Rabbit middle ear infection - advice please!!!!

Hi

I have a 3 year old bunny called Oscar who is really poorly. He has been to a vet and has been diagnosed with a middle ear infection. He has completely lost his balance and has facial paralysis on one side. I took him to the vet last Thursday and he stayed over night so they could do blood tests and x Rays and give him him painkillers and I picked him up on Friday evening after they confirmed the middle ear infection. They have given me penicillin injections to give him once a day and metacam which I have to give him twice a day. He has now been taking this for 3 days and I don't see any improvement and also he isn't eating! I have therefore had to force feed him with a syringe but I wondered if anyone can give me some advice on how long I should expect to be force feeding him until he takes food on his own? Also how long does a middle ear infection take to clear?

Any help would be greatly appreciated because I am doing everything I can for him and I hate seeing him so poorly!

Thanks

Just as I posted this thread he has started eating hay on his own! But only a small amount.

My rabbit also has middle or inner ear (can't remember which) infections at the moment. He has been on antibiotics for maybe 3 months now and has improved but it's still not gone. We think one side is almost better and the other has improved, we won't know for sure though until we do xrays again, we're just going by symptoms at the moment. My vet did say that ear infections can be stubborn and can take long courses of antibiotics to shift - we started off with baytril and now he has marbocyl. Barney also has an ear wash as there is some gunk down on the outside of his ear drum in one ear.

Getting your bunny eating again is the most immediate concern I think, as that is life-threatening. I have this with Barney occasionally as he also has gut problems, and the vets usually wants to hospitalise him until he is eating on his own again. It is easy for rabbits to get dehydrated when they are like this, so the vets usually inject fluids under the skin and he's also been put on a drip before. Try to encourage your bunny to drink lots and offer them some of their favourite foods - many rabbits will be more likely to eat strong-smelling natural foods, like fresh herbs e.g. basil, oregano, mint, cammomile etc or dandelions, bramble leaves and apple sticks/leaves. High-fibre foods like those natural ones and hay are best, and avoid too much sugary food if you can, as this can make it worse. You may also find he'll eat the liquid syringe-feeding food out of a bowl if you offer it to him - it's usually fenugreek flavour, which is an appetite stimulant.

Once he starts to eat a bit, he should start to improve. Once the gut has stopped it is very hard to get going again, so rabbits need some food in their system at all times, so the more often he eats the more it should start to move. If you go back to the vet they should administer some gut stimulant drugs to help things keep moving - this can be through oral medicine or injection. They need to check that he hasn't developed any blockages before giving these though - they'll probably have a feel of his tummy to check.

I hope your bunny continues to improve.

Update - Oscar has been eating some hay on his own this evening on and off. He ate quite a bit earlier but then hasn't really had much more since then. He pooed earlier and his poos were sticky with a clear jelly string in between! I'm a bit worried but he seems to be eating better tonight than he has been in the last few days!

Jennao said:

Update - Oscar has been eating some hay on his own this evening on and off. He ate quite a bit earlier but then hasn't really had much more since then. He pooed earlier and his poos were sticky with a clear jelly string in between! I'm a bit worried but he seems to be eating better tonight than he has been in the last few days!

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Glad he's eating a bit now.

The jelly usually indicates that there is inflammation in the gut, keep his diet fairly plain but keep encouraging him to eat. Keep going with the liquid recovery food and the metacam. If he continues to have the jelly in his poo, or his eating doesn't improve further by tomorrow, I'd advise you go back to the vet to check him over and maybe provide some more medicine (pro-kinetics/gut stimulants) for him to help keep the movement going - I'm surprised they haven't prescribed some already, have you told them he isn't eating properly? Fibreplex may also help - it's a high fibre probiotic paste which helps support gut function - you can buy this from your vet.

The antibiotics can only do so much, a strong immune system is key to fighting off infection and the best way to support this is to make sure his general health is good and keep him eating.

Hi.Sorry to hear your bunny has a middle ear infection.My bun has had this problem.Ear infections in rabbits can be tricky to treat and usually take awhile to resolve.Last year I was giving him penicillin injections daily for several weeks but he did improve.Im glad the vet prescribed twice daily Metacam for your bunny as ear infections can be painful and Metacam also helps with any inflammation in his ear.My advice therefore would be to keep going with his treatment bearing in mind it could take awhile to improve but with daily penicillin injections he should improve.
Sometimes these infections return but hopefully your bunny will make a good recovery.