Rudy Rabbit Head Tilt

Poor Rudy is not well. On Wednesday evening, I was concerned that he was stumbling when walking and then he stopped eating. I took him to the OOH vets but the vet couldn't see the stumbling, but gave us gut stimulates and pain relief. Rudy then didn't move from where I placed him Wednesday night or at all on Thursday. When I came home from work he couldn't walk at all but just flopped to one side, he also wasn't eating. We took him back to the vets, thankfully we saw Molly at this point. He was admitted into them for monitoring and treatment overnight with suspected E cuniculi or an middle ear infection. Whilst a blood test would have identified if Rudy is negative from E cuniculi the vet said the vast majority of rabbits are positive for EC anyway, but don't show any symptoms.
We have just picked the guys up from the vets and brought them home.
Rudy now has a tilted head and he is struggling to navigate around his pen. I have seen him nibble a piece of hay and wash himself.
He is currently on panacur, emperid and loxicom.
The vet thinks that there is a good chance that he can learn to live with the head tilt, it may even improve with time and has suggested a CT scan to check for middle ear infection, the next available appointment being Tuesday.
For those of you who had head tilted buns in the past, do they get used to the disability?
Is there anything I can do to make things easier for him?
Should I get Holly on panacur? If so is that 9 days or 28 days?
Thanks for any advice
Richard

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Looking at him I am pretty sure he will recover in time. Didn't the Vet give you pain relief in case it is an ear infection? I kept Fiver warm and gave him Metacam and he is now back to his old self. It took about 2 weeks. Hope Rudy improves as the days go by.

Poor Rudy Sending him loads of vibes. I have no experience of head tilt so I will let others, who have, advise you.

Oh, poor Rudy. I'm sorry he's not well and is having trouble getting around. I used to have a bunny with a head tilt, and it did get much better after the initial thing that caused it was treated (meningitis, according to the vet), but he kept his head tilt for the rest of his life. He did get used to it, though, and he didn't have any trouble with anything after that. He got around just as well as any other bunny. Hopefully Rudy will recover completely, though. Sending him so many vibes, and I hope the medication will do its job.

Rabbits can adapt to living with a head tilt. Sometimes things can get worse before they improve though. The Rabbit might start to roll during a very dizzy spell so keeping them a well padded enclosure can help prevent injury should that happen.

As well as the meds he already has I would ask the Vet about prescribing an antibiotic in case it is a middle ear infection. A CT scan would be needed to confirm this, but it might not be the best idea to anaesthetise an already poorly Rabbit.

It is important that he keeps eating enough to prevent secondary gut stasis. Sometimes syringe feeds are necessary. Prokinetic drugs too. It is best to try to find a way to syringe feed and medicate Bunny whilst Bunny is still on the ground. Picking up a Bunny with head tilt can increase the dizziness and make them panic and roll.

If rolling does become a problem then the Vet could prescribe medication to help to reduce it- prochlorperazine or meclizine.

Don’t expect any improvement to occur quickly. It often takes weeks of intensive treatment and nursing care.

Physiotherapy can be beneficial too.

Tonibun - he is on pain relief- loxicom.

Poor boy & poor you - its a horrible illness. Mousey had head tilt when I got her, its pretty much the same. Noodle got extreme head tilt (non stop rolling for days), when she finally recovered she still had head tilt but it was marginal. Rudy will benefit from lots of TLC - time to bring out lots of herbs & forage. Yes put Holly on panacur - check with Molly for how long as I really can't remember

I don’t have any experience of this so I can’t advise, but I’m sending lots of vibes xx

I had a bun with head tilt and once we got him stabilised it was amazing how quickly he could get around and navigate everything. We had to make adjustments, like using a large potting tray with only 3 sides as a litter tray so he could turn around in it etc. We had other problems associated with his head tilt that unfortunately made things more complex but sounds like you've caught it early and your vet seems confident so keeping everything crossed for you!

Oh poor Rudy, I send a lot of vibrations for him. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I had head tilt bunnies over the years-all treated with antibiotics.and medicam. Three recovered and tilt resolved fully in two, one improved and had slight tilt. As already posted, they got worse for few days after treatment began, then stabilized and then improved balance/eye movements stopped, . The actual tilt took months to improved though they adjusted well.

You caught it early, so your adorable boy has a good chance to recover. Sending vibes..

Thank you for all your help and advice. It is reassuring that some of you have had buns that made a full recovery and the ones that didn't learnt to cope with the disability. From your descriptions, it sounds like we need to be patient whilst we wait for any improvements.
Jane, I assume the vet (Molly Varga) will weigh up the risk versus the benefits of anesthesing before going for the scan, she comes acoss as very competent and confident.
Rudy has eaten some herbs and pellets, but not much hay yet. I will offer additional herbs and pellets a bit later on and hope that he starts munching on some hay soon.
He isn't moving around very much at the moment, but I assume he is very disoriented.
Richard

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Motty said:

Thank you for all your help and advice. It is reassuring that some of you have had buns that made a full recovery and the ones that didn't learnt to cope with the disability. From your descriptions, it sounds like we need to be patient whilst we wait for any improvements.
Jane, I assume the vet (Molly Varga) will weigh up the risk versus the benefits of anesthesing before going for the scan, she comes acoss as very competent and confident.
Rudy has eaten some herbs and pellets, but not much hay yet. I will offer additional herbs and pellets a bit later on and hope that he starts munching on some hay soon.
He isn't moving around very much at the moment, but I assume he is very disoriented.
Richard

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You are in expert hands with MV.

It is normal in the early stages of head tilt for the Rabbit to remain very still. Their world literally spins when they move. If you have ever had labyrinthitis you will have an idea of how that feels.

I would monitor poo output as secondary gut stasis is the big risk factor at the moment.

InspectorMorse said:

You are in expert hands with MV.

It is normal in the early stages of head tilt for the Rabbit to remain very still. Their world literally spins when they move. If you have ever had labyrinthitis you will have an idea of how that feels.

I would monitor poo output as secondary gut stasis is the big risk factor at the moment.

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Thank you Jane.
It's at times like this you appreciate the difference between an excellent rabbit vet and the rest.
We still have poo, not as many or as big as I would like and occasionally you catch him sneaking out of one of his hidey holes for a munch of hay
Richard

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Rudy had his CT scan yesterday which showed no unusual signs whatsoever. Having ruled out a middle ear infection, we are assuming he has EC.
He still has his tilted head, but he is now learning to walk instead of stumble. Hopefully he will continue to improve over the next few weeks
Richard

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I'm glad he's learning to get around a little better. Sending him lots more vibes, and I hope the EC will be succesfully treated with the panacur he's on.

Its good ear infection has been ruled out. sounds like your lad is making tentative but good progress. keep on munching Rudy

Glad he is walking better and stumbling less.
Sending vibes for your cutie.

Well, good news that the CT scan was all clear. Even if his head tilt is something that never resolves it is very possible for him to learn to live with it. It can take months, but some very wonky Rabbits can eventually binky again

I really don't know anything about it, so I haven't written much. But all I can say is that you always follow Jane's advice, she's really knowledgeable and great about it. And don't worry when Jane helps you, you're lucky.
I'm glad he's improving a bit more, I keep sending so many vibrations for him. Xxxxxxxx

Just an update on how Rudy is, it's Day 10 since I first took him to the OOH vets.
I should have added earlier that Molly was horrified that Rudy had not been given "stemetil" anti dizziness tablets when he came home, he has now been on these since Tuesday evening.
His head is still slightly tilted, certainly not fully tilted. He is managing to walk around his pen, with the odd stumble here and there.
I think my major concern at the moment is that I have not noticed him eating his cecotropes, he is happily eating herbs and pellets, but is still not eating hay as enthusiastically as he should be.
Richard

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