Head tilt treatment?

[kal9390]

Does anyone have any idea how long a bunny with pretty severe head tilt can take to start improving? He has been on metacam and an antibiotic for 3 days now.

[MimzMum]

Hello
I have a bunny who came down with head tilt 3 years ago and he is doing well even all this time later. It took at least 2-6 months of intensive 24 hr nursing to bring him around. Some bunnies recover well and have no residual tilt to their necks and others, like my Mimzy, still have a noticeable tilt even years later. Each bunny handles treatment differently and heals at different rates.

Your bunny should also be receiving something called “Panacur” to help eradicate any possibility of E.Cuniculi which can sometimes cause head tilt. It can also be a deep ear infection which the antibiotics should cover. Can I ask what kind of antibiotic your bunny is taking currently? Also if he is not eating/drinking well then sometimes metaclopromide is prescribed to help keep the gut moving and also help with any nausea the bunny may feel, (even though bunnies cannot vomit they can feel queasy due to the balance centers of their bodies being out of whack), and subcutaneous fluids may need to be administered to keep the bunny irrigated.
My vet further prescribed meclizine (motion sickness drug for people) to help Mimzy with his balance. Some bunnies are helped by this, others are not.

I admit, when he started rolling I was considering having him put to sleep, but we carried on and after a lot of back and forth with him getting better and then worse (one step forward, two steps back) he did improve and I am so glad I didn’t choose to let him go back then. Not all bunnies take to as much handling as well as Mimzy did, so each bunny must be evaluated separately.

A few other members here have also dealt with head tilt. If you have any more questions someone should be able to help with answers.
Do you have a bunny savvy vet on the case? Not all vets are trained in exotics care and this is very important when it comes to the right treatment.

I would ask about the panacur, the meclizine and the metaclopromide and see what your vet says about adding these meds. Also there is a cleaning regimen for your bunny’s bedding that concentrates on certain days during the month to rid the habitat of possibly shed germs that can reinfect your bunny. Does your bunny have a partner? If so that bunny may need treatment to to prevent him/her becoming ill also.

Sending vibes your way that your bunny will feel better as soon as possible.

[kal9390]

Thank you so much for your reply, this information was really helpful. He is currently on enrofloxacin for the antibiotic. Can I ask you how severe mimzy was? My rabbit (binx) ate a little bit of lettuce yesterday, but besides that we have had to syringe feed him critical care and water for the past 3 days. He has just been lying down and he starts rolling over every 15 minutes or so. It’s really painful to watch. I am going to ask the vet about those medications you mentioned. Again, thank you!

[MimzMum]

Glad to be able to help.

I should add these sites, they’re really good for reading others’ experiences of caring for head tilt bunnies.

http://rabbit.org/on-the-wonk-a-site-for-headtilt-rabbits/

onthewonk.com

Enrofloxacin (Baytril) is a pretty standard antibiotic. He will probably need that for quite some time. I think Mimzy was on it for almost the whole six months after he finished the 28 days of simultaneous panacur, but he tolerated it well so it wasn’t a problem for him. We also tried using something farther into his illness called chloramphenicol but this is a very toxic drug to humans and must be handled with extreme care. If it is not necessary to use it I do not recommend it. It didn’t seem to do anything to help Mimzy anyway.
If the infection remains stubborn (i.e. more than four to six months) sometimes Penicillin injections can be prescribed with good result, but penicillin must NEVER be given orally to a bunny as it will kill off their digestive flora. There are also some cases where zithromax has helped in head tilt bunnies, but I’ve only read a few of those.

Mimzy’s head tilt at it’s worst had his head completely sideways and parallel to the floor (about a 90 degree tilt) and on his most tired days his head would also turn backwards so that he was all curled up and unable to move about without tumbling or being disoriented. His rolling was so bad for the first two weeks, I truly did not think he would survive. But he’s a tough little nut.

Another challenge a head tilt bunny faces is that the downward facing eye may need some kind of protective lubricant to keep it from picking up infections from dust and dirt that might get stuck in it. I still use a certain eye drop for Mimzy because this illness left him with really dry eyes.

Head tilt bunnies can lose weight over the course of their illness. Follow whatever advice your vet gives you about keeping weight on Binx, as Mimzy recovered enough to keep his head straight and could eat on his own, I supervised limited amounts of pelleted food intake. I never left him alone with them for fear he’d choke on them, but he never did. You can always make a pellet slurry with pellets and water and see if he’ll lap it up, but if he’s not used to them don’t give too many new foods at once.

As far as the rolling is concerned, it may do Binx some good to get a smaller pen with towels or other soft material rolled up along the sides to keep him from crashing into stuff until his balance is better. I got a 75 gallon Sterilite tub and lined it with cotton towels and padded with puppy wee pads to keep Mimzy upright, dry and comfortable. (He lost all litterbox skills at this time and has not regained them.) Of course syringe feeding and lots of greens can also cause a messy bottom on a bunny, so knowing how to gently wash that away and dry them so there is no danger of flystrike is also essential. You should never submerge a bunny in water, but only fill a small pan or litter box with a thin layer of warm water and gently rub away any sticky stuff that clings to his bottom or feet. Beware of sore hocks too, which will make him uncomfortable. Silvadene cream with help keep any raw spots on his feet from getting infected. This usually needs a prescription I think.

Is Binx an indoor or outdoor bunny? It would be best to bring him inside while he heals from this so he can be watched carefully. And has his partner also been treated with anything to keep him/her from contracting whatever gave Binx his head tilt?

I’ll try to continue posting other things I remember from Mimzy’s illness but it has been awhile and I do not recall everything. You may find some stuff helpful and other things unnecessary. I really hope Binx will pull through all this. It’s a long process and very tiring as carer, so be sure to take time for yourself to to recharge.

[MimzMum]

Ah…and something else I meant to post but you may have already noticed this and it’s academic.
Head tilt bunnies don’t do well with any kind of motion, so if you have to feed/medicate or transport Binx in any way, the more you can do some of this at ground level with him supported between your knees or with arms wrapped around him, the less disoriented he will feel. I used to have to have my son go with me to vet appointments for Mimzy so he could place an arm inside his carrier to help steady Mimzy as we bounced down our somewhat nasty long road into town. (We live 30 miles from the nearest city.) It took a long time till Mimzy could go in his carrier without assistance or lots of extra padding, but now he travels fairly well. He’s getting to be an old bun now though and likes his comforts.

Routine is everything with a well rabbit, so one compromised like this really needs that extra assurance that nothing changes. I removed all items/toys in Mimzy’s habitat just so he wouldn’t hurt himself on them or if I placed them wrong he wouldn’t run into them. Now that he’s years out from being sick, he can find his way around his tents and tubes almost as well as he did before.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Hang in there-mine took about 6 weeks or so-it was well past the four week mark-then it was a dramatic change for the better! Two of mine had it-very severe-like head on the ground and lots of rolling.
If you can get your hands on some meclizine (antivert) it really helped-doesn’t treat the infection but makes them feel better so they eat and get stronger.

[kal9390]

He is an indoor bunny so he’s already nice and safe inside We made a little spot with towels/blankets/pillows to keep him if so he does not get hurt when spinning. I’ve noticed his downward eye is getting watery, do you remember if the eyes drops mimzy had were prescribed by the vet or if you picked them up at a store on your own?

[kal9390]

Thank you! Binx had another head tilt a few months ago but it was nothing like this. This time it is very severe- like you said, head on the ground and lots of rolling. We are about 4 days into the med treatment and hoping to see improvement.

[MimzMum]

Sorry I haven’t been in for awhile…any update on Binx?

[RobynG]

hello I don’t know if anyone is still on this chat but I am having the same problems with my bunny its so heartbreaking I’m hoping for the best its been a week . I don’t want to give up I just don’t know how to help and don’t know if she is in pain ,

[Bam]

Hi RobynG, I’m very sorry about your bunny. This is an old thread, as you noticed, and we as members not to revive old threads. Please start a new thread about your bunny and her head tilt. You can do that here:
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/afv/post/aff/2/Default.aspx

If you have a difficulty starting a new thread, PM me or one of the other leaders and we’ll help. I’m locking this thread now.

[Author]

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