Bunny with scanning eyes going in circles

[SnowyShiloh]

I just called and made Ned an appointment with his regular vet (not the emergency vet we saw Sunday morning). It is for Wendesday morning. For once I was able to get an appointment right away, it was amazing! They even had one available today but I decided to wait a couple days to give the Baytril a chance to kick in, sound like a plan or should I call back and try to get the appointment today or tomorrow?

Later this afternoon I'm going to call the vet and ask them if they can have the vet call me at her convenience today or tomorrow so I can ask her if she'd actually prescribe more medicine for him. As I mentioned earlier, taking him to the vet again if she won't prescribe more medicine seems kind of like a waste.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[SnowyShiloh]

I have some good news! Ned's nystagmus is gone. Does this mean he's getting better or just that he's adjusted to the tilt? The tilt does not seem any worse since Sunday evening. He is still obviously having balance issues and doesn't like me much right now because he hates the Baytril, even when I mix it with grenadine.

 

[JadeIcing]

Could mean that he is getting better. The tilt itself can last longer than the infection. Sometimes the tilt takes longer to go away.

The appt is tomorrow?

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Ali, yes, the appointment is tomorrow morning at 9 am. I'm going to try to get the vet to call me today so we can discuss what's going on with him. Since he doesn't have the nystagmus and the tilt doesn't look worse, it may be prudent to just continue on with the Baytril and bring him in to the vet next week instead? Any thoughts? I want to limit the number of vet visits since they're so pricy. OF COURSE we will take him if he needs to go but I don't want to just make $150 vet visits where nothing constructive will occur.

 

[TinysMom]

If it were me - I'd wait and have a vet visit in a week or so (if you can get in with the one you'd like). It sounds like the baytril is working - just call and ask if they can prescribe you more (enough to get him through to the vet visit).

I just hate to see you pay for two vet visits when he's doing so well and it sounds like you just need to give the meds time to work.

Also - his tilt really doesn't seem that major....I think you caught it early! (You're such a great bunny slave!)

 

[JadeIcing]

I would call see what if the vet will prescribe something stronger. I have seen bunnies get slightly better with baytril than when off it slams back. I myself would get my bunny seen by my vet that I trust. Just so my vet has a visual of what's going on not just a verbal account.

 

[MILU]

I hope Ned is ok! When I read the post and saw it's from you, I thought "NO WAY, this is NOT happening to Shiloh, she and her bunnies gotta be alright!!"!
I hope it's just an ear infection that is getting resolved. I'll be sending positive thoughts your way. Ned's gonna get better soon!
:bunnynurse:

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Agh conflicting opinions from 2 people I trust! I went ahead and called the vet office and asked them to have the vet call me when she has the chance today. I plan to explain the situation to her and ask if she would consider prescribing him a stronger medication. The vet in question has actually never seen Ned since the 1 time he had to go to the vet until now, our regular vet wasn't available. I don't think she's the best rabbit vet in the world but is certainly the best here where we live.

So Ned is confusing me today. The nystagmus is gone, woohoo! And sometimes his head doesn't look tilted at all and he's looking straight ahead, but other times you can tell it's tilted. Not any worse than yesterday though. He tilts/turns the most when he's relaxed, which makes sense. I am very hopeful that the Baytril is working, but like Ali said I'm concerned it could come back once he gets off the medicine. All I want is to do right by my boy.

And Vivian, thank you so much for your support

I'm going to go take Nedders outside for a little bit and see how he handles it.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Our backyard adventure was definitely short lived. While we were out there, the neighbor whose house is only 10 feet away from the play yard chose that time to do home repairs and put up a big loud ladder and was hammering! It was making Ned nervous so we came in. He did pretty well other than that. I can tell his balance is still off but it's a lot better than it was Sunday morning. He hates being put down now but he isn't sticking his arms straight ahead of him when I carry him now, which he did from Sunday until last night. Honestly, if I didn't know anything was wrong with him, I would think he was okay for the 5 minutes we were out there. The only odd thing he did was lie down stretched out by the side of the play yard but I don't know if he was doing that because of balance issues or because the hammering (which had just started) bothered him.

Nedders in action. Does he look like a healthy bunny to you?

"Mom, this is sooo embarrassing."

 

[Pipp]

I agree with prescribing an ADDITIONAL med, I think you need to be aggressive with this.

It's not so much a case of stronger (the Vet won't like that word), it's one more likely to be effective. If the Baytril is by injection, try an oral like Chloramphenicol or Zithromax as well, or switch to a PenG or Bicillin by injection and give Baytril orally.

You don't want to take a chance. I've had Baytril prescribed twice this year, I went along with vet and while it seemed to start working at first, the issues soon came back and 20 days of the stuff did nothing.


sas :clover:

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Sas, the Baytril is oral. It's the injectable kind but he is getting it orally. Should I then ask to give him Pen G or Bicillin too? Man, I hope she goes for this. Why do vets seem to be so staunchly opposed to treating our pets with the most effective medication?

Bunnies are not for the faint of heart!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Good news! The vet called me back and agreed that Ned should be on more than 1 medication for the head tilt because she said Baytril has a pretty narrow scope of effectiveness. She said she will check if they have any Pen G but I can get some from somewhere else if necessary and she will show me how to give injections at his appointment tomorrow!

She did name another medication as a possible one to use instead of Pen G, I think it was oral. She called when I was asleep so unfortunately my brain was a bit foggy and I can't recall what she said. Is there a list of acceptable meds in conjunction to use with Baytril for head tilt that I can take with me just I know if what she suggests is suitable?

 

[SnowyShiloh]

We're back! The vet gave us :

-1 gram packets of Panacur to dissolve in water and syringe to him once a day for 5 days

-shots of Pen G (.3 mL penicillin benzathine and penicillin procaine combination) to give him once a week for 4 weeks

-This is in addition to the .2 mL Baytril once a day for 2 weeks that he's already been getting.

Does this medication regiment sound suitable? She said the Pen G is a different kind and only needs to be given once a week instead of every day. She said to bring him back in 3 weeks if he seems to get worse and said it's a good sign that he's looking so much better already so she doesn't want to prescribe a full month of Baytril and Panacur (though the Pen G is a 1 month supply).

 

[SnowyShiloh]

OH NO! I'm very worried now! When we were at the clinic, the vet had to give Ned 2 shots of Pen G because the first one went all the way through his skin and got squirted out on his fur (she did the injection, not me). She quickly wiped it off with a paper towel then gave the injection again. Fast forward a while, we're home 20 minutes and I suddenly remember that ingestion of penicillin is fatal to bunnies because it wipes out their intestinal bacteria. Naturally, Ned was licking the injection site. I immediately poured water all over and wiped the spot as best I could, but now I'm all worried he swallowed it and will get very sick!! I called the vet back and she said he probably didn't ingest enough to be harmful, but holy moly! The last thing we need is Neddie getting sick or dying because of a medication that's meant to help him A couple years ago Rory went to the vet with GI slow down problems and they gave him sub q fluids that he got a skin infection from so he had to have antibiotics and it made him recover even slower so this isn't the first time a vet visit has been potentially harmful...

Any thoughts? I promise I'm not freaking Ned out or panicking, just worried obviously!

 

[TinysMom]

Eh....that's happened here too - don't worry. He's probably going to be just fine. We just wipe it off when it happens and I've never had a rabbit get sick from it.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Phew! That's good to know. We will probably pick up some Benebac tonight. I know it wouldn't really help if he had a serious issue but maybe it will help a little!

 

[mistyjr]

ray:

I hope for the best. Hes a cute one eared bun! et:

 

[LuvaBun]

I wouldn't think it's too much of a problem, as if he ingested any at all, it would be very little amount. I think it being dangerous if ingested is more like if it's given orally.

Glad he seems to be doing OK - he's a little like Jester in markings/colouring

Jan

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Jan, doesn't he look like Jester? They're both so cute!

Does anyone have opinions on the medications he's on now? I posted them a couple posts up. I'd love it if someone could take a peek.