Rabbit with e. cuniculi - will she get better?

[overthemill]

my dd is animal mad. Yesterday one of her lovely rabbits started to have fits and has a twisted head and dragging foot. Took to the vet immediately and she said it is e.cuniculi which is a parastitic infection - can't innoculate against it, generally from the mother rabbit and it isn't catching. She gave us advice and pancur (plus shot of anti-inflamatory).
What I want to know is, has anyone had a rabbit with this that has survived? The vet wasn't hopeful (in quiet chat to me) she said the next 24 hours was critical.
Today rabbit is no better - i think worse - and my dd who is a very mature 10 year old has asked me if i think we should put her to sleep because she is so sad (rabbit but obv dd is too). Rabbit slept in her room last night - normally an outdoor rabbit) with a rug over her as they need to be kept quiet and in the dark.
i think it may be best to put rabbit to sleep as she seems to be fitting about every 15 minutes and it is truly horrible to see. DD is at school now and i've promised i won't do anything while she is at school.
what i wondered is whether anyone else has had a rabbit recover with a good quality of life? We ae complete animal lovers - last year our beloved dog developed cancer and had to be put to sleep and dd does understand it all.
so, anyone had this and got better?

well i think she is completely out of it. when i sneak a look under rug i think she's dead. then she jerks and fits and twists all over the place. she is then quiet again for afew minutes. it breaks my heart tbh.

we've had loads of rabbits and this one is the loveliest, sweetest most affectionate one ever. she gets on her hind legs and licks dd and rushes up to her when she calls her name. i really love her

I have seen this in several rabbits and with good supportive care the majority do get over this - assuming the diagnosis is correct which it probably is from what you say history wise. I would give her a bit longer personally. She will need support feeding if she is not taking food herself - talk to your vet for more advice about this - and of course about the decisions you should or should not make.

Hope things go well.

Get onto the rabbit rehome website and ask for advice there, loads of bunny experts. She will need syringe feeding asap as rabbits get gut stasis which can be fatal if they don't eat nearly constantly.

Hope she recovers.

just back from vet's. vet says she thinks she is no better, probably worse. gave her another shot and we're increasing dose of pancur. she suggests keeping a diary until friday and deciding then. she thinks she won't improve but that we are not being cruel by keeping her like this for a few days but that she thinks we will probably have to put her to sleep. if we keep a diary it gives dd something proactive to do. so we wait afew more days but the lielihood is taht she'll have one big fit and die. poor baby (rabbit and dd)

Sorry to hear that. This link may be useful, some expereince here.

forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=211516&highlight=e.cuniculi

gothdetective, thanks for the link it's really helpful. Makes me feel more hopeful too. I so want this bunny to live but don't want to prolong any agony. We have so many other crap (human illness very severe) stuff going on that i feel my dcs need their furry mates to love but not at the expense of humane treatment. thanks, will let you know what happens

How is she?

Gothdetective - she had a huge fit on tuesday night and we took her to the emergency vet after my dd decided that she was being cruel. So beloved bunny was pts tuesday night. much sobbing and heartache by dd (and me) and we had a sweet burial ceremony for herlater at home.

vet said she'd be doing the same thing - she was so ill and suffering so i feel we (probably) made the right decision. dd was sad yesterday at bedtime - worrying she'd been mean to her bunny because she couldn't bear to see her so ill. And heartache because she had to let the vet take her into a back room and she feels she abandoned her.
its a horrid disease and i know bunny was really badly affected. some may recover but it did seem very unlikely indeed.

Sorry she didn't make it.

Hi I had my rabbit Harvey (mini lop) at eight weeks old and he was fine at nine weeks he started to go round in circles and his eyes started to flick, I took him striaght to the vets and he was diagnosed with ecuniculi he was put on a 30 day dose of panacur along side a five day dose of baytril. The day after the symptoms stopped, however he could not stand very well and started to flip over when he tried to balance. The new vet I saw told me to put him to sleep however I left him the 30 days and he started to regain his balance but still flipped over. He was very poorly for six months and three vets told me to put him to sleep. I insisted however as he improved at home but could not stand up outside his cage that we change his medicine to septrin instead of baytril. Which appeared to help his head tilt. Still very poorly he developed and eye problem I was told to operate would be too much for him so I should put him to sleep. However giving him one more chance I took him to a specialist who disagreed with the other vets. he cut the medicine down to just baytril and treated the eye which had been banged and did not have to be removed. We stopped the baytril after a week and aside from a very slight head tilt and a dragging back leg he is a very happy healthy bunny he can walk fine on the grass and plays with my other rabbits.
From what I can gather providing it is treated early enough and you persist a rabbit can make a full recovery leaving just a slight head tilt, and dragging back leg. It does take dedication and a lot of hand feeding its also cost me around £1,500 and he's worth every penny. From the research I have done it appears the rabbit is only contagious for the first 30 days I treated my other three with panacur for 9 days and they have not shown any symptoms this is six months on however I am treating them all every six months with a nine day course.
Harvey looked like he was fitting a lot of the time but because of his age I was quite persistent the first vet I saw said it was cruel to keep him alive but looking at him now I'm so glad I didn't give in as it looked bad for a long time and I was in tears for weeks. I think each case depends on the rabbit you have to do what you feel is right for your pet.

I've seen some good rabbits go to this, worming for 28 days straight with panacur rabbit was recommended - always go with an exotics qualified vet if you can. Rabbits are classed as an exotic species by vets and they will be most up to date on any breakthroughs in treatments rather than small animal vets which are basically cat and dog vets. Really sorry for your poor bun