Drizzle Head Shaking

[lalena2148]

So I woke up this morning to Drizzle shaking his head and scratching at his left ear. I went down and inspected him and felt it and it's definitely more swollen and harder (and hot) at the base of the ear than on the right one. If I touch the right one,there's no head shaking. If I touch the left, he shakes his head and scratches that ear. Could this be an outer ear infection?

I'm calling the vet now to see if I can get him in today.

Anyone with this before, will the vet just give ear drops and an antiobiotic? Thanks!

 

[bluebird]

Sounds like it might be an absess.they might drain it.then give you some kind of antibiotics.good luck.bluebird

 

[lalena2148]

bluebird wrote:

Sounds like it might be an absess.they might drain it.thengive you some kind of antibiotics.good luck.bluebird

Im getting him checked out tomorrow, but to me it sounds like more of a middle ear infection:

http://www.hrschicago.org/headtiltfr.html

"External ear
A. Easily visible - should be inspected weekly
B. May be original site of disease
C. Disease in this area can cause head shaking, drooping ear and pa

Middle ear
A. Includes the eardrum (tympanic membrane), eustachian tube, 3auditory ossicles (bones) and tympanic nerve (branch of the facial nerve CN VII). Protected by the tympanic bulla (bony shell)
B. May fill with fluid or pus - may or may not cause changes in the ear drum appearance
C. Disease can come from external ear or through eustachian tube from the pharynx or through the blood
D. Disease in this area can cause the same signs as with external ear along with deafness.
E. If facial nerve is damaged - drooping lip, drooling, decreased or no blink reflex and drooping ear. If damage to nerves III, IV or VI then will have Horner's Syndrome (drooping lip, sunken eye, relaxed third eyelid). In some cases the eye becomes very dry. "

Agree or disagree? It just looks swollen not pussy like an abcess to me.

 

[jordiwes]

When Wesley got itchy ear and shaky head, it turned out to be a wax buildup in the ear. I hope it's something that simple for you!

 

[Haley]

Poor Drizzle ray:

I hope its something simple like a wax buildup, or even a minor ear infection. How's Latte doing, by the way?

When it rains it pours, eh?

 

[m.e.]

ray:

 

[JadeIcing]

Good luck!

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

ray:

 

[lalena2148]

Just got back from the vet. Drizzle had a lot of wax build up. However, like I had suspected, the base of the ear is inflamed pretty bad. But, he said he doesn't have an infection that he can see (no upper res, no abcesses). So he said if Drizzle starts to sneeze more frequently and/or the inflammation gets worse, call him and he'll order some Baytril for me. He just doesn't want to put him on Baytril again so soon, since he was just on it a month ago, and before that he was on a different one for another reason. So, for the ear inflammation, he's on Baytril OTC, a topical med dropped into the ear5drops 2xday for 8 days. Drizzle doesn't like getting them at all! The poor vet had to burrito him to take them.

Also, the vet visit price wasn't too bad...but the medication was more than the entire visit! How can oral Baytril be $26 and the ear drops be$40?!?!

Oh well, that's the price you pay for a healthy bunny!

And Haley, Latte is doing awesome! He's acting like he never had any problems at all! In fact, he just jumped over his 3foot high play pen from a standing position! :shock:His head is still tilted to like 55/57 after on the clock, but that's not bad at all. He's a very good healthy boy now. But, I always make sure I keep an extra close eye on him.

 

[JadeIcing]

I had to use those drops what we did was lay next to him and feed him craisins. Let the drops fall into his ears fast. My husband would than hold him gently and we talked to him. Tell him what a good boy he was and that we were sorry we had to do it.

 

[katt]

i just had this problem with herman, he hated the drops too.

after the first couple times of doing it, having a shirt completly wrecked, and a nice bite on my arm. . .i started to pull out the rabbits fleece blanket when he got the drops. he attacked the blanket instead of me and afterward he got all nice again (once i would give him a few craisens and a good ear rub).

by the end of the 10 days (he had drops for 10 days) he would run away from me whenever i pulled that blanket out. he has been done with the drops for about a week now, and will still run up to that darn fleece(it is folded and put on top of their carrier that sits by their cage,so at his level) and gets a good lung, nip, and grunt at the blanket before running off to find trouble!

good luck, i hope he feels better!

 

[Haley]

Poor Drizzle! I really hope the drops will work.

Im so glad to hear Latte is doing better. Keep us posted ray:

 

[lalena2148]

I think I'm going to call the vet, but I thought I'd ask you guys as well. Driz's ear is a more red (around theinside edge of the ear)while I'm using the drops.

JadeIcing and katt, did that happen to your bunnies' ears as well? I think the vet mentioned something about it getting red, but I though the said something like 'as long as it doesn't bleed or scab it's ok'...but I think I'm going to call to make sure.

 

[katt]

no herman's didn't get all red, but it honestly wouldn't surprize me if he is itching it red when you aren't looking?

herman would constantly itch his ear for about 15 minutes after i put the drops in, after the drops i would rub his ear for him for about 5minutes and he got his greens right after so he was distracted. . .

 

[lalena2148]

Ok, katt. I'll keep an eye on him to see if he's scratching.

Also, has anyone ordered meds from1-800-Pet Meds? I saw on there that they have this Baytril OTIC listed for $18.99 (same size too...a sopposed to the $40 I spent). They also had Metacam on there cheaper than through the vet. I don't know how ligit it is, so I thought I'd ask. It would be nice to order through them instead of the vet pharmacy.

 

[naturestee]

How's he doing today?

 

[lalena2148]

He's still feeling kinda bad. He lays down alot, flopped on his 'good side' and has been sleepy. His breathing is normal and he's still playful and snuggly when I'm with him. His eating habits are fine. His droppings are a tiny bit smaller(just enough to be noticeable), but it's hard to tell too because Latte's are a lot bigger and I might just be basing it off of his. I feel like I've been closely looking at bunny poop for a whole 2 month snow! I'm keeping a close eye on him though. His ear is a little less red today (more of a dark pink now), but is still noticeably swollen. The vet cut down the amount of drops to 1drop,twice a day for the remainder of the days. If the swelling doesn't go down, then we're going to do oral Baytril.

And as Haley put it, when it rains, it pours! I just hope Drizzle gets better and Latte keeps being healthy :knock on wooden desk: because ina couple weeks, I have to have an outpatient surgery and will be recouping for 2-3 days ( after that I'll be able to be out and about).So, my hubby will have to take care of them and, although he does feed them, I'm not sure if he'd remember to give them their medicine. He'll be home w/ me for the first two days though so I guess I could remind him .

 

[Haley]

I just saw your question on the 1800petmedsthing. As far as I know, its a much cheaper way to order meds. You have to have an rx from your vet, but then you can just fax it to them for approval.

I use an online service through my vet and its so much easier. They automatically fill my metacam and send it straight to us. Definitely worth looking into if he has to be on meds longer..

 

[katt]

honestly, i don't know why he brought down the amount of drops. . .it took around 6 days before herman's ear wasn't bothering him anymore, and i was doing drops 2X a day. . . it just seems to me the drops are getting cut back way to soon, he has only been on them for 4 days (he started them the 8th right?)

 

[lalena2148]

katt wrote:

honestly, i don't know why he brought down the amount of drops. . .it took around 6 days before herman's ear wasn't bothering him anymore, and i was doing drops 2X a day. . . it just seems to me the drops are getting cut back way to soon, he has only been on them for 4 days (he started them the 8th right?)

Yeah, we started it on the eighth and I was doing 5 drops 2Xa day. The vet said now to do 1 drop 2X a day. I need to do 2 anyway just to make sure it gets in his ear as he shakes his head a lot. How many did you use on your bun?

He says some animals have allergic side affects to Baytril Oticlike redness, so he wanted to make sure it didn't get worse. It was pretty red the other day. He was scratching it a lot more then, and he's not doing it so much now. It looks less red now, but is still definitely swollen. I'll be calling the vet this week to give him an update (or he'll probably call me on Tues) and then we'll see how everything is going.