EC Recovery

[bunzmcfunz]

After about 2-3 months of a wet bottom, we finally found a vet that diagnosed our poor bun with EC. Her kidneys are fine, and she is on her second week of treatment, but I’m beginning to wonder if this wet bottom will ever go away. I’ve spent hours looking around online for an answer, but the best I can come up with is that there may he lesions in her brain causing her to become wet, and issues caused by brain lesions don’t always go away. Long story short, my question to bun parents who have dealt with EC is, do they ever recover from things like urinary incontinence? It’s so sad seeing her beautiful white fur stained.

[vanessa]

Hi, I’m so sorry that yoru bunny got EC. I had a bunny euthenized because of EC, and my current little guy Lancelot, is recovering from EC. I have a post titled “Lancelot has bladder/arthritis issues”. Take a look at his EC journey. Short story – I noticed his dragging legs and peeing everywhere in July. He has had 2×28 day rounds of fenbendazole, a 9 day round, and with every round, I give him 1 dose of ivermectin, with a second dose 10 days later. He went from oompletely paralyzed and zero bladder control, to walking normally (same old limp), with some bladder contro. I used to be able to hold him vertically, and gravity woudl drain his bladder. He has enough control now that sometimes he uses the litter box, sometimes not. So his bedroom has peepads all over the floor. He still pees everywhere. I still have urine scald issues to deal with, although not as bad. At least he is strong enough to hold himself square while peeing, so he has stopped peeing on his weaker leg. Now, when he pees opn the puppy pads, the pee collects in the impression left by his foot. So his hocks are getting urine scald. If I am there when he pees, I can pick him up and move him to a dry pee pad. Otherwise, he sits in his pee. So I still have stained fur to tend to, and he still gets a foot/butt bath once a week. I cut his fur to help it dry easier. I don’t know if Lancelot will recover his incontinence. It’s been 5 months. He has made amazing improvement, but I’d say he only has 50% of his bladder control back. I use herbal therapy as well.Oxbow Natural Science urinary support and immune support, and skin/coat support. Honestly I give him all of their tablets, but I think those are the most important. Be aware that EC comes and goes. Watch for reappearing symptoms. If the back feet are positioned forward of the front, they are weak. That’s a sign. Watch for limping, head nodding, and general feeling ill. I saw Lancelot’s symptoms come back last month, so I gave him a 9-day round. You’ll want to give her the fenbendazole twice a year. After case studies I read, I’m giving it twice a year to Lancelot from now on, with 4 rounds of ivermectin a year. (A round is 1 dose, then 1 dose 10 days later).

[vanessa]

By the way- the lesions are in the CNS. The brain isn’t getting the signal tht the bladder needs to pee. So it gets full, and leaks out when it is too full to hold anymore. This is not good. Pee shouldn’t be staying in the bladder for that long, as it can cause a UTI. It would be helpful for your vet to show you how to express her bladder. Most of the time, I am NOT successful at it. The vet makes it look so easy. It’s as if Lancelot won’t pee for me when I am tryign to express his bladder. But as soon as I put him down – he pees. So I take that as a small positive. I was advised to express his bladder once or twice a day, to help keep UTIs at bay, and to help control where he pees, to avoid urine scald. Lancelot was also on meds for a UTI due to the full bladder.

[bunzmcfunz]

Thanks for your response! Some binky posts did come up in my Google searches, but not about urinary incontinence in specific so thank-you again! I will search for your posts about Lancelot.

From my understanding we have been very fortunate, the only symptom she has had is a wet bottom. It’s a bit strange as well, because she doesn’t leave messes around the cage and always makes it to the litter, she just gets it all over her fur. We do have her shaved, but she’s managed to get it higher up on her belly fur now!

I was looking at the Oxbow tablets last we were at the vet. It’s good to hear positive feedback on them.

[vanessa]

How is her posture? How did the vet determine it is EC? Do her legs appear weak at all? Have they ruled out UTI?

[vanessa]

Is she getting urine on her skin?

[bunzmcfunz]

Her legs are still strong, and her posture seems okay. Basically we initially took her to a vet for a lump, so we had a cancer scare.

Thankfully that went away, then she had some gi issues which is really the beginning to her wet tail. She was put on stool firming meds and antibiotics in case of a uti. We also changed her diet because she lost a noticeable amount of weight. It all came back plus a couple extra healthy pounds.

With our second last trip we brought in a urine sample and the vet did an x-ray. He was very concerned about her kidneys even though the x-ray didn’t show any sludge or abnormalities. He set up an appointment for us with a specialized clinic. The vet there noticed her cataract (something that another vet said was probably nothing) and said given her history, it’s very possibly ec so we began treatment and she sent off some blood for testing. Kidneys are good, high amounts of ec. It could have been triggered by stress as we recently moved across country (a three day, cramped trip) and everything for the climate to altitude is very different here.

The antibiotics did seem to clear up her wet tail for a day or two, bit overall they didn’t make too much difference :/ I definitely am grateful that her symptoms are so mild, even if it did cost us a lot extra trying to diagnose her.

[bunzmcfunz]

Sorry! Forgot to mention that she does get urine on her skin. Her fur was falling out and she was very swollen down below. The metcam and cream prescribed have been doing wonders though!

[vanessa]

I’ve read that stress can contribute to the illness, but I have no idea what Lancelot’s stressor was. Lancelot also had a cateract. He is nearly blind. With the urine scald – the issue is the brain not getting the message that the bladder is full, so when it leaks out, it gets on the skin. That also means the rabbit doesn’t know she is peeing, and is likely to sit in her pee. Lancelot does that. So aside from keeping her nether-hair short, you should also focus on keeping the litter area clean and dry. Short hair helps you see the condition of the skin, and helps the hair dry better when you need to bath her. Bathing is critical for getting the urine off the skin. I use chlorahexadine shampoo, which is a pet-safe antiseptic shampoo. Drying them is not so easy. I bought a hair dryer – but it sure takes a while. You dn’t want to leave them with damp hair after a bath. It sounds like you are doing everythign you can at the moment. It will take some time to see improvements.

[Author]

Messages