Inner ear infection

[nyrhtak29]

My 6 year old holland lop is dealing with a pretty bad inner ear infection. He’s already been to his vet several times and it’s costing me a fortune. Does anyone have any input or have been through this before?
There’s a surgery he can get but the vet said it’s risky.

 

[Popsicles]

Keep up with antibiotics and follow your vets advice. What is the surgery your vet is recommending? Could be underlying issues, have any radiographs etc been taken?

 

[JBun]

Some have had success using pen g procaine/benzathine(bicillin) injections in clearing up difficult to treat head abscess/infections. If you aren't currently doing this it might be worth discussing this option with your vet. I know others have had really good success using azithromycin(zithromax) to treat head tilt caused by inner ear infections. It's a pretty strong antibiotic and some rabbits can react negatively to it, but when they don't it seems to be very effective in clearing up the infection. So those would be the two antibiotics I would strongly consider talking to the vet about.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/jawabscess.html
Study conducted using pen g to treat head abscesses in rabbits.
http://people.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm

Personal experiences with using zithromax for treatment.
https://onthewonk.co.uk/headtilt-experiences/lara-detailed-diary/
https://onthewonk.co.uk/headtilt-experiences/siouxsie/

Just my opinion, but I probably wouldn't consider the surgery based on some negative outcomes I've read of from the first hand accounts of others that have had it done and their rabbit responded very poorly to it. But I'm sure there are success stories as well. I would definitely research it though, before deciding, by reading medical info and first hand accounts from owners. Here's some info on it.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Surgery/Ear/ear_surgery.pdf

 

[Mariam+Theo]

I'm so sorry! Hope he gets better soon!

 

[nyrhtak29]

I cannot remember the names of the two oral antibiotics he was prescribed. But it’s been over a month now that’s he’s been getting them twice daily. This week he has started completely laying on his side unable to stand upright so giving him the oral meds has been difficult. We have also tried a topical ear drop and that seemed to not work until we stopped and it got worse(?)
We return tomorrow morning to see what our options are. I was also thinking that surgery is not an option, I need to think of what would be in his interest I’m just trying to make him happy and comfortable.
Btw his name is Hayven and he’s amazing
Thanks guys, I just joined this forum and I love it so far!!!