partail paralasis and severe weight loss in a young rabbit

Question
Dr.Dana Krempels,
I have a 8 month old mini-rex female rabbit I aquired from the local pet store. She was given to them by someone who didn't want her anymore. She was a healthy looking and active rabbit when they got her December 6, 2010.Wieght was appox.9lbs when they got her. Around the first week of Jan she started loosing weight, but was eating and drinking well.on Jan 29 she "collasped" on the owner and he gave her fluids by mouth and kept her alive. I took her to the vet I work for Feb 1,2011. She had a severe ear mite infestation which we treated ( 0.1 cc of ivermec in each ear). We did a fecal( negative) and checked her over, she only wieghed 2.5 lbs at this time. My vet said when in doubt treat for pasteurella. He put her on baytril(0.05 cc IM twice daily for 14 days). Two injections later she showed signs of not having full controll of her hind limbs(Feb 2,2011). I took her back to the vet, and we checked her responses in the rear legs. She can pull them back from your hand, and can move them some, but has limited use when she trys to hop. She tends to keep them folded up and her toes curl under when she tries to hop, plus she is a bit wabaly when she does try to extend them in a full hop. He said it could be a result of the injections in her hind muscles making her sore or a bit of neuroitous from the injections or from the pasteurella itself.I started swimming her in my tub with a harness Feb 3 to try and releive her pain. She seams to like it, but it has done little to help her mobility.I was reading and found she could have some of the symetoms of E. cuniculi infection.I wondered if we should be treating her with Oxibendazole along with the baytril, seeing how we are not compleatly positive of her condition.She gets around her cage ok,but I can tell she gets tired of hobling around or draging her legs at times to eat and drink. I have placed a fixed bowl of water and food in every corner of her cage, so she is able to eat and drink well. She also plays some with her hay ball(this is mostly after her swim).I will be taking her back to work with me tomorrow to check her wieght.I would like you thoughts on this and what corse of action you would suggest to treat her.Also I am feeding her mana pro formula feed with (1tsbl per day)the show suplement added, calf manna(2 tsp per day), and athleate fat supplement(1 tsp per day) , she is eating on average 1/2 cup of feed a day(this includes the suplemts), drinking an average of 50ml of water a day, and 1/4 cup of hay per day(timathy,alfalfa,orchard mix). Her urin production seems normal for her size and she has normal amounts of poop. Some are hard and dry, while others are slightly moist but formed.Thank you for your time.

Answer
Dear Amber,

If this were my rabbit, I would certainly be asking about treatment for E. cuniculi.  We use Panacur (fenbendazole) and ponazuril (toltrazuril sulfate), which can be purchased as Baycox:

http://www.horseprerace.com/baycox-toltrazuril-200ml-p-29.html

less expensively than as Marquis.  We have used both drugs together as well as with antibiotics, and have seen no adverse side effects.  

The weight loss could be dehydration, so be sure she really is drinking enough.  If she seems to be drinking too much, I worry about renal damage from the parasite, which also could account for muscle wasting and weight loss.  Blood chemistry and complete blood count might be a good idea now to assess her condition on those fronts.

But I also would suggest getting her to a vet who won't say things like "When in doubt, treat for Pasteurella."  That says to me that the vet has insufficient experience with rabbit medicine, and the bunny would be better served by a rabbit-savvy vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps.

Dana