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bunnybunbunb

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The morning after I got the new boy home he bit me. He had been so loving before so I thought it wasstress. Yesterday day his eye started watering and lastnight he started being grumpy when I touched/held him and thumping, then that turned to moping around. Today he never even thumped at me so I knew something was up. I got him out and checked his eye - pus. I watched his other eye and when I moved him it did a weird jumping thingbut did not do it when he sat still. I went and got that ear thing we bought when Z got sick. I am pretty bad with it, so hard finding the "bubble" having to turn the ear and clean the wax off the thinger and such. I saw red spots but could not make anything else out and I could not find it in the other ear. I had mom look and she said both where inflamed.

:XI had a feeling it would happen, I mean each and every time I get a young junior Holland boy they end up withWry Neck. I am just hoping I caught it in time. The Penicillin, "Bi-cillin", should take care of the infections but the fact that as soon as I get him he gets sick and I have to stab him and handle him so much makes me mad because he is going to hate me. I know I dislike the people that poke needles in me and are constantly bothering me.

And to top it off Keebler's right ear drum is red around it, that I saw for myself. The other looked fine. So now both boys have ear infections, Dillan's ears, luckly, where both clear.

Since the new boy has more than one thing going on does anyone have any opinions on how I should dose him? Should I do it every other day like normal? Is there any eye drops I can use on him that does not require a vet? Our cheap vet knows so little about rabbits he still perscribes Amoxicillin(I tried to tell him itkilled rabbitsbut he is older and set in his ways...), the other vet is expensive and I only use in a must case. If I can get what I need myself I see no point in paying someone to tell me what I already know.
 
one has to treat the problem,,which is what i did,,when it comes to rabbits,,don,t even think penicillin/amoxicillin/which kills/on the other hand there is baytril/and injectable-penicillin g//.watery eyes is indicitive of not chewing enough-fiber- to keep teeth worn down to proper length//increase hay and limit pellets,,and use fruit tree branches/twigs for teething and gi tract//.i once had a dvm that i know is bad,,but at least he prescribed baytril.//.i have a cottontail/raised from 6-days old/born 4-14-06,,he has just learned i mean him no harm and i let him come to me.//.it is the prey,,predator thing..hope this helps..james waller
 
I am so sorry that you are going thru this... again. I just went thru trying to treat my boy for vestibular disease... just to have things go very badly, and ended up putting him to sleep. Now I am terrified of it happening to my other bun.

I don't really have any advise to offer, but wanted to say how sorry I am that he's got an infection... so good to hear you've caught it early tho!!

btw... I bought an otoscope after this with Jacub... but I tried to see in my other rabbit's ear and couldn't see anything. How does one go about seeing down inside anyway?

Best of luck with your boys treatment!!!!! :hug:
 
Agreed on the vet recomendations. Penicillin G procaine/benzathine (aka Bicillin) will only work if the bacteria in his ear are susceptible to penicillin. Many bacteria are resistant to it. Also, although you are injecting the penicillin, it can still have a few GI side effects. Whenever a rabbit is on any antibiotic, they need to be on a probiotic as well. Probios or Bene-Bac. Also, when you inject the bicillin, it needs to be diluted 1:1 with sterile saline for injection or lactated ringer's solution.

I'd get to the vet and have them do a culture and sensitivity test. You could continue with the Bicillin injections while you're waiting for results, but typically vets will prescribe a broad-spectrum antibiotic while they're waiting for culture and sensitivity results. This is usually baytril or cipro (which are basically the same drug).

The vet can also help you get some meclizine which is an anti-nausea medicine. It sounds like he does have vestibular disease--an infection in his vestibular system--because of the eye movements (called nystagmus). It can sometimes be found at human drug stores but it can be difficult to find.
 
Umm...couple of things here. I know this might confuse some people....but for the truth's sake, Amoxicillin can be used safely in rabbits if it's used correctly. Granted, most vets don't know how to use it but it can be done. And it would certainly be a treatment of last resort....a "Hail Mary".

It is essential to get a culture of the ear. If you culture, have presentations of a bacterial infection but don't grow anything, treat for Pasteurella. We have also seen staph, pseudomonas and yeast in ears....and it's very common in Holland Lops due to the lop ears and small canals. Pasteurella is the most often foundculprit in vestibular infections. My drug of choice for this would be Zithromax (few vets have used this one)but I have also used Zeniquin (few vets are aware of this one too), Convenia (safe only as an injectable and again, few vets have used it) or Chloramphenicol (very few vets are brave enough to use this one). He is not eating probably due to a combination of pain and dizziness. Pain meds are critical. Anti-nausea drugs like Meclizine or Bonine are effective in some rabbits but not in others. Vestibular infections also can lead to dangerously high fevers....supplemental fluids are needed to control body temp. Honestly, most vets are far too conservative in treating ear infections. We fire all the big guns "at will"....we hit ear infections from multiple directions with multiple drugs.

Randy
 
He started eating this afternoon. He ate Alfalfa, Timothy as well as a few bites of Plaintain weed.

I let him out for some time in the hallway and ever since he has been perkier, when I enter the room - and his good eye is facing the door - he gets up and comes over.

His eye no longer has the gunk in it. I am going to watch him, and his ears close, and if nothing is better by next monday, when the rabbit vet is in, I will call and see what she thinks. You have to have money in hand before they will even see the animal - no matter what shape it is in - so... yeah.
 
I tried to check his ears but he is so grumpy - a totally diffrent boy from who I brought home. Not just that but I swear I am horrible at finding my way around an ear. I will have mom check him again tomarrow, she taught kids with speech problems in school - the name of her degree(s) slip me at the moment - so she had to learn about the ears and such in school. I suppose that gives her enough information to know how an ear should look and if it is getting better :p
 
I just want to offer hope for your boy bunny. It sounds like he is in a great deal of pain and is pretty sick. Whether or not he improves, please take him to the vet to be checked out.

I have a bunny who had constipation, it improved when I gave her an apple to eat and she had plenty of water, but I still took her to the vet to be checked out. She is okay, right now she is a year old. The bunny I have that I am talking about is Sweetie, the black one in my avatar.

So please get your boy bunny to the vet even if you see improvement or no improvement.
 
:yeahthat: It's really important with serious illness symtoms to make sure that they're totally gone.
 
Well it is satureday and so far he is eating, drinking, running around and bunny flopping, eating is pellets/dry food, hay, anything I give him, Poop is back to normal and eye is good. When I got him I noticed his eye had a raised area right in the middle but since he has started the Penicillin it is gone. Totally smooth but still blue. You can see the hole where he must had got stabbed in it when he was a baby or something.

Will be checking his ears when I get home.

Thanks to everyone that has posted so far, I will keep everyone updated.
 
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