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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A HELP!!! Toby has worms!

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    • Cristina
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        Hey Guys!

        Today Toby jumped up on the couch with me to play. He laid a little present for me and scampered off. When I went to pick it up I saw small white worms crawling all over it. I panicked!!! I’ve done a lot of research on all the illness buns con contact and had NEVER heard of this. 

        When I cleaned out his litterbox this morning, I didn’t notice it. I called the vet right away, and thankfully she answered even though it was after hours. Her assistant said the vet was shocked and had never had a rabbit with this before. I’m going to bring him in tomorrow morning, and for now they had me store the poop with worms until they can exam it tomorrow.

        I am super worried for Toby. If anyone could tell me if this is fatal or what causes it I would really appreciate it. I didn’t even know rabbits could get worms and I’m also concerned for our other 2 boys. Bertie just got netuered yesterday and Gus and he are both being treated for ear mites. So for now I am keeping Toby and his cage in a seperate room because I don’t want the other boys to get it too.


      • bullrider76543
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          I havent had to deal with it before, but my vet ssid it was possible for bunnies to get worms just like cats and dogs, and has vaccinated all my buns except for the youngest two Raven and Cinnamon.


        • Cristina
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            Hmm…I’ve never heard about bunny vacinations before. What are they for and how much do they cost? I’m curious now. I may need to look into that for Toby…


          • bullrider76543
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              My vet only charged me $20 for the shots, she also said that Revolution for small animals can prevent it too(along with fleas) and it was only $19 I would ask your vet about it.


            • Kokaneeandkahlua
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                Oh too bad!!!

                YEs bunnies can get worms. If you can keep that poop in a bag and bring it in, as well as a fresh sample that’s best.

                It wouldn’t actually be a ‘vaccine’, as they are for viruses not parasites but perhaps you mean an injectible dewormer?
                I’ve heard too that revolution works-it does I think almost all worms except tapeworms, and you just squirt it on their neck.

                Keep us posted!!


              • BinkyBunny
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                  And if it is a tapeworm, which it could be, that’s treatable too. The only thing you want to watch out for is flystrike, but this doesn’t sound like that — it looked like a worm, not a maggot right?


                • Cristina
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                    They were very thin and white. I’ve never seen a maggot so I’m not 100% sure. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow for sure. I took pictures but didn’t want to gross people out so I didn’t post them. LOL 
                     
                    I did call the breeder I got him from, and she told me to go to the feed supply and buy a chicken dewormer and put about 3 drops in his water. She told me that flies lay larva in their litter box and they can pick it up and get worms. There was a fly buzzing around and we tried to kill it but it was a few days before we could get it. He always hid when we pulled the fly swatter out. I’m going to try to search online to see if i can pin point what bug it is…


                  • jerseygirl
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                      It sounds like pin worms and theyre pretty common in rabbits. I’ve just finished treating mine for that. I discovered it the same way as you. My youngest rabbit hopped onto my lap and left a present. I checked her butt and saw some there too. Ew! Checked her mum and thought i could see one… Had she not leftme that present, I wouldn’t have known she had worms because looking in the litterbox gave no clue.

                      I went to vet and he gave me panacur to treat them and my other rabbits as a preventative.

                      Potamus was born at my house and hasn’t been outside so I assumed she picked them up from Maple (her mum).

                      Anyway, super common and super treatable.


                    • RabbitPam
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                        These are all good suggestions, but I would try to avoid starting him on anything until the vet has seen him and the worm sample. You don’t want to have a bad medication interaction, or delay her prescription because you started something else. Since he’s seeing her today, you can ask her about the different options.


                      • bullrider76543
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                          I so want to second Rabbit pam, like I said these are things to discuss with your vet!!!! and its important for the vet to see a fresh sample.


                        • Sarita
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                            I’ve had a vet with pinworms and it was eradicated with panacur. You need to have a vet prescribe the medication and then do a follow up to make sure the worms are gone.

                            I would be concerned too that the rabbit came from a breeder with worms – mine came from a shelter and was a stray.


                          • Cristina
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                              JerseyGirl- Thank you!!!! I was up till 4 am googling fly streak and the gruesome pictures had me curled up in a ball crying and freaked out. I really have no clue how he got it. I’m just thankful he happened to give me a wormy present otherwise I never would’ve known! I’ve been checking his box, and even used gloves and broken open his poops to inspect and have never seen any more. I am so thankful for that otherwise I never would’ve known he had them!

                              Pam- that was exactly my thinking too! I wanted to see what the vet said first and find out exactly what it is and then go from there.

                              Bull Rider- I have his sample on ice! haha And got some fresh ones packed away this morning so the vet could look over everything. Looks like we had the same thought!

                              Sarita- I actually got him about 6 weeks ago, maybe even closer to 8. And the worms were so tiny I almost didn’t even think they were there. So they appear to be pretty “young” . So it must be something he got after I got him, which freaks me out! I clean his cage and litterbox every single day and spray it down with vinegar. He’s inside and I take the best care of him that I can. I honestly don’t know how this happened… The only thing I can think of is our water. We live way out in the country and have a water well. We treat it and run it through a system but I have to get dewormed myself every few months. I have a lot of stomach problems and my tummy can’t fight off what I pick up either from walking barefoot, in the water or through all the fresh veggies I get. I was wondering if maybe Toby could’ve gotten them from the water and wanted to discuss it with the vet. It’s the only thing I could think of …


                            • tobyluv
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                                One of my bunnies (that we found on the side of the road) had tapeworms. She was given one injection of Droncit and it got rid of them. The worms weren’t in all of her droppings. The first batch of droppings that I took to the vet didn’t have any, but I saw some in her droppings a couple of days later and the vet confirmed it was tapeworm. She likely got tapeworm from eating vegetation outside that other animals had gone to the bathroom on. We don’t know how long she was out before we found her.

                                For pinworms Fenbenadzole (Panacur) is the usual treatment.

                                Here is one article about worms in rabbits:

                                http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Parasitic_diseases/Nematodes.PDF


                              • Sarita
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                                  Usually it’s caused by ingestion from dirt or something like that, not water.


                                • Cristina
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                                    TobyLuv- that info you gave me was AMAZING!!! Thank you so much for that! I am totally gonna book mark that for any future things that may come up!

                                    UPDATE!!!

                                    The vet was fascinated by Toby’s worms and could not wait to get a look at them! LOL She confirmed that they were pin worms and told me that when she put his ONE piece of poop under a microscope there were over 1000 eggs in it, in addition to the worms. AHHH!!! Toby is on Panacur. I was afraid it would cost me a fortune, which worried me since I just spent money getting Bertie neutered this week. The office visit was $46, fecal float test was $26 and meds were $19. The awesome part was she gave me enough meds for all 3 boys to get treated in case Toby passed it on to them. And she didn’t charge me for the other 2 boys meds. YAY!!! hehe

                                    She also told me as bad as his pin worms were, there was no way he could have gotten them from my home. She said he would’ve already had it by the time I got him. So I guess I was feeling bad about my care for him and freaking out when I didn’t really need to be. Although I’m glad I got him in quickly, poor little guy was plum FULL of pinworms and eggs. YUCK!

                                    Thanks everyone for all your concern and awesome insight! As always, ya’ll are AWESOME!!! =)


                                  • LittlePuffyTail
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                                      Glad you got the situation taken care of. My skin is crawling from reading this, I have to admit.


                                    • tobyluv
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                                        I’m glad that Toby is getting treated and I hope that takes care of the pinworms very quickly. It’s almost unimaginable that there could be over 1000 worm eggs in a single dropping. That’s scary too!

                                        Medirabbit is a good reference site. I have several rabbit care books and check out a few other rabbit care websites too. I think it’s good to be as informed as possible.


                                      • CinnabunMom
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                                          I’m with LPT: my skin is crawling. I’m also obsessively checking Cinnabun’s litter box every time she hops out….she probably thinks I’ve gone crazy. Keep us updated!


                                        • Beka27
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                                            Ick, ick, ick. I’m glad you’ve gotten him checked out and the Panacur, but still… ICK! Lol…

                                            I also didn’t realize there could be so many eggs in one poop. That’s crazy!

                                            I know with Coccidia, breeders will sometimes treat the water, but the concentration is too low to fully eradicate the problem, it just “controls it” (until you take the bun home and they get sick). I wonder if the breeder was using drops in the water for worms, enough to keep them under control, but not enough to fully get rid of them? I’d contact the breeder again and urge him/her to get her rabbits checked out by an actual vet, because if she’s doing worming drops, it’s obviously not fixing the problem.


                                          • bullrider76543
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                                              OMG after reading this I was Looking at Blue and went into a full blown panic moment as I saw something hanging from his botom!!!!! after running to the kitchen to grab a pair of latex gloves(bennifit from being a medic got tons LOL) I opend his pen and reached in to find the seedy top of a peice of timothy hay, ARGH now I am seeing worms ICK!!!! and Blue looked at me like I lost my mind…silly hoo mins…


                                            • tobyluv
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                                                Many years ago, I thought that one of my other rabbits had worms. As I saw her leave a pile of droppings, I noticed a few small white squiggly things among the droppings. I started to panic, sure that they were worms. Then I noticed that the little worms weren’t squirming any more. I looked more closely at them and realized what they were. I had spilled some bird seed a day or two before and obviously didn’t get it all up. Toby must have eaten some seeds and they quickly germinated inside her moist, manure filled intestinal tract. What I thought was worms was instead tiny seedlings that were moving since they were alive, but they died and stopped moving shortly after she expelled them. Upon close inspection, I could see the tiny seeds at the end of the sprouts.


                                              • skunklionshow
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                                                  One of my cats had a very difficult case of worms to treat.  She had just about every type of worm imaginable, including the lung worms (coughed them up–super gross)!  She was pregnant when I found her so she went into worm remission.  Babies were dewormed as was she after they were of age.  She still had worms.  We worked up to being on Panacur for almost 6 mos.  Super gross!  Oddly enough Panacur was what we used at one point for Jessica’s (rabbit) head tilt.  It is a horse dewormer that tends to be VERY effective.  It tends to taste super gross…I guess horses aren’t picky, so that’s why it’s not usually a first line tx in small animals. 

                                                  PS your toby looks just like my tobey (I don’t have a picture up)….but it kills me they look exactly alike!

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                                              Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A HELP!!! Toby has worms!