Advice Please - head tilt

Hi folks. Been scouring the internet all night for the best advice sites and forums to ask for advice about the current condition of my rabbit - this place seems to have the most information readily available so I'm looking for some advice please.

Kermit is around 4 months old and has been healthy thus far. I went to work at 7.30am this morning and he was his usual self - eating up and lively.

Came back at 6.30 this evening and was going in for his dish to feed him but his head was tilted severely to the right and he was not moving much at all. At first I thought his neck was broken!

The Vet is literally right across the road so I took him across and she said the outlook was very bleak indeed and that she'd give him some steroids and antibiotics but to bring him back in the morning with a big decision to make. Considering I'd been at work all day and it was just a normal day thinking he was in his cage doing his usual, now he was staring death in the face, it was a very difficult one to take.

Anyway, I've been researching websites since 7pm solid (it's 11.30pm now) and I keep reading that giving up on the little guy after 1 day is the wrong thing to do.

At the moment, it looks really bad. He literally cannot move but is eating and drinking what we're giving him as normal.

If it is a case of head tilt, is giving up on him tomorrow a complete no-go? I had resigned myself to that only a few hours ago but every website I've read tells me to persevere.

It seems to be a common illness so I'm hopeful that someone else whose pet has had a similar condition as severe as Kermit's looks can give me some advice on the likelihood he can recover to lead some sort of life again. I'm now of the stance that he seems to be willing to fight on given that he's eating and drinking so surely I owe him the courtesy of at least trying to get him through this.

It is a totally new scenario for me as I've never had a pet rabbit before so any advice you can give me will be very much appreciated.

Thanks

TH

Please do not give up on your bunny tomorrow.
Head tilt is quite common and usually a symptom of something else i.e e-cuniculi, stroke etc..... It is more than likely that your bunny is suffering from e.cuniculi and while he may never be free of it, his symptoms could very well be managed.

I am hoping someone who has experience of head tilt will give you some further advice, I just wanted to stress that it is not time to give up on him just yet so long as he is eating/drinking and acting as normal otherwise. It can take a little while for the tilt to get better even if on antibiotics/steroids/panacur but I would give him a chance to show some improvement before pts. I know the vet is probably being cautious as a lot of vets don't give out much hope for bunnies with head tilt, but it's not always a death sentence.

Can I also ask where around the country you live? Someone on here may live near you and have advice with a rabbit savvy vet...it can make all the difference.

I would say its too early to give up on him
a course of panacur to eliminate Ec be a good idea too..and probiotics added to his drinking water to even out the effects of the anti b's
if he seems to be in any sort of pain..some pain relief aswell

good luck

charlie82 said:

Please do not give up on your bunny tomorrow.
Head tilt is quite common and usually a symptom of something else i.e e-cuniculi, stroke etc..... It is more than likely that your bunny is suffering from e.cuniculi and while he may never be free of it, his symptoms could very well be managed.

I am hoping someone who has experience of head tilt will give you some further advice, I just wanted to stress that it is not time to give up on him just yet so long as he is eating/drinking and acting as normal otherwise. It can take a little while for the tilt to get better even if on antibiotics/steroids/panacur but I would give him a chance to show some improvement before pts. I know the vet is probably being cautious as a lot of vets don't give out much hope for bunnies with head tilt, but it's not always a death sentence.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I wanted to hear - thanks for that. I had basically given up on the advice of the Vet but have researched these 2 conditions you mention all night and everyone seems to be saying the same.

At the end of the day, you only get 1 chance when it comes to Euthanasia. The last 4 months have been brilliant so I do feel I owe him the courtesy of at least trying to see him through it.

Thank you for the advice.

If anyone can add to it then please do. I feel a lot better than I did a few hours ago.

Someone suggested contacting my local Rabbit Rescue Centre - would you reccommend this?

honeybunny said:

I would say its too early to give up on him
a course of panacur to eliminate Ec be a good idea too..and probiotics added to his drinking water to even out the effects of the anti b's
if he seems to be in any sort of pain..some pain relief aswell

good luck

Click to expand...

I'm writing all of this info down to run past the Vet as I'm now thinking that she doesn't really know that much about rabbits.

Thanks.

Yes you are right....

I would definitely recommend contacting your local rescue because more than likely they will have experience of this. My chosen rescue has had a few rabbits with severe head tilt (where the head is completely on it's side) go on to partially recover and live normal lives. I would also seek out a second opinion from another vet and don't let the existing one rail road you into something if you have doubts.

charlie82 said:

Yes you are right....

I would definitely recommend contacting your local rescue because more than likely they will have experience of this. My chosen rescue has had a few rabbits with severe head tilt (where the head is completely on it's side) go on to partially recover and live normal lives. I would also seek out a second opinion from another vet and don't let the existing one rail road you into something if you have doubts.

Click to expand...

The little fella's head is totally side-on so it does look like a pretty severe case from what I've read tonight. Will definitely try the RR Centre too after I come back from the Vet.

Keep the suggestions coming though, I really appreciate this.

Will keep you all posted.

tomhighway said:

The little fella's head is totally side-on so it does look like a pretty severe case from what I've read tonight. Will definitely try the RR Centre too after I come back from the Vet.

Keep the suggestions coming though, I really appreciate this.

Will keep you all posted.

Click to expand...

You are doing the best thing. Your local rescue will tell you the best vets to use. Insist on some panacur and explain to the vet you would like to give your bunny a chance.

Goodluck! let us know how it goes.

charlie82 said:

You are doing the best thing. Your local rescue will tell you the best vets to use. Insist on some panacur and explain to the vet you would like to give your bunny a chance.

Goodluck! let us know how it goes.

Click to expand...

Will do charlie, thanks again.

Feel much more positive now having spoken about it and read what I have.

Just wanted to say... there are very few regular members on here at the moment and a lot will have personal experience and better advice to give... I will bump this up in the morning for you.

charlie82 said:

Just wanted to say... there are very few regular members on here at the moment and a lot will have personal experience and better advice to give... I will bump this up in the morning for you.

Click to expand...

I saw there were 80-odd people on and thought it was a lot!

I'll have a look in tomorrow.

TH

no advice to give, but. I hope all goes well and lil Kermit gets better soon

Bluefox said:

no advice to give, but. I hope all goes well and lil Kermit gets better soon

Click to expand...

Cheers Bluefox :thumb:

Hi

Didn't expect such a serious topic to crop up as this time of night but anyway:

The two most common causes of torticollis in rabbits are an IEI (inner ear infection) and Encephalitozoon Cuniculi....a nasty little protozoa estimated to be present in 50% of domestic rabbits, not well understood and able to produce a vast array of symptoms.

Your vet has already started treatment with abx, I assume, suspecting an IEI....is it Baytril (enrofloxacin) you have been subscribed? In addition you have mentioned steroids....has your rabbit been given any pain relief? Its unusual for vets to jump straight in with steroids in rabbits, the usual course is to start with an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) such as Metacam (meloxicam) which has analgesic properties.

I would also have expected your vet to have commenced treatment for EC as a precaution with the start of a 6 week (NOT 28 days) course of Panacur (fenbendazole) to run alongside the treatment for an IEI. Granted this way should you notice an improvement you wont know which he is responding to BUT the important thing at this stage would be that he WAS responding.

I would talk to your vet about both these things tomorrow. IMO this is far to early to be considering PTS.....if your vet is insistant upon this route I would urge you to seek out a more rabbit savvy veterinarian, sadly, these are often few and far between.

Welcome to RU by the way :wave:

Sooz said:

Hi

Didn't expect such a serious topic to crop up as this time of night but anyway:

The two most common causes of torticollis in rabbits are an IEI (inner ear infection) and Encephalitozoon Cuniculi....a nasty little protozoa estimated to be present in 50% of domestic rabbits, not well understood and able to produce a vast array of symptoms.

Your vet has already started treatment with abx, I assume, suspecting an IEI....is it Baytril (enrofloxacin) you have been subscribed? In addition you have mentioned steroids....has your rabbit been given any pain relief? Its unusual for vets to jump straight in with steroids in rabbits, the usual course is to start with an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) such as Metacam (meloxicam) which has analgesic properties.

I would also have expected your vet to have commenced treatment for EC as a precaution with the start of a 6 week (NOT 28 days) course of Panacur (fenbendazole) to run alongside the treatment for an IEI. Granted this way should you notice an improvement you wont know which he is responding to BUT the important thing at this stage would be that he WAS responding.

I would talk to your vet about both these things tomorrow. IMO this is far to early to be considering PTS.....if your vet is insistant upon this route I would urge you to seek out a more rabbit savvy veterinarian, sadly, these are often few and far between.

Welcome to RU by the way :wave:

Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for the reply.

His condition only came on today - I first saw him when I returned home from work at 6.30pm tonight so it was only 6 hours ago. Within 5 minutes he was in the Vet and 2 minutes after that she was talking about putting him to sleep.

I didn't know this condition existed so naturally I was taking her word for it.

He's not technically "on medication" yet - all he got was 2 injections which I think were a steroid and an antibiotic, but you may be right in saying the steroid is an anti-inflammatory as that rings a bell. To be honest this is all new to me so I didn't really take on board exactlynwhat she was giving him as all I had in the back of my mind is that she was talking about Euthanasia.

In terms of him responding, he hasnt really at all other than he seems fairly content to sit still and eat/drink what we give him. If he wasn't doing that I'd have little hope but he is still enjoying his greens. Which is part of the reason I am determined to find the best treatment. He seems to want to get on with it so I'll do what I can.

Without researching this and seeking advice for the last 5 and a half hours solid I'd have gone with her judgement but now I'm definitely taking this advice to her. Even if she is insistent/adamant, I wont be putting him to sleep tomorrow. 100%. Going to try whatever it takes to get him back to as normal as we can get him.

I know it's late, but it's been playing on my mind all night. What I need to do is 1000x clearer than it was 6 hours ago.

Cheers for the info.

TH

I would not expect to see any change in his condition for at least a few days after starting treatment.

If I was in your shoes tomorrow I would expect to come away from the vets with a bottle of oral Baytril (enrofloxacin- antibiotic) and a 1ml syringe, this to be given twice a day. I would expect a bottle of Metacam (meloxicam, painkiller & anti-inflammatory) which would be given orally once or twice a day and I would also expect either a tube of Panacur (fenbendazole for EC) Rabbit paste or a bottle of the 10% Panacur liquid (for dogs & cats) which would be given daily for 6 weeks at a dose rate of 0.2ml per kg rabbit.

Both the Panacur paste & liquid are non prescription and can be purchased online for a fraction of the price at the vets. The liquid works out far cheaper than the paste over 6 weeks as each syringe of paste contains 18 graduations and its 1 graduation per 2.5kg of rabbit (hope Im not loosing you here ).

If Kermit is to be on Metacam for a prolonged period of time it may also be worth asking your vet about using Zantac (ranitidine) to prevent gastric ulceration as a side effect.

Please let us know how you get on tomorrow and if you need another vet there is likely someone on here in your area who can recommend one to you.

Best of Luck

hope you managed to get some sleep and your little boy is ok this morning.

i have no experience with head tilt personally so i wanted to wish you and your bunny good luck at the vets xxxx

donnamt said:

hope you managed to get some sleep and your little boy is ok this morning.

i have no experience with head tilt personally so i wanted to wish you and your bunny good luck at the vets xxxx

Click to expand...

Morning. He's actually a tiny bit brighter - trying to move around now and somehow managed to get to the litter tray earlier but the head is still the same.

Logged in to take note of the advice given here and the sites I was looking at to the Vet.

Heading over there in an hour so will get the medication suggested and see how it goes.

Sooz said:

I would not expect to see any change in his condition for at least a few days after starting treatment.

If I was in your shoes tomorrow I would expect to come away from the vets with a bottle of oral Baytril (enrofloxacin- antibiotic) and a 1ml syringe, this to be given twice a day. I would expect a bottle of Metacam (meloxicam, painkiller & anti-inflammatory) which would be given orally once or twice a day and I would also expect either a tube of Panacur (fenbendazole for EC) Rabbit paste or a bottle of the 10% Panacur liquid (for dogs & cats) which would be given daily for 6 weeks at a dose rate of 0.2ml per kg rabbit.

Both the Panacur paste & liquid are non prescription and can be purchased online for a fraction of the price at the vets. The liquid works out far cheaper than the paste over 6 weeks as each syringe of paste contains 18 graduations and its 1 graduation per 2.5kg of rabbit (hope Im not loosing you here ).

If Kermit is to be on Metacam for a prolonged period of time it may also be worth asking your vet about using Zantac (ranitidine) to prevent gastric ulceration as a side effect.

Please let us know how you get on tomorrow and if you need another vet there is likely someone on here in your area who can recommend one to you.

Best of Luck

Click to expand...

Have taken note of all of these, great info.