Stiedai causes serious alterations and causes lesions that affect the normal metabolism of the liver and, consequently, cause growth retardation and, sometimes, the disappearance of the parasitized animal. However, it is very common for it to go unnoticed and to be discovered after a necropsy, due to the appearance of the liver. When diarrhea is caused by a sudden change in nutrition, one of the greatest dangers of diarrhea is fluid loss, for this reason a very effective treatment is to provide your pet with oral serum. Many vets suggest keeping your rabbit hydrated and, if he doesn’t want to, use an intravenous line. Having a pet rabbit is a great commitment, since it is not only about feeding it or cleaning its cage, we must also monitor its health. Among the points where rabbits are weakest in health is in their gastrointestinal tract, which is why diarrhea in rabbits is one of the most common and dangerous pathologies, since it can cause many problems for our furry.
We should never extrapolate treatments from dogs and cats to rabbits and rodents, let alone from humans to these species. The rabbit is infected with oocysts orally, after hatching they release sporozoites and are introduced through the intestinal mucosa and through the lymphatic system they reach the liver. In the sexual phase, the oocysts are suppressed through the bile duct without sporulating, they do so in the environment for a couple of days, so reinfection with cecotrophs is not possible. The time that elapses from the moment the host ingests an infective form until it is excreted in feces is 18 days.
As rabbits do not have the possibility to burp or vomit, the gas has to be evacuated through the entire intestinal transit until it exits through the rectum. The good news is that the gas produced by the bacteria in the rabbit’s intestinal transit is odorless. Many of the food-borne diarrheas improve without treatment, but if your rabbit stopped eating, then if you have to worry. In other situations, changing the diet will only be part of the treatment, since the cure will come from addressing the underlying disease.
Main causes
Younger animals are more affected by coccidiosis than adults, especially due to the influence that immunity has on reinfections. However, as Coudert et al. lactating young rabbits, under normal rearing conditions, have natural resistance to infection before 20 days of age. As in other animal species, infection by Eimeria spp.
The damage is especially produced when the antibiotics are administered orally, but the parenteral route is not safe in many cases either. In the progression of the pathology, under natural conditions, multiple species of coccidia are involved, so the symptoms change depending on the Eimeria species, the intensity of the infection and the general condition of the parasitized animals. At the same time, the advance of the bacterial flora, especially Escherichia coli, is frequent, which complicates and aggravates the symptoms of the disease. The first apparent symptom is diarrhea that appears between the 4th and 6th day after infection, with a maximum from the 8th to 10th day, and then decreases over 3 or 4 days (Lebas et al., 1997). . There is also dehydration that can be seen by the persistence of skin folds.
Diarrhea Caused by Poor Diet
Treatment lies in general supportive measures and the use of antibiotics, but you have to keep in mind that these do not completely suppress the bacteria and the rabbit remains a carrier. In addition to this, this disease that causes diarrhea in rabbits can be transmitted to people and also causes severe diarrhea, especially in small ones. Little by little we will have to return to give him the diet we gave him before changing it, give him fluid therapy from the first moment and even offer him nutritional supplements to help restore his intestinal flora well.
We will leave both feed and cold water at your disposal in case you feel like eating or drinking by yourself. Coccidiosis currently represents the most recurrent parasitosis diagnosed in rabbits, with a higher incidence in the first three weeks after weaning. Subscribe nowI accept the terms, conditions and privacy policy. Rabbits eat their own droppings, not the normal ones, which are really an excretion product, but rather ones known as cecotrophs. If it is coccidiosis or any other parasite, there are specific medical treatments to kill them, so that the diarrhea will disappear. In case of disease, the sooner it is noticed, the easier it will be to treat it.
If your rabbit has diarrhea and you don’t know why, don’t miss this new product. We tell you the possible causes and how to treat your rabbit so that it gets well. Very severe diarrhea in rabbits caused by toxins released by a type of bacteria called Clostridium.
The indiscriminate use of antibiotics in rabbits and pet rodents (hamsters, guinea pigs, etc.) can cause disorders or even disappearance, since their metabolism is different from that of dogs and cats and they are considerably more sensitive to antibiotic therapy than these. It is produced by foreign bodies (plastic, paper, sand from the sanitary tray), impacted food or hairballs. The symptoms are identical to gastric stasis, so care must be taken to make an optimal diagnosis since wrong treatment can be fatal. As a laboratory guideline, a glucose greater than 360 mg/dl in animals with symptoms of obstruction is a sure sign that surgery is necessary because there really is an obstruction.
Bad digestions in rabbits
These are often interspersed with normal, dry droppings, so the group is exposed as a kind of amorphous mass. It is essential to know the cause in order to take the most appropriate measures. If your rabbit’s diarrhea is due to an improper diet, the appropriate changes will have to be made, which will be determined by the veterinarian.
Prevention of Diarrhea in Rabbits
The changes must be progressive, adding a higher proportion of fiber, until a healthier and more balanced diet is achieved for our rabbit. If we combine a high proportion of carbohydrates, with slow digestion, we will have a perfect cocktail for Clostridium and Escherichia bacteria to increase, which, as we understand, are the origin of diarrheal processes. This is one of the reasons why diarrhea can lead to dehydration and severe damage to the intestines, so treating diarrhea in rabbits immediately is very important.
If you have seen that these are liquid and it has been a long time, then you should go to the vet, since he will know how to cure diarrhea in rabbits. Find out if he has stolen food from your house or eaten a plant in the garden, or even worse, if he had access to medicines, cleaning products, etc. There are antibiotic drugs that can harm and weaken the animal’s intestinal flora, allowing various germs to infest and proliferate this part of the rabbit’s digestive system. Some of these antibiotics are penicillin, ampicillin, erythromycin, and lincomycin.