Jaro had severe head twitches / tilt - Now Blind

This afternoon Pam noticed that Jaro was twitching his head. He'd look ahead then his head would drift off to the left before snaping back to look ahead again. The movement is horizontal - not the more vertical 'head tilt'.

He was also extremely disorientated, with eyes also twitching with a slight movement but rapidly. She managed to get him out from under the bed (his favourite daytime sleepy space) and bundled him into the carry case.

We rushed him to the vet - where he got worse, the head movements got more severe along with the eye movement.

The vet gave him a check over, and seems to think it may be due to an inner ear infection. It was when she was feeling around his right ear that it seemed to get worse.

Jaro has also tested positive for EC and has been on fenbendazole for about 6 months.

The vet has given him shots of anti-biotics, a painkiller and an anti-inflamatory.

We've to keep a close eye on him, but leave him as 'unstimulated' as possible in a familiar environment.

He may be blind at the moment too - he doesn't seem to react to anything visual - but this may be coming and going.

The vet has left us 2 doses of injected painkiller to give him through the night to keep him stable - and we've to go back in the morning.

Just as Yalta was starting to get back to her usual self, Jaro gets poorly.

Despite us having to manually express him every day - he seemd to be doing really well - skittling around the room last night with a few binks, playing chase around the stool.

This seems to have come from nowhere - and we're really worried.

Martin + Pam

aawww i hope Jaro is feeling better real soon. Let us know how he gets on.. i'll be thinking of him.

Sending best wishes for little Jaro!

Get well soon!

Caz

Thanks Chris, and Caz

good job Pam was listening at the vets, its a sedative (valium) we have in the syringe, to help relieve some of the stress if the symptoms persist tonight - not painkillers which is what I thought.

He does seem to have improved a bit since we got back - better than when we were at the vets, but it may just be due to the fact that he's back in familiar surroundings.

The tilting seems to come and go, periods of his heading moveing back and forth, followed by maybe a couple of seconds of 'normal' state where he seems to be noticing his surroundings before going back to head movements again.

Martin

Oh poor Jaro I'm so sorry that he's poorly
If it is an inner ear infection then antibiotics will help him but it could take a few days. One thing that will help the wee man is some anti sickness tablets that you can get from the chemist - just a quarter of a tablet crushed up in water, then syringe it to him. He will feel so disorientated and we all know how that feels - the anti sickness tablets will help him.
If you see the vet again then he may be better off with a steriod rather than diazepam, this will help him calm down but it will also dull his senses where a steriod will actually help reduce any inflammation and ease the pain.
There is a possibility that it could be an Ec attack so carry on with the panacur as usual - it's going to be tough for the little man and I am sending loads and loads of positive healing vibes to him.
Please let us know how he is getting on.

fingers crossed - he seems more stable now - he's even had a quick nibble on some timothy grass.

He's a greedy so and so - the day he stops eating we know we've got to really worry - apparently last time he was put under for an x-ray he was still nibbling on hay in his carry case base as he dropped off to sleep.

Think they gave us the valium to reduce the stress levels, think the anti-inflamatory he was given maybe had steriods in - I know the last time I was given them for my back - they had steriods too.

He is now definitely 'phasing' in and out of the tilting - with moments of clarity when he is responding to sounds and sight before slipping back to slow head movements which are a lot slower than they were earlier.

Thanks for your support - its really helping with our stress levels - think I might just use the valium for ourselves

Martin + Pam

Jaro has severe head twitches / tilt - Valium ?

The vet gave us some Valium to give Jaro - to help sedate and relax him overnight to get some rest and possibly sleep.

He seems to have stabalised - his head is still tilt / turning, not as bad as it has been, but it is also not getting any better now either.

I'd guess thats because the painkiller/anti-inflamatory has done its work and lessened the impact, but that the anti-biotic has yet to kick in.

We're in 2 minds on whether to give the Valium or not.

It will probably help relax him and possibly make him more comfortable overnight, but we also dont want to upset him or stress him out unduly by getting him back out and trying to inject him.

The vet showed us what to do to inject him - but as neither of us has done it before, there is possibly a slight risk involved.


The second problem we have, is that although he is nibbling a bit on hay, he's not had any water since this morning. Were not sure if its going to be possible to syringe feed him water in this state.

When he's 'tilting' he's on auto-pilot, and doesn't respond to any stimuli, we're afraid that if he goes into this state mid 'feed' he may choke.

Any ideas ?

thanks

Martin

We didn't give him the valium last night - he seemed 'sedate' enough.

Went in to see him earlier this morning, and although the head-tilt seems to have stopped, he isn't very responsive - and we think he's blind.

When the attack first came on - he wasn't responding to anything visual, but last night he could definitely see us and track a finger moving.

This morning he definitley isn't responding to anything by sight at all.

He also hasn't pooped since yesterday lunchtime, so we're going to ask the vet for something for that too.

We're going to the vets as soon as they're open - about an hours time.

Martin & Pam

I'm so sorry to hear this as Jaro is such a delightful bunny. Sorry I can't offer any advice (you're obviously both doing a fantastic job) but sending healing vibes over to Jaro and best wishes to you. I can't begin to imagine the stress you'fe feeling.

awww poor little chap thinking of you all

Update from the vets...

He seems at least partially blind - which could be as a result of the infection - or something that has been worsening for some time from EC.

Apparently rabbits don't rely on sight as much as we think - so partial sight is difficult to spot.

The vet gave him another injected dose of anti-inflamatory / antibiotic drugs (no painkillers this time).

He didn't give us anything for gut-motility, he gave Jaro a good feel, and seemed to think he's not overly constipated atm - more important that he eats/drinks.

The only advice he gave us for that - was 2mls of liquid paraffin later tonight if he still hasn't done any poops.


He seems to really like being held at atm, probably feels more secure.

thanks for the support,

Martin + Pam

its probs very comforting for him to get a hug and a cuddle, poor lamb, will his eyes get better or is this a permanent thing for him now?

not sure if the partial sightedness / blindness is permanent or not.

It depends what caused it. There doesn't appear to be anything immediately wrong with his eyes (ie cataracts) whcih means it is most likely brain related.

If its from the ear infection it may improve - if its been steadily worsening from the EC - it probably wont, it will just continue to get worse.

We've let him out in his room instead of just the cage - and he knows his way around well enough - although buns rely heavily on a 'visual map' in their brain for their space and navigating, so the poor eyesight isn't as much of a problem.

The good news is that he has pooped now (3 small moist ones) - and he ate his tiny carrot this morning. He is also drinking.

We syringe fed him pineapple juice and probiotic about 2 hours ago too.

Were just going to leave him to it for a whil as he seems very tired.

Martin + Pam

aww thats good news, glad he has eaten and pooped!

Sorry to hear about this. He seems a character though! Sending lots of healing thoughts to Jaro.

keeping fingers crossed for jaro, hope he feels better soon

Hope he has improved. Please keep us updated! XXX Have you tried posting about his problem on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/etherbun/ ? They were very helpful when I was trying to find the cause of Evo's stasis problems.

Rallybunny said:

Hope he has improved. Please keep us updated! XXX Have you tried posting about his problem on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/etherbun/ ? They were very helpful when I was trying to find the cause of Evo's stasis problems.

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Evo is the cutest bunnie i have ever seen in my life!

Thanks for the kind comments

After a bit of experimentation, we think the blindness is more in one eye thatn the other.

His left doesn't respond to any stimuli, whereas his right eye does seem to ocassionally react.

Thinking back to a few days ago - he could definitely see. He was having a real good explore around when i was playing the guitar - picking up bits of paper and nibbling the straps - and he was going straight up to these without any head 'scanning'.

Were hoping the blindness is temporary to do with the infection.

Hes got a bit of his appetite back, but otherwise just wants to mainly sit there atm - he is ill and probably tired, so hopefully its just rest he needs.

Thanks rallybunny - I'll try them too.

Hmmm, 'rally' bunny and a bun called 'evo' do I detect a petrol head ?

Martin

Loads of snuggles for Jaro from me