Bailey has head tilt

[ScooterandAnnette]

Scooter here.

Well, I’m afraid Bailey is sick.  I couldn’t sleep last night and when I went downstairs I noticed that Bailey was sitting oddly in his litterbox.  And when he jumped up to the 2nd floor of the trio’s condo, he almost didn’t make it, and his head would drift a little.  It was way too late for our regular vet, and we don’t really have an emergency vet that will see rabbits in this town.

This morning, Bailey didn’t go after their breakfast banana.  Now, we have noticed over the last few months that he’s slowed down somewhat (he’s 5 1/2 years old), but he is still quite interested in food.  But he was just sitting in his food dish and showed no interest.  He did down a few raisins, and was hopping a little strangely.

We got a vet appointment this morning, and it turns out to be head tilt.  They took some X-rays and we have medication.  The vet did say that we caught it early, though.

Unfortunately I wasn’t at the vet, Annette was–I had to lecture.  Ironically, the specific vet at our clinic that we saw is the wife of one of my departmental colleagues, a recent hire.  We had them over for supper not long ago, shortly after she herself was hired by the clinic, and she was pleased to hear that we had very positive things to say about the clinic.  And joking that she’ll be extra careful when we bring our own pets in!  Well I guess she was!  Thank you!

So we’ll see how things go…..

[Sarita]

Vibes to Bailey! Did the vet say if the head tilt is due to an inner ear infection?

I’m glad you caught it quickly as well.

[TARM]

Catching it early makes all the difference. Hope he gets well soon!

[Elrohwen]

Good luck! That’s very scary, but I hope you caught it early enough that he can make a full recovery.

[kralspace]

Lots of healing vibes to Bailey! Was the vet able to find a cause?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Poor little Bailey! {{{Vibes that the treatment works and he feels better very soon}}}

[Sage Cat]

Poor Baily. But, that is great y’all caught it early – it will make a difference!

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Get well soon Baily }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

[ScooterandAnnette]

Annette here.

Unfortunately I’ve got the end of a cold, and a migraine coming on, so I wasn’t exactly at my brightest while at the vet.   They’re not entirely sure what the cause is right now.  They took an xray (which she was kind enough to email and I’ve attached it below) and everything looks clear there, his teeth look fine, and they can’t see any problems in his ears.  They’re assuming it’s from an infection, although they’ve also apparently seen something similar due to tumors.  So he’s on baytril for the infection, and a steroid (dexamethasone), and although I’m not entirely sure why they’ve also given some Ranitidine (Zantac).  Oh, just looked it up and apparently it’s for GI ulceration and stasis (since he’s not really interested in eating).

 

– Annette

[MarkBun]

[ScooterandAnnette]

Scooter here.

You may recall that I’m a professor, and I’m known as the “bunny prof” because I’ll show a different bunny picture in class, before lecture starts, with some amusing comment that has nothing to do with the material.  Students like it, and it has a marginal but positive influence on my student course evaluations.  

The bunny pictures are usually put up several days ahead of time, when I post the note outlines for the next lecture.  Well, today’s was Bailey, in better times (below).  And a student even asked “so Dr. Wong, how many bunnies DO you have anyway?”  I said aloud “six”.  You can imagine what I was NOT saying out loud…

He is eating raisins quite happily, though.  And appears to be looking for a place to nap since we haven’t let him back into his cage, given his difficulties right now with hopping up to his condo.

[RabbitPam]

Hi, Scooter, hi Annette.
So sorry to hear Bailey is sick, but what a great job of catching it early and getting a friendly new vet. I’m sure he will respond well to the immediate dose of meds.
I love the xray and pix. What a great idea to show pix of bunnies before class.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Sending lots of healing vibes to Bailey.}}}}}}}}}}}}}

[LittlePuffyTail]

The little foot in the xray is adorable.

[Monkeybun]

It’s always amazing seeing just how dainty their body structure is under that fur…

((((((((((((((((((((vibes for Bailey!)))))))))))))))

[Bindilicious]

Hugs and good vibes for Bailey’s full recovery and hope you feel better soon, too, Annette. 

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

{{{Bailey}}} I’m so sorry to hear the news! Guess we are going through this together as Chuck has just recessed and is very tilty again.

If I could suggest this site: http://www.onthewonk.com/

IF incontinence becomes an issue-like I’ve had-I’ve been using puppy pads and they are a godsend! I put them under a towel and over an incontinence pillow (that just needs wiping if it gets wet). Also puppy wipes are good for removing cecals.

I found that moving Chuck and Noot into a much smaller area worked wonders-that way when he rolls he can ‘grab’ the sides and right himself. Rolling is very scary for them-but all you can do is comfort and ensure they are somewhere they cannot hurt themselves.

The other hard thing is hydration-I can’t keep a water bowl in there, I’m too scared of drowning and CHuck has rolled into the water before-so I feed about 90% veggies (a handful or so of pellets twice a day)-it was expensive but it kept and is keeping them hydrated without a water bowl which is great.

The best advice I got was-there will be good days and bad days-expect them but don’t get too down *BIG HUGS* for both of you and *nose scritches* for Bailey -you’re all in my thoughts

[MimzMum]

(((((((((((((Healing vibes for Bailey and Annette)))))))))))))
I wish I had some words of wisdom, but healing vibes will have to do. I hope you both feel better soon!

[jerseygirl]

Lots of BB {{{Vibes}}} coming your way for Bailey. Hope you’ll be seeing some improvements. Thanks for the updates guys. & Annette, feel better soon!

[BinkyBunny]

Healing vibes for Bailey. I also really like the site http://www.onthewonk.com Good info. Since head-tilt can be caused by a few different things, it’s good to get to the bottom of it. Hopefully it is just an ear infection, but some vets do also like to treat right away for e.cuniculi just in case.

Keep us updated!

[ScooterandAnnette]

Scooter here. Thanks to all for your healing vibes. Bailey did survive the night. He showed no interest in food most of last night, so we force-fed him a water mix of ground-up hay, parsley, cilantro, and pear, which he did eat. However, afterwards he ate some of the green vegetables we left for him, and this morning they were all gone. There were obvious bite-marks on the carrot chunk we left too. He’s refused to eat hay or pellets, but he is eating, and he is interested in water.

He doesn’t appear to be leaning as much to the right, although his balance is still clearly off. However, he’s able to manage a foot flick or two after we gave him his medicine, so we are interpreting this as a good sign.

[RabbitPam]

[Sarita]

Glad he is eating. I don’t think it’s unusual for them not to eat their pellets when they aren’t well but it’s great he’s eating his veggies.

Continued healing vibes.

[bunnytowne]

Eating good sign.  Food flicks good sign too.  Continue getting well Bailey

[jerseygirl]

How’s Bailey doing today?

[ScooterandAnnette]

It’s so hard to tell how he’s doing. I think it’s too early for anything definitive. He hasn’t gotten worse, that much I can say with certainty. There are times that I think he’s showing improvement, and then he’ll hop around and shake his head a bit and suddenly he’s fallen over. He did manage to wash his face today without falling though. He’s also discovered that it’s best to rest up against something on his right hand side to keep himself from leaning over while resting. He’s such a smart bun. Still not much interest in pellets or hay (okay well no interest) but he is still eating herbs and vegetables and some fruits and drinking water. I guess we just keep giving him his meds and watching for improvement!
– Annette

[Sage Cat]

My vet actually has an acupuncturist on staff. She has had a lot of success helping the Head Tilt bunnies.

Do y’all have access to any body like that where you are? You never know!

Glad that Baily is eating herbs & veggies okay.

[LittlePuffyTail]

How is Bailey doing now?

[ScooterandAnnette]

Well Bailey didn’t eat any of his veggies last night, but then again he did manage to break out of the dining room and spent most of the night hiding behind chair in the livingroom until I let the dog out at 5something in the morning and noticed wait a minute, where’s Bailey? He did eat some of them this morning but they were a little wilty by that point. He’s still not eating hay or pellets so I’ll be forcefeeding him another round of hay slurry tonight and made up a lovely veggie and fruit “soup” that he has no interest in but will be getting it forcefed him anyway. Spinach, carrots, strawberry, banana and apple juice all pureed together. The hay slurry will be hay, parsely, cilantro and apple juice and maybe water, depends on how much liquid it needs, I don’t want him having TOO much sweet stuff. There doesn’t really seem to be much improvement in his head tilt yet but there hasn’t been any worsening either. The clinic called yesterday to see how he was doing and the vet called today for an update.
– Annette

[ScooterandAnnette]

Well he’s still about the same. It’s really very interesting because sometimes when you look at him when he’s just sitting there he’s got almost no tilt at all, and then as he relaxes he starts to slowly lean right. But if you put him on his back on your lap his head just automatically goes way over to the right. I’ll have to try and get a picture of it tomorrow. He’s obviously trying to so hard to keep it controlled when he’s able to.

I’ve ordered some Critical Care from the vet as he’s still not eating hay or pellets. He doesn’t like the slurries at all but I forcefeed them to him anyway. I also put a little dish of the veggie & fruit slurry out which he didn’t touch at all but Tegan and Aeryn happily finished off when I let them out later. He likes it when they’re out with him, he likes the attention from them.

Aside from being a little tilty and not eating the hay & pellets I’m not sure that you’d know anything was wrong with him. His activity level is the same, he’s still as feisty as ever and in fact charged after one of the cats when it came too close to his food (even though he wasn’t eating it) and chased the cat around the room. He is managing to run/hop more and faster without falling over even though he does list to the right somewhat when doing it – I’m not sure though if that’s a sign of him getting better or just him learning to cope with it and adjust to it. He’s a pretty smart bun.
– Annette

[jerseygirl]

Will he take anything if you hand feed it to him? More {{{vibes}}} for Bailey.

[MimzMum]

Just adding more (((((((((((((((((healing vibes))))))))))))))))))))

[Monkeybun]

Was going to ask that Jersey. Maybe he isn’t eating the hay or pellets because its more awkward for him to grab them?

((((((((((((vibes for Bailey))))))))))))

[ScooterandAnnette]

He eats his veggies and herbs etc just fine, and I just put them on the floor for him. He’s got hay accessible in 3 places – two hay racks that are actually for the condos but can be reached from the outside as well and I’ve got some in his litter box. I’ll put some on the floor as well. And he’s got a little bowl of pellets that’s absolutely full so he doesn’t have to make much (if any) effort to get to it. I’m thinking that it might just be difficult for him to chew those things right now. He always has been a bit of a lazy bun.

And he seems to not be too fond of romaine at the moment, so I’ll have to pick up some other kind of leafy veggie for him today. He did finish his carrot (ate the tops first of course) and the cilantro and parsely and I discovered he loves mint, good thing I’ve got lots of it growing in my herb box.
– Annette

[ScooterandAnnette]

He thought I wasn’t watching, he thought I couldn’t see him, but I saw Bailey sneaking some hay last night. And he positively gobbled up all of his dinner veggies although still not really interested in banana this morning although he did have a nibble of it. And his pellet dish loks like he might have had some of them, although apparently the cats will also eat the pellets if they’re out of food.

Figures that he’d start eating hay again the day the critical care I ordered came in at the vet’s!
– Annette

[Sarita]

I might still feed him that critical care just for a few days. Glad he’s starting to eat.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Awww

While Chuck has been ill (since November although really well from mid jan until just recently he was doing very well with only a slight tilt) I’ve fed an almost all veggie diet. The major reason why is that at first when he got sick (and I will stress we were on the phone with my vet at Sunday evening late as soon as it happened and in the next morning for all the tests you can run) after a couple of days I can’t quite recall when-he fell in his water dish. He was rolling and rolling, scared and wet. So I removed it. Other then cold (and he was only in it a matter of minutes as I’d just been checking on him) he could have drowned had he gotten stuck. So while he’s tilty and rolling-there’s no water. Veggies give them enough water-at least for my pair. Since I’m opposed to pinching a blind deaf and tilty bunny -I pinch Noot (that’s how you check hydration) and I use the puppy pads-so I can quite clearly see that they are peeing enough (quite a bit)-well and after a snuggle session he’ll often wee on my lap-a large amount so I know he’s not underhydrated.  

 Since more fibre is in order-I just sprinkle the Critical Care on the veggies I don’t know if you’ve taken away water now, or if you do a bottle (which I wish Chuck would defer to but even holding it to him he won’t use it) but that’s what I did for the water situation. I’m set up for sub-q but it’s never been necessary.

It’s hard to see an improvement in a short time but you’ll see one I’m sure of it *hugs* Many rabbits recover fully And as tilted as Chuck is right now-he’s eating like a starving goat

I guess in summary-I know how you’re feeling-‘should I be doing this, what’s the result, what does he/she feel” etc etc. And I just wanted to chime in and say -things will get better They say there are good days and bad days with tilt and you deserve some good days-I’m certain they’ll come your way soon

Ohhh and neck massages-if you’ve not done them they are wonderful-you end up with a purring snoring lap rabbit like you’ve never had Just as you’d massage a human or a dog-but gentler and with one finger usually Definitely recommend it

And meclizine if you can I think it helps (it’s not a cure, more like a gravol )

[ScooterandAnnette]

He’s got a water dish – we’ve been watching him pretty carefully with it and he’s been managing just fine with it. He uses a bottle in the cage so that’s what he’s used to and I wasn’t sure how he would take to a bowl but the moment I put it down he went over to it and started drinking. When he was just sitting or standing in the beginning he was fairly steady – when he’d start to relax the tilt would take over and his head would drift off to the right. And when he was hopping around he would occasionally stumble and fall to the right, but not really when he was going slowly more when he was trying to get from one place to another.

The day I took him in to the vet, while we were waiting in the exam room he snuggled up with me and would let me hold him on my lap and he was so cuddly! I’ll have to remember that feeling because it’s not likely to happen again! But I think I am seeing an improvement in him. He’s definitely eating better and with more of an appetite even though he’s still not really interested in pellets. He’s going to be really upset when he’s better and has to go back to living in the condo with the girls! He’s had he dining room as his sick room and been able to run around there all he wants!
– Annette

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

That’s awesome! Chuck just cannot manage with it when tippy but I wish he could

I’ve never really bonded with Chuck-I’ve done my best to give him everything he needs but given that he can’t see or hear me I’m generally a bother. Add medicine to the mix and I figured he’d really hate me. But tbh we’ve bonded like I’d never have thought through all of this-he even fell asleep on me last weekend. I think he’s starting to find comfort in me, I wish I’d tried before he was sick but I’m very glad he’s trusting me now. And I think despite how hard it is to go through-it is a bit of a bonding experience and the cuddles are very important for both us and the bunny

LOL Yes the special treatment they get Noot has gotten a bit chubby on Chuck’s diet while Chuck has been sick. I’m sad as I just threw out the crib I bought for his illness a few weeks ago and then we had this happen-I figured we were out of the woods but perhaps I jinxed it Chuck and Noot are in the dog bed in the living room, with Mikey keeping vigil over them while I’m away-I’m particulary proud of that. If you’d asked me almost a year ago when we brought him home-would never have thought he’d be around the rabbits period. But now he watches them for me -and has woken me up when Chuck is spinning. He doesn’t even steal carrots from them-though he asks for them…

[MimzMum]

lolz…Isn’t it funny how snuggly they are when they’re ill? The night Mimz came home after his first dental, he sat in my lap without protesting for about 2 hours! A record! I loved every minute of it. Of course, now he struggles and gives me starch, so I just let him wander until he feels like lying down. (eyeroll)
A snoring bunny, K&K? THAT’S something I’d like to see…don’t happen to have video of it, do you? ^_^

((((((((((((((((((((((and more healing vibes for Bailey)))))))))))))))))))))))))

[ScooterandAnnette]

Scooter here. Bailey appears much better. No apparent sign of head tilt. Eating hay and pellets, and even his breakfast banana. Acting like his normal self. He’s even taken to annoying the other bunnies. He’s free-range in the dining room so he won’t jump up on his condo and hurt himself, and has taken to lounging very prominently just outside the cage doors so the other bunnies can tell that he’s outside and they’re not. This has to be deliberate!

We are giving him the rest of his medicine to let it run its course, but it looks like he’s out of the woods.

[Sarita]

That’s great news. Thank you for the update.

[jerseygirl]

Great!!!

[MimzMum]

Wonderful news! ^_^ Continued healing vibes for Mr. Spunky Bun!

[LittlePuffyTail]

Yayyyy!!!! Glad to hear it!

[Author]

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