Head Tilt and Balance Issues

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Revverress

Revverress

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Location
, Virginia, USA
Spot is a neutered, 4 year old English Spot who has been having trouble with balance for about 3 weeks now. He falls over a lot, is unable to use the levels in his cage, and in general is not acting right (greatly decreased energy and appetite). I am fortunate enough to work with two rabbit savvy vets who are currently treating him with Panacur for e. cuniculi, Baytril and SMZ (sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim) in case of an inner ear infection in spite of his ears looking normal, Dexamethasone injection to help with balance issues, and of course Benebac. He got an injection of high-dose Ivermectin last week and will get another one this coming Friday.

Friday will mark 14 days since starting the Baytril and Panacur (next Thursday he will have been on the SMZ for 2 weeks), and Spot is looking worse every day. His head started to tilt about a week ago, and now it's a full blown tilt. He is still eating, drinking and pooping, but he is not grooming himself or his cagemate. His balance and head tilt worsen every day.

I will be calling pharmacies about ordering a drug called Pyrimethamine (mentioned in one of the exotic veterinary books as sometimes being used for e. cuniculi), but otherwise, I do not know what to do at this point. I do keep Penicillin G Benzathine/Penicillin G Procaine ("bicillin") on hand, and am considering adding it to the concoction once the Baytril is finished, since I never tested for e. cuniculi and do not know exactly what this is.

Has anyone else dealt with this issue and have any suggestions? I am frustrated by Spot's lack of improvement and am really hoping there are other treatment options out there. :(
 
I have definitly dealt with this and gone down the same route-the Paytril then the SMZ-TMP.)

have you read/ seen this before? : http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Otit/otitis.htm

I was just reading it yesterday. Basically the one thing in it mentions Trimethoprim sulfate is sometimes advised, but appears to bring poor improvement in rabbits. T. sulfate I believe is the same thing as SMZ-TMP: It is VERY important not to got off meds till at least 2 weeks since sympsons disappear. My bunny had several rounds of Baytril without any relief and then SMZ-TMP which had her almost better after MONTHS but then when she was just looking better they yanked her off the meds. Within several days she was worse than ever and the next time around the SMZ-TMP wouldn't help.

From what I've read, treatment is a very long process (4-6 wks alot of times) so I guess sticking with treatment is very important. If you do have injectable Penicillin, I personally would go for trying it in a second and I've definitly heard of this being a help.

Is your bunny on an NSAID(antiinflamatory) like Metacam? This seemed like it did really help my bunny and she liked it so there were no problems getting it into her.

I have heard of alot of vets trying Baytril but I haven't heard of nearly that many times that it totally solves the tilt.

Have you had any actual debris come out of the ear? Have you had a swab done on the ear that ever showed infection? If yes, that could easily mean that you do have infection and not EC.



I hope Spot it doing better soon. Head tilt is never a fun or easy thing to deal with. Praying for Spot and you :pray:
 
Thank you so much for the link, Mia. I will be printing it out and bringing it into the vet tomorrow.

Spot initially was not showing any ear discharge, and the vet did not see anything when she looked in his ears. However, last night, I noticed some discharge for the first time, so I'm going to assume this is an inner ear infection (I am keeping him on the Panacur for a full 4 weeks just in case).

I started injectable Bicillin last night, using the dosage recommended inthis study (.25mL), and I will be keeping him on SMZ for a minimum of 4 weeks. I have Metacam on hand; however, I want to check with the vet and be sure that it is safe to give Metacam after he's been on Dexamethasone (I stopped the Dex today).

Spot took a turn for the worst this weekend; he started rolling and is now in a small carrier for the time being. We will be seeing the vet tomorrow, so hopefully they'll be able to make my boy feel more comfortable! Any other advise is greatly appreciated.

I'm thankful Spotters is still eating and drinking; here's a photo of my little trooper from last week (tilt is worse now):

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I'm so sorry to hear about Spot. :( I've never had experience with head tilt, but hopefully Karen will jump in here. Her cute little buck, Neville, developed head tilt and I think he's back to almost 100% now.
 
So sorry for poor Spot. Wendy is right. Neville went through that. As well as Kreacher. Kreacher had ear mites so the Ivermectin worked wonders. No tilt after a good 2 months. Neville had an ear infection like your Spot. Baytril worked for him. So thrilled about that. Again took a good two months to see his head tilt almost gone. When he's tired you can see a bit of the tilt still but you really have to look.

It happens. I also found that massages of the head and neck really do wonders and help relax the muscles. Also wheat grass was a big help. Those trace minerals really worked and helped with energizing appetite and calming Neville down.

Its a long road but can be treated successfully. And I found Neville got worse before he got better. Wishing you luck. Hoping Spot feels better and gets back on his feet soon.

K
 
I found rolling towels all the way around a carrier really helped keep my bunny from rolling.

Spot is truely an adorable bunny btw. :) I'm praying for him!
 
I am treating my Becky for head tilt. She didn't have any sign of ear infection, but she did have a history of ear issues so I did 2 weeks of injectable baytril and antibiotic eye drops (her eyes were drippy but not infected looking)with subq fluids. I used metacam for the first month. She has been on panacur for 5 weeks and that is continuing.

At first she was so bad she was rolling and her head was all the way over. It took two weeks to see any kind of impovement and she got worse before things started to get better. Then over the last three weeks she has slowly improved. It was a two hops forward one hop back sort of progress. Her appetite has been great through the whole thing, but I would make sure she could find the food, which was the biggest issue.

Now she looks great and you couldn't tell there was anything wrong until I pick her up. When I pick her up she gets dizzy again and her eyes go back to darting back and forth. When I put her down she spins in circles for about 5 minutes and then she's fine again, her head comes right back up. I think it takes the inner ear a while to heal completely and become responsive again. I'm going to continue the pancur for another week and then switch to ivomec dosing once a week until she's completely better. I'm also going to give all my other rabbits a round of ivomec as a preventative.

I will pray for your baby, but hang in there. It is a very long road with lots of TLC needed. :pray:
 
We are wishing and hoping that Spot makes a full and speady recovery.
Hopefully the meds will really start working and you see an improvement.
We are thinking of you and Spot
 
Thanks everyone for your advice and words of encouragement. Unfortunately, Spot's condition continues to worsen, and I'm at a loss of how to proceed. He is currently on SMZ, injectable Penicillin G Benzathine/Penicillin G Procaine, and Panacur, and I will be adding in the Metacam tonight (had to wait for the Dex to get out of his system). He appears to have a healthy appetite, but is having trouble physically getting anything into his mouth. I am hand feeding herbs and veggies, and giving large syringes full of water, Critical Care, and Bene Bac, but it is clear he's losing weight.

For anyone who's dealt with this issue- How long until improvement was seen? Spot is going into his 4th week of treatment and gets worse every day. I don't want to give up on my baby too soon, but I don't want him to suffer, either. :(

ETA: I have read the Barbi Brown article before; that was what I used to decide on the high dose Ivermectin.
 
I'm so sorry. This is a strange question, but is Spot having the eyes going back and forth really fast? Apparently if they do they are more likely to respond to the medication.

It took Becky about 3 weeks to start showing improvement, but she still has symptoms after about 6 weeks.
 
MiniLopHop wrote:
I'm so sorry. This is a strange question, but is Spot having the eyes going back and forth really fast? Apparently if they do they are more likely to respond to the medication.
Click to expand...
No eye darting at all. I read about that in the Barbi Brown article, though honestly, I don't believe nystagmus (or lack there of) is a good indication of whether or not a bunny will show improvement, since there's a few different reasons for it.

I won't even go into how much I hate that article.
Click to expand...
It would actually be helpful if you did... I know you've dealt with head tilt bunnies before, and I'd love to hear anyone's experiences.

Forgot to mention that we x-rayed Spot last week, and everything looked absolutely perfect. I might just suck it up and pay for the e. cuniculi test, just so we can rule out SOMETHING.

Questions- Has anyone ever attempted chiropractic or acupuncture to help head tilt rabbits? If I ever get whatever Spot has under control, I'd love to try it with him... The neck massages just aren't cutting it.
 
JadeIcing wrote:
devout*bunniest wrote:
It sounds like Wry Neck. which is bad! read this

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm
Click to expand...

I won't even go into how much I hate that article.
Click to expand...

Wish you would. It really would help. Wry neck is a scary thing to deal with. Both for the bunny and the owner. Been through it twice. Luckily both did well and are now fully recovered. And this is the article I read when my first incident occurred.

Truly wish you would explain why you hate this article. Please share.

K
 
Yeah, I would love to know what's wrong with the article-when my one bunny had head tilt, we gave the vet this article and she had problems with it but didn't say exactly what, and I've been curious ever since.
 
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