Mucoid Enteritis (ME)

While it is commonly said that Mucoid Enteritis cannot be treated, there are certain cases that, if caught soon enough can be treated with extreme diligence.

One of my retired does came down with Mucoid Enteritis, completely out of the blue, in September 2010. It took a good month or so of treatment, but she recovered and has been completely fine ever since.

One sign of Mucoid Enteritis is a clear or reddish jelly-like substance in the stools. It will either be mixed in the stools, or that will be all that the rabbit is passing. The rabbit will also typically go off-feed and start acting sick.

ME hits young rabbits (juniors or babies) most of the time, but it can hit adult rabbits as well. Most of the time it will hit fast and take the rabbit down quickly.

If you notice the symptoms soon enough, there are things you can do for treatment.

Neomycin Oral Solution is the key medication. Dosage is hard to figure out, but I used approximately 1/2 cc given orally twice a day for a 6 1/2 lb Mini Lop. This needs to be given every day (twice a day is what I did) until symptoms are gone and the rabbit is eating and acting normally again. It can be up to a month.

I also recommend giving Probiotics and Rabbit Nutri-Drops (Nutrical & Power Punch are a couple other names for it) mixed in some water. Give several cc's of this mixture multiple times a day (4-6 times a day). This is very important because the rabbit will more than likely be off feed, and possibly off water as well.

I also recommend giving Corid (treatment for Coccidiosis) once a day. The dosage is 1cc for up to 15lbs for 5 days.

Since the rabbit will be off feed, treats and foods should be given freely, in the hopes that the rabbit's appetite will increase. Some good foods to give would be banana, apple, carrot, parsley (this will stimulate appetite), oatmeal, and of course hay and pellets.

 

 

 

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