My two-year-old spayed doe, Dynamite has head tilt. I first noticed the onset around a month ago, when she started refusing water, hay, pellets, even treats. I have three rabbits and she’s usually a little piggy so this was a big red flag for me. I had to work, so my mom took her to the vet for me. At this point, Dynamite had a slight, almost imperceptible head tilt that I asked my mom to mention to the vet. I was told to give Dynamite Oxbow Critical Care, but taking her to the vet must have done the trick at the time because she started eating again. The vetdidn’t seem to think she had head tilt. Problem solved, or so I thought.

A couple of days later my dad was installing a TV mount in my room. He told me that Dynamite was freaking out every time he used the screwdriver. Like, thumping and freaking out. This was unusual for her; my house is fairly noisy and nothing seems to faze her. My other two rabbits weren’t bothered. I said she hasn’t been feeling well, explaining her behavior. I wonder now if that was enough stress to make her head tilt worse. The next day I was down the hall and heard loud noises in my room. I knew it had to be one of the rabbits, so I ran down the hall. Dynamite was thrashing around on her side–it seriously looked like she was a flopping fish out of water. I panicked, thinking she was having a seizure. I said her name and pet her, and she calmed down. It was a Sunday evening, and I was freaked out enough to take her to an after-hours emergency vet.

At the vet. I was told my bun most likely had head tilt because of an inner ear infection or e.cuniculi. The after-hours vet was very expensive and I had just bought a bird the same week, so it wasn’t an ideal time for Dynamite to get sick. But I paid for her to have an x-ray. The vetsaid she had a thickening of the bone around her inner ear, which suggested an infection. While I was waiting for her to be done, I was reading on my phone about ear infections in rabbits and head tilt. I had observed all of the symptoms of an ear infection in Dynamite, but the symptoms of active e.cuniculi didn’t seem to fit, so I didn’t question the diagnosis.

I was sent home with Metacam for inflammation, something for nausea (it’s out now and I don’t remember what it was called) and chloramphenicol as her antibiotic. Dynamite has been on antibiotics for 3.5 weeks now. I am happy that her rolling has stopped, her balance has improved, and she is eating, drinking and otherwise acting like herself–but her head tilt has shown hardly any improvement. I know it may never go away, but I was hoping to see at least a little more improvement by now.

I called the vet today and asked if there was ANYTHING else I could/should be doing for her. I talked to a vet tech and since e.cuniculi hadn’t been ruled out, she suggested we treat her for that as well. I said I’d like to have her tested, but there are no openings for 2 weeks. So they gave me Oxibendazole for her,and told me it would be safe to give her regardless of whether her head tilt is being caused by e.cuniculi or not.

I always like to do my own research but have read a lot of conflicting information, so here’s what this all boils down to and my reason for creating this thread: anyone whose bunny has had head tilt and may have some insight–has anyone had success treating with Oxibendazole? I want to make sure she’s getting the best treatment and there’s so many medications out there. What medications have you seen work? Also, is it right for me to be concerned about treating her for e.cuniculi when I’m not even 100% sure it’s what’s causing her head tilt?

I can post pictures of my bunny on here later if anyone wants to see what we’re working with–my phone’s pretty dead right now and is charging.