Do you use coccidiostats?

[bjgarlich]

Hi. I am new to raising rabbits - several books and the ARBA website recommend using coccidiostats routinely. Should I do this, or is this unnecessary?

Also, do you use apple cider vinegar in their water, and if so, do you use the kind "with the mother" in it or just regular pasteurized acv?

Thanks!!

[Danaus29]

Never used either. I've had rabbits for 15 years.

[BroodCoop]

If you search the web for ACV you will find it recommended as the answer to every problem under the sun. I don't buy it.

I suspect it probably makes a decent salad dressing but no miracles.

[mygoat]

I'm using a coccidiastat right now. I've had problems with cocci on and off, with a BIG fiasco recently. This recent fiasco is what made me put them on Corid preventative. I dosed most everybody with Baycox (coccidicide for all stages of the protozoan lifecycle), then started the rabbitry on Corid preventative. I decided a rabbitry cleaning was in order, so I cleaned/scrubbed/sprayed cages with ammonia (10% solution highly effective against cocci oocysts in environment) /sprayed with roccal (vet disinfectant) - all doe cages. Took all weekend. I put them on corid for a week or two before cleaning cages, and will continue a couple more weeks.

The rabbits that I raise in my dog kennel growout pen on the ground will probably stay on preventative, only coming off for a 2 day withdrawl pre-slaughter whenever I do a batch. Then the remainders (I usually have different age ones in there) will go right back on it and so forth. It's impossible to clean their floor fully - though I do sweep it out and spray it down to get out food/poo/hay buildup.

I also keep coccidistats/coccidicides on hand for goats, so it's not that big of a stretch to using them in rabbits.

Your need to use them is directly correlated with the environment contamination. My current cages have wood frames, and often get feces buildup in the corners even with weekly cleanup. Most all wire hanging cages will not have this issue. (which is why I want all wire hanging cages!) Also, freeing up the poo danglies as often as possible with a wire brush, and torching cages/full sanitaiton at least yearly is highly recommended. In an outbreak, using a coccidicide to TREAT the herd is also highly reccomended. Most coccidistats (corid) are most effectively used as a PREVENTION ONLY. They have a treatment dose but if you have animals severely affected, I'd do a coccidicide.

The good thing about Corid is it has a very short withdrawal time - max 2 days. It is not an antibiotic, just a molecule that mimics thiamine in the gut, which cocci pick up to try to use in their metabolism - but they cannot use it, thus halts their development. This halted development means that they do not die, but do not harm the animal (if halted before they are mature), and thus the animal on preventative can build natural immunity effectively while not being diseased.

[arnie]

If you have all wire hanging cages and your stock are not having trouble with cicci why use it .I don't and don't want to have any meedications .I had a round with coccides a couple years ago my cages were sitting on 2x4 frames. And I had a newer doe but it took a complet cleaning and useing a cocistatant in the water to cure it after getting rid of the frames going to hanging cages no more trouble also there has been only home raised stock here no odd animails to bring in unknown germs .so my advice is if you have the rabbits on the ground or colony type houseing you may need it but I may not be nessary with proper cages .vinager helps your animals use calcium (this is just my opinon ) in chickens it helps them make egg shellsand stronger bones I don't use it but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt preticulary if you have hard water .I have used iveimec pour on to take care of ear mites a while back I don't recomend useing any meds wormers ect. Unless there is a problem .

[lonelyfarmgirl]

I have never, and Ive raised rabbits en mass for 20 years. I could see it being a possible need in the case of ground colonies if they arent cleaned often enough. Why pump drugs into your animals if you dont have too?

[bjgarlich]

Thanks for the information! I am using wood frame hutches (outside) with wire
walls and floor, and occasionally I put the rabbits in a pen on the grass for a little
while.

How hard is it to see that you have a cocci infestation? Is it easy to catch early, or hard to tell that it is there? I do not want to use any med unless necessary, but it sounds
like my cage setup might lead to cocci problems. Thanks!

[mygoat]

ALL rabbits have cocci. But due to the way most are raised - on wire floors where the poo falls through - it's hard for the protozoan to 'build up' in their bodies. Babies are exposed to fairly low levels, build resistance, and do just fine.

Coccidiosis has pretty distinct signs. In young animals, they tend to loose body condition rapidly, stop eating, bloat, diarrhea, die. A good percentage - 1/4-3/4 of a litter/growoutpen can be affected and die. It spreads, because as some become severely affected, they begin shedding at higher rates, increasing the exposure of the rest of the litter/pen, and it can be a vicious cycle. Usually these animals are permanently stunted. Some animals are naturally more resistant than others, or were exposed to less at a younger age etc. Keeping poo out of water dishes/feed and preventing feces from building up is the best way to keep it out of the environment.

Adults rarely get the intestinal form, and are more likely to get hepatic coccidiosis. This results in liver abscesses, and chronic wasting of the rabbit in question.

[lonelyfarmgirl]

When rabbits get cocci, they die fast. SO, if you have animals that start wasting and dying quickly, there is a problem. Otherwise unless your rabbit are in horrendously filthy conditions with feces and urine, with terrible ventilation, and you have chicken poop in their water and feeders, I wouldn't worry about it.

[bjgarlich]

Thanks everyone - great info and advice! I think we will be fine for now without coccidistats - if a problem shows up then I will deal with it then. Thanks!

[o&itw]

BG,
I think a lot of it has to do with what kind of caging one is using. I raise my rabbits in hanging wire cages and have absolutely no problem with coccidiosis. However, I did try an outside colony for a year, and the problem with coccidiosis started within a couple of months and was serious by the end of that year.

Coccidiosis is spread primarily by exposure to infected feces, or oral-anal contact between animals. This can not, practically, happen in a wire bottomed cage where no wood is present.

I do keep a bottle of Corid around, and treat any new rabbits I bring into my rabbitry, simply as a preventative. There is always a possibility of transfer, however remote, so, in my opinion, it is a reasonable precaution. I am not convinced it is necessary. If you raise in a colony situation, or you have wood-framed hutches where the rabbits can have contact with the wood. It might be good to have some Corid (amprolium) on hand, because it is much more likely that you could have a problem.

[Hillbilly Hares]

Hello everyone, I also have had some problems with coccidiosis when I added some new rabbits to my closed herd. I learned a valuable lesson about having a quarinteen area for new rabbits. I went out and got Sulmet after doing some reading and that fixed the problem. Only it reocurred every few weeks with those new rabbits, and their babies and any babies that had contact with theirs so it was spreading, I was cleaning and using Sulmet. This went on until I culled out the new rabbits about a year later, even now some of the 2nd generation from them are giving me trouble with the babies coming down with runny poop and wasting away at 2 weeks.

My question is 2 fold really, what dosage of Corid do you use in drinking water? Second,
Has anyone else had similar experience with cocci being a problem gene related, and more prevelant in some stock while others seem immune?
Thanks, Hillbilly Hares