HEAD TILT GETTING WORSE!!

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I am a little concerned this morning. She has been laying down a lot all morning. She will sit her self up and she looks sleepy like her eyes want to close then she falls over and lays there sometimes asleep sometimes awake. I don't know if she is just exhausted and needs to rest or if her body is giving up. I am guessing this the down part. Her vet appointment is at 5 p.m. It is 11:17 a.m. over here right now.

Is there anything I should do? She still took her medicine when I gave it to her and her poop has been getting better and better. She has pee spots everywhere so I know she is peeing good too. There are food crumbs in her water so I am assuming she drank some last night. Overall I think she is really tired today. Yesterday she was just moved into the playpen and was eating a lot and moving around a lot, more than usual at least, which may have been more than her body could handle. I am just praying that her body isn't giving up. :(
 
Oh and yesterday I only gave her critical care once before bed. I had been giving it to her at least 4 times a day before, but she was eating so well yesterday so I didn't think she needed as much. The day before yesterday she only had it three times because I fed her a lot by hand. I don't have much of it left I was going to pick some more up today after her appt. My vet doesn't have any on hand so I need to go to another vets office. Could this be why she is so fatigued? :?
 
I'd get her back to the vet early and get her some fluids and try some aggressive antibiotics and parasite treatments.


sas :pray:
 
That does sound a little concerning. Has she been eating on her own today at all? If she's eating and just seems tired, she might be ok til your appointment. If she seems lethargic and won't eat and won't get up, you should call your vet. It's really hard to know, but even tnen, I think you're already doing everything that can possibly be done to help her. Just make sure she's staying hydrated, that's really important. With you not feeding her as much critical care and with her eating dry pellets again, she'll need more water, either from veggies or from her drinking or you syringing it to her. Did the vet show you how to check for dyhydration? If she's dehydrated it could also be a cause for the fatigue. I think it's gemerally about 1 oz. of water per pound of rabbit. With also doing veggies, you'll just have to guess how much you think she's getting from those.

Edit: Maybe Pipp is right about getting her to the vet early. If she's dehydrated, she really needs to get some fluids in her, and they can do that quickly. At least give them a call and explain your concerns.
 
She does stand up sometimes, but she is just really tired. She has eaten on her own today and I am still syringing water. I have no ride to the vet until 4:45 that is why her appointment is at 5. I am going to give her some critical care to see if it helps. Her skin is not tenting and her eyes are moist. I don't think she is dehydrated, I do think she is super exhausted though. :/

When I go to the vet I will ask about giving her some fluids.
 
She was given I.V. fluids and they switched me to a different antibiotic because even though she likes to use baytril she didn't want a tolerance built to it (at least I think that is what she meant, I am unsure really) yet didn't want to switch it because she heard a slight wheezing sound in her lungs. She ended up switching me to Chloramphenicol.

I am going to continue Panacur and the metacam stopped today and in two day I am going to pick up four injections. I don't remember the name, but it is taking the place of metacam. She will get it Saturday and Sunday then Tuesday then Thursday. They will hopefully have the blood results in tomorrow. She said her ear looked better. So I don't know where we go from here not until those blood results come back.

Now I am concerned that what if it isn't parasites nor an ear infection. What am I supposed to do then. She has been on Panacur for almost a week and barely any improvement. At this point I am feeling useless. All I want is for her to be happy and healthy again. :(
 
If it is EC then a week of not much improvement actually isn't uncommon from everything I've read. I think it can take a few weeks to see improvement. But actually if it is EC, her not getting worse is incredibly good. With EC it can go downhill really fast. So just halting that downward progession is really something to feel optimistic about.
 
JBun wrote:
If it is EC then a week of not much improvement actually isn't uncommon from everything I've read. I think it can take a few weeks to see improvement. But actually if it is EC, her not getting worse is incredibly good. With EC it can go downhill really fast. So just halting that downward progession is really something to feel optimistic about.
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That makes me feel better. I thought I should have seen some improvement by now. I have been planning on building them a 5x8 ft insulated shed and I am so excited for it, but with all this going on i'm not sure I can afford it. My mom knows how excited I was and she is willing to pay for it, but their my rabbits and I feel guilty and want to help out at least, but little True has cost me over 500 dollars so far. I am hoping she starts improving because I am almost out of options for money. Not that it is anyone's problem, but that is why I am sounding a bit frustrated right now. I honest to god just want her to be better and live a nice life in her what is going to be an awesome shed.
:( :cry1: :expressionless :) :D :expressionless :pray:
 
How worried do you all think I should be about the wheezing? She said she could do an xray, but one I am assuming that is over 100 dollars and I can't afford that right now and two she said it wouldn't make a difference if it confirmed pneumonia she was already on antibiotics. (she didn't seem too concerned about it)

The last thing I want is for her to get that too. My rabbit that I was very close to died almost a year ago from pneumonia and I had no interest in getting another rabbit because she was just so special to me and I thought I wouldn't be able to handle it, but these two great bunnies came into my life and I don't regret it, it is just something I didn't want to have to go through especially this soon.

I forgot to mention I got the ointment for her eyes (which was almost $40 for a small itty bitty tube)I put it in her top eye which had been bulging a bit and it immediately looked better and she was blinking which she had a a somewhat hard time doing before. The other eye I had to use a warm washcloth to clean first and I put the ointment in, I hope it helps because the pink part at the top is a bit swollen.

At the moment she is eating some food. I gave her some critical care for the night and now I am off too bed. Goodnight and thanks again. :) :expressionless :(
 
bri13194 wrote:
How worried do you all think I should be about the wheezing? She said she could do an xray, but one I am assuming that is over 100 dollars and I can't afford that right now and two she said it wouldn't make a difference if it confirmed pneumonia she was already on antibiotics. (she didn't seem too concerned about it)

The last thing I want is for her to get that too. My rabbit that I was very close to died almost a year ago from pneumonia and I had no interest in getting another rabbit because she was just so special to me and I thought I wouldn't be able to handle it, but these two great bunnies came into my life and I don't regret it, it is just something I didn't want to have to go through especially this soon.

I forgot to mention I got the ointment for her eyes (which was almost $40 for a small itty bitty tube)I put it in her top eye which had been bulging a bit and it immediately looked better and she was blinking which she had a a somewhat hard time doing before. The other eye I had to use a warm washcloth to clean first and I put the ointment in, I hope it helps because the pink part at the top is a bit swollen.

At the moment she is eating some food. I gave her some critical care for the night and now I am off too bed. Goodnight and thanks again. :) :expressionless :(
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---waiting for test results,i am pleased that you are so caring a real mom,--you mentioned eye ointment is it teramyicin-or-gentamicin,--just curious,-i hope there is no bulging eye--without a facial radiograph,one might think of cranial tumor,--does the dvm agree / bulging eye-??--,--sincerely james waller--if you have a chance check medirabbit.com
 
james waller wrote:
bri13194 wrote:
How worried do you all think I should be about the wheezing? She said she could do an xray, but one I am assuming that is over 100 dollars and I can't afford that right now and two she said it wouldn't make a difference if it confirmed pneumonia she was already on antibiotics. (she didn't seem too concerned about it)

The last thing I want is for her to get that too. My rabbit that I was very close to died almost a year ago from pneumonia and I had no interest in getting another rabbit because she was just so special to me and I thought I wouldn't be able to handle it, but these two great bunnies came into my life and I don't regret it, it is just something I didn't want to have to go through especially this soon.

I forgot to mention I got the ointment for her eyes (which was almost $40 for a small itty bitty tube)I put it in her top eye which had been bulging a bit and it immediately looked better and she was blinking which she had a a somewhat hard time doing before. The other eye I had to use a warm washcloth to clean first and I put the ointment in, I hope it helps because the pink part at the top is a bit swollen.

At the moment she is eating some food. I gave her some critical care for the night and now I am off too bed. Goodnight and thanks again. :) :expressionless :(
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---waiting for test results,i am pleased that you are so caring a real mom,--you mentioned eye ointment is it teramyicin-or-gentamicin,--just curious,-i hope there is no bulging eye--without a facial radiograph,one might think of cranial tumor,--does the dvm agree / bulging eye-??--,--sincerely james waller--if you have a chance check medirabbit.com
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It is gentamicin. It isn't like BULGING lol it was just out more...? She wasn't at all concerned about it as the position of her head is most likely the cause. It is fine now with the ointment in it.
 
Because of the wheezing thing I am now terrified it is going to be pasteurella. God I can't wait for these blood results to come in. This is getting ridiculous. I don't understand why it takes sooooo long. :(
 
Ahhh, yet another white headtilt bunny.. Ok, sometimes I start to wonder, I have seen SO many..


This sounds identical to my head tilt bunny's situation.

Is she drinking plenty of water? Can you ask the vet if you could possibly give Sub-Q fluids at home on your own? I found for my head tilt bunny Jelly, fluids were a HUGE help, and it would be so nice if you could do them from home so as to not stress her out with the car ride. My bunnies after several days of bad head tilt was extremly dehydrated and ended up with horrible GI stasis.

As far as wheezing, I noticed this with my head tilt bunny as well. I got all sorts of bloodwork done and it came up negative to EC and Pasturella and the CBC showed us hardly anything. I felt the exact same way with the bloodwork taking forever. It was horible- I ended up needing to put my bunny to sleep before blood results even came back..literally the next morning they called us to let us know what the blood had shown (or rather, had not shown)

If she's rolling, It is a really good idea to do bumpers going around the cage/pen so she won't get injured. I was especailly worried with my bun about injury to her back from rolling and thrashing.

I ended up staying up each night with my bun for about a week to keep her from getting injured rolling. It was very tiring though, so don't wear yourself out to the extent that you end up feeling like you can't keep doing it though things may look hard and not get better for a bit.

Praying your bunny gets better soon~head tilt is so miserable to watch your bunny go through!
 
I know how hard it is having a sick rabbit. I just had to keep reminding myself that all I could do was try my best to get them the help they needed, and you're doing that. I tried concentrating on what I needed to be doing to help my bun, the feeding and giving meds, so I didn't worry about all the other things.

Does the wheezing maybe just have to do with the head tilt just constricting her airway a little or did the vet actually hear congestion in her lungs? Well, if it is something, at least you already have her on antibiotics, so maybe that will take care of it.

Your bun is lucky such a caring person found her. Not everyone would do what you've done for your rabbit.
 
JBun wrote:
I know how hard it is having a sick rabbit. I just had to keep reminding myself that all I could do was try my best to get them the help they needed, and your doing that. I tried concentrating on what I needed to be doing to help my bun, the feeding and giving meds, so I didn't worry about all the other things.

Does the wheezing maybe just have to do with the head tilt just constricting her airway a little or did the vet actually hear congestion in her lungs? Well, if it is something, at least you already have her on antibiotics, so maybe that will take care of it.

Your bun is lucky such a caring person found her. Not everyone would do what you've done for your rabbit.
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Just gave her the antibiotics. Unfortunately she is still not doing well at all today. She can't stand up completely. I put her in a towel last night with the sides rolled up to support her and she was still there by morning. She had her food bowl next to her though and ate all her hay. She will eat a bit if I put the hay right next to her, but she gets really tired. She will still take all her meds and critical care. She is still pooping and peeing. I don't know what to do now it seems like she is trying so hard because she does try to eat, but her body is giving up.

Last night I was scared she wouldn't make it through the night. Now I am terrified for what the rest of the day has to bring because I feel she is declining. I can't get her back to the vet until later today, but what can they do? She already went yesterday and had fluids which really didn't improve much anything. My poor baby is slipping away.... :cry2
 
BAck when I first started treating bunnies for head tilt, cases of E canaliculi were assumed to be lost causes... but for some reason we just didn't try that hard to cure them... turns out long term medications are needed to get the upper hand on this bug... 1 week of panacur is not likely to do much... but perhaps a month or so will.. and Panacur is the least of the 3 azoles used to treat this bug. Oxybendazole and albendazole are supposedly somewhat more effective (but fraught with a few more side effect possibilities- some rather scary). I have treated one rabbit with albendazole and it did OK... but that is hardly much experience. It took about a month for the head tilt to resolve. And these drugs only work if you have a relatively mild case or no severe brain damage has been done yet (all the drugs in the world may not cure these more severely effected rabbits). Someone mentioned recently the use of Ponazuril, a great drug for getting rid of coccidia in many species of pet, but I cannot say I have ever tried this for E canaliculi. Seems rather safe at the approved dosages, but I really have no idea if it's a good drug for this parasite.

In other words, be patient... many of these rabbits will get better no matter what you do... their brains seem to adjust to the constant vertigo and they eventually seem to flatten out a bit. If your rabbit can eat and drink, that is a huge bonus as many of these rabbits are so dizzy they roll constantly until they roll into a wall... and their heads are turned nearly 360 degrees! These guys don't do as well... but even some of them turn around.

I hate to do this, but I am going to have to edit these above comments. Today I read about Dr. Rosenthals work in rabbit rescue , E cuniculi testing, and her experiences looking for this parasite in the necropsied rabbits that tested positive (and died of something else). Turns out her findings do NOT support the common diagnosis of E cuniculi in most rabbits and recommends more thorough neuro consults, blood work and imaging (like MRIs) to diagnose head tilting... turns out most rabbits with even positive titers to E cuniculi are indeed negative for the disease.. .and your rabbit, having tested negative, is very unlikely to be needing the Panacur after all... and there are some long term neurological problems with giving Panacur as well (I thought it was a bit more safe than that). So she recommends long term abs or, if no improvement, giving up and doing what's best for each individual patient (some will just not get better sadly).
 
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