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EC related help please.

*Bex*

Mama Doe
Cleo my nethie started with EC last Monday night. She was immediately started on lapizole and had a course of 3 steroid injections 48 hours apart. She seemed to be doing ok, apart from eating less than usual (she is receiving syringe feeds)
Her last steroid was Saturday morning and over the last 48 hours she has declined. She's lost quite a bit of weight and her balance is not good at all (she was getting around ok previously with just a bit of a wobble)
I'm worried about her, I feel totally helpless and like she is not going to come through. I am thinking of asking the vet to hospitalise her, I feel we are not doing enough to help her at home.
Does anyone have advice? So scared for her :(
 
did the vet give a covering abx ?

usually necessary, especially if a steroid is given

is she pooing ?

sometimes prokinetics are needing to keep the gi tract moving
 
Yes, she was on baytril which finished yesterday to cover while the steroid was in her system.

She is pooing and she is very willing to eat from the syringe, she will nibble bits of other food but not very much.

I'm worried about how much she has declined, her balance is now not good and being so small, she does not have much weight to lose.

I've just spoken with the vet and he thinks it is worth giving her another steroid later today.
 
When Brownie had headtilt/EC she was on the antibiotics & (in her case) metacam for at least the first couple of weeks, and I think she stayed on the metacam for around a month. She also had either metacloprimide then Stemetil injections to keep her guts going and help her balance as she was rolling badly from the very start.

It's very early days for Cleo - I think B's recovery (although left with a permanent tilt) was 6-8 weeks at least.
 
Thanks, I can ask about the drug to help her balance. It's her weight I am majorly worrying about, as i know the other symptoms are typical of the illness although I didn't expect her to relapse so badly after she appeared to be doing not so bad. I'm literally at the point of breaking down over it :(
 
It is really hard seeing any bunny poorly.

We did find with Brownie that she did seem to get worse before she got better - and her headtilt & loss of balance was very sudden onset. There were certainly a couple of weeks where either we or our vet were questioning whether we should continue treatment - although the vet only saw her after car journeys so she just curled up on her side on the exam table and looked pathetic, but at home was eating heartily in between rolling.

If she's still eating happily & her guts seem okay with it, maybe offer food more frequently & more variety to encourage her to eat more. Her appetite might be a bit down if she's struggling with balance as if she's feeling off balance it might make her feel nauseous (like vertigo in humans - it's all the same bit of the brain & that's part of what metacloprimide & stemetil act on).

Your vet may not be prepared to prescribe Stemetil as it isn't licensed for rabbits but is a human anti-vertigo drug. Jack's Jane recommended it to us & I believe had reported it benefitting her buns, and our vet read up on it and was prepared to order it in to try it. We had the injectable form but I believe there is an oral form. As B was rolling & very tilted it was easier to given injected meds than try to give oral ones.
 
Cleo is much worse after car journeys and after being handled to be fed. When she made a huge improvement after her steroid, she was generally her normal self at home but when I took her to the vet she was all tilted and looking very poorly - had to show the vet videos and pictures of her at home so he could see how she was.

I think the vet can give something for the balance and dizziness as they mentioned it last week but then decided against it as she'd improved so much. They have consulted with harcourt-browns but she did not recommend any other treatment than what she was on already.
 
Unfortunately her tilt and her balance has become so much worse and she falls when she tries to move.

My mum found her at lunch and thought we'd lost her as she was laid very still. Fortunately she was still alive, we brought her out into the carrier and she managed to sit up but with a considerable tilt. We rushed her to the vet as an emergency.

The vet seems to think she was probably just sleeping or resting and she found that position most comfortable due to her head and because of her poor balance.

The vet feels she is trying to fight. She is eating well, she ate a good amount of food this morning herself and is having syringe feeds brilliantly which gives us all hope. She was weighed today and she was 1.25kg which is the same as Saturday. She was 1.3kg last Monday, so at least she is maintaining her weight.

She has had a small dose of steroid and something to make her feel less nauseous. She is now confined to the carrier as it is not safe for her to have space with her rolling. The carrier is still in the shed so she can be with Polo and be in familiar surroundings.

We are all doing our best for her. I just hope she can come through this ok.
 
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