Head tilt (e cuniculi), question?

Firstly, I apologise if there is a sticky thread for this, I couldn't see one.

Hey Bunny Fans,

I am writing to ask you experienced rabbit owners your thoughts. My french lop, Wilson is nearly 3 and has been suffering from head tilt (e cuniculi) since the beginning of November. He has had a full dose of antibiotics along side 28days of panacur. He is eating like always, drinking and even attempted a binky the other day but unfortunately fell over, his balance is not what it was, due his tilted head. He is acting completely normal, which is somewhat reassuring.

The question I ask, is for those of you who have rabbits that have suffered from EC. How long did it take for your bun's head to straighten? Is it normal for rabbits to live long term with a head tilt?

I have done a lot of research into this, but this is the one question, I can't seem to find the answer to.

Any opinions will be greatly appreciated. X

These links may be useful

http://www.onthewonk.com/

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?291164-URGENT-head-tilt-U-D-pic-p65

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...ction-E-c-Update-22-2-Down-eye-now-open-(pic)

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...lt-and-rolling-U-D-Advise-for-Graeme-plz-pg34


Rabbits can adjust to life with a permanent head tilt. A friend of mine had a Rabbit who lived for 7.5 years with a very severe tilt. He did need daily extra care with grooming and for his eyes (artificial tears applied). He also developed dental problems due to how the tilt made him eat. But he was a very happy boy and enjoyed his wonky life to the full

Jack's-Jane said:

These links may be useful

http://www.onthewonk.com/

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?291164-URGENT-head-tilt-U-D-pic-p65

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...ction-E-c-Update-22-2-Down-eye-now-open-(pic)

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...lt-and-rolling-U-D-Advise-for-Graeme-plz-pg34


Rabbits can adjust to life with a permanent head tilt. A friend of mine had a Rabbit who lived for 7.5 years with a very severe tilt. He did need daily extra care with grooming and for his eyes (artificial tears applied). He also developed dental problems due to how the tilt made him eat. But he was a very happy boy and enjoyed his wonky life to the full

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Thank you for replying so quickly. I will have a proper nosey. Any recommendations on artifical tear drops?

Yes we have one bunny who's head never went back to normal after successful EC treatment.

You can usually see EC most simply by looking at the pupils as these change quite dramatically when there is an active infection.

Of course always contact your vet if you are concerned.

Hope that helps

ocean_blues said:

Thank you for replying so quickly. I will have a proper nosey. Any recommendations on artifical tear drops?

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/CELLUVISC-D...WO9U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357033446&sr=8-1

ocean_blues said:

Any recommendations on artifical tear drops?

Click to expand...

I use viscotears gel in my bunny who isn't producing tears (not due to head tilt). These ones were given to me on the recommendation of a specialist vet because they are very thick so last longer than the more watery ones. I guess a bit of trial and error to see what works for you. Good luck x x

Santa said:

I use viscotears gel in my bunny who isn't producing tears (not due to head tilt). These ones were given to me on the recommendation of a specialist vet because they are very thick so last longer than the more watery ones. I guess a bit of trial and error to see what works for you. Good luck x x

Click to expand...

The only problem I have had with viscotears is that some Rabbits are sensitive to the preservative in the preparation

Celluvisc is preservative free

Yes, fortunately heather is fine with it! It is also available in a preservative-free, single dose vials, but that makes it much more expensive. I guess it's just trial and error to see what works best for each bun

I will reply fully later as I had some ideas on how to treat my own bun's very severe head tilt, and was surprised that no one else had tried anything like it, and just seemed to think that it would somehow magically right itself, which it obviously rarely does. Roger was the most severe head tilt my bunny vet had ever seen, and he was unable to move about at all because he just fell over all the time, and soon lost all confidence in trying to move full stop. I spent many, many hours thinking about Roger's problems and my own medical training with humans, and realised that actually a lot of treatments that humans receive following major trauma, could be adapted and used to treat Roger, and to my delight and my vets amazement, he made a full recovery with absolutely no visible head tilt left at all. I think it was so successful because I put a lot of thought into it almost immediately, and didn't leave his neck tilted for any length of time, or what I mean is, I worked on his neck right from the beginning, so that the muscles, ligaments etc didn't have time or the opportunity to become fused in this new akward position, as I think often people just accept that this is what the bunny has now got to live like, but if you can look at it from a human medical point of view, I don't believe that this is the case, and when you think about it, if humans didn't have physio, various other treatments, well, I for one would be walking about permanently looking to the right and unable to move my neck, but obviously that is not the case, and neither was it for Roger, because I adapted all the treatment etc that I had and improvised it so that I could do the same with Roger, and maybe it was just good luck but I don't think so, more that it was hard, very time consumming work, but at the end of the day totally worth it, as Roger himself proved.