SOS: head tilt, eye rolling and refuse food

Dear all,
I am in urgent need of advice. Last night, one of my Netherland Dwarfs developed head tilt and eye rolling and lost a bit of balance. He tried to reposition his head and eyes to the middle, but just as quickly as he corrected his posture, the head tilted again and eyes rolled. It's quite painful to watch. But he still drank and eat a little bit when encouraged. But this morning, he totally refuse his favorite food. He seemed very cross and unwell when offered his food from my hand. He just snatched the pellet and threw it out. Took him to the vet and given a possible cause -- E. cuniculi and Panacur for treatment. The vet said course of the treatment was 28 days. I've given him the first dose today and forced in a few pellets and a few drops of water. I don't know if he could make 28 days as he's not eating and not interested in food at all. He even looks very annoyed by the food. He tried to escape from it when he smells it. I suppose I could force-feed him by putting pellets in his mouth. But it's too stressful for him to recuperate.
1. Could anyone give me some tips of how to encourage him to start eating?
2. And what do you think the cause of this problem, E. cuniculi or could be something more serious?
3. The treatment? Panacur is for E. cuniculi but it takes too long to see any effect. Is there any other more effective ways to treat?
4. his girl-bunny seems fine at the moment. but is it highly contagious?
Thank you very much!

Your Rabbit should also be on a non steroidal anti-inflammatory. It is important to try to minimise the inflammatory response to EC spores which is what causes clinical symptoms and longterm cellular damage.

Antibiotic cover is also advisable as a middle ear infection can cause similar symptoms to EC.

If your Rabbit is not eating you will need to syringe feed him. He may initially need subcutaneous fluids too.

EC is transmitted in the urine so any in contact Rabbits are at risk and it is usally advised that they are treated with Panacur too.

Hello and welcome to RU

I'm sorry hear about your poorly bunny but it sounds like you are doing the right things. I'm no expert but EC can be contagious so I would speak to your vet about possibly treating your buns partner too.

I would call your vet and tell them about the bun not eating much as this can be a seriou problem for bunnies. Ask if it is worth trying something like Science recovery which can be syringe fed and possibly if your bun needs any pain relief

Hope all goes well and someone more knowledgeable of EC comes along to help soon

EDIT - someone very knowledgeable beat me to it

Thank you, Jack's-Jane and webbkath for the replies and advice!
Now I know what to do next and more treatments asked from the Vet.
Good news, he's eaten the first 10 excel junior & dwarf pellets in 20 hours.
Def. take him to the vet tomorrow morning for the anti-inflammatory injection and syringe-feed etc.
Fingers crossed.

Great keep us updated. This hot weather wont be helping either buns dont always do well in it

Hi hows your bun today?
My bun Mimi has just recovered from a long bout of head tilt. Hers was caused by an inner ear infection. You might be interested to read her thread:
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=227533 (its very long but is detailed and includes piccys and lots of links so might be useful to you.)

Have they ruled out an ear infection? I'd advise getting him onto some abx just in case, an infection is a very common cause of head tilt and imbalance.

You will see Mimi got very bad before she started to recover and took a total of 4 weeks to even beable to stand up without rolling over, so stick with it. Its very painful to watch I know

Good luck xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

follow up: false hope, I am feeling down

Dear all, thank you for your advice and care.
Blackie the rabbit is getting worse.
For the 1st week panacur treatment, he responed very well. The next day after the 1st dose, he started eating and drinking. 3 days later, his head and eyes were back to nomal and he's running around in the garden (though, a bit strange, he ate dry clay lump). I thought, thank Goodness, he recovered. But on the 2nd week, the symptoms came back. I reassured myself that the EC started again and let's fight back like the 1st time! But it's been 3 more days since the 2nd attack and his's getting worse. He's eating and drinking all right but not as much as before. I am going to take my friend's advice to give him Fibreplex and critic care to boost his appetite. But as for the treatment, I know there's another possibility of inner ear infection. So took him back to the Vet for antibiotics injection. She only gave him Baytril (seemed just to comfort me) and she believed it's EC infection in the brain.
When I asked for stronger antibiotics for rabbits, she said only Baytril is licensed for -- end of conversation. Can anyone give my any suggestions of good rabbit vets around Leicester area, please? I am feeling sad and incompetence in caring for Blackie. Please give me strength and ideas! Thank you. Ying

follow up: false hope, I am feeling down

Dear all, thank you for your advice and care. Blackie the rabbit is getting worse.
For the 1st week panacur treatment, he responed very well. The next day after the 1st dose, he started eating and drinking. 3 days later, his head and eyes were back to nomal and he's running around in the garden (though, a bit strange, he ate dry clay lump). I thought, thank Goodness, he recovered. But on the 2nd week, the symptoms came back. I reassured myself that the EC started again and let's fight back like the 1st time! But it's been 3 more days since the 2nd attack and his's getting worse. He's eating and drinking all right but not as much as before. I am going to take my friend's advice to give him Fibreplex and critic care to boost his appetite.
But as for the treatment, I know there's another possibility of inner ear infection. So took him back to the Vet for antibiotics injection. She only gave him Baytril (she seemed just want to comfort me) and she believed it's EC infection in the brain. When I asked for stronger antibiotics for rabbits, she said only Baytril is licensed for -- end of conversation.
Can anyone give my any suggestions of good rabbit vets around Leicester area, please? I am feeling sad and incompetence in caring for Blackie. Please give me strength and ideas! Thank you. Ying

Hi, sorry to hear Blackie is poorly.

I had a similar experience with my Nethie and had so much help and support from everyone here that she has made a full recovery.

It was heartbreaking to watch her as she'd roll over with it and couldn't right herself.

What we did was :

- Steroid injection from vet
- Daily Metacam
- Panacur for her (and all buns in case it was EC)
- Gave Stemitil which helped with balance

Here is the link to my posts, it may help, I hope so

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=187466&highlight=bunicula

If it is EC then it will take a while for the Panacur to start to alleviate the symptoms.

To be honest it does sound like inner ear problem.

Hope you get some improvement x

Poor Blackie

Unfortunately EC and inner er infections can be extremely stubborn to clear up

As long as shes still eating, drinking and isnt too distressed keep fighting with the panacur, abx and stemetil/meclizone xxx

Stemetil dosage

Dear all,
Finally the vet agreed to give Blackie anti-nausea med off licence reluctantly on the basis that I provide the dosage of Stemetil! Does anyone know about it?
Thank you!

I don't know about that I'm afraid, but has your bun had a course of antibiotics?

They worked for my bun, but I have to admit his appetite wasn't really much affected.

It never is!

Yes, he's on 1st day Baytril now and vet has prescribed it for another 10 days.
The vets were very confidient and convincing not to give him more meds for now and I can understand that they are trying to keep treatments simple and put less strain on his liver, kidney etc. But God, his symptom is getting stronger and very problematic for his daily life! Collected a few potential meds from the forum and will talk to the vet about them too. But they can always talk me around! I am so frustrated about that! Their argument was reasonable too. But first thing first, be strong and keep him drinking and eating! Help me!

We used Panacur, Metacam (non steroidal anti-inflammatory), and an anti-nausea along with sub-cut fluids.

In this weather I would also think of using a cold water /frozen block to keep temperature lowered. However make sure he can move away if needs/wants to.

The temperature can be important factor in triggering an attack as the parasite leaps in when rabbit is stressed or dehydrated.

Hi,
Ive replied to your PM :wave:
Just wanted to say that in alot of cases, Mimi included, the symptoms get alot worse before they get better.

What is her living situation at the moment? If she starts to roll alot you might want to confine her to a cage boulstered with rolled up towels to prevent her from hurting herself. This is what I had to do because Mimi was rolling constantly If Blackie can still get around abit though and you dont think shes at risk from hurting herself Id leave her for now, the exercise helps them to regain balance.

Also I really agree with the above posts that metacam would do her the world of good and might get her eating again, it always made mimi ravenous.

So sorry you're going through this, it really is horrible