clostridium,coccidia bunnies dying

Question
QUESTION: Hi Dana,

I have rescued about 85 rabbits in the last 2 1/2 years. They are s/n and put up for adoption.  We currently have 16 in the house.  

About 14 days ago 1 of  a bonded pair suddenly got sick overnight and died within 6 hrs the next morning. Then, his mate died 5 days later , with the same symptoms of going into shock I believe.

The first rabbit was fine in the evening and didn't want to eat his food in the morning.  He ran a fever, we xrayed him and he did have something in his stomach which was probably fur since he had been heavily shedding for a week.  He seemed to be getting better at the vets and even started to eat hay,  but he died that night about 20 minutes after I got him home. I believe he went into shock. His body temperature dropped fast and I desperately tried to warm him up. He went pale and died .

His bonded mate died 5 days later. She seemed to be doing really well and we were giving her extra attention. We have pulled many rabbits through GI stasis before but this was different.

They both were perfectly fine at bedtime and  uncoordinated or not eating  the next morning.  The fecal sample on the 2nd bunny had Clostridium and coccidia. They both had a little mushy poop occasionally but mostly normal poop so I didn't think much of it.

I have since treated 7 of the rabbits with Albon for 10 days. 4 out of 10 fecal samples had coccidia and 1 had clostridium.

I treated some rabbits that appeared negative. Tonight, I noticed one of my little lops has soft stool and she is on day 8 of Albon. I am wondering if it is the Albon that is giving her the soft stool so I did not give her the dose tonight.  I wondered if I should give her METRONIDAZOLE tonight?? I am afraid that I am going to wake up in the morning and have the same thing happen to her even though she is acting fine otherwise!

My vet is not an exotic vet. She is very helpful but sometimes I think she makes mistakes with these bunnies!

Can any soft stool cause clostridium even if it is just from the Albon????

Thanks, Janet

ANSWER: Dear Janet,

The signs you describe don't sound consistent with typical coccidiosis.  And Clostridium overgrowth isn't caused by mushy stool; it's the other way around.  Albon, a sulfa antibiotic, should not harm the normal GI flora of the rabbit, so I very much doubt this is the problem, unless the wrong drug has been administered by some bizarre accident.

The only way to know what is actually going on here is to have a necropsy done, including histopathology and culture and sensitivity testing on major organ tissues (lungs, intestines, kidneys, liver, etc.)  To me, this sounds more like per-acute systemic toxemia from some bacterial pathogen, and it might not be just the Clostridium.

Since both Clostridium and many other common rabbit pathogens are still sensitive to penicillins, I would ask the vet about having some injectible Penicillin-G Procaine on hand to administer intramuscularly in case a bunny starts acting like this again.  If the pathogens are suspected to be intestinal, then metronidazole would help against Clostridium, and oral *ciprofloxacin* will help cover against most others.  But if the bunny is already running a fever, then it's critical to get the antibiotics into the system as quickly as possible, and our vets usually do this with an IM injection of Penicillin-G Procaine and/or Baytril (enrofloxacin), then switch to orals for the latter (to ciprofloxacin).

I hope no more of your bunnies die.  But if anyone does, she or he could save the others' lives with a necropsy to reveal what is actually going on here.  I fear it may be more complicated than just coccidia or Clostridium.

Also, we've found that Albon isn't very effective at treating coccidiosis quickly, which is critical for severe cases.  Ponazuril (Marquis from Bayer), diluted to 100mg/ml for easier administration to a rabbit, is excellent for this purpose.  If your vet is willing to try this, you can get a horse tube for just over $200, and this will treat dozens of rabbits, puppies and kittens.  Very well worth the investment, in my opinion!

Is the bunny getting other supportive care, such as subQ fluids, temperature monitoring/regulation, etc?  Please see:

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

for emergency instructions.

I hope this helps.

Dana  

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Dana,
Thankyou for your reply. The bunnies who died did get fluids and temp monitoring.   I am not sure of the meaning of "per-acute systemic toxemia from some bacterial pathogen" that you mentioned in your response.

(I just read on the Bunderground website about the RVHD in Minnesota, and I transported 2 bunnies here from Michigan in December).  Hopefully it is totally unrelated.


One of the bunnies that died did have the mucous stool and did have clostridium and coccidia. I saw it myself under the microscope.  Another bunny here had the same thing which I also saw. He seems to be doing well and finished his 10 day treatment of Albon. Should he have gotten another medicine like Metronidazole for the clostridium too???

Should I retest the fecals on the bunnies who had these things???

Unfortunately, I didn't treat all 16 of the rabbits together.  I work 40 hours now and it has been a much bigger challenge caring for them all lately.  

I have 6 other rabbits who have not been tested or treated.  Do you think I should treat them with Albon, even if their fecals test negative???  I hope to do the rest of the fecals this coming weekend.


The lop bunny who I am currently concerned about seems fine.  A lot of my rabbits will get soft stool especially after giving them vegetables. I gave them all a piece of dandelion today and a bit of lettuce and some rabbits have soft stool tonight.

Maybe I am just overly concerned at this point after losing the 2 other rabbits?

Thankyou for your advice on the injectable Pen G and the Marquis.  I am not sure if my vet has the Marquis in house or not. I will ask.

Sincerely, Janet in NH

Answer
Dear Janet,

To tell you the truth, RHD did cross my mind.  But since you didn't mention anyone hemorrhaging, I dismissed it.  I sure hope it's not that!  But if you have any concern about that, discuss it with your vet so that tissues can be sent to the CDC for confirmation.

If some of the bunnies have coccidia, and they all have been exposed to each other's feces, then it might not be a bad idea to treat everyone.  Though I will say that Marquis will likely give you much quicker results than Albon.  (We now dose it at 50mg/kg once per day for 5-7 days)

If you do lose anyone else (I hope not!) I seriously would recommend the necropsy with histopathology. You just can't know for sure what's happening without that.

Dana