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Help with sick rabbit

I have 2 rabbits; Andy and Chloe. I got Andy as a baby 9 years ago and Chloe came in a few months later as an adult so I am not sure of her age. They are both fixed and a very closely bonded pair and they are house bunnies, except we do let them run in our yard supervised occasionally on nice days. They have never been in contact with any other rabbits. Andy has never been sick a day in his life, his teeth are still in wonderful shape, he is a mini lop. Appx 5 weeks ago I took them both to see our Vet and she prescribed metacam for arthritis, an ear cleaning solution and some drops for his left eye as he had uveitis. Then about 2 weeks ago, I saw Andy running in circles and when I picked him up, I noticed he had horizontal nystagmus and then he developed head tilt. My Vet prescribed oral baytril (in case this is an ear infection), and panacur (in case this is e. Cuniculi). He has been on these for 14 days now and I am seeing no improvement at all. The circling and nystagmus are intermittent, the head tilt is constant. Thankfully, he is eating and drinking on his own and has not lost any weight. He has had 2 bouts where I found a large clump of pasty looking poop stuck to his hind end, it looked like cecotrophs and mucous....not sure what is causing this, but I was told I should have tried to feed this to him? I realize rabbits need to eat their cecotrophs, but I panicked when I found this stuck to him, thinking it was diarrhea and washed him off. Any advice would really be appreciated.

Here are all the meds Andy has been on the past 2 weeks; Andy weighs 1.81 kgs.

Panacur 0.36 mls once a day (100mg/ml strength)
Baytril 0.6 mls orally twice a day (100mg/ml strength)
Metacam 0.45 ml once a day (1.5 mg/ml strength)
Baytril ear drops; twice a day
Neomycin eye drops once a day.
Benebac; 1 gram once a day (probiotic)
 
I have no advice sorry :( but hope your bun starts to show some improvement soon

Have you voiced your concerns to the vet?

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I have 2 rabbits; Andy and Chloe. I got Andy as a baby 9 years ago and Chloe came in a few months later as an adult so I am not sure of her age. They are both fixed and a very closely bonded pair and they are house bunnies, except we do let them run in our yard supervised occasionally on nice days. They have never been in contact with any other rabbits. Andy has never been sick a day in his life, his teeth are still in wonderful shape, he is a mini lop. Appx 5 weeks ago I took them both to see our Vet and she prescribed metacam for arthritis, an ear cleaning solution and some drops for his left eye as he had uveitis. Then about 2 weeks ago, I saw Andy running in circles and when I picked him up, I noticed he had horizontal nystagmus and then he developed head tilt. My Vet prescribed oral baytril (in case this is an ear infection), and panacur (in case this is e. Cuniculi). He has been on these for 14 days now and I am seeing no improvement at all. The circling and nystagmus are intermittent, the head tilt is constant. Thankfully, he is eating and drinking on his own and has not lost any weight. He has had 2 bouts where I found a large clump of pasty looking poop stuck to his hind end, it looked like cecotrophs and mucous....not sure what is causing this, but I was told I should have tried to feed this to him? I realize rabbits need to eat their cecotrophs, but I panicked when I found this stuck to him, thinking it was diarrhea and washed him off. Any advice would really be appreciated.

Here are all the meds Andy has been on the past 2 weeks; Andy weighs 1.81 kgs.

Panacur 0.36 mls once a day (100mg/ml strength)
Baytril 0.6 mls orally twice a day (100mg/ml strength)
Metacam 0.45 ml once a day (1.5 mg/ml strength)
Baytril ear drops; twice a day
Neomycin eye drops once a day.
Benebac; 1 gram once a day (probiotic)

It sounds as though your Rabbit is on appropriate treatment to cover for both EC and Otitis Media (middle ear infection).

The vestibular symptoms associated with both conditions can last for many weeks and occasionally they can get a lot worse before they get better. A Vet can prescribe additional/alternative antibiotics if he/she feels that Baytril alone may not be sufficient.

There is a UK based Facebook Group dedicated to offering help, advice and support to people caring for 'Head Tilt' Rabbits. If you are on FB I would encourage you to join the Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/HelpforHeadTiltHoppers/

These links contain information about both EC and Otitis Media/Interna :

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/head_tilt.htm

http://www.veterinarywebinars.com/w...-are-caused-by-central-or-peripheral-disease/

https://www.dechra.co.uk/therapy-ar...cs-antifungals/disease-information/e-cuniculi

http://www.veterinarywebinars.com/m...oads/2016/03/Study_Notes_Ear_Nose_Rabbits.pdf

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Otit/otitis.htm

file:///C:/Users/USER/Downloads/treatment-of-otitis-externa-media-and-interna-in-rabbits%20(2).pdf

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Bacterial/BacterialOtitisMediaInterna.htm

These links contains information about Uveitis

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/UveitisRabbit.htm

http://www.vetfolio.com/ophthalmolo...ciated-phacoclastic-uveitis-in-a-dwarf-rabbit

It can take a very long time, but some Rabbits can recover from 'Head Tilt', even if they are left with some disability. This site may be useful should yoyr Rabbit require extra help coping with any disability

http://www.disabledrabbits.com/head-tilt.html


And finally a recent thread on here may give you some hope that your Rabbit can recover :

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?469681-Head-Tilt
 
I have 2 rabbits; Andy and Chloe. I got Andy as a baby 9 years ago and Chloe came in a few months later as an adult so I am not sure of her age. They are both fixed and a very closely bonded pair and they are house bunnies, except we do let them run in our yard supervised occasionally on nice days. They have never been in contact with any other rabbits. Andy has never been sick a day in his life, his teeth are still in wonderful shape, he is a mini lop. Appx 5 weeks ago I took them both to see our Vet and she prescribed metacam for arthritis, an ear cleaning solution and some drops for his left eye as he had uveitis. Then about 2 weeks ago, I saw Andy running in circles and when I picked him up, I noticed he had horizontal nystagmus and then he developed head tilt. My Vet prescribed oral baytril (in case this is an ear infection), and panacur (in case this is e. Cuniculi). He has been on these for 14 days now and I am seeing no improvement at all. The circling and nystagmus are intermittent, the head tilt is constant. Thankfully, he is eating and drinking on his own and has not lost any weight. He has had 2 bouts where I found a large clump of pasty looking poop stuck to his hind end, it looked like cecotrophs and mucous....not sure what is causing this, but I was told I should have tried to feed this to him? I realize rabbits need to eat their cecotrophs, but I panicked when I found this stuck to him, thinking it was diarrhea and washed him off. Any advice would really be appreciated.

Here are all the meds Andy has been on the past 2 weeks; Andy weighs 1.81 kgs.

Panacur 0.36 mls once a day (100mg/ml strength)
Baytril 0.6 mls orally twice a day (100mg/ml strength)
Metacam 0.45 ml once a day (1.5 mg/ml strength)
Baytril ear drops; twice a day
Neomycin eye drops once a day.
Benebac; 1 gram once a day (probiotic)


Hi there and welcome to the Forum :wave:

I'm sorry to hear about Andy and his troubles. This must be worrying for you.
I can see that your vet has him on all the appropriate meds for the possible conditions he has.

For ear infections I have found this article to be very useful:

http://www.veterinarywebinars.com/m...oads/2016/03/Study_Notes_Ear_Nose_Rabbits.pdf


What people have found is that an antibiotic such as injectable penicillin can sometimes work better than Baytril. It might be worth you discussing this with your vet and see what they think.


Regards the Head tilt itself, there's a member on here who's had a lot of experience with a Head Tilt bunny and the bunny is winning! She is Roxyroller88 and I'm sure she won't mind you pinging her a PM for help :) She recommends this Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/HelpforHeadTiltHoppers/


Lastly, regards the Panacur - it's given as you probably know, for 28 days. It's advisable to clean the litter trays and anything that could have urine spores on it with a 1%-10% bleach solution on days 21 and 28 of treatment. You just need to soak the items/littertrays for 30 seconds in this solution to prevent the spores from being ingested by the rabbits. Rinse thoroughly afterwards.

Wishing you loads of luck with your beautiful rabbits x
 
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