E.C Bunny

Hi

We are new to the forum but have been reading lots of the posts about experiences some of you have had with EC Bunnies.

We have an 18month old rabbit, Gus, who we have had from 8 weeks old and just after we got married in July we adopted another rabbit, Bambi, who had been bonded with Gus at a rescue centre whilst we were on Honeymoon and is an older (not sure by how much) lop eared bunny.

They are best friends and love spending time together but a couple of weeks before Xmas Bambi started to fall backwards when she stood up on her back legs and developed a head tilt. We took her straight to the vet and were told that she had EC and that we needed to use panacur on both rabbits (even though Gus was fine)

Bambi was eating and drinking fine on her own and seemed to quite enjoy the panacur doses but wasn't getting any better tilt wise and didn't seem to be able to wee on her own without us holding her over a bowl and massaging her tummy. We took her back to the vet and they perscribed antibiotics and eye drops for a possible kidney infection and an eye infection in her 'down' eye. Although she was still unable to wee on her own, we had a system going where we would take her for one before and after work and the wee stopped smelling so bad and her eye cleared up quite nicely.

Now, nearly 7 weeks later, she has shown no improvement in her head tilt and seems to have lost her sight although we can't be sure. We thought she was deaf when we adopted her as she didn't respond to sound as Gus does but it was never a problem but now she gets really scared when you first touch her (I guess because she can't see or hear you coming) and although she is eating and drinking she still can't wee on her own.

I know if I take her back to the vet they will say she needs to be put to sleep (they practically said that the first and second times we took her) but I really want to give her as much of a chance as we can. When does it start being cruel?

What can I do to help her?

Welcome to the forum

Has her 'down' ear been swabbed for a culture and sensitivity test?

Hi,
Just wanted to say sorry to hear about Bambi. I'm on a learning curve myself with an EC bunny but .there are some very experienced people on here who are sure to help.

I'm sorry to hear about your bunny's health problems.

I think your best course of action may be to get a second opinion from another vet- if you post where you are someone may be able to recommend one- at least they can have a proper look at her eyes and see whether she really is blind, or whether something is making it difficult for her to focus- do her eyes flicker rapidly?

Having her ears checked/swabbed for infection as Sky-O suggests is a sensible idea, as ear infection such as pasteurella can cause head tilt as well as E.c.- to make things more complicated the two conditions can also occur together. Both conditions can affect the eyes also.

Giving an anti-inflammatory such as metacam is an essential part of treatment in my opinion- is she on anthing apart from the panacur and antibiotics?

As for when it get becomes cruel, there's no easy answer, other than when you are keeping her going for yourself rather than herself- that said, I believe, in fact I know that bunnies can certainly have a good quality of life with a headtilt, and I suspect their sense of smell is probably much more important to them than sight (I doubt wild bunnies can see much inside their warrens). Just be careful to keep the environment safe and don't rearrange the furnishings too often.

Good luck with your bunny xx

Hi

I dont need to repeat much of the medical advice already posted:

I would expect a rabbit savvy vet to prescribe metacam as well as panacur/lapizole, and also something soothing for the eye. As Sky o says it may also be that there is an ear infection going on.

Not being able to wee without being helped is not something I have come across with EC buns (and I have had several -) but the blindness (and deafness) is relatively common - typically a white crcle appears in the eye affected.

Re the 'how is her life' once she is adapted to partial blindness then buns actually cope very well (I have had two) , the having to be helped to week may be more of an issue - and I would hope a good vet would try and get to the bottom of that (sorry for unintended pun).

PTS is not something that I would expect a vet to have advised at your first visit with an EC bun (especially one that tbh sounded quite a mild case ) so you might look at gettinh a second opinion from a rabbit specialist vet.

Whereabouts are you?

Thanks All

Thanks for all your replies and i will try and below hopefully will cover your questions.

The vet never did a swab of the ears they just said it was EC and told me to use panacur for 28 days, the second visit was for an eye infection where we got anti biotics and eye drops.

We saw 2 different vets at each appoinment and the person who we adopted bambi from recommended the vets we are with now.

Bambi is being a bit more like herself, she has starting stamping her feet which she used to do every nite we put away.

We keep her in a cage indoors which is lined with carpet so she can hop around but she only hops once or twice before she has a sniff round, which she has been doing a lot recently to find things. Gus is kept outside but we think she gets a bit lonely now so we try and get them both inside as much as we can.

Bambi's eye did clear up for a couple of weeks but has now got gungey again so we have started her on the eye drops again.

We are from Sheffield

Thanks for all you messages of support and its good to know that she has a chance of good life which we will continue to give her.

I think you need a rabbit savvy vet to take a look and anti-inflammatories should help matters. My bun came down with it exactly one month today, we do 40 min journey to get to our new vet and she has been wonderful. If there isn't something already set up here I'd go to the rabbit section and ask for a rabbit savvy vet in Sheffield needed urgently. Thats how I got our vet! It could be worth calling up your current vet to see if they use an exotic specialist and to ask them to contact for help with your bun.
IMO if she is eating, drinking, pain free etc and you can deal with helping her pee long term then she is fine as she is. You know her the best so you can judge her quality of life. If you need any help/advice PM me xx

I will ask around the forum to see if there is a good rabbit Vet in sheffield.

Also someone asked about blinking and Bambi hardly blinks.