Ronnie has head tilt

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I'm really glad to hear he's still doing well :) I love little Ronnie, and have been thinking of him all weekend hoping he would get better

Chalk got very good at hiding her head like that as well! We'd spend aaages getting her wrapped up, and still, and I'd reach for the syringe, and look back ready to give it and her head would have disappeared. Then to get her head back you'd have to unwrap the towel, and she would seize that oppurtunity to wriggle out and hop away.... :rollseyes

I really hope he continues to improve some more :)
 
Thanks guys :)

Alicia, I was actually wondering about permanently tilted rabbits the other day. Specifically, do they have to get injections multiple times a week for the rest of their lives? Meds I can deal with, but I would hate doing the injections forever...

Jen, I think Billy would be a lot like Chalk (actually probably a lot worse than her) with the escape artist thing. That's why I'm so glad that Ronnie is calm and patient. If I see him starting to look like he wants to wander off I just gently push down on his head and he's like "Okay, I'll stay." :biggrin2:

Michelle, Ronnie is doing pretty well today. It's weird because it's not a constant steady improvement...he has some days where he's worse than others. Not that he's bad any of those days...it varies very slightly but I can still say "Oh, he did a little better yesterday than today." Like today he got stressed out from being in a bunny burrito and getting meds, and when he gets stressed he tilts more. As a result he fell over a couple times but regained his footing quickly. If I compare this to yesterday where I didn't see him fall at all, I feel like today was a "bad day."

I'll do a more formal update later tonight...I have to get back to studying now :grumpy:
 
I guess it's like with any major human illness, some days you feel good, other days you feel like crud.

The first bad thing I ever experienced with a rabbit was headtilt, I didn't even have a clue what was going on at all at 14 and my first bun. I knew something was wrong, but my mother insisted the bun just had a sprained neck and would be fine. By the time I got her to a vet and on meds, it was too late (she had a respitory infection as well and a mega high temperature).

It's scary, but I believe you're doing all the right things for Ronnie. I'm thinking about him a lot and really hoping that he stays general on an up curve. Your two rabbits stand out for me a lot on here because they make me think of Sakura, and of course they are just so adorable and full of personality, I feel especially attached to them.

Fingers and toes and paws all crossed for Ronnie and continued improved health :D.

Michelle
 
Day 6

I'm pretty tired right now so it's gonna be a short update. Ronnie is about the same as yesterday. The only difference is that he was a little dizzier / off balance when I was over there because he got stressed out from being given his medications so he tilted more. He rolled right after I let him go from his bunny burrito, but was able to regain composure after I picked him up and righted him. I think he was just dizzy from the stress and being moved around from the table to the floor.

The vet called today and let us know that Ronnie tested positive for both E. Cunniculi and Pasteurella. From what Randy wrote here previously I'm taking this to mean that Ronnie's tilt is caused by the Pasteurella. It sounded like E. Cunniculi is something that's always there and the reason Ronnie tested positive for it is probably because his immune system was poor so he had elevated levels of it.

Now that we know the cause I guess we'll be discussing the possibility of using Zithromax + Pen G when we go back for our follow up appointment. Right now we're just using Pen G injections and the oral medications described before. I'm not sure when the follow up will be just yet (have to work it out with our schedules) but it will be sometime in the next week.

Robin
 
Little Bay Poo wrote:
Thanks guys :)

Alicia, I was actually wondering about permanently tilted rabbits the other day. Specifically, do they have to get injections multiple times a week for the rest of their lives? Meds I can deal with, but I would hate doing the injections forever...
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Some have the tilt and nothing else they don't need antibiotics anymore. The tilt is just there. People have woken up somtimes a year, two years later and it is just gone.
 
I read somewhere that the muscles in the neck contract and shorten thus causing a permanent tilt with no infection but it is individual for most buns.
 
Benjamin tested positive for EC once. I think the level of the titer is important as to whether or not it's an active case of EC. Very high levels probably = active case. Lower levels probably = dormant, like you said. It is possible that they're elevated due to his stress, but that just means you need to take extra special care of him so that it doesn't become an active case. It sounds like a good reason to try very hard to kick this pasturella in the butt and knock it out of his system. Head tilt is usually not an early sign of EC, like many have said. Maybe you can use this to convince your vet to try a very aggressive pasturella treatment, like the one Randy uses?

Best of luck, and I hope there are more "good days" than "bad days" for you guys.
:hug:
 
My Smitten has been tested4 times. She tested high3 out of4 times. Turns out she had a bladder infection which caused the titer to register high. Most likelya false positive.

Best way to determine if your rabbit truely has EC is do a series of EC titers over time. I believe the standard is every 3-4 weeks. It takes 7 to 10 days for the results to come back.
 
Day 7

No notable changes today. The Pen G prescription that we have says to inject for 7 days, stop for 3, resume for 7, stop for 3 etc. Tomorrow will be the first of the 3 days that we will not be injecting Pen G. I hope it doesn't make Ronnie's tilt get worse.

One thing I noticed about Ronnie is that he puts on a really pathetic face when I come in the room. He will put his head down for pets and give me this look like he's the saddest bunny in the world. Then as soon as I leave the room, I see him running around like a normal bunny! When I come back in he's all sad and "pet me" again. So if I want him to get exercise I actually have to be out of his area or else he mopes and gives me the pathetic bunny look :p

Chris said Ronnie ate a lot of hay yesterday. It seems like he's eating lots of hay, drinking lots of water, and will take oats from me prior to taking meds. After we give him medications and a bit of Critical Care he has no interest in treats. We have to go out and buy new pellets soon because it's been a few months and I can tell the pellets don't smell as fresh as they used to. Hopefully this will get Ronnie to start eating his pellets again.

Robin
 
Cheeky little bunny, hamming it up for attention! I hope he feels better soon. I'm sure you're doing a good job taking care of him, keep up the good work! There was a bunny on cuteoverload.com today that looked like Ronnie, so we should get all the blue otter nethies together to cheer for him!

:party0002::party0002::bunny19:party0002::party0002:
 
For some reason I haven't posted here yet, but I've been reading all the updates! Feel better soon, Ronniekins!

Love,
your #1 fan
 
Little Bay Poo wrote:
One thing I noticed about Ronnie is that he puts on a really pathetic face when I come in the room. He will put his head down for pets and give me this look like he's the saddest bunny in the world. Then as soon as I leave the room, I see him running around like a normal bunny! When I come back in he's all sad and "pet me" again. So if I want him to get exercise I actually have to be out of his area or else he mopes and gives me the pathetic bunny look :p
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This is exactly the way Wedge is - only sometimes if I walk in the room he'll flop down like he's not feeling the best. I'll walk out of his line of sight and he'll start to sit up and groom himself - only to flop down if he sees me again.

I think sometimes they like to play us like this for extra treats or attention - or maybe to convince us to not give them a shot. I know Hepburn will whimper like a puppy if he's getting a shot - and its the ONLY time he'll whimper.


 
SnowyShiloh wrote:
How is Sir Ronnie doing today?
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I actually didn't go over to the apartment yesterday or today because Ronnie is on a three day break from his Pen G shots and I've been really busy with school work. Chris takes care of both of the bunnies and has been giving Ronnie his oral medications daily.

Chris said that Ronnie gets feistier every day and becomes more difficult to bunny burrito. When he puts him down on the towel, Ronnie starts kicking his feet until the towel gets all crumpled and has to be flattened out again :). When he's in his bunny burrito he hides his head and scoots backwards...yesterday Chris said he almost scooted himself completely out of the towel.

We placed a new order for Farmer Dave timothy hay and it came in yesterday. I hear both the bunnies like it and Ronnie continues to eat a lot of hay. He also eats his pinch of oats but we are still giving him 6cc of Critical Care twice a day because I'm not sure if he's eating his pellets. I don't blame him...they smell stale and we are going to get a fresh bag either Friday or Saturday. Billy continues to eat the pellets though so I'm not totally sure if a fresh bag will get Ronnie started eating them again because I don't know if freshness is the issue.

Chris said that Ronnie seems more tilted in the mornings when it's cold in his apartment but when he turns up the heat Ronnie's tilt gets better. Ronnie continues to get daily exercise in his play area.

We have a vet appointment this Saturday at 11:30 am to talk about Ronnie's progress.

Robin
 
I went over to check on the bunnies today and spend some time with Ronnie to see how he was doing. The first thing I noticed was that Ronnie had soiled the carpet in his cage with about 4 or 5 reddish brown stains :?. I asked Chris what happened and he said he saw them yesterday but didn't think anything of it :X. We called up the vet and I guess we'll be discussing that tomorrow during our follow up appointment. I read online that Meloxicam can cause blood in urine so we didn't give Ronnie his dose today. Today was his last day of Meloxicam anyways so we just cut it out a day early. Ronnie peed on some newspaper that I laid out for him today and it was the normal yellowish color which gave me some relief.

Other than the pee thing Ronnie appears to be doing really well. He's still pathetic looking and tilty, but he's got the same amount of energy and is running around like he did before he got sick. The only difference is he doesn't have any interest in humping his stuffed animal anymore, or digging at his newspapers. Ronnie was running a lot of circles around me like he used to, and he also ran up to me every time I came into the room. No rolling episodes or falling. He's been eating loads of hay, drinking water, took oats from my hand, and ate a few pellets. I think the fact that he's not on as many meds (no more Meloxicam and he was off Pen G shots for 3 days) made him feel a lot better. I guess he's kinda druggy other days and doesn't have as much interest in food.

I took my camera over and got some pictures of Ronnie. He came out looking so pathetic! Trust me, he's not that bad...it's just a skill he has to bring out the sympathy ;)


Looking sad with dried up Critical Care on the corners of his mouth


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He gets more tilty and stressed when in a bunny burrito for meds. I only took this one picture because he looked so sad I couldn't bear to keep him bundled any longer!

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After his meds:

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On a more positive note, Ronnie really likes the new shipment of hay :)

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Awww! Hooray for Ronnie doing better! It's great to hear that he's eating and acting more-like-normal than before! Woohoo, little guy!

P.S.: I love the bunny-burrito pic. :laugh:He's so sad... BUT CUTE!
 
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