leanne.mariposa
New Member
I have a 6 1/2 year old bunny called Milky.
In the past he had developed head tilt (we just noticed his head leaned slightly to the right), we took him to the vet immediately (24 hour animal hospital) where he was given a steroid injection which i think is treatment for a stroke. This worked quickly and Milky made a full recovery thank god. He displayed no other symptoms at that time but went on to develop the same symptoms a few years later which was Christmas eve this year.
On this occasion we did exactly the same i.e. took him to the animal hospital for a steroid injection as soon as we noticed his head tilt. The vet also gave us antibiotics (Baytril) and was supposed to give us panacur which is a treatment for paracites (we picked this up a few days later because thestaff "were busy" and so forgot to give us the paracite treatment). At this time we took Milky for a check up as we were worried that milky wasn't showing any signs of improvement, it turned out that he needed a higher dose of antibiotics bcos he weighs 4kg and is quite a big bunny so we were to start giving him 2.4ml of Baytril.
The steroid injection didn't help at all in factMilky's head tilt began to get even worseand was taken back to the vet for a second injection which alsomade no difference. I asked around for any other anitubiotics which may work better but it turned out that the vet here werent licenced to prescribe any other antibiotic so were forced to persist which what we had even though we felt cruel for picking him up while he was so off balance and giving him meds which he seemed to hate the taste of. I recieved a phonecall from the vet around this time and said we should also give him probiotic to protect his gut due to the large amount of antibiotic we were giving him..which we started to do.
By this time Milky had got worseto the point of him lying completely on his side with his legs against his house, seeming alittle glazed and near enough unable to walk..when we put him down after administering meds he spun around or was unable to stand straight and became withdrawn.
Milky was always a lively happy interested bunny so was very distressing to see him in that condition....to the extebnt where we even considered taking him off his meds so thathis last days were as comfortable as possible.
However it's a good job we didint because now (2 1/2 weeks) later has made an almost full recoevery, is happy, started poohing and weeing again and cant stop eating...hecomes out of his house and hops around as normal andf spends lots of time playing, and licking our hands!! His head tilt has almosty fully corrected itself and hopefully will fully correct itself soon so that he canplay in the garden as before.....he is truly a miracle boy and we are all gobsmacked he is so wellhaving seen the awful distressing condition he was in for a good week or so..
Meds we gave him were:
2.4 mil antibiotics once a day
2 syringes of probiotic (thin syringes and one in morning one before bed)
1 syringe of feed (paired with probiotic it was enough water)
Panacur once a day
2 steroid injections
lots and lots of attention, cuddles and comfort (someone was always home and sat stroking him and napping next to him in contact to keep him as happy ..as possible)
we also made a house from a hard plastic washing basket (to encourage good posture)and burnt off the edges then put padding and covers over the ends so that if he fell into them he wouldnt injure himself. We coated the floor of his house with fleece material and a hand towel which he always used to use as a toilet...tucked the ends underneith the house to p[rvent injury because milky always tried to ruffle up the ends and lie in the gap which wasnt helping his posture. we also put blankets down on the floors and padded pillowsnext to the skirting boards.we massaged his muscles the odd time and hand fed him greens carrots and apples..he wwent of his pelletsbutwas still eating the odd few bits of food although we didnt notice any pooh for around 2 days...
the vet told us that his age is going against him and that it didnt sound good so were hinting at euthanasia....since he seemed happy and wasnt in pain we stuck with it after researching possible recovery on the internet..and its a good job we did!
So to cut a very long...upsetting ... but miraculous story to an end......DONT GIVE UP...if there is any chance your bunny could make a recovery....you know your pet better than anyone. Although not all rabbits pull through, there is a good chance it can happen and in as little asa fewweeks!! I raed online that many cases involved months of treatment and recovery but after 3 ish weeks wehave been told by the vet to start taking him of his antibiotics!! if you feel your rabbit still needs to recover and it isstill a critical period and ur vet advises u to stop antibiotics "to see what happens"then do not stop until you know your bunny is fully recovered (keep giving them probiotic to counteract the effect of the antibiotics)
GOOD LUCK ... it is well worth the time and effort!!
In the past he had developed head tilt (we just noticed his head leaned slightly to the right), we took him to the vet immediately (24 hour animal hospital) where he was given a steroid injection which i think is treatment for a stroke. This worked quickly and Milky made a full recovery thank god. He displayed no other symptoms at that time but went on to develop the same symptoms a few years later which was Christmas eve this year.
On this occasion we did exactly the same i.e. took him to the animal hospital for a steroid injection as soon as we noticed his head tilt. The vet also gave us antibiotics (Baytril) and was supposed to give us panacur which is a treatment for paracites (we picked this up a few days later because thestaff "were busy" and so forgot to give us the paracite treatment). At this time we took Milky for a check up as we were worried that milky wasn't showing any signs of improvement, it turned out that he needed a higher dose of antibiotics bcos he weighs 4kg and is quite a big bunny so we were to start giving him 2.4ml of Baytril.
The steroid injection didn't help at all in factMilky's head tilt began to get even worseand was taken back to the vet for a second injection which alsomade no difference. I asked around for any other anitubiotics which may work better but it turned out that the vet here werent licenced to prescribe any other antibiotic so were forced to persist which what we had even though we felt cruel for picking him up while he was so off balance and giving him meds which he seemed to hate the taste of. I recieved a phonecall from the vet around this time and said we should also give him probiotic to protect his gut due to the large amount of antibiotic we were giving him..which we started to do.
By this time Milky had got worseto the point of him lying completely on his side with his legs against his house, seeming alittle glazed and near enough unable to walk..when we put him down after administering meds he spun around or was unable to stand straight and became withdrawn.
Milky was always a lively happy interested bunny so was very distressing to see him in that condition....to the extebnt where we even considered taking him off his meds so thathis last days were as comfortable as possible.
However it's a good job we didint because now (2 1/2 weeks) later has made an almost full recoevery, is happy, started poohing and weeing again and cant stop eating...hecomes out of his house and hops around as normal andf spends lots of time playing, and licking our hands!! His head tilt has almosty fully corrected itself and hopefully will fully correct itself soon so that he canplay in the garden as before.....he is truly a miracle boy and we are all gobsmacked he is so wellhaving seen the awful distressing condition he was in for a good week or so..
Meds we gave him were:
2.4 mil antibiotics once a day
2 syringes of probiotic (thin syringes and one in morning one before bed)
1 syringe of feed (paired with probiotic it was enough water)
Panacur once a day
2 steroid injections
lots and lots of attention, cuddles and comfort (someone was always home and sat stroking him and napping next to him in contact to keep him as happy ..as possible)
we also made a house from a hard plastic washing basket (to encourage good posture)and burnt off the edges then put padding and covers over the ends so that if he fell into them he wouldnt injure himself. We coated the floor of his house with fleece material and a hand towel which he always used to use as a toilet...tucked the ends underneith the house to p[rvent injury because milky always tried to ruffle up the ends and lie in the gap which wasnt helping his posture. we also put blankets down on the floors and padded pillowsnext to the skirting boards.we massaged his muscles the odd time and hand fed him greens carrots and apples..he wwent of his pelletsbutwas still eating the odd few bits of food although we didnt notice any pooh for around 2 days...
the vet told us that his age is going against him and that it didnt sound good so were hinting at euthanasia....since he seemed happy and wasnt in pain we stuck with it after researching possible recovery on the internet..and its a good job we did!
So to cut a very long...upsetting ... but miraculous story to an end......DONT GIVE UP...if there is any chance your bunny could make a recovery....you know your pet better than anyone. Although not all rabbits pull through, there is a good chance it can happen and in as little asa fewweeks!! I raed online that many cases involved months of treatment and recovery but after 3 ish weeks wehave been told by the vet to start taking him of his antibiotics!! if you feel your rabbit still needs to recover and it isstill a critical period and ur vet advises u to stop antibiotics "to see what happens"then do not stop until you know your bunny is fully recovered (keep giving them probiotic to counteract the effect of the antibiotics)
GOOD LUCK ... it is well worth the time and effort!!
