Head Tilt

[MiniLopHop]

I am so relieved you were able to get her medicine. How is she doing today?

 

[Kitty88]

My little girl Gracie is EC positive. I found out after rushing her to my vet when she came down with head tilt. Luckily, the vet I use is very experienced and has done a lot of work and research with the House Rabbit Society, and she made a complete recovery from the head tilt. The treatment he recommended was a combination of Panacur, Zenequin (a strong antibiotic, if I remember correctly), and Meclizine (anti-seasickness drug). Once I got the hang of getting her to take the medication, she started eating and drinking on her own. Definitely try to keep Bitsy hydrated, and ask for Dropamine or Meclizine. I think it helps them improve on their own quite a bit.

 

[LakeCondo]

I'm glad things are moving in the right direction.

 

[misha]

Thanks everyone for the positive thoughts and replies! She seems to be doing okay. The vet didn't want to renew her Metacam or the anti-biotic that she's on. I still have some Baytril though. I am giving her gravol to help with her feeling sick.

Every hour or so I go into the room and pick her up and give her some water from the bottle (they normally drink from a bowl) and she gets Critical Care three times a day. I have seen her eating herbs on her own. Dunno about hay.

This isn't really the best picture of her but it's kind of how she has been spending her time recently.

Paterson is the German lop beside her. He sometimes seems to sense that something is going on. You can see where he has been shredding the pool noodles that I am using to pad the sides of the cage. Once she started rolling I had to put blankets on the floor because it sounded like she was hurting herself when she was flopping around.

She seems able to move herself around the cage too. There's a few spots that she really likes being in and I find her around them all the time. Mostly the places where it will be hardest for me to grab her and give her the meds.

The last day or so I have noticed an increase in her drinking and eating. I don't know if it is because she's feeling better / getting used to what's going on or because I am sitting with her longer so she feels more comfortable or because we are finding better angles. Whatever it is, I see it as a positive thing and like it.

Basically: it is getting easier for all of us to deal with this. She is still strong and feisty and seems to be more "present".

But really thank you to everyone on this board. I really wish that vets in my area had more knowledge about all of this but am so glad that I was able to find a group of people so knowledgable and supportive!

here's a picture of her from better days:

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Maybe I missed it if you posted it but just curious if you ever found out if she ended up testing EC positive?

Praying for your little girl! ray:

 

[MiniLopHop]

Bitsy is so cute! It is a relief that you are seeing some improvement. It is a long haul, but she's a fighter. Having Paterson by her side surely helps keep her feisty and brave. It looks like you have a good set-up for keeping her safe when she's having control issues. I have blankets on the floor for Becky too. It makes me feel better that she won't accidentally injure herself. Becky also likes the small nooks and cranies to hide in. As she feels better she is out in the open more again, so it may not be about the medicine. The more confined spaces probably feel more secure.
:hug: ray:

 

[misha]

The vet didn't refill the rx for the Metacam or the anti-biotic. Her EC bloodtest was inconclusive so they sent it to Miami FL to see if they could get a better reading on it. I still have some Baytril. I'm considering giving that to her in the meantime... are they supposed to be on an anti-biotic longterm? I'm so confused.

 

[MiniLopHop]

If it is EC the antibiotic won't help. They only kill bacteria. The vet must not see any signs of infection that would warrent more antibiotics. I would stick to the panacur. It takes a long time to work, but you will slowly see progress.

 

[misha]

I'm still not seeing progress physically. How long do you think it will take before I start seeing any. I got it / started giving it to her on Tuesday so it hasn't even been a week. How long before you saw results?

I mixed some crushed pellets, critical care, raspberries, bananas, and baby food together and she ate it like crazy. I guess that she doesn't like the flavour CC I have. I ordered some of the apple banana flavoured one but it won't get here until next week Though she is drinking and eating herbs I wanted to make sure that she was also actually EATING something since she went off the CC.

 

[MiniLopHop]

I have to mix the CC with baby food too. It took about two weeks before I started to see improvement. Even at 4 weeks out she still has symptoms so I'm going to continue another two weeks.

 

[misha]

good to know. Thank you so much for all your help and support over this last little while... it's been really freaky but it is good to know that she is at least on the way to recovery.

We don't know for sure if it is EC and I'm unsure whether or not I should put her back on the Baytril. The other AB ran out and he didn't renew it for me.

 

[MiniLopHop]

I never had the titer done because the vet said almost all buns have been exposed so she didn't think it was a useful test. I'm convinced just because of the results I have seen and how she is improving with the panacur. I wouldn't give her any more antibiotics if you have stopped and there isn't an obvious infection. I feel antibiotics, particularly oral, is really hard on them and more stress they don't need. It can also make it more difficult for them to eat.

 

[misha]

yeah, she seems to be eating more right now since she has been off the ABs. She's still on the dramamine twice a day and the Panacur as well as her mush food. She's sitting up right now and is managing to resist the spinning and falling / rolling so I'm glad for that. Not sure if it's the food or the Panacur. She hasn't been rolling nearly as much though

 

[MiniLopHop]

Excellent! Glad to hear she is getting relief. It probably is both the food and medicine. Now you just have to keep it up. :hug:

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

MiniLopHop wrote:

I never had the titer done because the vet said almost all buns have been exposed so she didn't think it was a useful test. I'm convinced just because of the results I have seen and how she is improving with the panacur.

Our vet told me the same thing about the titer when Jelly was sick (head tilt). We went for it though and did the test and it turned out negative. Unfortunately, by the time the results came, we'd already had to make the tough decision to put her down. So yeah I do think most times it will come back positive as so many have been exposed, but at least in our case, it was nice to know for sure it had been infection (like after putting her down we at least knew what it had been).

 

[MiniLopHop]

Mia, I'm glad that it was able to give you some peace of mind. What a horribly difficult decision to be forced to make.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Yep, not that either would have been necesarily easier to treat but in our case, she'd had an ear infection but later when swabbed after antibiotics it showed she didn't have one. Then she had head tilt though so I was sure she had an inner/middle one. Hence the reason for the EC titer. I wish we'd been able to treat her, but at this point I find it terribly interesting seeing what other people are finding that seem to be working.

 

[misha]

I think that I am seeing improvements in her. Slowly but surely!!

 

[JadeIcing]

For EC several test should be over a few weeks to get a better picture.

 

[misha]

I was okay with getting her the one test but each test is 200$ and to be honest, I don't see much point in getting them done if I continue to see an improvement over the next little while.

I'm not even sure if I AM seeing an improvement but she is eating a lot, drinking a lot and is standing more. I take those all as good signs