[Gpdd] HEALTH- e.c.?

[warmbreath at comcast.net]

Ronald said  "Maybe I missed something but I don't understand completely 
what this e.c. is that Hershey has. How do they
get it? Is it treatable or is that what is causing Hershey's gut stasis &
other problems she was having?"

Dear Ronald and all,    The info on e.c.is all in the links I gave in the 
tons of messages I wrote on Hershey's illness, I just cant do it again, just 
read my posts and the one this morning from Penny Charleswoth, actually read 
hers first but keep in mind its written by a very intelligent breeder of 
rabbits, and there have been updates in the treatment she proposes, it now 
looks more like what she outlines in her section called alternate 
treatments, plus she advises no antibiotics but it has been proven that 
secondary infections are the rule rather than the exception and the addition 
of the NSAID Metacam (meloxicam) to treat inflammation. It is now known the 
poor animal dies often of a type of encephalitis caused secondarily by the 
action of the parasitic protozoa that are e.c. It is primarily a disease of 
rabbits, piggers rarely, that's why nobody heard of it. There is lots in 
that article Penny posted that is the wrong e.c.treatment for buns (in my 
opinion) and most certainly guinea pigs, partly because newer research has 
occurred, but there are some extraordinary insights in it, the problem for 
the casual reader is to know the difference. Bunny medicine is closer than 
most to piggies but still very different, in my several articles I have 
repeated the point often, buns do not equal pigs, but up to 80% of buns are 
born with this disease, which is controllable with the proper treatment, the 
treatment puts it into remission, doesn't cure it, it can pop up in times of 
stress esp, very young and very old. It is a parasitic protozoa that starts 
in the kidneys, then eats it way up the spinal cord to the brain causing 
first kidney damage, hind end paresis from munching lower spinal nerves, 
then all kinds of neurological symptoms like head tilt, nystigmus, facial 
paralysis, and  blindness depending on what nerve or nerves  they are 
munching, Sounds horrible and it is although much of the damage can be 
reversed, some cant like blindness.

Anyway, the article Penny posted uses some treatments and drugs that aren't 
the state of the art and penicillin kills pigs, see 
http://www.guinealynx.info/  Dangerous Medications. (guinealynx also offers 
a piggie record book, it's excellent and doesn't cost much. What Penny's 
article is good for is a clear concise explanation of the disease itself 
although she misses a couple of points, the 2 most expert vet/ researchers 
are Dana Krempels PhD who owns the listserve etherbun, a serious yahoo 
group, for house bun medicine and care, also she answers questions on 
www.allexperts.com and Esther van Praag, and her alter ego Rami, who own 
Medirabbit and a research clinic in Switzerland and Israel.  Rami has taken 
me under his wing and tutored me these 2 years and provided me with Rabbit 
Vet texts, this clinic is manifested on the web at www.medirabbit.com  Of 
these resources only www.allexperts.com will field gp questions but may 
address questions about buns and pigs living together (which few people 
recommend).

In addition there is the House Rabbit Society at www.rabbit.org,  A list of 
rabbit savvy vets all over the U.S. is kept by the House Rabbit Society, 
almost always a bun vet knows pigs too. In addition most states have their 
own chapter of the HRS which can be easily Googled. A compilation of 
articles in memory of 2 very extraordinary rabbits who died suddenly of 
poisoning is at  http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html#911, 
both of these have extensive searchable articles, the second one be sure to 
check the date of each one as it's not kept as current.  I wish our precious 
piggies had these extensive resources, we have guinealynx only, all though 
it's excellent.  These are general resources you ca search for info on e.c. 
or e. cuniculi. My articles to Joanie and Gary have specific references to 
e.c. and the treatment I proposed. So see them directly. All the article 
titles start with Hershey and are listed in the archives.

As for stasis or ileus, this is a gut upset also much more frequently in 
buns than pigs, it is a condition that usually does not develop on its own, 
it is a result of some other insult to the animals health that has resulted 
in the animal being too ill or to much in pain to eat enough, the stomach 
and gut dont have enough food in it to keep it running normally so the food 
stops moving along and starts to ferment, causing gas, which causes bloat 
and lots of pain, which further causes the victim to eat less, and so you 
see a cascade of events that lead to death unless caught. Dana Kremples, 
mentioned above has written the definitive article on the subject , one 
simpler for owners, one more detailed for vets. Bunny people are trained on 
etherbun to print this article out and take it to the vet. It offers the 
medical and supportive treatments that can usually bring the sufferer back 
to health, but there's a catch, and this is the case with Hershey. Although 
it's possible for the problem to start in the stomach from feeding an 
unusual food or ingesting something they shouldn't, usually stasis occurs 
because illness or pain else where in the body has caused the victim to stop 
eating a thus starting the cascade of events that lead to death if not 
treated properly. Examples of the causative illness are teeth malocclusions 
or overgrowth, gum abscesses, ear infections, e.c., cancer, any pain that 
puts the animal off feed. People will often not know the pet is sick until 
the stasis shows up, they take the animal to the vet, get the stasis 
treated, but never look for the underlying causes. This results in the 
reoccurrence of the stasis, and often death either from the stasis, 
especially if the stomach blows up like a balloon, a condition called bloat, 
or from the underlying medical condition which is often hard to sort out, 
just like Hershey. Often when stasis occurs the vet will usually treat for 
ear infection AND e.c. at the same time (in rabbits) if there is even one 
symptom of either of those and since the symptoms overlap so much that it's 
another reason they treat for both, although an x-ray can usually spot an 
ear infection. In addition the test for e.c is not conclusive and it takes 2 
weeks to get the results, an e.c. pig cant wait that long. The 3 drug 
protocol will treat both although the antiparasitic isn't needed for an ear 
infection, of course, but we've just identified that we cant easily tell 
which illness it is.

This brings up the very important subject of pain control in buns and pigs. 
Both pets will often just give up and die when they are in too much pain, 
remember these guys dont have a future time sense, they cant think "well, I 
just have to tough it out till my slave gives me meds", they live only in 
the here and now, and the here and now hurts to much, they die, in huge 
numbers. The solution to both these conditions is your home treatment kit. 
You already know to keep Critical Care on hand, and simethicone or baby grip 
water (a Walgreens product found in the US, thanks to Judith Lanier, see her 
post this week). Always keep on hand the pain drug of choice, meloxicam 
generically or Metacam, it is an NSAID, which lowers temp, controls 
inflammation and pain, and is much less hard on the stomach than ibuprofen 
or aspirin, which can also be used in proper dosage, but is not nearly as 
desirable. Meloxicam is a prescription only drug available as an IM 
injection, tablet, or foul tasting liquid which can be mixed with a favoring 
compound like cherry or banana. Arrange with your vet to have it hand always 
because Murphy's rule says you pet will always get sick on a wheekend or 
holiday when you can't find a vet who knows a guinea pig from a grapefruit. 
If your vet wont give you the Metacam, literally get a new vet.  Feed pills 
in a pieces of banana. Sprinkle capsules onto wet romaine. The other things 
needed for your emergency kit are: a copy of the stasis protocol article by 
Dr. Kremples, found here http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/rabbithealth.html go 
down to "Disorders of the Digestive tract", choose "treating intestinal 
stasis"( further down is an article on e.c. under "treating head tilt or wry 
neck".  Also include in your kit  syringes with no needles for feeding the 
CC, meds, and water, it's so critical to keep the patient hydrated. 
Kaopectate for diarrhea.  Keep all this stuff in an small animal 
transporter, and put it in a closet near the door or pig, include a bag of 
fresh hay, rotated often, a hand massager, and something to keep him warm, a 
heating pad if he doesn't chew. its a good place to keep your medical record 
book from Guinealynx. I'm sure there are other items I've neglected or 
someone else knows. Promise yourself to make this kit. The one thing I've 
learned is you need to organize in advance, when your baby is sick, you cant 
think straight.

Also while I knew that a stressor often brings the parasite out of dormancy, 
the breeder writer of the e.c article has a volume of experience that 
allowed her to link it to some stressors I hadn't thought of, namely water 
bottle accidents, the truth is over the years my pigs have occasionally been 
subjected to water bottle accidents, that's why I often write that folks 
should keep 2 bottles in each cage esp. if more than I person is caring for 
your pigs since one person might not catch a stuck water bottle thinking 
that the other person just changed it and that's why its full. Anyway, I 
have noticed that after these accidents, a number of pigs that were 
seemingly completely saved and returned to normal died suddenly a month 
later. I have also had a couple pigs that have had a surgery recover 
beautifully and die suddenly a month later. I have written advice several 
times over the years that asks people to not let up on their vigilance of 
pigs who have been sick or had surgery for at least 6 weeks to 2 months. 
What if that was a case of dormant e.c. brought to life by the stressor of 
illness or surgery?  It would be great if we could afford autopsies on our 
passed loved ones. and specifically asked that the brain and kidney's be 
looked at for lesions from the parasite e.c. If anyone does do this, 
remember to refrigerate, not freeze the body and try to get the autopsy done 
at a veterinary college or university,  rather than your vets. Hate to say 
ot but vets have butts to cover, and the universities are much better 
equipped. Your vet can arrange it for you. Maybe there are some ways we can 
contribute to the vastly needed improvements on guinea pig medicine by 
organizing our selves to collect and collate our many experiences and even 
vet records, esp. those of you who are lucky enough a specialist vet. That 
would be a magical thing. What if there is a lot more e.c. in piggies than 
we imagined, it doesn't seem to far fetched from where I'm looking from 
today. Also that disease in female guinea pigs involving hormone imbalances, 
and deteriorating female organs and often the development of cysts or tumor 
in the female organs, often the piggy has a V shaped patterned hair loss and 
a burning thirst, what if we could together learn allot more about that. And 
also study the safety of hysterectomies in piggies. There are several 
conditions I'll be could be better identified and studied in a group like 
ours.

I spent 2 years studying buns cause my daughter has one and won't take him 
to vet and there's no exotic vet in my town anyway. I have had probably 50 
piggies in more than 50 years, studying bun medicine and care helped me put 
together allot of what I had learned hodge podge along the way about pigs. I 
consider myself a well read and experienced lay person on guinea pigs, and 
buns but with allot less hands-on but more textbook type learning. also I 
studied to be an RN in my youth including anatomy and physiology for pre-med 
students and I have retained my interest in medicine and I read allot, but 
I'm not an expert, and the limits of my knowledge drive me crazy.

So,  Gary I said I couldn't write a long article again, jokes on me. I tried 
hard to keep extraneous page returns and typos out of this one, I hope I 
succeeded   Sandy