Help! Bunny not eating

[PabloS]

Hello,

We have a female pet rabbit, two and a half years old. She hasn't been eating for over a week now.

At first we noticed that she was not eating and was wet on the left side of her mouth and we took her to the vet to see what happened. They gave her antibiotics (I do not know the name) and then she started eating again during the day.

The next day she stopped eating again and had her head tilted to the left. The left side of her face seemed paralyzed (only that day, that got better afterwards). Here´s a picture:



On the third day we took her back to the vet, they gave her general anesthesia and took a look inside her mouth. They removed a piece of tissue that had come loose in her mouth (they told me they thought it was a bit of "mucous membrane", but they weren't sure). We thought that could have been why she hadn't been eating, but the next day she was still the same, not eating and depressed. In addition, a bit of blood came out of her mouth.

Then there were two days where she barely moved, barley ate and she would just sit all day. We took her to the vet again and they gave us 3 shots of antibiotics (don't know what kind) to administer one each day.

Since she wasn't improving after the shots we took her to another vet to get a second opinion. The day before, she told us to give her ibuprofen and she seemed to get a bit better. She was in a much better mood and ate a little. When the vet examined her she didn't find anything wrong and we tought she might be getting better.

But the next day, as soon as we stopped giving her the ibuprofen as recommended by the vet, she went back to her lethargic state.

After that the vet recommended we give her mylanta and ibuprofen and ordered x-rays. She ate a bit but she seemed to eat in pain. They couldn't find anything wrong in the x-rays and tomorrow the vet is going take a look at her mouth under anesthesia again.

We are very worried because she's lost a lot of weight and now even after taking the ibuprofen she's eating less and less. We try force feeding her her pellets (through a syringe) and give her water and juice but is not enough. She is down to the bone.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here are the x-rays:

 

[A & B]

Try feeding critical care. It van help her get nutrients. Try to give veggies and see of she will take it. I don't know about the actual problem, my best guess would be head tilt or overgrown teeth. I hope I could help and I hope she gets better. Well wishes to You two

 

[PabloS]

Thanks for the reply and the well wishes Alyssa!

We've tried feeding her veggies (the vet recommended corn, because she said it contains a lot of fiber) and while on ibuprofen she ate a bit.

Both vets we took her to said her teeth were fine and the head tilt went away after a day.

 

[April LD]

Have they thought about e Cuniculi? Is she walking funny, like more to one side, wabbly, do her eyes dart side 2 side? She could have e culiculi comes on fast & aggressive @ least with my bun. The darting of the eyes is vertigo and could be part of why she isn't moving around much. My bun was out if it fir the first 3-4 days after starting meds. Still has head tilt vet expects she always will now...could also be she bit herself in the mouth and has an infection and the needs mess with their stomach something awful sometimes.

I agree with Alyssa & Bugs Critical Care syringe it and extra water she is probably dehydrated-should think about getting her fluids...

Keep us posted - wishing a speedy recovery!

 

[PabloS]

Hi April! I'm glad your bun got throught it!

They haven't mentioned Cuniculi, but like I said the head tilt improved after a day. We haven't noticed anything abnormal about her eyes or the way she walks either. She just doesn't move much .

We're trying to give her as much water as we can.

Thanks for the tips and the well wishes! We'll keep you posted.

 

[JBun]

It's more likely to be an inner ear infection. Head tilt and facial paralysis on one side of the face are symptoms of it. It would also explain the drooling. Even though the head tilt went away, based on all the combined symptoms that occurred, ear infection is what I would strongly suspect as the cause. You can read about it in this link.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Otit/otitis.htm

So for an inner ear infection, it usually requires an extended course of a rabbit safe antibiotic, 4-6 weeks possibly or sometimes longer. I would also want to be giving daily anti inflammatories. That's likely why she improved some after getting the ibuprofen. Meloxicam(0.3-0.6mg/kg, twice a day) is the preferred one for rabbits if possible. But at this point the pain from the infection might be so severe that stronger pain meds are needed in addition to the anti inflammatory.
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Safe_drugs_main.htm

It's also extremely important to be syringe feeding your rabbit a pellet mush(or recovery food mix) and water regularly throughout the day. At least every 4 hours and an adequate amount for her size, or her condition will continue to deteriorate if she's not getting enough nutrition. But it's extremely important to get the pain under control or it will continue to affect her eating.

 

[Bam Bam]

Wherever you live, please try to find a vet that has extensive expertise in treating rabbits.
Can you let us know where you live and maybe someone in the group try to find an expert in your area.
e cunniciuli, ear infection it can any number of things.
My bunny when we rescued him had started getting head tilt and thank God I found a vet and she was able to stop the head tilt.
I have had many lops and they do have a problem cleaning their ears
BTW she is a real cutie

 

[Popsicles]

Those x rays aren’t great, were they done conscious? I agree you need to find a more rabbit savvy vet, and an ear infection sounds very likely. Like jbun said, you’d need a long course of antibiotics, this stopping and starting medication won’t fix the problem at all.
Really good luck!

 

[PabloS]

Hello everyone, thank you all for your wonderful replies and your love

Today we took Uma to the vet again. We told her about your suggestions about ear infection but the vet said she didn't think so because the tilt went away by itself after a day.

They looked at her mouth under anesthesia and after a while they found a tooth really far back, close to the ear and throat that was really sharp. She told us it was really hard to find and the vet could only reach it with her finger. She had a hard time but managed to file it.

They think that might've been it. We'll see how she evolves.

This vet is the best we could find around here (Montevideo, Uruguay). She does a lot of work with bunnies. Last year she spayed her and everything went great and Uma made a speedy recovery with no complications (except she kept trying to rip off her stitches but that's cause she's a very restless bunny). If uma doesn't get better after this we'll try finding another one.

Right now she's a bit better. She's drinking a lot of water, eating a little by herself and going to the bathroom a LOT. We hope this was it and she recovers.

Thanks again for all your help, you guys and gals and bunnies are amazing!!!

We''ll keep you posted!