yeah let us know ..........
hope that things get better:hug:

 

[gentle giants]

Flashy wrote:

I'm sorry that didn't show up anything. However, just because it didn't show up, doesn't necessarily mean there is not anything there. I think, from what I can remember, worms only show up in fecals are certain times of the cycle.

What do you do, then? Repeat the test a certain interval, or something?

 

[Maureen Las]

I think that certain worms do show up like pinworms and certain ones don't like tape worms. i think what the vets do is ask that you bring in a couple samples spaced a few weeks apart.

In your case maybe the rabbits could be treated anyway without testing.
Ireally doubt if that is the problem although I don"t really have the knowledge to say that;I don't know.
I guess that the weight loss and hair loss makes it look like another issue.

I'll try to find the library info on parasites for you anyway

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=39593&forum_id=10

How do the rabbits Look???

 

[Flashy]

We never fecaled any of ours when they had worms (both pin and tape), we just treated, and it was also relatively cheap. Could you maybe worm them just in case and start looking further then worms?

I've been thinking about you and your bunners and wondering how they are doing. I hope there is some improvement soon.

 

[gentle giants]

So far not really any change, either for better or worse. I am not really familiar with the worming "process", I have never had them getany kind of worms before. You very well may be right though, deworming probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Since I am still not certain what is causing this, I'm going mainly along the "it can't hurt" line of thought. What do you use for deworming, and do I have to get it from the vet, or can I get it at the feed store?

 

[Flashy]

For small internal parasites we use Panacur (Fenbendazole) which can be bought over the counter and doesn't need a prescription. For tapeworm we used Droncit injections which had to be administered by the vet (although I know angieluv used Droncit tablets for hers).

I have no idea whether either of those would be available to you through a feed store although I suspect the fenbendazole might be.

 

[pamnock]

gentle giants wrote:

So far not really any change, either for better or worse. I am not really familiar with the worming "process", I have never had them getany kind of worms before. You very well may be right though, deworming probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Since I am still not certain what is causing this, I'm going mainly along the "it can't hurt" line of thought. What do you use for deworming, and do I have to get it from the vet, or can I get it at the feed store?

I would have a fecal done on one of the rabbits before deworming. No sense in further stressing the system with unnecessary chemicals.

Pam

 

[werecatrising]

gentle giants wrote:

Flashy wrote:

I'm sorry that didn't show up anything. However, just because it didn't show up, doesn't necessarily mean there is not anything there. I think, from what I can remember, worms only show up in fecals are certain times of the cycle.

What do you do, then? Repeat the test a certain interval, or something?

You can have a fecal panel sent to a lab. That should pick up just about everything.

 

[gentle giants]

pamnock wrote:

gentle giants wrote:

So far not really any change, either for better or worse. I am not really familiar with the worming "process", I have never had them getany kind of worms before. You very well may be right though, deworming probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Since I am still not certain what is causing this, I'm going mainly along the "it can't hurt" line of thought. What do you use for deworming, and do I have to get it from the vet, or can I get it at the feed store?

I would have a fecal done on one of the rabbits before deworming. No sense in further stressing the system with unnecessary chemicals.

Pam

I did do that, and it didn't show anything, but someone said at certain cycle times it might not show? Do you think that it might do more harm than good?

ETA: I am also going to go and get some new/different hay this afternoon too, just to kinda cover all the bases.