Feeding Head Tilt Bunny

[Sabine]

Thank you everyone for your replies and encouragement.
tonyshuman: I have another vet appointment tomorrow and will mention the meds you listed to her. I was thinking about the nystagmus. It did appear horizontal to me when I tried to remember it but as her head was totally tilted maybe it was vertical and I just remembered it wrongly.
I am preparing a cage that should suit Asha and her friend Lint. I am hoping to try moving her in during the weekend.
Loisbunnies: Aww poor Poppy. She does look as bad as Asha in the picture. That's encouraging to hear that there may still be hope.
Today Asha seemed quite lively at times and almost stood up a few times. unfortunately her bursts of energy resulted in a lot of rolling around as well and that was a bit scary to watch. having said that there are times when I really think the neurological damage may be irreversible. Whenever I syringe feed her (which I am keeping to a minimum now since she is eating) ahe lies on her side or back afterwards and often there are tremors going through her body. The shaking can last for several minutes. I tried to capture it on camera but my husband was moving the camera a lot while filming so I am not sure if i it is that visible.

She also seems to be unable to control her bladder. I have been peed on about 5 times during the last week and that never used to happen. I wonder is that also a sign for something else going wrong?

 

[LoisBunnies]

Try cutting leg holes in an old towel, popping her legs though whilst she is on her side and holding her upright with her feet on the ground. I did this a few times with Poppy and (once she got used to it) she seemed to enjoy being able to walk with support. Poppy did pee on me A LOT despite being speyed (she had never peed on me before) - I think it is because it takes them so long to go anywhere, they can't get away from you to go pee. Might be worth mentioning to the vet though.
I found massaging her shoulderblades gently helped - I was scared to touch her neck as I was convinced it would hurt, but right down between her shoulderblades was tense and I found applying gentle pressure with two fingers actually made her push back into my fingers, as though it was easing the pressure in her neck.
Also another thing which I found difficult was her eyes. Is her "down" eye alright? Poppy got a horribly sticky eye as apparently it can stop them being able to blink properly, plus as it is constantly runnging on blankets ETC it can get a bit dry and yucky.
The shaking is exactly what we had with Poppy. We were sure it was neurological, however my vet explained that it is like being really drunk and the room is spinning, so they are spinning to attempt to correct their tilted head but get really confused and can't work out what way is "up" the spinning is hugely exhausing for them, so it does take quite some time to get their energy levels up. I found that she could eat baby food by herself and this is quite high in calories, so it was good for building her back up. She lost a significant amount of weight (i'd say, honestly, about 50%) however put it all back on after her recovery.
I really was very close to getting her put to sleep about three weeks in. I couldn't see how she could ever recover from such a severe illness. Shorly after that, she just turned a corner and improved quite quickly. Gentle playtime with her bunny friend did help, but I had to put her in the "sling" as the first few times I tried, she spun really badly as she tried to get to her friend. A little gentle competition for food was also good at encouraging her to eat

 

[Sabine]

I am watching the down eye and I am putting some lubrication on. So far it looks only a bit red but nothing oozing out. I have ointment for that though if it does. I will try the sling tomorrow. That sounds like a great idea. Thank you, LoisBunnies, this is really giving me new hope as I we have been discussing putting her to sleep but whenever I seem to make up my mind she does something that makes me think she is going to fight this.
I am going to get up early tomorrow morning to syringe feed her as her poops appear smaller today. It's like having a baby again!

 

[Sabine]

Unfortunately rebonding Asha to her former friend did not work out. Lint attacked her within seconds and I couldn't leave Asha there to fight it out. I may look for a gentler companion for her when she is better. I think she had been bullied a bit by Lint and Snickers in the few weeks before she got sick. I wonder if the stress contributed to her getting ill. it is such a shame as she had been with Lint since she came to us at 10 weeks. When we added Snickers last Autumn things seemed to be going well but it did became obvious that Lint and Snickers became much closer and Asha was left out in the cold a bit.

 

[LoisBunnies]

Oh dear MY vet DID say to be very careful about putting my two back together - she basically said that my other rabbit would probably bully Poppy and they may never have been okay to live together again - knowing my two rabbits, I knew this would NOT be the case, and sure enough, Poppy went back to being the "dominant" rabbit despite her wonky head. There is a really good website - i'm sure its called "onthewonk" which gives LOADS of hope for head tilt bunnies - I would read it a lot when Poppy was ill!

Are you still giving her Panacur? If so, Pets at Home/Amazon sell it, and it is a lot cheaper than through your vet (well, it was cheaper than my vet anyway. My vet is very reasonable as well!)

Out of interest, what has been your total outlay for treating head tilt? I don't know if I got a good deal or not!

 

[Sabine]

I think it didn't help that Asha was the one at the bottom of the pecking order in the trio. Lint and Snickers are back together again after also being separated for two weeks due to Snicker's nose injury.
I must have a look at the website you mentioned as I can do with encouragement.
Asha is still on fenbendazole. I saw little tubes of panacur paste advertised on some websites but found them incredibly expensive. I must have a look on Amazon. It never occured to me to look there. The one I am using now is called Lapizole. There are 100ml in the bottle and the dosage is 1ml per 1kg. So I get 100 doses out of it for a Netherland dwarf. The bottle is about €20 a bit dearer than the sheep wormer I used in the past but as this one is especially formulated for rabbits I thought it may be worth the extra.
I haven't got the bill for the last few injections of baytril and penicillin yet and have somewhat lost count as I paid for a neuter, a stitched up nose, teeth clipping, a rabbit being treated for pasteurella and a few of Asha's initial shots about 2 weeks ago. It came to €145 which I thought was reasonable all included.
We have done most of the recent baytril injections ourselves and my vet is even reusing the syringes (not the needles) to keep costs down. I think I owe for two bottles of Lapizole (as I am going to treat everybun), two packs of critical care and two weeks of penicillin and baytril injections. I did have a rabbits teeth clipped in between but that wasn't even put on the bill the last time. Basically I have no idea how much else there is to pay but hope it is going to be under €100.
I have stopped syringe feeding Asha now as she is eating quite a bit by herself I weight seems to be stable at the moment but I do weigh her every day just in case. The tilt hasn't greatly improved but she appears a bit more alert. We are due back to at the vet's on Wednesday. She will have received about 3 weeks of treatment by then

 

[LoisBunnies]

Yeah, I would imagine that made a difference. Jerry is the most laid back bunny in the whole world, so he just chin-rubbed Poppy once and then flopped down beside her and that was it! He would befriend a shoe if he could, haha.

Here is a link to Amazon UK, where I am ordering my next load from (just for a routine dose) http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004IA4CWU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 - £4.30 is pretty good IMO, I pay about £8 from the vets and you only pay 1x postage and packaging no matter how much you buy I have never used anything other than Panacur as they don't take strange food too well ...
Yeah, cost wise that is about what I was too. Initial appointment including two days board was £75, when she was given lots of IV stuff and syringe fed for the entire time. After that I was maybe £10-£15 per week for about 6 weeks, which was really only covering meds. It was really stressful as we had JUST moved house and hadn't even thought about vets yet (stupid, I know) so had to find one quickly! We struck gold with them though, they have been brilliant with all three rabbits, plus our other pets.

It's really good you have her off the syringe! Poppy really improved once she started eating and got her strength back up. It is such a horrid illness

 

[tonyshuman]

It's too bad Asha's buddies didn't take her back. It would have been a good comfort for her. It is encouraging to see that Poppy made a recovery from a similarly bad case. Asha's increased alertness is a good sign and may indicate that she is improving, just the tilt isn't going away. Urinary tract issues are usually one of the first signs of EC, as it attacks the kidneys and its spores are shed through the urine, so issues of that sort are not unexpected. She may also have gotten a UTI, however, or damage to her kidneys, but as long as the dosing of her meds is correct her kidneys should be ok. She isn't on metacam, right? It can be bad for the kidneys and shouldn't be given long-term.

 

[Sabine]

She got some metacam injections initially and I gave her drops once or twice so I don't think that would have casued much harm. She hasn't weed on me lately but I guess i also haven't been taking her out as much to syringe feed her. maybe it is just lack of opportunity.
I still haven't reintroduced a litter tray as she still rolls quite badly and the litter gets kicked all over the place. i would also be worried about the down eye getting irritated. Right now she is on thick towels with a fleece blanket as the top layer.
She certainly eats with great appetite. The weight has balanced out at 850 g which is probably a good weight for her as I thought she had become a bit overweight at 900g+. She is really tiny and I remember around 800g was her young adult weight.
She is now getting penicillin every 5 days and she has another 10 or so of fenbendazole. The vet suggested to evaluate the situation at around 6 weeks into treatment. I do hope that by then there'll be some marked improvement.

 

[tmaddox9]

I work with head tilt bunnies in rescue. I attended a vet seminar on e. cuniculi today as a matter of fact. Most bunnies with head tilt that I have dealt with were the result of e. cuniculi. I would definitely look into the Panacur. If it is e.c. and you wait too long, it damages the vestibular nuclei in the brain and the tilt will be permanent. The anti-vertigo or sea sick medicine is called meclizine (generic name) and its very cheap. It can help if your bunny is rolling or spinning. We don't know if rabbits feel nauseated becase they are unable to vomit but Im guessing they do and the Meclizine will control that. Metacam will help with both pain and reduce inflammation. As for nystagmus, it is true horizontal often indicates ear infection and vertical will indicate neurological but that isn't always true. The e.c. Bunny I'm working with now has horizontal nystagmus. Neck massage and balance therapy are helpful too. You can add 100% canned pumpkin to the critical care food to entice bunny to eat. It is also very high in fibre so it will help keep things moving through the digestive systems. Buns love the stuff. Just make sure you get 100% pumpkin and not pie filling! If the bunny can not reach its cecatropes you may need to hand feed those as well, otherwise the bunny will not be absorbing nutrients from its food. Hydration is very important so if the bunny isn't drinking due to the tilt and you can't syringe enough then you may need administer sub cutaneous fluids. Also give Metacam with food as it will upset an empty stomach and can cause ulcers. Take care of the downward eye. It can become damaged or lacerated and will result in infection. I would put an opthamalic ointment in it keep it moist and protected. Encourage your bunny to eat with its favorite greens and give them to the bunny very wet. That's another way to increase hydration.

 

[Sabine]

I am hoping Asha is on the road to recovery at this stage. The eating is not an issue anymore as i find her munching most of the time. The downward eye does look a bit read and I am treating it with ointment just in case.
Asha does spent some time now holding her body up although the head is still about 90 degrees tilted. I have started hanging some of the food a bit higher so that she is forced to reach up as the interest in food is there now.
I am also considering to reintroduce a toilet tray again soon so that she doesn't end up lying on wet patches too much. She still has another week of fenbendazole to go and she is getting her penicillin injections at 5 day intervals now. This is 4 weeks into the treatment now and there are definitely improvements although it's a slow process.

 

[Sabine]

I meant to add: Last night I saw Asha for the first time playing again by chucking a plastic flower pot about. i am also able now to gently easy Asha's head straight when I have her relaxed on her back.

 

[JBun]

Sweet little Asha That's probably nice for her to be able to rest those neck muscles, being on her back. Does she seem calm when you do it? That's good that she is feeling well enough to want to play a little bit, and really good that she is eating on her own. Both very encouraging signs of improvement.

 

[Sabine]

Asha's tilt is very strong still but her condition is stable. I am using Toltrazuril (also sold as Cevazuril or Baycox in Europe) for a few days.
Does anyone have experience with this drug? It is usually used for the treatment of coccidiosis.

 

[Bigwig67]

Hope Asha is getting better.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

How's Asha doing? Any better?

 

[Sabine]

I am sorry I never saw the last post. i somehow don't get notifications on this thread.
Asha had improved to a point and we have had a few set backs since. The tilt is very bad still but she is able to hop about and her appetite is great.
Unfortunately she is not using the litter tray anymore which is a bit of a set back. We'll just have to wait and see and see at this stage.

 

[bluecherry28]

Hey Sabine, never knew such a wee bunny to battle the way Asha has and i know she will appreciate all the wonderful care you have been providing for her! Really hope she is still improving, i know it changes day to day but just give her a huge nose rub from me :happyrabbit:xx

 

[Sabine]

Will do! Thanks Liz:sunshine: