Seizures

[Callaway]

Hello all! Ive posted before about Cally's odd behavior and discussed the vet's prescription of Baytril and his "seizures". Since his Baytril ended, the seizures have increased (if that's what they are). While on the medication, he still had the seizures, they were just very rare. He had another today that lasted pretty much half a minute. His body completely contorted and violently shaking. Front legs stiff while back legs vibrating and kicking. When it finished, he was gasping for air or at least it sounded like it. I am very concerned as I know, in humans at least, that seizures can cause a lack of oxygen to the brain and long term effects can be detrimental to one's health. We just moved to Tennessee and would like to discuss this with a Rabbit Savvy individual. Dont know if any of you have a suggestion about his behavior, what to do, or know of anyone in Tennessee who is absolutely knowledgeable with rabbits. There are some vets around here that take care of farm animals but I am not sure if rabbits would be considered in that category. I dont want to go to the vet and have them tell me they can see Callaway but then not know anything about the animal which is pretty much what happened when we lived in Maryland.

He will be 2 years old in August.
Holland Lop
Intact Male
Eats 1/8 c of pellets twice a day (We get it from tractor supply. I forget what its called but its 17% protein)
Gets a handful of greens twice a day.(Spinach, mustard greens, endive whatever I find that looks great at the store)
Access to Timothy Hay all day long (again from tractor supply)
Gets little rabbit treat oat o's thing periodically

Thank you for your input and advice.

 

[Callaway]

We are in Rockwood, TN btw

 

[JBun]

It's a possibility that your rabbit has some sort of abscess in his head, that is causing the seizures. That would explain why the baytril was helping a little, and now the seizures are getting worse since the baytril has been stopped. But if this is the case you would need to be treating with a more effective antibiotic, like bicillin injections.

http://people.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm

You'll need a good rabbit vet for this. I don't know if you have already looked at these vet lists.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f28/finding-vet-13366/
http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

It's a possibility that your rabbit has some sort of abscess in his head, that is causing the seizures. That would explain why the baytril was helping a little, and now the seizures are getting worse since the baytril has been stopped. But if this is the case you would need to be treating with a more effective antibiotic, like bicillin injections.

http://people.umass.edu/~jwmoore/bicillin/bicillin.htm

You'll need a good rabbit vet for this. I don't know if you have already looked at these vet lists.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f28/finding-vet-13366/
http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

:yeahthat:

 

[tonyshuman]

I agree that this is a potential cause. I would not go to the farm animal vets unless you get a very good recommendation, as the approach to vet care for farm animal rabbits can be different than the approach to vet care for pet rabbits. Seizures are very serious and have a lot of potential causes, most of which you may have to do complex diagnostics to rule out. For instance, an abscess near the brain could be causing it, and you might see it on x-ray, but you might not.

I would definitely get blood chemistry panels done first to make sure there isn't a nutrient/electrolyte problem. If that comes back normal, for this case, it might be best just to try treating with a stronger antibiotic as others mentioned as it could be an abscess or bacterial encephalitis. If that is also unsuccessful (you'd need at least 3-4 days with the antibiotic and no improvement to rule it not successful), you could try treating with antiparasitic in case he has more advanced E cuniculi infection. If you can find more extensive vet resources, like a vet school, it might be good to have a MRI or CT scan done.

This site lists a variety of things that can cause seizures:
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/seizure.htm