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Ear Flushing

L

Linuxete

Warren Scout
Hello. My rabbit Sam went back to having balance issues and a slight headtilt to his left side again. He also has nystagmus. It's horizontal and doesn't change when you turn his head. He's still eating on his own, just stopped eating hard food, but will eat hay and greens.
I noticed he was shaking his head violently and then he developed balance issues, also started to tilt his head to the left side. I took him to our vet right away. He was on Baytril for about 2 weeks. He's now on Cefazolin and Carprofen.
No improwements after 2 days so our vet suggested to check his ears with endoscope and clean a wax to see his ear drum and possibly a middle ear infection. His ears are quite clean just a bit of wax showing when you look with an otoscope, no signs of inflammation.
I'm quite worried about his ear flushing procedure, because he would have to be sedated for it, also I'm worried about possible complications afterwards. What if it will make his symptoms worse or cause even more damage? Anyone's bunny had this procedure done? What to expect afterwards? Thanks in advance.
 
I have Molly Varga at Rutland House in St Helens flush my rabbits ears. She doesn’t sedate (apart from the first time as he had a CT scan to check there was no infection/tumour etc). He’s never had head tilt but he had a lot of head shaking and itching. Another vet told me he had ear mites and it just wouldn’t go with constant treatment. Molly found a lump just under his ear (turned out to be wax build up - he only ever has a little at the base of his ears).

I wouldn’t have my regular vet do this as they did not sound qualified at all. Another option we used which has helped is Tris-NAC solution which my regular vet sought out (1ml down the ear & massage), this was really helpful when Molly was on furlough.
 
Afterwards literally had no issues afterwards, he had both ears done on Tuesday (previously on had one ear done). I think this was his third time now, could be fourth. My regular vet did warn of horror stories but Molly is an expert at this so if you are near enough, I would highly recommend her.
 
I wish I could take him to Molly Varga, heard a lot of good things about her.
Sadly, we live in Lithuania and there is not a lot of rabbit savvy vets here.

Išsiųsta naudojantis C6903 Tapatalk 4 Lt
 
You say he had a previous episode - Has he ever been treated with Fenbendazole? I know you saw him head shake etc but I'm wondering whether EC might be a factor if its re-ocurring?
 
Yes, he's still on Panacur. First episode was about 2 weeks ago. It just started very suddenly, though that time he was on dexamethasone. His symptoms went away quite quickly. He regained his balance and was on Baytril and metacam. He wasn't 100% himself, but was running around and jumping. The day before he had his second episode we ended his antibiotics. He's pretty much the same everyday, not better, but also not worse.

Išsiųsta naudojantis C6903 Tapatalk 4 Lt
 
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