I'm beginning to freak out...

[MeAndB44]

So, anyone new to Beatrice's situation, let me sort of explain what has happened so far:

I caught Beatrice as a feral bun, she's black so she obviously isn't wild and she was still a baby, and kept her because she had a severe eye infection that I thought was caused by something impaling her eye. (There was a bubble scab type thing on it.)

I brought her to the only vet I knew would treat her for free, who wasn't experienced with rabbits, and she gave me some neomycin for her eye. It seemed to heal wonderfully and I took her off of them, but the infection began to come back so I put her back on the antibiotics. Her eye cleared up again, the discharge is almost completely gone, but she's still on the antibiotics for another week.

I was feeling pretty confident about her full recovery, but now she's shaking her head a lot and constantly itching her ears.

I'm super worried about her, we've already bonded really well after like a month of having her. She licks me constantly and cuddles with me all the time. I love her to death and I don't know what to do.

I should be able to bring her in to the vet this week because I'm getting some money tomorrow, but my parents couldn't afford to before now. (So I'm going to pick up the bill; I'm sixteen with a job that depends on the weather.)

I'm starting to really suspect pasteurella and I could just cry forever. I'm so scared.

 

[bunniekrissy]

Having lived in the wild, she may easily have several health issues that are not necessarily related. The head shaking and scratching sounds like it could be ear mites. Did you look in her ears? Usually, ear mites cause redness and/or yellow crust inside of the ear. You can buy ear drop meds for this over the counter at many pet supply stores.

Head shaking can also be a sign of ear infection that could indicate pasteurella, but it is by no means the only explanation.

 

[Pipp]

Did you check this article in the Library? It has great info, pics. Might help you (and the vet) confirm what the problem is.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Eye_diseases_main.htm


sas :clover:

 

[MeAndB44]

The first thing I did was look in her ears, they seem to be normal. They're very clean and, literally, shiny.

I can't wait to get her to the vet and I'm super worried that she's going to turn up with chronic pasteurella.

 

[MeAndB44]

Pipp wrote:

Did you check this article in the Library? It has great info, pics. Might help you (and the vet) confirm what the problem is.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Eye_diseases_main.htm


sas :clover:

I looked and that only opened up more possibilities! Though it was comforting to know that there might be another cause other than pasteurella.

She's seeing the vet ASAP, I'll keep everyone who cares updated!!

 

[Pipp]

Sorry, I just wanted you to be able to better describe it. But really, re-reading your post, if its going away with antibiotics, it sounds like it is just an infection. She probably just needs something stronger than neomycin, I think that's pretty mild stuff, great that its working.

Pasturella is just another bacteria. Most bunnies carry it, along with other bacteria.

Sometimes it can be in a pesky 'snuffles' form (symptoms include heavy sneezing and blowing out a bunch of white snot) and it can cause abscesses, etc. It can be hard to get rid of, but it's not a death sentence. (Some breeders will euthanize with pasturella 'snuffles' because its contagious to their 'herds' and makes the rabbits unsellable and unshowable). That's why it has a bad rap.

But worst case scenario is usually just that the rabbit has to stay on antibiotics.

If her system avoids other stress and she builds up her immune system, she should be fine.

Mites are hard to see with the eye, and ear infections even harder. But I think whatever antibiotics work for the eye will likely work for the ear if it is an infection, its probably the same bacteria. I think.

They really have to stay on an antibiotic for awhile, though. I think at least week or two after all symptoms have disappeared.


sas :clover:

 

[Pipp]

PS: Make sure your Vet has a link to that site (MediRabitt), it has all the 'safe antibiotics' lists, etc..

 

[MeAndB44]

My vet specializes in exotics, he should know. He only sees animals like rabbits, chinchillas, birds, etc. So I think he'll know.

 

[katt]

the ears could be a simple yeast infection. herman got those a lot. the only way to really tell they were there was to scope his ears, you could see the puss buildup way down in there.

my vet would put him on antibiotics and an ear wash solution 2 times a day.

here is a video, although it is kinda hard to see. it does show that cleaning their ears isn't all that hard (and herman was an english lop, so his ears were really big)


best thing to do about the ears is get her to a vet, let the vet scope and take a swab of the ear, and see what bacteria are growing in there.

 

[tonyshuman]

I would definitely give him a treatment with Revolution and perhaps a deworming if he was a feral bunny. I know all the bunnies at our shelter get dosed with Revolution when they come in to control any external parasites they may have, and we just had a bunny pass a tapeworm (there was no warning!) so he's getting dewormed too.

An ear swab to check for mites, yeast, etc is not a bad idea. As for the eye, neomycin is a pretty weak antibiotic--if the eye thing comes back, I'd ask for a culture of the eye discharge to be done. It's good that you're putting her on it for longer--often you need to keep a bunny on an antibiotic for several days after the infection appears to have cleared up to make sure it's totally gone.