e c am i doing the right thing????

:wave: about ten days ago harriett became "wobbly" and we took her to the vets. the vet said that it was probably e c .she has been on panacur ,metacam and baytril for the ten days.we were told to carry on the panacur for the 28 day dose and to stop the baytril and metacam after two weeks as if they havent helped by then they wouldnt work .
she is eating well ,pooping well, drinking well. and if you look in her eyes she is still the same bunny....but...she now has quite a bad head tilt, that happened about 3 days ago and is "rolling " about 5 times a day plus upto 3 times a night.sometimes she cant right herself and we have to help her.
will she ever get better? i can deal with the wobblyness but i wonder if its fair to her? does it just take a long time for her to improve? i know she wont ever be her normal self .but at the mo she is in her pen _ a large dog crate_and has been for all this time as she feels to scared to be out.
anyone who has experiences of e c in their bun im open to your thoughts..
thanks for reading this..i cant talk to my oh as he gets to upset and someone has to be strong for her..
rabbitmum

Sorry I've no personal experience of Ec but there is a good website called on the wonk which you might find useful.

http://www.onthewonk.com/

Hope Harriett improved soon.

EC does not cause head tilt. Its an old misconception that many vets and people still believe today. EC lower sht immune system which can make a bunny prone to infections, however an iear infection can occur eithout active EC.

I think your bunny probably needs a more appropriate antibiotic. Me and my vet developed a protocol they now use for bunnies with head tilt, involving the injtectable antibiotic Convenia. Other people use Zithromax or injectable penicillin.

Some people also find that anti dizzy meds help their bunny. Stemetil would be an example of this.

I would question how experienced your vet is with treating head tilt successfully. If you want to PM me, I can give you the link to a forum that has a guy on eho hqas done a lot of research into head tilt and EC, which might be useful for you.

Hi,
so sorry your bun has head tilt, i know how distressing it is coz me and my Mimi went through it a few months back.
Its auwful seeing them roll, mimi rolled constantly for about 5 weeks which was emotionally and physically draining for both of us but im SO glad we kept fighting, remarkably shes made a full recovery Its very early days for your bun so my advise is KEDP GOING!
I also totally agree with SkyO that stronger abx are the way forward. Mimis head tilt was due to an inner ear infection and she was put on Marbocyl which cleared it up. She was never treated for EC as my vet was adamant that it wasnt the cause, however it definatly wont do any harm so keep up with the panacur too. Id also speak to your vet about keeping her on Meyacam for a while longer as this helped Mimi greatly. Mimi also had adrug called Meclizone which is in the same class as Stemetil that SkyO mentioned. They are human anti vertigo drugs which are thought to help with the dizzyness and rolling.
Keep an eye on her eyes now that her head is tilted, its common for the down eye in particular to become dry and infected. We applied ointmemt from the vet to Mimis eyes twice a day and they stayed healthy throughout.
You may also need to feed her her caecotropes if she cant reach them herself without rolling, and also keep her well groomed as she may have trouble doing it herself.
You may find that her head tilt and rolling gets worse before it gets better but dont give up hope! If she is eating ok and still has some sparkle to her then shes fighting It might be a very long and arduous process but they're so adaptable, Mimi just amazed me more and more every day that she could be so brave when she couldnt even stand up :shock:
If theres any more advise you need dont hesitate to ask. You might also want to read my thread on Mimis illness (warning its long!) as it followed her whole illness and has lots of links to useful info and other buns head tilt stories.
Wishing you loads of luck and sending loads of vibes xxxxxxx

My rabbit Dominic has head tilt from an inner ear infection. At one point he was rolling a lot, but now he only rolls when disorientated by being picked up or put down.

I used Zithromax, Metacam and Stemetil for Dominic, which seemed to work nicely for us.

Dana Krempels has some good info on head tilt too: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/tilt.html

It can be a long haul treating a rabbit with head tilt, but definitely worth it if they get better.

thanks to you all for replying..i think im just having a down day today
i have been reading other posts and threads on e c and ear infections but just feel:? im going to ring the vet in the morning and ask if she can prescribe some anti dizziness drugs and a stronger antibiotic,,i hope i dont have to take harriett in to see her as i dont think the stress would help..
hopefully she will just administer them to me.
soo worried about her weight loss too .im feeding her loads but she is still very bony...shes been so accepting of her condition and only doesnt like the baytril!

After Mimi started rolling I didnt take her into the vets ATALL. The stress of it would have sent her into a massive uncontrollable rolling fit. Try explaining this to your vet, mine was very understanding and was happy to just liase with me.
With regards to her losing weight, could it be because shes having difficulty locating her food and hay properly due to the disorientation? When Mimi was bad I had to hand feed her pellets and veg and put piles of hay literally right under her nose otherwise she couldnt find anything Same with her water.
I really feel for you both. You're doing a great job though, my betting is you can get her through this

thanks shes eating really well, pooping and drinking fine... she knows where things are..shes eating her hay like a good bun too
shes in a dog crate indoors thats 5ft by 3 ft. she doesnt seem interested in coming out of her pen (as we call it, cage is a horrible word!)
but she gets excited when the other buns get treats or food which is good.
im going to expain to the vet tommorrow about the drugs i would like her to be on..and hope that she agrees and doesnt need me to take her in.
the vet seems really nice so fingers crossed

Good luck, let us know how it goes with the vet :wave:

I hope that Harriet feels better soon. :wave: Good luck at the vets x

Hi rabbitmum, my Basil had EC when he was just a couple of months old. He had Head tilt, Nystagmus and was circling repeatedly. He was on Panacur for 9 days, Baytril and Metacam. We are now two months on and he has been checked three times by the vet during this period. There is no sign of Head Tilt or any of the other symptoms (touch wood this continues). I did have to leave Basil with the vet overnight, but they were brilliant and there was so much improvement even on the next day. I hope Harriett improves soon and that you get the meds you need for her.

Hows Harriett today? Xxx

harry is not any better today.. have tried to talk to the vet today but she isnt in until monday:roll:.i spoke to the useless receptionist, who said that the locum was in today. when i asked if the locum was any good on buns i got "yeah pretty good" :shock: so didnt even try to talk to her..
i explained that i didnt want to take harry in as the stress would be detrimental to her already bad health and was told by the receptionist that so long as i put towels around her in the carrier she would be fine!! why dont vets and receptionists learn more about these things! why should i pay to see a vet that knows less about buns than i do
harry is rolling still, and her head tilt is more pronounced...
still none the wiser on whether it could be e c or an ear infection..
but will treat for both aggressively