Seizures - HELP!

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Fusilligirl

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Hi everyone, I need help. My bunny, Fusilli, is a 6-year old Silver Martin. She's spunky and lively and I love her so much.

In the middle of January, Fusilli started having seizures.The seizures centered around the head and neck area. She'd twitch for about 15 seconds, maybe more and maybe less. But over a two day span, she had about 8 seizures and her appetite waned severely. Some were accompanied by a catatonic state of around 5 minutes. Then she'd snap right out of it.I went to a vet that was recommended by the House Rabbit Society(rabbit.org), Dr. Saver in Long Island, NY. She's great with Fusilli. She took a blood panel - kidneys are functioning fine, she tested positive for e. cuniculi, and her electrolytes were Way off - they were high. So with some critical care,antibiotics, pain reliever and e. cuniculi medicine, Fusilli got better.

Then two months later, almost to the day, she had three seizures. This time her appetite was fine but three were allwe had (thank goodness). Blood panel showed electrolytes went the other way - they we low. We gave her pedialyte and no more seizures.

Two months later, almost to the day again (last week), Fusilli had 9-10seizures in a 2.5 hour time span. Some had a catatonic state associated with it, then she'd be herself again and go straight to eating like nothing happened. Needless to say I was freaking out. I took her to the vet again, and her electrolytes are Way off again - high this time. Now, we have her on phenobarbital, which sedates her a bit, but I won't know if it's working until two months come around again. I don't know what two months has to do with it but it seems that's how often these episodes happen.

The vet is baffled, she only has one other epileptic bunny.Other than these seizures Fusilli is doing fine, she's eating and drinking like a pig. She still does her bunny dance where she kicks in midair. I don't get it. Any help would be Very much appreciated.
 
Good details! That helps a lot. I don't know a whole lot about seizures either.:? And it's really odd that the electrolytes were off but the kidneys are fine. Usually they regulate the concentration of ions in the blood.

Did the blood panel include blood sugar levels? Were they normal? Diabetes is rare in rabbits but hyper/hypoglycemia is listed as a potential cause for seizures. There's a list here:
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/seizure.htm

How long was her E. cuniculi treatment? Maybe she needs a second round?
 
Her E. Cuniculi treatment lasted over a month. The vet's in the process of talking to the lab to see if they diluted the sample or something. Her sugars were tested but came out fine. It's just so so weird.I'll mention Hyper/hypoglycemia to my vet to see what she thinks.

Luckily right now, Fusilli is under my feet with her legs sprawled out like the rest of the world doesn't matter. :D
 
Just spoke to the vet and we have a game plan -

SunnieBunnie was kind enough to forward some research onto me regarding E. Cuniculi. I asked the vet about this and she told me that even though the disease has been kicked, signs in the blood will still show positive for years. She told me that it would be a waste of my money to do that. If something happens to Fusilli's brain, it's very hard to prevent it.

But -

In two months' time, when the episode is due to come back again, we'll see if it actually does. If it doesn't, then we know it's epilepsy (I've got her on 0.5 ml of Phenobarbital a day).And we can work with it. :bunnydance:

If it does, we'll figure it out from there... She says she has two or three epileptic bunnies on Phenol and they're doing just fine. Cross your fingers for me. Next episode is due around July 20th.

Thanks for all your help and support!:thanks:
 
A couple more things. I have noticed that Fusilli stares a lot, particularly at walls for about a minute at a time, she's only done this since the seizures started. Any thought?

She's also lost her potty-training. I let her out and comeback in five minutes, she's left a mound for me. Does anyone think I can re-potty train her again? She's 6 years old, I'm not sure if she can learn "new" tricks...

Its a shame because before her seizures, I was thinking of rescuing another rabbit :disgust:Now that's out the window.
 

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