My little boy has had his first vet visit

[Whiskeylousmama]

Well, for now I am calling him Flip. Today was Flips first vet visit with Dr. Travis. He was very surprised at how well he walked on the hard floor with the his head tilt.

He started him on a round of anti-parasite, to make sure the cause of the head tilt is taken care of. If the wormer doesn't do anything, the Dr. said we should try antibiotics in case it is an infection, but he is confident it was caused by a parasite because of how long it has lasted.

I told him how often he stands on his back legs and periscopes his neck, and he seemed very impressed. In two weeks I give Flip his last round of meds, and the first week in April is his follow up appointment.

The doctor says as soon as we know that the cause of Flips tilt is no longer active, we can schedule a neuter, and boy is my carpet and laundry excited! No more spraying!!!

I think I have a wonderful little boy, and I am so happy he is in my home! I hope he loves me as much as I love him!

 

[Orchid]

Thats great! I hope Flips tilt clears up quickly!

I feel ya...pee everywhere...sucks! lol
I can't wait for Simon to be snipped...

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Yay, I hope it clears up too. He gets his neuter too. Yay.

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

Head tilt (torticollis)is a difficult issue to deal with. Most likely if it has been long term, it will not correct. But that is not to say that "Flip" can't live a happy life....we have one that is twisted totally to the side and he is happy as he can be.

Most cases of head tilt are caused by a bacterial and/or yeastinfection in the middle and/or inner ear. I have seen many cases here and all but two were traced directly back to a bacterial infection in the ear. The twoexceptions had visible head trauma...both were cottontails. I suspect your vet is going after E Cuniculi by using an anti-parasitic. However, the EC in itself does not cause the tilt. No doubt that if a rabbit has an active EC infection that an effort should be made to control the infection. Truth is...none of the treatments in use at this time are really effective. Most of the treatments with anti-parasitics involve the "bendazoles". The latest and greatest is Fenbendazole (Panacur). It has to be administered every day for at least 28 consecutivedays...we have done as long as 60 consecutive days. Reality...haven't seen it do much good as far as EC. The most promising drug at this point is another horse drug used to treat EPM in horses....known as Marquis (Ponazuril). Time will tell on that. My non-professional experience is to go after the ear infection first. The infections are secondary to the EC as the EC infection compromises the immune system and allows opportunistic bacteria to make an appearance. In rabbits with EC, we have seen multiple and on-going infections in different parts of the body. If you look in our blog, you can read about Sabrina and Yoda and both had EC before we knew what that was. We also had Molly. We were ready to go with a run of Marquis but she didn't make it (kidney failure).

Now all of this has been talking about EC. This protozoan infection will also show itself by other issues too. With every case of EC we have seen in our rescue....we have had some degree of paresis in the hind quarter. Specifically the left rear leg. One of the first clinical signs of an active EC infection is dragging that left rear leg...and it may be very slight..just a quick stumble is how it starts. Another "marker" for EC is out of line kidney values. With an active EC infection, the spores of the protozoa will shed thru the kidneys resulting in an escalating loss of efficiency in the renal system.In an EC scenario, the urine will be very concentrated and have a very distinct odor. While a urinalysis will not confirm EC, it will show if the values are out of line. Since the only true diagnosis for EC is post mortem, to diagnose and treat this condition requires putting several pieces of a puzzle together based on symptoms overall. Every rabbit we have lost to EC has been due to renal system failure as you can only support the kidneys to a finite point.

As far as the infections....we have had buns to tilt from mites, yeastand bacteria. With every case of tilt that started here, I treated very aggressively for ear infections...including performing cytologies and cultures to determine what we were dealing with. We have been able to stabilize and correct every tilt case that originated here. Again in my non-professional opinion, most vets are far too conservative in treating ear infections in rabbits. But in reality, the dynamics of a vestibular infection in a rabbit are worlds apart from dogs and cats. When you take into account that rabbits can't see directly in front of them and that many tilters will spin violently (remember that delicate spine)...you really have to treat aggressively.

My comments here are not intended to contradict your doctor. I have treated more cases of torticollis and EC than most vets will see in their entire careers and I have developed some very effective treatment protocols for this condition....assuming I can start treating those ears in time. In a tilt situation with no evidence of head trauma....I come out firing the big guns at those ears every time. Just sharing my experiences in hopes they may be of help. Best wishes to Flip.

Randy

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Pictures??? :biggrin2:

 

[Whiskeylousmama]

Thanks for the info Randy, I will be sure to discuss all of this with my vet, I want to make sure he is doing well. I know that Flip has had head tilt since mid December, because that is when I answered the ad on him, and he is doing so well now! Does that rule out any of the things you were thinking of?

I do realize the headtilt will never be resolved, the doctor just is trying to make sure what ever caused it is taken care of. I am not one for remembering long names, but he said that if we do blood work to test for one of the causes could come up positive in a completely healthy rabbit and mean nothing, but if it came up positive in a rabbit with head tilt it was most likely the cause, am I remembering correctly that that was Pasturella?

When I told the vet how long Flip has had the tilt, (at least 4 of his 6 months by my count), he seemed pretty confident if was this parisite. I know he was looking pretty closely at his ears, but would that have been enough to notice an ear infection? What do you think Randy? (I am more than willing to get more than one opinion, now that I have a rabbit savvy vet to help me administer treatments...)

Also, Flip had been living in a hutch with his brother at his first home, so if it were Pasturella or EC, would he not have gotten it too?