Ronnie has head tilt

[Little Bay Poo]

Thanks again for all of the positive vibes and suggestions. :hearts

One more quick update for tonight. Ronnie wasn't eating his pellets and was only eating limited hay, but was drinking his water fine. He still loves his oatmeal but I only gave him a few small pieces just to make sure he would still take a treat. As a precaution we picked up some Critical Care from the vet tonight and gave Ronnie the amount they prescribed.

I'm so glad that Ronnie is a patient and calm bunny. He's always been very easy to handle and is taking the whole thing like a champ. Syringe feeding has been a breeze. Although he's tilty and disoriented, Ronnie's got a good fighting spirit. He doesn't seem too depressed or distraught and I think he enjoys getting the extra attention

 

[JadeIcing]

Great advice and treatment. I would really try to pin point exactly what is causing it. That wayyou know what you are fighting. EC or Pasteruella both have their pit fallsbut ECmore so. EC there are other things you would have to lookfor.

 

[kherrmann3]

Oh, no! Poor Ronnie (and you!).

We're all wishing you the best! :hug:ray:

 

[slavetoabunny]

I order my critical care online from here:

http://www.rabbitshop.com/apbacrca.html

It's much, much less expensive that buying it at the vet. Be sure and get the apple banana flavor - the buns love it.

 

[ChandieLee]

ray:

Chandra

 

[Little Bay Poo]

slavetoabunny wrote:

I order my critical care online from here:

http://www.rabbitshop.com/apbacrca.html

It's much, much less expensive that buying it at the vet. Be sure and get the apple banana flavor - the buns love it.

The vet tech ended up giving us the Critical Care for free (probably because they charged us an arm and a leg for the earlier appointment). They had printed out an estimate for $500 - $700 for the examination, tests, meds, and potential hospital stay...Chris told them no way and they reduced it to $270 for the essential stuff. Things are really expensive here in Fairfax, but the Eastern Exotic Veterinary Center seemed to be really knowledgeable about rabbits.

Chris checked on Ronnie this morning and gave him his Meclizine and Critical Care. He says that Ronnie is still tilty, but he has more spunk in him today and it was more difficult to pick him up and administer the meds. He said it looks like he tried to nibble on some food and that he is moving around his cage more easily than before. I will update again later when I go over to the apartment to help with the three syringe meds and the shot of Pen G. I hope the shot goes ok...I really don't like the sight of needles but Chris volunteered to do that part while I hold Ronnie still :?

 

[tonyshuman]

best of luck to you guys--your story makes me think hard about getting pet insurance. although my guys haven't really been sick before, it seems you never know when something like this will happen. continued good vibes--i've been thinking about you guys and sweet little ronnie whenever i see benjamin, who's his spitting image. ray:

 

[Little Bay Poo]

Ronnie is doing better today. His tilt has gone down a bit from yesterday and he has a lot more control and balance. Ronnie's eye has also stopped twitching. I couldn't get any really good pictures because Ronnie would move around too fast for the camera, so I had to take a few of him loafing through the cage bars:

Today, Ronnie was a lot more resistant to getting his medications than he was yesterday. While we were prepping the meds, I left Ronnie's cage door open thinking he was too sick to even attempt to come out. I went in the other room for a minute and came back to find that Ronnie had not only come out of his cage, but he was running around! Here's some video.






After we gave him the meds we put him back in his cage to rest. Ronnie really wants to come out of his cage again, but I'm not sure that it would be a good idea to have a drugged up bunny running around. I don't want him to accidentally hurt himself so we're making him stay in the cage as a precaution. More updates tomorrow.

Robin

 

[myheart]

Wow!!! Lil' Ronnie is doing so well. It is difficult to tell his head is tilted in the videos. You must be proud of your little man making such progress already!! Prayers for continued healing. I do hope he can get rid of it completely.

ray:

myheart

 

[TinysMom]

I have found that the more exercise my head tilt bunnies get (assuming they are not rolling)- the better off they are and the faster they get better.

I'm not saying that is medically correct - just from my personal experience..

 

[JadeIcing]

TinysMom wrote:

I have found that the more exercise my head tilt bunnies get (assuming they are not rolling)- the better off they are and the faster they get better.

I'm not saying that is medically correct - just from my personal experience..

I second this. Ringo and Apple both do better with more out time. An now I will let Ringo out.

 

[Little Bay Poo]

Yeah, I wasn't too sure about the exercise thing because I didn't know what kind of a state Ronnie would be in from the medications and his tilt. I was hoping that someone would step in to shed some light on that so thank you to both Peg and Alicia. I can't let him out tonight because I'm not at the apartment right now, but will definitely let him have supervised run time tomorrow when I go back. I'm sure he will be really excited about coming out to play :biggrin2:

 

[12354somebunny]

Oh, I'm so glad to see that Ronnie's head is not as tilted as before! You go, Ronnie!! We'll keep praying for you to heal completely!

 

[kherrmann3]

Hooray for Ronnie's progress! We still wish you the best! ray:

 

[NorthernAutumn]

That's a marked improvement over the last pics!

Keep at it, Ronnie! You're such a little trooper!et: <-me petting Ronnie's ears from a distance...)

 

[ra7751]

Hi All,

Haven't posted in quite a while due to the tremendous number of wildlife rescues but I signed in tonight and saw this thread. EC and head tilt are near and dear to me since my beloved Sabrina was lost due to complications from EC and we have several rabbits here with tilt. It is something I have a lot of experience with.

A few comments about the treatment here. Most cases of tilt in domestic rabbits are caused by inner and/or middle ear bacterialinfections. Contrary to popular belief, EC does not cause head tilt. The tilt may be secondary to EC since the EC will overwhelm the immune system and allow opportunistic bacteria to invade. The only true way to diagnose EC is post mortem and that isn't a really good thing. The blood titers are very much open to interpretation. Meloxicam is very good at helping with swelling and is a moderate analgesic....but there is always a trade off. It is very stressful on the liver and kidneys when used long term. It is vitally important to supplement hydration when using NSAIDs for more than three days. Meclizine is not effective in all rabbits....have no idea why it helps some and not others but it's always worth a shot. I have started using valium to sedate them during the really bad times. Panacur is a wormer but is pretty much ineffective against EC despite the popular belief. It can't penetrate the blood/brain barrier but amazingly the EC can. When panacur is used in an attempt to treat EC, it should be dosed everyday (and we have dosed for 60 consecutive days) just on the faint hope that some mightget thru the barrier. We have used iton several rabbits with no real noted positive effect. Ivermectin is totally ineffective against EC. If ivermectin helps with head tilt, the problem was mites to begin with. The most promising treatment for EC is a horse drug called Marquis.

I have had the best success in treating tilt related toconfirmed (by culture) bacterial infectionby using a combination of Pen G and zithromax....same as for abscesses. I have recently been using a drug just approved for use in the US....Convenia. It is a one time sub-q injection. It's a cephalosporin and is chemically related to penicillin. I have used in in domestic rabbits, cottontails, fox squirrels and gray squirrels so far...with success. Another good choice is Chloramphenicol but it has some issues relating to just handling the drug for a very small amount of people.

Head tilt is one of the most misunderstood of rabbit ailments. Many of the reference manuals used by vets (and what do you think they are doing when they say they will be right back?) contain old and outdated information. To get good resolution,the tiltmust be attacked by the right means from several different directions. We have treated cases of tilt for up to seven months before it resolved...and sometimes it doesn't....and we have some of those here too. I would suggest a somewhat more aggressive line of treatment. Good luck.

Randy

 

[Maureen Las]

OMG Randy just appeared on the scene to help Ronnie ..just like superman :wave2

:woohooGlad to see you Randy, we miss you terribly but we do understand that the little wild critters need your attention.....

 

[Little Bay Poo]

Thanks so much for your input Randy. I will have to ask about these options during Ronnie's follow up visit at the vets. One thing that worries me is what you've said here:

ra7751 wrote:

Meloxicam is very good at helping with swelling and is a moderate analgesic....but there is always a trade off. It is very stressful on the liver and kidneys when used long term. It is vitally important to supplement hydration when using NSAIDs for more than three days.

I can't access the prescription at the moment, but I believe the Meloxicam was prescribed for one week. Ronnie has been drinking a lot more water since being on the medications, but I am confused about what you mean by supplementing hydration. Am I supposed to start giving him something like Pedialyte? Also, is 7 days too long to administer Meloxicam and should we stop Meloxicam after 3 days?

I understand that you are really busy and may not be able to get back here to answer these questions. I really do appreciate all of your input and will be printing out your post to have on file and to discuss other treatment options with the vet. We will be going back in one week for a follow up appointment, and perhaps talking to them earlier to discuss the results of the cultures. Thanks again.

Robin

 

[mouse_chalk]

Oh my gosh, I've just seen this!

Poor Ronnie! I'm so sorry. I'm glad to hear he's doing a little better- his tilt looks a lot better in the second set of pictures you posted.

I hope he continues to improve- I'll be thinking of you guys :hug:

 

[tonyshuman]

I'm so glad Randy showed up! I was just saying what I had heard before, and obviously it was the same wrong stuff that the old school vets know. I hope you can go to your vet with this new info and use it to help with treatment. Did they do a culture at the vet? I would also personally be most inclined to believe it's bacterial, but that's also because I want him to be able to heal quickly!

Best of luck!ray: