Clear mucus in stools

Question
Hello Dana,
This is Keerthi from India. I have a 7-year-old male bunny - he's not neutered. Two to three years ago, for the very first time, he started passing clear jelly-like mucus, sometimes frank and sometimes mixed with mushy poop. After trying metronidazole and other medications that didn't help, we finally gave him Amprolium( for coccidia) and he was well.

Now again a couple of months ago, he started showing similar symptoms. He has been on two 10-day courses of Amprolium already( dosage 1 gram powder dissolved in 1 litre water - each gram containing 200 mg Amprolium) and it has not helped. He has also been on two 15-day courses of Metronidazole.

Right now, he's on his first course of Panacur( 2.5% liquid suspension - I give him 0.5 ml daily for 9 days - today's his last dosage). During the course of Panacur, the mucus did almost stop and he did start passing normal round poops. However, today, I still see some mucus in his stools.

His butt has been getting wet often needing frequent washes and is starting to bald.

I was wondering what else could be causing the mucus if it weren't coccidia or worms or any parasitic infection.

He weight 2 kg and no real changes have been made to his diet or environment in a long time. I have checked his teeth and they look fine.

I would really appreciate any advice you can give.

Also, please let me know if giving Panacur for 9 days is enough or it needs to continue.

Ponazuril is unavailable in India.

Thanks
Keerthi

Answer
Dear Keerthi,

Your bunny's chronic enteritis could be due to any number of things.  Coccidia can become resistant to medications.  Has a fecal exam been done to determine what might be residing inside?  I would have that done, for sure.

If there are still coccidia, then five days of Baycox (toltrazuril) can really do a good job at getting rid of them.  I don't know if you can get this in India, but I would be surprised if you could not.  Just ask the vet about toltrazuril.  Our vets are dosing this at 20mg/kg for five days with excellent results.

If it's not a parasite problem, then check diet:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

and for any sources of stress in the house.  Also, please read:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

since mucous stool often goes hand-in-hand with cecal dysbiosis and other GI tract disorders.

I hope this helps.

Dana

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