*** Help

I just became a member because i have been searching for help for my rabbit. I came home one day to find her moving her eyes back and forth and twitching her head... she was upright though. I rushed her to the vet and she stayed overnight... They released her to me today and when i went to go bring her home the vet said she may have a bacteria or parisite that is causing her to roll uncontrolibly. She has a loss of balance and cant stand up. Here eyes also constantly move back and forth. she is on medicine every 12 hours and and we are syringe feeding her CRITICAL CARE FEED the vet gave us every 5 hours ( because she is not eating pellets ) along with syringe feeding her WATER every hour... she has eaten a couple carrots. The vet said we should see improvement within a couple of days. What worries me is that she was worse when i brought her home than when i dropped her off at the vet. Also the vet didnt say anything about an ear infection... but im reading and everything says that the head tilt is caused by an ear infection : ( please any advice would help. I raised her since she was a baby and cant stand to loose her! it breaks my heart and im crying as i type this because i dont like to see her like this!
~Angie

UPDATE: She seems very hungry.. but is only eating critical care food and carrots. and we have to spoon feed her. She is drinking water from the syringe. She has peed multple times and pooped 5 pellets

UPDATE 11/3/10 WE are on our way to the vet wish us luck! I will post the outcome and what the vet says when we get back hopefully its good news
*********** FINAL UPDATE LAST PAGE

*** I have also read that i should help clean her eyes for her.... should i ? shes not able to clean herself and she had hairs on her eye

***She is also breathing very fast is she hot?

What medication is she on ?

It sounds as though your Vet suspects EC (Encephalitozoon Cuniculi)

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Encephalitozoonosis.htm


However, antibiotics would be advisable to cover for a middle ear infection or any secondary bacterial issues.

How is her respiratory rate now ?

Has she passed and feces or urine ?

Sorry to hear your bunny has this distressing condition.

It is usual to treat for possible inner ear infection with antibiotics as well as panacur or lapizole for e.c. and an anti-inflammatory such as metacam- this will reduce the inflammation if the cause is e.c. and is neccessary for the pain associated with ear infections. It is not always possible to see any sign of ear infection by examining the ears so if you are not sure the vet has considered that I would ring to check.

She may be breathing fast due to being distressed by her loss of balance, or it may be due to pain.

To minimise rolling you need to keep stress and handling to a minimum- difficult I know if you are having to give medicines/fluid/food regularly. Try to make sure her enviroment is safe and padded with towels and bedding- a rolled up towel placed around her will help to give her body some support. If her house has different levels make sure their is no possibility of her falling. She may need help keeping herself clean too.

This condition can be treated but you will need to be patient. The rolling stage can last for several weeks or more. The important thing for now is to get your bunny eating and drinking for herself. Most bunnies will eventually learn to cope with the balance problems. Some recover completely, others remain a bit wonky but can live a happy life.

This website may help:
http://www.onthewonk.com/

it sounds like ec. pannacur is the treatment for this for 28 days if it was my bunny iwould want them on antibiotics to covver a middle ear infection too and pain relief such as metacam the fact she is breathing heavily is not a good sign, keep her warm where you are able bring her indoors if she is an outdoors rabbit, and try and keep her calm, thinkin of you xx

medication

Jack's-Jane said:

What medication is she on ?

It sounds as though your Vet suspects EC (Encephalitozoon Cuniculi)

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Encephalitozoonosis.htm


However, antibiotics would be advisable to cover for a middle ear infection or any secondary bacterial issues.

How is her respiratory rate now ?

Has she passed and feces or urine ?

Click to expand...

The medication she is on is Baytril and Fenbendazol " Pancur " we are also giving her a teaspoon of yogurt while she is on Baytril to maintain the good bacteria in her intestines.

She is not eating her pellets and cannot get up we are giving her critical care food from the vet through syringe as well as water. She has eaten a couple carrots.

She is still breathing heavily... and " spinning / twisting " about every 5-10 min.
She has passed urine twice but not feces

bunlover said:

it sounds like ec. pannacur is the treatment for this for 28 days if it was my bunny iwould want them on antibiotics to covver a middle ear infection too and pain relief such as metacam the fact she is breathing heavily is not a good sign, keep her warm where you are able bring her indoors if she is an outdoors rabbit, and try and keep her calm, thinkin of you xx

Click to expand...

Thank you, she is an outdoor rabbit with with a hutch and access to her own personal lawn and garden i maintain just for her to eat.. can you tell shes loved? haha
** but she is living indoors right now 24/7 in a laundry basket with towells and blankets to make a soft cusion.

lilbun said:

Sorry to hear your bunny has this distressing condition.

It is usual to treat for possible inner ear infection with antibiotics as well as panacur or lapizole for e.c. and an anti-inflammatory such as metacam- this will reduce the inflammation if the cause is e.c. and is neccessary for the pain associated with ear infections. It is not always possible to see any sign of ear infection by examining the ears so if you are not sure the vet has considered that I would ring to check.

She may be breathing fast due to being distressed by her loss of balance, or it may be due to pain.

To minimise rolling you need to keep stress and handling to a minimum- difficult I know if you are having to give medicines/fluid/food regularly. Try to make sure her enviroment is safe and padded with towels and bedding- a rolled up towel placed around her will help to give her body some support. If her house has different levels make sure their is no possibility of her falling. She may need help keeping herself clean too.

This condition can be treated but you will need to be patient. The rolling stage can last for several weeks or more. The important thing for now is to get your bunny eating and drinking for herself. Most bunnies will eventually learn to cope with the balance problems. Some recover completely, others remain a bit wonky but can live a happy life.

This website may help:
http://www.onthewonk.com/

Click to expand...

Thank you I will check your website out how do i clean her? just with a warm damp towl?

She needs a non steroidal anti-inflammatory such as Metacam.

Or has the Vet administered a long acting corticoseroid?

Personally I would not give her yoghurt. Rabbits are lactose intolerant.
A probiotic such as Protexin Professional or Fibreplex would be more appropriate.
Your Vet should stock these or you can buy them online:

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/digestive-su...texin-professional-5g-probiotic-sachets-p-390

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/rabbit-suppl...97/fibreplex-for-rabbits-small-rodents-p-1180

Jack's-Jane said:

She needs a non steroidal anti-inflammatory such as Metacam.

Or has the Vet administered a long acting corticoseroid?

Personally I would not give her yoghurt. Rabbits are lactose intolerant.
A probiotic such as Protexin Professional or Fibreplex would be more appropriate.
Your Vet should stock these or you can buy them online:

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/digestive-su...texin-professional-5g-probiotic-sachets-p-390

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/rabbit-suppl...97/fibreplex-for-rabbits-small-rodents-p-1180

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I will call the vet tomorrow and ask about Metacam. I will look into something other than yogurt for probiotics.
SHe is breathing heavily and fast but her eyes arent going back and forth as much so thats good. she doesnt seem to move though.

Hope she's well soon xxx

Lops said:

Hope she's well soon xxx

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Thank you I will keep you guys updated!

okay she is passing feces and urine but cannot get up. when she tries she just spins and spins until we stop her. My parents have to work and i have to go to school what do we do during the day? my dad can be home during the day but cannot be next to her " 24/7 " Its alot of work to syringe feed and give her water every 20min. How long will we have to do this. I love Lavender ( my bun ) so much and will do anything for her! does anyone know how long this can last? our non normal vet we brought her to because we went the 24 hour vet because it was late says that shes not in pain but if she doesnt get better within a week we should put her down. I DONT WANT TO DO THAT if shes not in pain. We will visit our normal vet soon, as soon as we can get an appt.
Any help?
Tired, worried and stressed
~ Angie

She NEEDS painkiller!!!!! If it is an ear infection they are painful! but rabbits don't always show signs they are in pain as they have to hide it in the wild! If it is EC she will still need painkiller for the same time she is on panacur at least a month! EC causes inflamation and that can cause permenant damage causing the wonky head or legs etc the painkiller keeps the inflamation under control!! If it was my bunny I would demand some painkiller urgently!

My bunny Kermit was exactly like this, he had severe head tilt and was rolling uncontrollably any time he stood up.

Bunnies can get through this and survive. It can be hard work though, for you and bunny.

You do need to get your bun Metacam, unless as Jane said the vet has already given a long acting steroid. Your bunny will definately be in pain, but this can be managed with Metacam or Steroids.

Also get some fibreplex at the vets for the probiotics.

Good luck at the vets xx

Lavender said:

okay she is passing feces and urine but cannot get up. when she tries she just spins and spins until we stop her. My parents have to work and i have to go to school what do we do during the day? my dad can be home during the day but cannot be next to her " 24/7 " Its alot of work to syringe feed and give her water every 20min. How long will we have to do this. I love Lavender ( my bun ) so much and will do anything for her! does anyone know how long this can last? our non normal vet we brought her to because we went the 24 hour vet because it was late says that shes not in pain but if she doesnt get better within a week we should put her down. I DONT WANT TO DO THAT if shes not in pain. We will visit our normal vet soon, as soon as we can get an appt.
Any help?
Tired, worried and stressed
~ Angie

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Keep going. I know it's hard I've been there. Rolled up towels will help her to stay upright and give her something to rest her head on. Have you bought her indoors? An indoor cage (smaller may be better in this instance as there are sides she can right herself with) with towels as a base and then more rolled up towels to lean against with a big handful of hay for her to eat is probably the best sort of setup.

As for how long my Mischa took a couple of weeks to show signs of improvement and even then the signs were not obvious. My vet at the time said to PTS after a couple of weeks but I said no as I could see him slowly regaining his balance and not rolling so much but his head tilt was still very much apparent. The vet could only see him in that 5 minute window while we were there, I could see him at home, all the time, and the slow improvement. The most important thing at the moment is that she keeps eating and drinking. That's what got Mischa through as he is very much a hungry rabbit and even when he was ill he'd still take food off me. I had to give it to him as he couldn't reach to eat out of a bowl. He hated the critical care though so we didn't give him that, he was eating hay and his mix which he had at the time as he refused to eat pellets then. We also found putting herbal tea bags in his water for a few minutes before giving it to him encouraged him to drink by himself.

Boudicca said:

She NEEDS painkiller!!!!! If it is an ear infection they are painful! but rabbits don't always show signs they are in pain as they have to hide it in the wild! If it is EC she will still need painkiller for the same time she is on panacur at least a month! EC causes inflamation and that can cause permenant damage causing the wonky head or legs etc the painkiller keeps the inflamation under control!! If it was my bunny I would demand some painkiller urgently!

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okay.. the vet HAS NOt given me any painkillers so i am going to call amd get some... I also just got some eyedrops for her eye because she only feels comfortable on her left side and so the eye that is down is getting infected. But I am giveing her eyedrops in both eyes 3x a day

Schuette said:

Keep going. I know it's hard I've been there. Rolled up towels will help her to stay upright and give her something to rest her head on. Have you bought her indoors? An indoor cage (smaller may be better in this instance as there are sides she can right herself with) with towels as a base and then more rolled up towels to lean against with a big handful of hay for her to eat is probably the best sort of setup.

As for how long my Mischa took a couple of weeks to show signs of improvement and even then the signs were not obvious. My vet at the time said to PTS after a couple of weeks but I said no as I could see him slowly regaining his balance and not rolling so much but his head tilt was still very much apparent. The vet could only see him in that 5 minute window while we were there, I could see him at home, all the time, and the slow improvement. The most important thing at the moment is that she keeps eating and drinking. That's what got Mischa through as he is very much a hungry rabbit and even when he was ill he'd still take food off me. I had to give it to him as he couldn't reach to eat out of a bowl. He hated the critical care though so we didn't give him that, he was eating hay and his mix which he had at the time as he refused to eat pellets then. We also found putting herbal tea bags in his water for a few minutes before giving it to him encouraged him to drink by himself.

Click to expand...

Right now she is indoor 24/7 in a BG basket that is extremely padded and she is laying in ther. We have a little cat crate. should we padd that and let her be in there?
** The vet says to padd the crate and put only hay in the crate and let her be in there. BUT the problem is that when she rolls, she rolls until we stop her. but the vet says to let her roll because she is trying to correct herself but i dont want her to hurt herself.. and/or never stop rolling...

Kermit said:

My bunny Kermit was exactly like this, he had severe head tilt and was rolling uncontrollably any time he stood up.

Bunnies can get through this and survive. It can be hard work though, for you and bunny.

You do need to get your bun Metacam, unless as Jane said the vet has already given a long acting steroid. Your bunny will definately be in pain, but this can be managed with Metacam or Steroids.

Also get some fibreplex at the vets for the probiotics.

Good luck at the vets xx

Click to expand...

We got her some probiotics that are dairy FREE because someone on here said that dairy would upset her tummy... I will call about Metacam because the vet has not given her a steroid and i def. do not want her in pain

What area are you located?