parasite treatment

[joy1]

Hello, everyone

The first time I visited the local vet, he gave my bun a medicine. He said that is for treating parasite. It was in a small tube and when my bun opened his mouth, he ate it. I have not gone back for another treatment. Do you guys/gals know about this? Is this necessary?

Thanks,:bunnydance:

 

[maherwoman]

Hi, Hun...

I'm going to move this to the Infirmary section, so more people can see it and respond that'll know the answer to your question.



Hugs!

Rosie & the Herd :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[Pipp]

Ivermectin? Why was it prescribed?



sas

 

[pamnock]

Possibly pin worms, which are one of the most common parasites in rabbits. The medicine may have been Ivermectin.

Pam

 

[naturestee]

Do you still have the tube? You could also call the vet and ask them to check their records. They should be able to tell you what it was and why it was prescribed.

 

[joy1]

Thanks to all of you who replied!!! I will call next week. By the way, do you give your bunny medicines? Or dowe have to go to Vet to get medicine? My first visit is over 60 dollars. The vet charges more because bunny is exotic animal.That was what they said to me.

 

[naturestee]

I don't feel comfortable giving my rabbits medications without them being prescribed by a vet. The only one I will give is baby gas meds. Everything else I rely onmy vet for. There are so many things that can go wrong, it really does take a lot of knowledge and training. Some breeders, etc., will treat their rabbits themselves when they can but they tend to have more experience, have done more research, and have friends and mentors who also treat at home so they can get advice from them.

 

[joy1]

My vet gave my bunny medicine not because he was sick. He seems to suggest that is a routine for all bunny, we have to do it every six months. I want to ask you all if you have to visit vet every six month to get that medicine. it does not seem to be the case from the response to my original post. If it is not required, I will not bring my bun to get the medicine.

 

[Pipp]

Where do you live?

Is he an indoor or outdoor bunny?

If the vet didn't do any tests or didn't see worms in his poops or flakes in his ears or anything ugly, I'm sure the one dose will be sufficient, although it maydepend on your area and his housing.

It's nota 'routine' forbunnies in my area.



sas

 

[naturestee]

Ok, I know what you're talking about.It's Panacur, and it's supposed to be a preventative treatment for E.cuniculi. But it's far less than the standard treatment for a rabbit that's actually sick from it, and many people are asking questions about whether it's worth it to continually pump chemicals into healthy rabbits, especially since E. cuniculi won't always cause illness in healthy rabbits.

It's not done here, and many people in the UK whose opinions I trust are debating this and probably not doing it. Often on their vet's advice too, as some vets think it's just a scam by the company to sell more merchandise.

 

[joy1]

Thanks!!!! My bun is indoor.

 

[alfie]

My bunny has just been prescribed Panacur as he has just been diagnosed with E. Cuniculi, i think that prevention is better than cure because it can lie dormant or spread and it will spread through a litter right through to a new bunny on the same land as your infected bunny once lived. Its highly contagious in rabbits.

Hes been given a 50-50 chance and i had no idea rabbits could get or have this parasite until about an hour ago.

 

[Snuggys Mom]

If your rabbit is healthy and not showing any signs of sickness, it's not necessary to routinely treat for parasites,although some people do.

I've been doing a lot of reading about E. Cuniculi. I read somewhere that a lot of breeders routinely treat their entire herd with Ivermectin (every three months or so).

E. Cuniculi is very common and present in a lot of healthy rabbits. It's only when it multiplies quickly and gets out of hand that it causes illness.

 

[Flashy]

We have kept rabbits for years and never, until recently, treated them regularly for anything.

Now, as the cat spread his fleas (curse the cat) we routinely treat them for fleas so that we don't lose another bun to them.

But I don't think I would routinely treat them with panacur. The rabbit expert vet didn't mention it, andI trust his judgement.

 

[ra7751]

Hi All,

Just a thought or two on Panacur. It is nothing more than a horse wormer. We do routinely treat incoming rescues with it and also with albon for coccidia. Unless you fill them full of it, it is usuallyharmless...again in proper dosing...and gets rid of many intestinal parasites. It's usefulness in treating EC is still up in the air. It has to be used long term and every day for that purpose. It also has a difficult time penetrating the blood/brain barrier.A much more promising treatment is Marquis...which is being used successfully in the treatment of Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis. The organism that causes EC inrabbits is veryclosely related to the bug that causes EPM in horses.If your buns are kept outside...or visit outside....I would treat periodically...and possibly if you feed outside grass/greens that have not been thoroughly washed. The proper way to treat is by perfoming a fecal float and taking a look under a scope. That way, any parasites can be properly targeted. Ivermectin is an earlier verson of selamectin (Revolution). It can treat topical parasites and some intestinal parasites. There is absolutely no clinical evidence that it has any effect at all on EC. And since EC has been brought up....nearly every domestic rabbit has been exposed. One of the problems with EC is that by the time you have symptons, the neurological damage has been done and usually the best you can hope for is a stalemate. EC is blamed for many deaths however the root cause of mortality is usuallyrenal failure due to damage to the kidneys from the EC spores. If your bun has EC, it is absolutely essential to monitor kidney values and support the renal system aggressively. We successfully treated a rabbit and gave him a good quality of life for a couple of years until the kidney damage was too much to overcome. EC is a challenge regardless.

Randy