Inner Ear Infection

[chantaldubois900]

Any experience with inner ear infections in bunnies?

We have been treating Panda for one for almost month now and she is still not back to normal. She is on Enrofloxacin, Tramadol, Meclizine, Periactin and Cisapride. She has episodes where she runs around the house frantically like she's scared or something and I'm wondering if she's dizzy? Anyone experienced this before? How long in your experiences does it take to fully recover from an inner ear infection?

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[JBun]

The frantic running could be dizziness, though I would expect that to more likely cause instability and/or inactivity. Stabbing ear pain seems a more likely cause of that behavior to me.

If you haven't seen improvement in a month, or if there was improvement and that stopped and is now getting worse, it's likely the antibiotic is no longer effective and needs to be changed. Whether a particular antibiotic will work depends on the bacteria involved. So if there is bacteria involved that isn't sensitive to that antibiotic, there will be no improvement of symptoms and a different antibiotic is needed. Baytril isn't always the most effective when it comes to treating head infections, and head infections are often very difficult to treat in rabbits, usually requiring a long course of antibiotics, and sometimes multiple antibiotics.

I've had the best success with azithromycin, but some rabbits can be sensitive to it causing serious digestive upset, so this needs to be kept in mind when deciding on it's use. Pen g procaine/benzathine injections (never orally) is another one that may be effective, but needs to be used carefully and any leakage onto the fur, thoroughly cleaned off to prevent ingestion while grooming and causing antibiotic induced enterotoxemia.

Medirabbit: ear infection clinical signs and treatment

(make sure to look at the online community support, and experiences section)
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Head_tilt
If your rabbit isn't also on meloxicam, I would suggest requesting a prescription from your vet. Meloxicam is an anti inflammatory and can help alleviate some of the discomfort and pain caused by the inflammation. It may also help prevent cell damage due to that inflammation, which is very important. Dosage for rabbits is 0.3-0.6mg/kg, twice a day. Rabbits get a much higher dose of this than is given to other animals, so it's important the right dose is prescribed or it won't be effective. And it is common for less experienced vets to under dose this with rabbits

https://www.vgr1.com/metacam/
If your vet isn't a knowledgeable rabbit vet, it may be advisable to seek one out for a second opinion. A good rabbit vet can make a huge difference in getting a proper diagnosis and the correct treatment.

https://rabbit.org/veterinarians/

 

[chantaldubois900]

The frantic running could be dizziness, though I would expect that to more likely cause instability and/or inactivity. Stabbing ear pain seems a more likely cause of that behavior to me.

If you haven't seen improvement in a month, or if there was improvement and that stopped and is now getting worse, it's likely the antibiotic is no longer effective and needs to be changed. Whether a particular antibiotic will work depends on the bacteria involved. So if there is bacteria involved that isn't sensitive to that antibiotic, there will be no improvement of symptoms and a different antibiotic is needed. Baytril isn't always the most effective when it comes to treating head infections, and head infections are often very difficult to treat in rabbits, usually requiring a long course of antibiotics, and sometimes multiple antibiotics.

I've had the best success with azithromycin, but some rabbits can be sensitive to it causing serious digestive upset, so this needs to be kept in mind when deciding on it's use. Pen g procaine/benzathine injections (never orally) is another one that may be effective, but needs to be used carefully and any leakage onto the fur, thoroughly cleaned off to prevent ingestion while grooming and causing antibiotic induced enterotoxemia.

Medirabbit: ear infection clinical signs and treatment

(make sure to look at the online community support, and experiences section)
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Head_tilt
If your rabbit isn't also on meloxicam, I would suggest requesting a prescription from your vet. Meloxicam is an anti inflammatory and can help alleviate some of the discomfort and pain caused by the inflammation. It may also help prevent cell damage due to that inflammation, which is very important. Dosage for rabbits is 0.3-0.6mg/kg, twice a day. Rabbits get a much higher dose of this than is given to other animals, so it's important the right dose is prescribed or it won't be effective. And it is common for less experienced vets to under dose this with rabbits

https://www.vgr1.com/metacam/
If your vet isn't a knowledgeable rabbit vet, it may be advisable to seek one out for a second opinion. A good rabbit vet can make a huge difference in getting a proper diagnosis and the correct treatment.

https://rabbit.org/veterinarians/

Thank you for your reply and all your tips and links She is on Meloxicam but only once a day.
It is a rabbit savvy vet she goes to, they only see exotics. I just want to make sure we are doing everything right as I really want her feeling better. I am going to ask about another antibiotic. They never cultured the bacteria, it was diagnosed via radiographs. We’ve been at this for almost a month and it’s improved but very little and very slowly. I want my Panda feeling perfect!

Thank you.