Hi,
Thought I would chime in on this one. First, you mentioned treating anaerobic bacteria. We treat abscesses all the time and they are full of anaerobic bacteria. There are numerous drugs that can be used safely in a rabbit to deal with those type of bugs. A little disclaimer here...I am not suggesting that anyone attempt to use these drugs except under the advice of a real doctor. In treating abscesses we usually use a combination of Procaine (Penicillin G) and Azithromycin (Zithromax). There is another drug that is awesome...but it does carry some serious side effects...not so much for the rabbit, but for the human administering the drug. It's Chloramphenicol. It has been linked to some serious stuff in humans so gloves, long sleeves and a face mask would be in order when giving this drug. These are not drugs to play with. They must be used at the proper time and administered in the proper fashion. Failure to do so usually results in the death of the rabbit. Again, don't play with these drugs.
The stumbling and falling are leading me to believe there is much more to the story that has been detected. I suspect something is going on in the middle and/or inner ear. Lacking evidence of trauma, an ear infection is the most likely cause of this concern. And if only the rear legs are affected, I am very concerned that it might be the first stages of E Cuniculi. With a bun with EC, the immune system is totally overwhelmed in an effort to control the protozoan infection...so much that it allows some of the opportunisitic harmful bacteria to invade and all sorts of unusual things can occur. That is why many people blame head tilt (wry neck) on EC when it is not actually directly caused by the EC. It is also possible that considering the vets think she has a circulatory problem, that she might have suffered the rabbit version of a stroke (they don't have strokes like we think of...they have vascular accidents). If the problem is caused by circulatory issues, you would probably notice a decline in motor skills over time. If it's EC, you would notice neurological issues (like the stumbling) that seem to correct themselves as the immune system mounts a response but then they come back worse and get little better but the overall picture declines.
Just wondering....has a culture or at least a cytology been performed on any debris in those ears? Has a skin scraping anddiag been performed on the problem area? Long term use of antibiotics can lead to a yeast infection...especially in lops. The problem is even worse in Holland Lops due to the small size of the ear canal and that prevents good ventilation which presents a prime breeding ground for problems. And personally, Baytril doesn't do much anymore thru misuse. I will say that if the bacteria is sensitive to Baytril, you are much more likely to get a positive response if Baytril is injected sub-q rather than given by mouth. In some cases, it seems the pH in the gut has had a negative effect on the workings of Baytril. In the extremely rare times I use Baytril...it's injected.
We also see something like this in opossums. It's called Crispy Ear and the ear just erodes away and falls off. Some have tied in to humidity levels but recent research links it to inbreeding. Since we have two unrelated opossums living in the same room...one with CE and the other doesn't have it, I suspect inbreeding is involved. We see some really unusual stuff with inbreeding as I have a prime example of an inbred rabbit here in my rescue.
Needless to say, there seem to be many more questions here than answers. Ask you vet to log on to the internet. There are several networks available to them that link them to other vets all over the world that post abut issues like this and might have encountered this condition.
Randy
