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Chronic Mucous/Jellylike Excretions

22 9:55:00

Question
Dear Dana,

I am a first time bunny mom and adopted my sweet little bunny Pikachu 3 months ago.  He was a stray so there was no history on him. Upon taking him to his first vet visit he was discovered to have coccidia and we treated with Albon. During midcourse of Albon, he started having mucous excretions and we tried Ponazuril instead (1 dose and then another dose in 10 days).  The coccidia persisted and he was started on another course of Albon.  He was stopped on day 12 of the second course of Albon because his temp dropped and was acting in pain (teeth grinding). The vet gave him subcutaneous fluids.  He is also on probiotic powders daily.  During the last 3 months he must have gone to the vet 5-6 times because of loss of appetite combined with increase in mucous excretions.  Cholestyramine has helped somewhat on and off but he is still having problems with his GI.  After I returned from a trip recently and boarding him with a House of Rabbit supervisor I found out that he is secreting mucous and wetting his bottom to the point he licked off a piece of fur and his bottom is constantly wet even when I tried to dry it gently with a towel, it would become wet again immediately.  

His last coccidia test was negative without starting a new medication again so we are going to retest.  Is it possible that it could be a false negative since he hasn't started on any new antibiotics?  I am also worried if this GI mucous thing is chronic since it comes and goes. One thing is that he would not eat any sort of hay, I've tried so many different kinds.  I tried to cut up some hay and mix with his food and give hay cubes but not much success there.  I'm currently giving him some critical care with mashed pumpkin daily to see if it will help.  We have seen the best rabbit vet in the area: Dr. Carolyn Harvey and we are still trying to figure out what could be wrong with him.  Do you think he has enteritis and are there any other medications we should try?  Please help and thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I'm so stressed out about his health.

Answer
Dear Yue,

If you're with Dr. Harvey, you are certainly in good hands.  

Coccidia can shed sporadically, so there is a possibility that the negative fecal test didn't detect parasites that are really there.  We have had excellent results with ponazuril against the coccidial species we have in our hares (Black-tailed Jackrabbits in sanctuary here because they're not native), but we did find that when a rescue domestic turned up with coccidia, we had to dose the bunny for 5 days in a row at 50mg/kg once per day to kill those blasted coccidia!  They did die.  But it seems that the Eimeria in some domestic rabbits is *very* resilient, and you really need to hit them as hard as the host can stand.

I hope, though, that the coccidia are gone from your bunny.

Enteritis is just a descriptive term.  It means, literally, inflammation of the enteron (gut).  So yes, it does sound as if your bunny has a touch of chronic enteritis.  The problem is:  why?  It's a symptom/sign, not a disease in and of itself.

Many rabbits with chronic GI problems are suffering from dental problems that cause stress/pain and, in turn, trigger GI slowdown.  This can cause cecal dysbiosis and inflammation of the intestinal lining.  Fully explained here:

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

There is usually some underlying problem that causes this chronic inflammation. But it's sometimes very hard to find.  Bloodwork, examination of the molars, checking the urinary tract...it can sometimes take quite a bit of detective work.

You might want to ask Dr. Harvey about trying a topical anti-inflammatory drug, such as sulfasalazine, or even a dose or two of barium.  These will soothe the intestinal lining and may break the cycle of inflammation and allow the bunny to heal.  (Barium can constipate, so be prepared to deal with that, if you try the barium.)

These are just a few ideas, and Dr. Harvey has probably already thought of them.  But I hope they help.

Dana