Bunny falling over

[Shayna]

hi I was curious as to if anyone has any thoughts on what’s wrong with my bunnies. They got sick at the same time. One stopped eating and when I returned from the vet with him his cage mate was in full head tilt and pretty much unresponsive. So after months of vet visits and some hospitalization they are doing fairly well. Back to eating pretty normally. Willow still has a head tilt. Gunner does not have the head tilt but he will fall over on occasion. Both ec test were negative but they said it could still be ec but I would think that at least one would have shown an antibody response. The one thing that I did end up finding was despite being on revolution the each had a warble on their face. They think possibly that could of caused some nerve damage. Any thoughts would be appriciated

 

[JBun]

If they both had warbles, that could certainly be connected. Another possibility would be inner ear infection. Though for two rabbits to have an inner ear infection at the same time with the same symptoms, would be a bit unusual.

I'm more inclined to think that the warble was the cause. They can cause toxic shock as well as a secondary bacterial infection. If your rabbits are stable now besides the bit of residual head tilt, I would suspect that some amount of toxins affected them and caused some permanent neurological damage.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/Cuterebra/Miyasis_botfly.htm
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Warbles_Lagomorphs.htm

 

[Shayna]

If they both had warbles, that could certainly be connected. Another possibility would be inner ear infection. Though for two rabbits to have an inner ear infection at the same time with the same symptoms, would be a bit unusual.

I'm more inclined to think that the warble was the cause. They can cause toxic shock as well as a secondary bacterial infection. If your rabbits are stable now besides the bit of residual head tilt, I would suspect that some amount of toxins affected them and caused some permanent neurological damage.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/Cuterebra/Miyasis_botfly.htm
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Warbles_Lagomorphs.htm

If they both had warbles, that could certainly be connected. Another possibility would be inner ear infection. Though for two rabbits to have an inner ear infection at the same time with the same symptoms, would be a bit unusual.

I'm more inclined to think that the warble was the cause. They can cause toxic shock as well as a secondary bacterial infection. If your rabbits are stable now besides the bit of residual head tilt, I would suspect that some amount of toxins affected them and caused some permanent neurological damage.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/Cuterebra/Miyasis_botfly.htm
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Warbles_Lagomorphs.htm

If they both had warbles, that could certainly be connected. Another possibility would be inner ear infection. Though for two rabbits to have an inner ear infection at the same time with the same symptoms, would be a bit unusual.

I'm more inclined to think that the warble was the cause. They can cause toxic shock as well as a secondary bacterial infection. If your rabbits are stable now besides the bit of residual head tilt, I would suspect that some amount of toxins affected them and caused some permanent neurological damage.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/Cuterebra/Miyasis_botfly.htm
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Warbles_Lagomorphs.htm

 

[Shayna]

And unfortunately the warbles were found late in the game. Willow had a swelling under the eye and I had taken her back in twice.. only to have them keep telling me she must be rubbing her eye from the head tilt. I figured it out on my own when the lesion also appeared on gunner. They kind of blew me off when I asked about ear infections.. that’s pretty much the only thing they weren’t checked for. She keeps saying she don’t see ear infections often. I’m worried however the infection could of traveled to the inner ear?? The wounds are mostly healed now. Willow still has tilt but is no longer rolling.
Also.. gunner always seems to be breathing rapidly.. though he’s eating fine and moving around ok. He didn’t have a fever.. they say he was stressed at the vet.. but he’s not stressed at home so I don’t know the reason for the rapid breathing. Their room is a comfortable temp.

 

[JBun]

I would try and find a different more knowledgeable rabbit vet. Continued increased respiratory rate is a likely indication there is still something going on there. Though it could also just be from some sort of permanent damage that occurred.
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

 

[Shayna]

I have been thinking about maybe following up at Ohio state. I already drive 3 hours to see the only exotic specialist that would take rabbits. I’m really disappointed in the knowledge they have concerning rabbits.