Cage set up for head tilt/rolling bun

Hi some of you may have read my thread on Mimi. If not i'll quickly fill you in. On friday i noticed she had severe nystagmus (rapid eye movement) and was moving her head from side to side. Shes being treated by a vet for vestibular disease, probs due to an inner ear infection, but as the days have gone on she has now develped a head tilt, is extremely wobbly and has had a few 'rolling' episodes last night and this morning. So we have decided to confine her to a cage for her own safety

My question is to anybody whos had a head tilt bun or anyone who has any suggestions on how to set up her cage so that it is safe for her when she falls or rolls, but keeps clean aswell. Any suggestions welcome.

Thankyou!

I had a head tilt bun, Kermit.

When he was first really ill i confined him to his cage. I put rolled up towels round the sides, so he had support for his head. I also put towels on the bottom, as he couldnt get into his litter tray so he pee'd the towels.
I wrapped a shower mat up in a towel for the bottom ones, so it wasn't slippy on the bottom.
Once he started to get better i bought hard plastic tiles to help him keep his footing as the bottom of the cage was too slippy for him. Here he is showing off his head tilt, and the plastic tiles at the bottom of the cage.

Thanks for the advise kermit. If u dont mind me asking what meds was kermit on, how long did it take him to recover, does he still have a head tilt?
I think the best way to get a good grasp on things like this is to hear about other ppls experiences xxx

Sadly my Kermit is at the bridge, but he lived for over a year after his head tilt, and i think that it was unrelated how he passed.

He developed head tilt and was treated with Baytril (incase of IEI) & Panacur (EC) and he had steroid injections at the vets. He never had Metacam after the steroid injections had finished, but i would always get it now if i had the same problems with a bun.

He was initially really bad, he couldnt even stand up
Eventually he got himself through it, but he had rolling episodes for months. I would probably say that it took him about 6 weeks to be able to stand and walk properly, then a few more to run about, and even then he would roll alot.

He always managed to get himself back up after rolling, he was a wee trooper.

I also tried him on Stemetil, which was to help his balance and stop him from feeling dizzy, but i didnt feel it helped that much to be honest, but i have read that otheres had good experiences with it.

The one other thing he had problems with was his 'down' eye. It was shut over and was quite weepy. He had to get antibiotic drops in it (which were hard to put in!) Then he had to get artificial tear drops in his 'up' eye, as it dried out alot.

He was left with his head tilt, but he managed fine. Still managed to lick me like mad all the time

what a brave boy!
Fortunately mimi doesnt seem as bad as that yet, she can still hop around albeit very slowly, wobbly and accompanied by a few falls I just feel so sorry for my poor girl and want to make her as comfortable as possible
so sorry u lost ur kermit xxx

With my Mischa we used one of those indoor cages as they are smaller. Initially we had towels and then as he started improving we had a thin layer of sawdust covered with lots of hay (didn't know about the issues with sawdust then)

I'll see if I have a picture.

I didn't take pictures when he was really bad. This was when he started to stop rolling and was able to get his balance.



(excuse the eaten litter tray )

We took the top part off when someone was in with him but at night we were scared he'd tip himself out of the cage or something.

Is Mimi being treated for EC too (with panacur?). Sorry can't help with the cage set up but Lola had almost identical symptoms and responded very well with panancur within days.

Good luck with her recovery.