Dussy Hoppers
Warren Scout
I am after support and advice from anyone out there who has experience with rabbits with EC and bad Head Tilt.
Poor little Barney is only 7 months old and has been through such a lot. When he was about 3 months old he injured a back foot. It swelled up to twice its normal size and the vet suspected that he may have broken one of his metatarsals. Fortunately, it seemed to heal very quickly, and he was soon hopping around again as if nothing had happened.
However, about a week later I noticed that he was looking a little wobbly on his legs again, so took him back to the vets. The vet suspected that he had the early signs of E.C. and he was started on a 28 day course of Panacur.
Whilst on the treatment, he unfortunately got much worse before he suddenly started to get better (after about 9 days). By the end of the 28 days though, he was still a little wobbly on his legs and still had mild head tilt. He was then due to be neutered, but the vet decided it was too much of a risk so soon after treatment, and asked us to wait another month to see how he got on.
Things seemed to be going really well until towards the end of that month. His head tilt suddenly started to get worse, he started running round and round in circles when excited, and kept falling over all of the time. So it was straight back to the vets.
He was put back on another course of Panacur, as well as given steroids and antibiotics, in an attempt to cover all the possible angles i.e. E.C. and/or ear infections. That was a month ago and although he has improved slightly, he head tilt and dizziness is still quite bad.
Now Barney is a foster bun who we are trying to find a home for, but we are unable to do so in his current state. Normally all our rabbits are spayed or neutered, but I am worried about risking a GA. Certainly the vet does not sound very confident and keeps saying to leave it another month to see how he gets on.
Is there anyone out there who can offer help or advice? Is it safe to get him neutered or not? Should we risk a GA? If we leave him un-neutered, can he still be bonded with another bun? Should we be considering the unthinkable PTS? Can anyone help?
Poor little Barney is only 7 months old and has been through such a lot. When he was about 3 months old he injured a back foot. It swelled up to twice its normal size and the vet suspected that he may have broken one of his metatarsals. Fortunately, it seemed to heal very quickly, and he was soon hopping around again as if nothing had happened.
However, about a week later I noticed that he was looking a little wobbly on his legs again, so took him back to the vets. The vet suspected that he had the early signs of E.C. and he was started on a 28 day course of Panacur.
Whilst on the treatment, he unfortunately got much worse before he suddenly started to get better (after about 9 days). By the end of the 28 days though, he was still a little wobbly on his legs and still had mild head tilt. He was then due to be neutered, but the vet decided it was too much of a risk so soon after treatment, and asked us to wait another month to see how he got on.
Things seemed to be going really well until towards the end of that month. His head tilt suddenly started to get worse, he started running round and round in circles when excited, and kept falling over all of the time. So it was straight back to the vets.
He was put back on another course of Panacur, as well as given steroids and antibiotics, in an attempt to cover all the possible angles i.e. E.C. and/or ear infections. That was a month ago and although he has improved slightly, he head tilt and dizziness is still quite bad.
Now Barney is a foster bun who we are trying to find a home for, but we are unable to do so in his current state. Normally all our rabbits are spayed or neutered, but I am worried about risking a GA. Certainly the vet does not sound very confident and keeps saying to leave it another month to see how he gets on.
Is there anyone out there who can offer help or advice? Is it safe to get him neutered or not? Should we risk a GA? If we leave him un-neutered, can he still be bonded with another bun? Should we be considering the unthinkable PTS? Can anyone help?