Marcel and (not only) his teeth

Apart from cats, at our home, there are also two bunnies – Pola & Marcel. And today we write about them, or maybe most about the second one. Despite we have kittens from Helen now, he was in the centre of attention lately. So hold on, today it’s a long post about our „ears” 😉

Marcel, is a kind of special care considering what he has been trough. In 2013 he got sick. The disease has a difficult name – encephalitozoonosis. It’s a disorder caused by protozoa called Encephalitozoon cuniculi. It is considered that even up to 80% of bunnies to be carriers of the parasite, but not all will get sick. Only around 6% will develop the symptoms. When they show up, it may be a treat to a rabbits life. Unfortunately our Marcel was in that group.

Encephalitozoon mainly stays in the kidneys but when it multiplies it can migrate even to the brain and spinal cord. Then it causes neurological symptoms – among others neck muscle spasms resulting in head torsion, nystagmys, convulsions, motoric dysfunction – problems to walk, hop, stand, sit, and in some cases even epilepsy attacks.

With Marcel we observed first symptoms – neck torsion, problems to walk and sit and nystagmus – in November 2013 and we started treatment right away. We also tried to separate him from Pola. But both bunnies were so attached to each other that they didn’t take it well. We could assume that Pola is also a carrier, as they live together ever since we had them, we allowed them to stay together. Having them apart would result in higher stress level which could influence immune system and lower it’s efficiency in both bunnies. Pola was also receiving the treatment to prevent her from developing the disease.

Unfortunately after first two weeks of treatment of Marcel – antibiotics, anti-protozoal drugs, vitamins etc. – we didn’t see much improvement. Our bunny was struggling for life, he even wasn’t able to manage on his own. We had to organise special medicine that wasn’t available in Poland. Thanks to mu cousin we manage to get them from Germany.

The whole treatment took eight weeks. As I mentioned – Marcel was unable to function on his own – he couldn’t get to his food bowl or to drinker, use them or even take food to hi mouth because of head torsion. All that time we had to feed and water him, administer his medicines. Groom him and keep him clean, as he was also unable to take care of himself. Each time it took even an hour to do. It was also necessary to clean and disinfect the cage because encephalitozoon can be shed in urine.

Luckily our fight had a happy ending – Pola didn’t get sick and Marcel survived. He can function normally and he manages on his own. He moves normally, eats and drinks as he used to, when it’s warm he runs with Pola in the garden, is full of energy and enjoys his life. Unfortunately such a long and severe case left some side effect – there is a neurological issue. Marcel will have a slight head torsion towards right side. But this is a low price for the fact that he still lives. To prevent come backs of the disease, both our rabbits are regularly dewormed with also anti-protozoal drug, we try to keep them in good health, vaccinated against other diseases.

Side effect such as head torsion ha sit consequences, that nowadays show up. Marcels’ left eye is headed a bit up while right is pointed a bit down. Sometimes it causes conjunctivitis in this eye. Forced position of the head also makes Marcel use one side of his mouth to chew more than the other and this may result in malocclusion.

Teeth are rabbits „weak point”. While chewing teeth friction surface wears off and bunnies, as herbivores have long gastric tract and eat most of the time.  Wear off disorders can result in creating sharp edges on teeth that may cause injuries on tongue, inside of cheeks and gums. It is painful and because of that animals may show appetite loss or even anorexia. (Sometimes owners first notice less and shrinked droppings.) In severe cases, if there is no proper treatment, those patients can even starve to death.

Also in some cases tooth abscesses can be observed. Not treated can damage bone structure of jaw and jawbone, penetrate to nostrils or orbits (it can even cause goggle or damage the eye).

Knowing about all this possible problems, apart from annual control blood tests, we also take and X-ray of our rabbits teeth. These should be taken in at least six different projections. Image of the left and right side can overlap so it should be presented from separate angles to enable as exact interpretation as possible.

Because for some time we noticed that Marcel has a bit smaller droppings we suspect dental issue. And sadly this has confirmed as we saw some changes of the left side teeth on his X-ray. We went to Sowa „Egzotica” vet clinic to our friend – doctor Paula Dziubińska – Bartylak – bunny problems specialist. In videoscopic examination it turned out there are no injuries inside the mouth but there are some sharp edges of teeth from tongue Surface. We decided not to wait and do something about it right away. Blood tests both of Pola and Marcel were good so there was no obstacles for sedation and performing the necessary procedure.

If You recall – another issue with Marcel was recurring conjunctivitis of the right eye. Unfortunately because of chronic problem an entropion developed. Lower lid rolled to the inside and lashes were touching directly the eye cornea. We wanted to fix that as well during the same sedation. For some time before Marcel was receiving ophthalmologic treatment to decrease inflammation and prevent infection and moisture the eye.

Last Wednesday we drove to Sowa vet clinic in Solec Kujawski (where inhalation anesthesia is available) for both teeth and eye lid correction. When Marcel was already asleep I shave his right eye area and put a special moisture gel on his eye. Most of the animals don’t close their eyes while sedated – it can cause drying of of the cornea and result in ophthalmic problems. After preapaing and desinfection of the surgery area, doctor Paula had put two sutures on the lower lid to place it in the right position. After that it was time to correct the teeth. For that Marcel had to be put in special jaw gag to properly reach them. Anastesia was give via nostrils. We didn’t intubate as the tube could create and obstacle.

Through opened mouth it was easy to see the difference between left and right side teeth. On the left there were sharp edges that were suppose to be rubbed off. And so doctor Paula took care of that while I supervised anesthesia. In the end all the other teeth were also examined and checked. It turned out that around the last molar on the right side, was a little abscess. This particular tooth is called in polish as a „left over tooth” and isn’t essential for chewing. So we decided to remove it. It was as a grain of rice when we took it off, so I think Marcel won’t really miss it.

Our bunny received also antibiotics, anti inflammatory drug, medicine for the liver just in cas and also medicine to improve peristaltic. After anesthesia there can be some disorders in gastric tract function and because bunnies have a long intestines, we didn’t want any problems there.

Marcel woke up nicely and quite fast from anesthesia. After coming back home he ate almost whole carrot (ok, Pola helped a bit 😉 ). With shaved right side of his face he looks a bit disturbing, he feels great.

For some time he will need some medication and in two weeks we have to take control X-ray of his teeth. We are rally happy with the surgery and that we manager all this so fast. Whole this situation proves again how important control tests and health monitoring are. And You? When was the last time You’ve checked Your pets health status? J