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About Lee Meyer (Mr.)
Expertise
I have 5+ years of experience with House Rabbits, rescue groups, and working with shelter rabbits. I do educational talks about house rabbits. I advise potential adopters, supervise bunny 'dates', fundraising/educational rabbit events, and help rabbit owners with their rabbits. I will answer questions about: general behaviors, body language, housing, toys, bunny-proofing, diet, spaying/neutering issues, nail clips, preventative measures, diet, and health questions. I will not discuss: anything that deals with rabbits for fur, food, factory-style breeding, deliberate or casual breeding by pet owners, or experimentation.

My focus is solely on rabbits as loved pets. It's why I'm a House Rabbit Society member rather than an ARBA member. If you don't view your rabbit the same way you would a pet dog or cat, please ask another expert your question.

I am not a veterinarian and cannot conclusively diagnose your rabbit. My advice does not take the place of a good rabbit vet. IF YOU THINK THERE'S A PROBLEM, DON'T WAIT FOR A REPLY, GET TO A VET IMMEDIATELY!!! Sometimes what appears to be a small problem is life-threatening.

The House Rabbit Society has references on their site for vets they have researched. There are US and international links here for vets all over the world with rabbit experience: www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

I recommend the following resources to all rabbit owners:

House Rabbit Society - online rabbit info (www.rabbit.org)
Book: Rabbit Health in the 21st Century 2nd Ed. by Kathy Smith
Book: House Rabbit Handbook 4th Ed. by Marinell Harriman

Experience
House Rabbit Member since 2004 Discover Your House Rabbit organizer - 2006 Rabbit Adopter since 2004 HAWS Board of Education member (rabbits) since 2005 HAWS Rabbit Volunteer since 2004

Organizations
National House Rabbit Society, Wisconsin House Rabbit Society, Humane Animal Welfare Society (HAWS), Education Board Member for Rabbits, Friends of HAWS

Education/Credentials
BSEE, MSEE (Electrical/Computer Engineering), Marquette University

You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Veterinary Medicine > Rabbits > E. Cun Infection? Contagioius? Help?

Rabbits - E. Cun Infection? Contagioius? Help?

Expert: Lee Meyer (Mr.) - 11/5/2009

Question

Daisy and Scooter

We just adopted our second bun, Daisy, about 2 weeks go to bond with Scooter, our current bun. After bringing her home, we noticed her back legs were acting a little out of the ordinary, but I thought it may have been from being stuck in cages. (She was at the humane society...then adopted out...then returned to the human society as "unwanted"... then adopted out again to us.) So I was figured from some of her other actions she has been stuck in a cage by previous owners. Our first bun, Scooter, is a house trained rabbit and has free roam even while we are at work. The only time he's locked up is when we sleep (he would be jumping on the bed otherwise). We want Daisy to learn the same regimen that Scooter is on, and we have been leaving her gated in her own room to roam during the day. She does walk some what funny with her hind legs but seemed to get a little better. She scratches at her ears frequently and last Friday when we took her to the vet, we found out she has small cataracts. She seems to get fatigued easily (one round of playing and she has to fully sprawl out for a nap). She sleeps longer than Scooter during the day as well. She turns 3 yrs old today. I feel like she is too young to develop cataracts, and with the minor back legs issues, I would rather be proactive than reactive if this is an infection. I called our vet about testing her and am awaiting her call back.

My question for you is does this sound likely for E.Cunnalingi ( ?) infection or am I paranoid? Also, is E.Cunnalingi infections contagious because we do not want our Scooter being affected (we have put dating between them on hold, until we figure this out and they can only see each other, but did switch boxes on one prior occasion).
I am concerned for our buns as they mean the world to my husband and I.

Thank you for any advice that you have,
Keri

Answer
Update

Hi, I didn't mention it in the reply, but I would have her tested for that, and have bloodwork done to see if she's deficient in anything or if her white blood cell count is high. All of this can help figure out what problem(s) she may have.

End Update

E Cuniculi is a parasite, it can be transmitted.

It could be that, it could be that her rear legs are not very well-muscled or tone yet and that she might feel it more now than she will later on. It could be e cuniculi, but it also could be a bacterial infection or a physical injury that is affecting the nerves in her back that go to her legs.

Probably wasn't fed well either so she could be deficient in vitamins. Often vitamin E is lacking and that can cause some rear end/leg paralysis, so if you have a vitamin e gel pill around, with a clean needle tip or clean scissors tip poke or cut a hole in the gel, squirt it on her pellets or mix in with a little petromalt and give to her on your finger.

I'd also pick up some vitamin supplements for rabbits from the pet supply store and every once in awhile put some in their water.

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