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    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

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Opinions and Advice needed

C

capel

Warren Veteran
I'm posting this on behalf of someone whois going to be joining the forum, but has asked me to post this to save time in case it takes a while to get registered. Thanks. Hilda

Hi Everyone,

I was hoping someone could please help me out. My 2 year old dwarf/Dutch cross has recently been losing her balance and falling over. Sometimes she's fine and she zips along or binkys and she's eating and going to the bathroom normally, but she isn't herself as she can't keep her balance. After 2 days of this I took her to the vet and the vet said she more than likely has an inner ear infection, but we've caught it so early she doesn’t' have pus in her ear or anything really to detect it. He has given me an antibiotic for her, but she seems to just be getting worse. I plan to take her back to the vet on Monday, but I was curious if anyone has any advice for me? I have read tons of information on the internet and it only makes me more scared, so I would love to hear some first hand advice. I love my bunny very much, she's more like a dog or cat to me and sleeps with me in bed, and spends most of her time with me as she follows me around. My hearts breaking and I don't want her to fall really ill.

Hope someone could give me some advice. Thank you
 
It sounds as if it might be head tilt - that causes loss of balance and can be caused by a middle ear infection, you would not necessarily see pus as it would be behind the ear drum. Does the rabbit's head drift off to one side or the other? Or are the eyes flickering? Those are other symptoms. If it is an ear infection then an antibiotic is the right treatment, along with metacam to reduce inflamation. However an infection is not the only cause of head tilt. It can also be caused by E. Cuniculi, a parasite. this can be treated with Panacur, but for 28 days rather than the 9 days on the instructions of the new panacur rabbit that is out. It is worth treating the rabbit with antibiotics, metacam and panacur so that both possibilities are covered. Steroids may also be helpful in bad cases.

If it isn't head tilt another possibility might be some sort of seizure. Maybe you could go and see a vet that knows more about rabbits.
 
My bun Alice had these symptoms a couple of months back, she was treated for a middle ear infection ( baytril s/c) and luckily by day 3 she was 100% better. The only other possibility I can think of is E cuniculi, which is treated with a course of panacur. Hope this is of some help. :?
 
I am also thinking that EC is another possibility as well as an ear infection. If after 48 hours treatment with the baytrill and there is no improvement I would certainly go to a rabbit savy vet and seek a second opinion. Like Louise says you will need 28 days treatment for EC not the preventative treatment of 9 days.
 
Thanks again for your input. She is printing all your info off and taking it along to her vet.
 
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