Is Baytril the best treatment for head tilt?

[f_j]

rabb1tmad - thanks for sharing your experiences. I believe Panacur is what my vet is planning to try after Friday if the Baytril hasn't worked.

I will definitely bring in the info on Barbi's methods...Peg, do you think it is a bad idea to treat her with both Panacur and Barbi's method?

 

[TinysMom]

I think the best thing for me to do is to quote what Barbi says....

~~

[align=center]ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS[/align][align=left]Many rabbit savvy vets are now using Albendazole and Fenbendazole (Panacur) to treat Wry neck with excellent success. The difference in the bendazoles and Ivomec is that Ivomec remains in the sytem longer and the bendazoles are elimated more quickly so must be administered daily for up to four months and some vets recommend continuing it for life. Regular blood work is required as well to monitor possible liver damage. The Ivomec appears to work quickly with maintenance dose every 3 months. There seems to be some evidence however that Albendazole actually reduces the cysts whereas Ivomec seems to just stop the migration and multiplication. I have about 80% recovery with Ivomec but have added the Albendazole treatment for stubborn cases and have only had a couple respond and it took 4 months. [/align]

 

[TinysMom]

I think it was Blue Max who had minor head tilt....I don't remember for sure - but I looked at him one day and he looked a bit tilted and I said, "oh no...we're gonna nip this in the bud" and started him right away.

When R2 & Puck came down with it - they went from being what appeared to be perfectly normal - to rolling - within minutes. In fact,the day Puck came down with it, my husband and I had taken our son back to college and were driving home when our daughter called on the cellphone and said she was holding Puck but he was rolling continiously and couldn't get his balance and how far away from home were we and what should we do?

I think part of the reason we almost lost R2 was he was so darn dehydrated - I check his water bottle every day (all of the water bottles) but apparently something had clogged it or whatever...I don't know. Also, we'd had the back door open and he was right in the draft(but it was like 60 degrees!!). Stil yet, it set him off pretty bad...and he's really little.

With Puck, I was afraid we were going to lose him the day after I medicated him. He was weak and limp and I remember giving him to Art to hold and say "goodbye" to him because I just knew we were going to lose him within the hour.

Art cuddled up with him in his arms and slept for 3 hours with him...then spent the rest of that day giving him water in a syringe even though he only wanted to sleep.

Me? I knew he was going to die. He was limp. He was weak. He was...just not quite right.

But within 6 hours - he was sitting up somewhat. I think that the medications just really wiped him out and made him exhausted - and to this day, I honestly believe that Art gave him the will to live just by sleeping with him and holding him in his arms.

Anyway, I'm not an expert and I'm not saying don't talk to your vet,etc. But Barbi's site is there so folks can talk to their vets about alternative treatments....

And I'm sorry I ramble so much!

Peg

P.S. Giving the echinacea with my last experiences made a MAJOR MAJOR difference! I was shocked at how much quicker they responded.

I'm also convinced that instead of having them sit in a cage - they need to be put in an exercise pen or allowed to have full running of a room because once mine hit the point where they can sit up fairly well- the running seems to help them - and trust me - they will run.Sometimes it is in circles at first....but it seems to do something for them - I don't know if it gives them confidence or what..

f_j wrote:

Peg - I have one questions about Barbi's method. Is only for those severe cases where the head tilt is so bad they are rolling? Or can I do it with Penelope even though hers is so slight?

 

[polly]

Yet again it makes me wish I had found this forum earlier. Dido was put to sleep because of head tilt it was his second bout and the first was severe the second was horrible to watch and worse he had been to the vets for injections but it seemed to make him worse i had noticed that although he kept a good appetite he seemed quite skinny he would have been 7 this month now i feel really crap cause i think if i had found this forum i would not have taken that horrible decision.

I hope Barbis info works out for you.

 

[f_j]

Peg - You say that the medications wiped Puck out...was that just because he was already really sick? Or will Barbi's method have that effect on Penelope? My concern is that she is acting completely normal, and I don't want to make her worse by treating her with something too strong.

 

[TinysMom]

Looking back on it, I think Puck was dehydrated still when I gave him the medication and it just wiped him out. I say that because Art kept giving him stuff from a syringe (confession time- it was Rabbit Medicine Chest stuff heavily mixed w/ pedialyte) and he perked up again....

But he really did give me a scare.

I've thought about it several times though and that was the main difference between Puck and the others - I don't think I got him rehydrated enough for the meds and I think I probably should have held off a day on the meds till he was hydrated better - or at least 12hours or so.

Then again - I was crying and called both my kids and asked them to pray for him - so who knows - maybe it was the prayers that made the difference? or Art holding him? (He and Art have a special bond).

All I know is - the only difference between him and the others was he was not as well hydrated.

Peg

 

[f_j]

We're taking Penelope to the vet today. What do you guys think about the whole issue of having her spayed? Is it too risky? I'll see what the vet says too...I was nervous enough with what happened to Lola, and now with head tilt on top of this I don't know how I will ever handle having her spayed. This is hard.

 

[lalena2148]

Ok, I thought I'd give my:twocents. I have a rabbit w/ a slight tilt. When he first got it, he was rolling badly. I took him to the vet the next morning.

At the vets, the rolling had stopped but he was not walking straight.The vet said he was sure it was an inner ear infection, because my bun had a previous severe upper res infection. So, even though from where he could see the ears looked fine, his diagnosis was more towards that then E. Cuniculi. For the inner ear infection, he prescribed oral Baytril for 2 weeks (no ear drops). He was also on Meclizine for his dizziness for 5 days.

My bun is now doing just fine. He still has a slight tilt but he is 100% better then he was.

However, if he didn't get better from the Baytril, the vet was going to do a full blood work up to see if he had E. Cuniculi. I would suggest that if Baytril doesn't work. The method that Peg posted also seemed to help a lot of people's buns.

Good luck w/ Penelope at the vets today! :hug:

Also, I'd wait to get her spayed until she's better health wise.

EDIT: BTW, before he was diagnosed w/ an inner ear infection, he wasn't rubbing/scratching his ears or shaking his head.

 

[Haley]

yeah, I think I would wait until she is bette rto have her spayed. You dont want to put her under with a comprmised immune system, especially because of your recent loss from a spay

I hope your appt goes well, keep us posted.

 

[f_j]

Our vet visit went well. The vet noticed some improvement with the Baytril (although since her head tilt is so slight, it is difficult to detect the change), so she wants to keep her on the Baytril for two more weeks, then monitor her condition for two weeks after that without medication. If she is well enough then we will go through with the spay. I am relieved that it won't be for at least a month. I did discuss the alternative treatment with her and she said she wanted to look into it,as she belongs to a network of exotic pet vets around the world and she wanted to do a search among them first. Well, she got back tome later in the day and said that there is conflicting information on it but that the general consensus is that it does not work.She said that that treatment is available over the counter and therefore easily accessible, but that she doesn't feel comfortable with it. I am not disputing the experiences of the members here who have used it, I think it is great if it worked for them, however for now I am going to follow what my vet says as I want her to continue to treat Penelope and so far the head tilt is not bad at all - in fact,it is a bit better. I am just thankful that it hasn't gotten bad enough to really affect her life or behavior in any way *knock on wood*. Thanks to everyone here who have helped me understand this very confusing condition, and thanks especially for all of the support.

 

[TinysMom]

That is really great that your baby is getting better and that you could talk to your vet about this. I really hope she does well and continues to get well.

Based on my experience and how quickly mine have gotten over head tilt,I am going to continue following Barbi's methods - but even she says on her site that it is something she recommends that folks take to the vet for a discussion about.

Please keep us updated on your little girl! I'm really really happy she's doing better.

Peg

 

[f_j]

Thanks Peg!! And thank you so much for all of the information you shared, it was really helpful and your experiences give me hope that she will live a long, healthy life. I definitely think you should continue what you are doing since you have had such success with it. If Penelope ever does get worse and the Baytril stops working, I would still consider using Barbi's method.

 

[Haley]

How isPenelope doing, f_j? Ive been thinking of her.ray:

 

[f_j]

Thanks Haley. She's doing well. We finished with the Baytril and she has been stable...the tilt hasn't gotten worse and sometimes we can't see it at all. She has been booked to be spayed on April 26th, assuming nothing changes. Thanks for thinking of my girl.I'm just so thankful that her head tilt didn't get serious.

 

[naturestee]

That's great! Keep us updated on her, especially with her upcoming spay.

 

[Haley]

Great news! I'll be praying for your girl and I hope she continues to improve and that her spay goes well. Keep us posted

 

[f_j]

Thanks so much naturestee and Haley. I honestly don't think she even knew anything was wrong with her! She's such a happy bunny and continues to binky around the living room more than ever. I'll definitely keep you guys posted...I am nervous about her spay but I also feel really good about this vet, and I am confident that Penelope is one tough cookie!