continuing head tilt, where to go from here?

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 6sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 9 months ago by Andi.

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- 06/22/2010 at 6:52 AM
  BooBooBunny
  Participant
  30 posts
  One of my buns was showing severe signs of head tilt several months back, so i took him to an emergency bunny vet where they put him on baytril and some pain meds for about a week, if i remember correctly. Within a day of the meds there was a huge improvment but within a few weeks after stopping the meds, i started to see the tilting again (much less severe but still there). So back to the vet he went, the vet said she believed there was an abcess in the brain so she did not swab the ear or check with anything more than her naked eye (I personally saw what appeared to be a lot of build up in that ear vs the other ear when i checked later with an otoscope, but then again im not a dr.) and prescribed him more baytril, this time twice a day for a month. After that round of meds was done, his head was still cocked slightly to the side but he didnt seem so listless and his behavior was normal, so i kind of figured this was the best i could hope for. Latley though his head apears to be tilting more and more, although his behavior is still the same (still eating, drinking, humping his pen mate). So now im left wondering if I just leave it alone assume hes like this for the rest of his time and hope nothing gets worse, or go to the vet and risk spending the money and traumatizing him for them to tell me its permanant (or give me more baytril which he HATES and im not all that sure worked too well). I’m out of work and money is very tight for me right now, so i dont want to spend money needlessly, but I also dont want to end up paying emergency vet prices because i waited and it got worse. If this is a permanant thing does he need pain meds or anything to keep him comfortable? I know hes pretty well adjusted to it but it still looks like it would be painful for his neck.
  
  Anyone with experience with bunnies and ongoing headtilt have any advice for me? Thanks in advance.
- 06/22/2010 at 7:09 AM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  If it were me, I would see a vet for a second opinion. I cannot see how a vet could just eye a rabbit and say they think it’s a abscess in the brain.
  
  I understand that money is tight but so is an emergency room visit which is why you should look for a vet who see’s rabbits and can give you a second opinion – there are many different causes of headtilt and in order to properly medicate you need to know what the cause is.
- 06/22/2010 at 7:19 AM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  Sorry your bunny is unwell. This vet does not sound very experienced in my opinion. She should have taken a swab from his ear to check for bacteria as there could be an infection. You can’t tell if an ear is infected just by looking at it. I would look for another vet. It’s always better and cheaper to catch a problem early. Ask the vet questions beforehand to make sure he/she really is experienced with rabbits.
  
  Head tilt can be reversed but the longer the bunny lives with it, the lesser the chances of recovery.
- 06/22/2010 at 8:06 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  I agree, he needs to be seen again by another vet. Let us know what you decide.
- 06/22/2010 at 1:13 PM
  BooBooBunny
  Participant
  30 posts
  I have a bunny who had head tilt last fall (Chinny) and took him to the same animal hospital. I really liked the Dr. that examined him, he checked in the ear with a scope and let me take a look too, and he swabbed the ear and checked it under a microscope (which he found was yeast and noted that it was uncommon in inner ear infections in bun’s, when I asked about the possibility of yeast to this vet who examined Bun Bun, she kind of dismissed me saying that yeast wouldnt be the issue…). He also prescribed an antifungal/antimicrobial ointment to put in Chinny’s ears, Bun Buns vet told me that wasn’t neccessary because the infection was already in the brain, same thing she told me when i asked about doing a swab. The hospital is a a small animal and bird hospital so i just figured all the dr’s there would know what they were doing with rabbits. But Chinny made an almost immediate recovery, Bun Bun obviously hasnt. So I think I will try to make an appt with the doc I saw the first time and hope he is at least a little more thorough before I give up on Bun Bun and decide he has to live like this for the rest of his days. And you’re right sarita, another emergency visit is certainly more expensive than a regular scheduled office visit.
  
  Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll try to update (and prob have more questions :p) once I know more about whats going on with Bun Bun
- 06/22/2010 at 1:18 PM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  Vibes to Bunbun and please keep us updated. It does sound like you were more pleased with the first vet and he was more thorough – I would let him know what the other vet said and what you have or have not done as well as far as treatment and testing (or not testing as this seems to be the case with the current vet).
- 06/22/2010 at 2:28 PM
  Andi
  Participant
  1048 posts
  I am in agreeance with everyone else, i would have a second opinion done. is there a rabbit group locally that can recomend a ‘rabbit’ Vet?
  Headtilt is a funny thing, it can go so many ways, from healing quickly, to permenent tilt to death. I adopted a rabbit who had permenent tilt, her’s was very minimal, she lived normally many years like this, we have probably a handful of head tilt rabbits in our rescue that have severe tilt and still live a good life pain free.
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