Help needed for little Pandora

[Pawsome_Pets]

On the 25th August my friends purebred mini-lop rabbit developed a head tilt at 11 weeks old, the vet diagnosed it as either an ear infection or ear mites (which we already new it was an infection).
She had an injection of Invermecion (sp?) and a 7 day course of Baytril. He tilt got worse and on the 7th day the vet said that there was so much pus in her ear that she couldnt even see in it. One vet offered a surgery to flush out her ears - which we were later told would not even work for a rabbit!

She has been peeing/pooping and eating fine, she cant drink from a bottle but can from a bowl. On the 31st August she was put on injections of Norocillin every second day.

Now today (17th Sep) the vet told us that she will not be giving Pandora any more medication and that she will just have to "sort it out herself". We are shocked as we know that it can take a minimum of a month - 6 months of ABs to fix a head tilt and its only been 3 weeks, the vet has also never looked in Pandora's ear since she started the norocillin so we dont know if she is better or worse.

Advice is greatly appreciated! Also any know of a good rabbit savvy vet in Auckland, New Zealand?
Thanks is Advance

 

[MILU]

Aw, I'm sorry, I don't know how to help, but maybe you can look for another vet and take her for a 2nd opinion?
I do wish all the best for your sweet Pandora, and I hope she has a speedy recovery!!!!!!

 

[MILU]

Aw, I'm sorry, I don't know how to help, but maybe you can look for another vet and take her for a 2nd opinion?
I do wish all the best for your sweet Pandora, and I hope she has a speedy recovery!!!!!!

 

[Pawsome_Pets]

hotmaildeal wrote:

Aw, I'm sorry, I don't know how to help, but maybe you can look for another vet and take her for a 2nd opinion?
I do wish all the best for your sweet Pandora, and I hope she has a speedy recovery!!!!!!

yes, as mentioned we are looking for a more knowledgeable vet thanks for your well wishes!

 

[Pawsome_Pets]

hotmaildeal wrote:

Aw, I'm sorry, I don't know how to help, but maybe you can look for another vet and take her for a 2nd opinion?
I do wish all the best for your sweet Pandora, and I hope she has a speedy recovery!!!!!!

yes, as mentioned we are looking for a more knowledgeable vet thanks for your well wishes!

 

[Pawsome_Pets]

When it first started...

Yesterday

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

I lost my preciousl ittle Jelly to head tilt in April. ITs a really sad story ( that I highly doubt would be a fun for any one to hear..message me if you want Jelly's story. lol) Anyway, So a similar kind of thing happend with my bunny. And eventually the vet gave up as Jelly got sooo soo bad. Is she on any kind of anti-imfalmatory/pain reliever? Jelly was on metacam which I think made a huge difference. Is your bunny rolling? Jelly got soo bad she was to the point of rolling continually. That's the point, in mind mind, of almost no return ( though I've heard of bunnies treated from that point, very successfully, that wasn't the casewith my bunny.)
Also, you mentioned Baytril? I think Baytril definitly isn't up to the job. They kept giving Jelly more rounds of Baytril. And it didn't do *ANYTHING* whatsoever. The one that did help some, was the SMZ-TMP (its a sulfa med) eventually, though I didn't see much improvement from that. When they gave her sub-q fluids, that also was a huge help. Be sure to continue getting lots of fluids in her-Jelly I later found out wasn't drinking enough from her bowl and got stasis. Then I had to backtrack with fluids, (sub-q & not) and lots of green leafys).
Get a second oppinion. Our vet was really good because She had another vet she called, and then called us back to let us know what she found out, and she went back in all her info to find out about it. They tried to tell us that it could be P. Moltocida, E. Cuniculi, orrr and ear infectoin. I was sure of infection as I could smell it, but we did the bloodwork eventually anyway. Sure enough we got it back after we'd had to have Jelly put to sleep, but none of her other guesses came back positive, annd, they'd earlier swabbed her ear and it had shown infectoin. Soo for the longest time they didn't want to just treat it as infection in the name of being 'not sure'
Anyway enough of my rambling. If you have any questions about this kind of stuff, I got lots of experience with my bunny (not with so much which meds and stuff, but keeping bunny comfy etc. etc. and some about the meds..) The breeder I got my current bunny from says invermectin for ear infection, so in the future that's the way I'd go, but if that hasn't worked for you, then I'm not sure what else is a good thing to try. I'm not a vet. lol

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Also, you mentioned a snurugry to clean everything out of there in the ear? And then somthing about it not working? They said I could do this for Jelly, and I didn't when they said that as it was expensive and wtvr. But I'm not sure about the part of it not working on a rabbit. I've heard of it being a successful surgery I think. I'd check into that maybe a little more if you haven't already. Just a thought. I wish I'd done that for Jelly because I think there was infection deeperi nthe ear where the drops and antibiotics just didn't cut it. I'm not sure though.

 

[AmberMc]

This is my first post.. Joined a while ago but never got around to posting anything. Pandora is my bun. She had 5 days of Loxicom Oral Suspension for a raised temperature. That was the turning point where she went for sickly unhappy bunny back to her normal self just with a tilt... I'm actually doubting if there is any infection.... She is not rolling.. She is just like a normal rabbit with a head tilt now.

The vet that stopped the antibiotics and said surgury wouldn't make a difference was not the vet that put her on them or offered the surgury.

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

I am so sorry all this has happened to you and shame on the vet for just giving up
Anyway I did some research and there is a Dr.Russell Liddell who specializes in small animals in auckland. His number is 625-5556. Also if you should contact a forum member "Jadelcing". She is excellent at dealing with head tilt. Hope this help

 

[AmberMc]

Thanks! I will call when I get a chance

 

[The Haven Rabbitry]

I know you mentioned pus in the ears, but what about wry neck??? Just a thought.

 

[MarisaAndToby]

Pawsome_Pets wrote:

Yesterday

This breaks my heart to see :cry1:

 

[AmberMc]

The Haven Rabbitry wrote:

I know you mentioned pus in the ears, but what about wry neck??? Just a thought.

I thought wry neck was just another name for a head tilt? And that once infection is gone tilt tends to stay a while? Which is why I'm going to a different vet tomorrow..

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

Were you able to get into the vet I suggested?

 

[AmberMc]

I haven't had in money and looked them up and they are ages away. My friend gave me the number for a closer vet to me that has experience with exotics etc and is a very reasonable price. Going to make her an appointment soon

 

[krsbunny]

I used to have a Pandora rabbit too! She was very special to me.

I found these on BunSpace:

Onewa Veterinary Hospital
181 Onewa Rd, Birkenhead
0626 Auckland
New Zealand Vet's Namer. Richard McKee Phone09) 4183360 Fax09) 4192304 Email:[email protected]
Lynfield Veterinary Clinic
181 Onewa Rd, Birkenhead
0626 Auckland
New Zealand Vet's Namer. Richard McKee Phone09) 4183360 Fax09) 4192304 Email:[email protected]
Obviously can't vouch for them, but it's a place to start.

I'm wondering if the mites might have returned ... vets here always do 3 or 4 doses of Ivermectin at 7-14 day intervals. I also agree that abx should be continued ... usually for head tilt we go at least two weeks beyond symptoms clearing up (or stabilizing).

Good luck!
Kathy Smith

 

[krsbunny]

Oops ... sorry...
Here is the corrected info for Lynfield Veterinary clinic:

122 White Swan Rd
1041 Auckland
New Zealand
Vet's Name: Dr. Kevin Turner
Phone: 09 626 4335
Fax: 09 626 6360
Email: [email protected]

Kathy Smith

 

[AmberMc]

Thanks, But Pakuranga Vets is very close to me so Im gonna go there.
She only got a dose of Ivermectin 6 days ago