Eimeriosis of rabbits: causes, symptoms, treatment methods

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Eimeriosis, or coccidiosis, is the most common invasive disease of young rabbits that damages the digestive organs. Mortality among young animals reaches almost one hundred percent. Most often, rabbits are exposed to the disease from one to five months. Due to eimeriosis, many farms are closed and the number of animals is significantly reduced.

Eimeriosis rabbits. Parasitology

The disease occurs due to intracellular parasites of the coccidia subclass. The causative agents of eimeriosis are more likely to parasitize in the intestine, eight different types of eimeria have been recorded affecting intestinal epithelial cells. It is also possible parasitism in the walls, mucous membrane and parenchyma of the liver. Young rabbits are affected, but are often found in adults, for which these parasites are not so harmful.

Protected by the shell from environmental factors, the oocyst is able to exist in the environment for a long time and is highly resistant to high andlow temperatures, due to which infection is possible even in a place where there have not been animals with eimeriosis for a long time. The parasite is spread by sick rabbits. Also, bedding, fleas and ticks, mice and rats can serve as the cause of the disease. Eimeriosis of rabbits is most common in summer and late spring, at high average daily temperatures. In late autumn and winter, the incidence of diseases is significantly reduced.

Pathogen development cycle

The development of the causative agent of rabbit eimeriosis is very complex. The parasite enters the body of the animal with food, in the form of protected stores of asexual specimens of the parasite - oocysts. After passing through the gastrointestinal tract, the oocyst membranes break down and the parasites enter the intestinal lumen. Fixing on the walls, they begin to quickly increase their number. The sporozoite develops into a multinucleated cell that forms the first asexual generation. In turn, they are re-introduced into the walls of the intestine and after reproduction, sexual individuals of eimeria appear - hemets.

Sexual parasites, different in size, unite into a zygote, forming a protected shell containing sporozoites - an oocyst. It comes out during the act of defecation with feces out, and attaches to the feed, enters the water, remains on the rabbits' fur and their bedding. Infective oocysts enter the gastrointestinal tract of other rabbits, where they begin their life cycle again. That is why the eimeriosis of rabbits and other farm animals is very dangerous. Worth getting aloneanimal - the parasites will quickly spread to everyone else.

Eimeriosis symptoms

The disease can occur in the intestinal, hepatic or combined enterohepatic stage, which is particularly dangerous. In farms, it is the mixed form of the disease that most often occurs. Eimeriosis of rabbits can manifest itself acutely, chronically or subacutely. Chronic manifestation most often occurs in the process of coprophagia - eating one's own litter.

Sick rabbits become lethargic, weakness occurs. The animal will spend a lot of time on its stomach. Loss of appetite, swelling of the stomach, stop moving. The mucous membranes become whitish. The wool sticks out in all directions, the sheen of the fur is absent.

Over time, the rabbits begin to eat a lot, then strongly vilify, multiple urination appears. Fecal matter may contain blood. The growth of rabbits significantly slows down, the weight decreases. The general depressed state comes to a lack of reaction to external stimuli. Mucous membranes may become covered with yellow films. Convulsions and twitches are possible, especially before the death of rabbits.

Patological changes

When rabbits are eimeriosis, animal corpses will be thin. Mucous membranes are distinguished by either extreme whitishness or a pronounced yellow color. At autopsy, severely affected areas of the liver and intestines will be pronounced. The mucous membrane is very inflamed, it will have many films and lumps of whitishyellowish color. Blotches of blood are possible, in some places the intestines will be covered with severe ulcers and necrosis. Also, often the affected areas of the organs are covered with pus.

When the liver is damaged, its size will be much larger than normal. It is possible to see small external branches, brown or yellow. They contain a huge amount of parasites ready to leave the body of the animal.

How do you know if rabbits have Eimeriosis?

Diagnosis of rabbit eimeriosis takes place in several stages. First you need to confirm the external symptoms of rabbit coccidiosis. Further, it is necessary to conduct a clinical examination of animals. After that, according to the Fulleborn-Darling-Scherbovich method, the fecal masses of sick animals are checked for the presence of parasitic oocysts in them. In the feces, you can find any stage of development of the parasite. This is done in order to distinguish eimeriosis from other diseases with similar symptoms.

Dead animals can take scrapings from the intestines, bile ducts of the liver. An autopsy is possible in order to take scrapings from the walls and parenchyma of the liver. If nodules are found in the process, they make a preparation for microscopic examination. In the process of research, medium or low magnification is sufficient. If characteristic white and gray spots are visible under a microscope, then there is a high chance that rabbits have eimeriosis.

How to cure sick rabbits from eimeriosis?

Treatment of rabbit eimeriosis is difficult due to the fact that rabbitscan eat litter to replenish B vitamins in the body. Due to this, the process of infection is constantly going on. To stop this process, it is necessary to separate diseased rabbits from he althy individuals, and carefully clean the cages with he althy rabbits from feces, replace the litter. Sick rabbits should be housed for the entire treatment period in cages with a mesh floor to stop coprophagia. The amount of time spent walking with animals should also be maximized.

What chemotherapy drugs are used in the treatment of rabbit eimeriosis

In the treatment of rabbits, it is important to use drugs to remove parasites from the body. Above shows the histology of rabbit eimeriosis (pictured). Depending on the age and weight of the animals, the veterinarian prescribes individual dosages for each animal. Coccidiosis in rabbits can be treated with the following drugs: Ftalazol, Norsulfazol, Sulfapyridazine, Monomycin, Tricholop. In the process of treating rabbits, it may be necessary to repeat the course of medication.

Prevention of eimeriosis in he althy rabbits

First of all, to prevent the disease of rabbits, it is necessary to reduce the possibility of coprophagia - eating their own droppings. To do this, it will be enough to put animals in cages with a mesh floor. It is necessary to increase the area of keeping rabbits in cages. Crowding is much more likely to get infected.

Young animals after switching to solid food would be best to put in a separatecage, for them, eimeriosis is much more dangerous than for adult animals. A fragile body is not able to cope with the complications of coccidiosis, which is why the mortality of young animals is so high. Chemoprophylaxis with sulfanilamide preparations may also be necessary before isolating young animals from the bulk of rabbits.

From time to time it is necessary to clean the habitat of animals from parasites, for example, using high temperatures. Eimeria oocysts do not withstand temperatures above 55 degrees Celsius. Cleaning can be done with boiling water, alkaline solutions or other liquids heated to a temperature above 60 degrees. It is also possible to de-infest using the flame of a gas burner or a blowtorch, the main condition is high temperature, and no matter how it is achieved.