Wry neck in very young bunny!

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gentle giants

gentle giants

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, Illinois, USA
I took in a new rescue this afternoon, a very young buck that can't straighten his head up. He is about 8-9 weeks old, the owner couldn't afford medical care for him and was going to euthanize him but gave him to me instead in the hope I might be able to help him out. She said he has been eating well, and other than the head tilt he doesn't seem distressed.
I have noticed that if he gets stressed the tilt gets worse. When I pick him up and move him, if I hold him exactly level he is ok, but if I don't he will start to roll. So long as he is on a level surface he seems to get around fairly well, with little to no circling.
I am posting a video of his hopping around my living room, please forgive the terrible camera work, I had a cat sniffing around the bunny and a dog licking my ear while trying to record!

http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y182/cuterchick/Rabbits/?action=view&current=009-5.mp4
 
Oh my goodness! I've never seen a true head tilt before, but it looks pretty severe... what do you think is the cause? Could it be neurological? Good for you for taking the little guy in!
 
I have no idea at this point. I will be calling the vet in the morning to see about getting him in. It will be late tomorrow or the day after before I will be able to get on here and post an update on what the vet says though, so bear with me. :)
 
I hope you took him to the vet. That's a sign of E. Cuniculi and he might need treatment with Panacure for 28 days. Let us know how he's doing!
 
Ok, I was able to get him into the vet today. She concluded that it was pasteurella (sp?) which led to an inner ear infection. He is on oral Baytril for 14 days, and she said if he doesn't show significant improvement in a couple of days to bring him back in. Poor little guy is very stressed from the trip to the vet, he was rolling pretty bad by the time we headed home. I took him there in a laundry basket padded with towels to keep him from hurting him self. :(
 
I felt awful for the little guy, he was trying so hard to do normal bunny things like chewing and digging in the towel in his basket, but he was having such a hard time keeping his balance. Thankfully his appetite is still good, I put his pellets and hay kinda spread out on his floor or on a plate so he can get to them more easily. Water is a little more complicated, I have a pretty shallow bowl (thanks to some of my other bunnies chewing the edges down LOL!) that I am putting his water in. I know he is drinking some because the water level is going down, but I worry that he may not be getting enough. Does anyone have any suggestions? He has never drunk from a bottle before, so I hesitate to try that with him.
 
Wry neck in that young of a rabbit is pretty common... I had a Holland that developed it at around 6 weeks. Poor guy. Thankfully, they are still happy buns. They just have trouble knowing which way is up sometimes.
 
If caught soon and treated aggressively, wry neck caused by ear infection can go away. Good luck to your little guy.
 
Unfortunately, he seems to be getting worse rather than better. He is having difficulty drinking now, and the smallest strange sound or sight now starts him rolling. I am going to talk to the vet and see if there is anything else we can try, like the Panacur suggested earlier. If that doesn't work, there may be a hard decision to make here soon, because he is obviously miserable this way.
:cry2
 
Oh no! He looked very bright and alert in the video. What about injectible antibiotics? They might work a bit faster.
 
Yeah, he seemed to be doing pretty darn well when I took him in. He was doing "normal" bunny things, just doing them a little slowly is all. But now.... He is not moving around much, and seems depressed. I hate to pick him up and mess with him because that seems to mess with his balance even more. I will ask the vet if I can do the meds injectable instead, I think right now a needle poke would be less stressful than turning him upside down to give it to him orally. I could give him a shot with very little contact, and would not even have to take him out of his house for it.
 
About the same. :( I will ask the vet about the meclizine (sp?) I didn't know such a medication was available for rabbits.
 
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