Head Roll

[Lisa99]

IMG_4281My 2 year old male rabbit, Theo, has begun moving his head round as shown in the video. This is new behaviour for him, but I’m wondering if I’m worrying needlessly. He’s eating the same, drinking the same, still playing and binkying and doing all of his normal things, but every now and again when he’s stood or sat still, he’ll roll his head back and to the left.

He’s only been doing this since yesterday, and I’m wondering, as it’s Saturday, whether I should book and emergency appointment with a vet today. I was planning on taking him on Monday anyway just to be safe, but will find an emergency, out of hours vet today if needed.

It could be that I’m panicking over nothing and this is just normal, but his sister who he lives with does not do this, and as said it’s very new behaviour for him. He has never been sick before, generally really healthy I’ve been told from his check ups, Im a first time rabbit mum with him and his sister, so opinions and advice are welcomed as I’m sure most people on this forum will have more experience than me 🙂

 

[Bam]

I’m not 100% sure what I’m seeing, but it could be “tracking” ie nystagmus, if he’s moving his head from side to side, quicker to one side and slower on the way back. Sometimes you see the white of the eyes while its going on. Is he doing this head rolling pretty much all the time or just occasionally?

There are two major (msjor as in most common) causes for this, e cuniculi and middle ear infection. Both conditions affect the balance organs in the ears. Since he is an up-ears rabbit, ear infection is less likely but cant be completely ruled out of course, even if its by far more common in lops.

Is he eating and drinking and pooping? Does he seem to want to go and hide away from his humans?

An ER vet could give him supportive care, but how much else they’re willing to do without a blood test for ec is difficult to say.  Supportive care would probably consist of warmed up sub q fluids, meloxicam for inflammation and pain, possibly meclizine for vertigo. If a vet strongly suspects ec they might give him Panacur (fenbendazole), or if they strongly suspect an ear infection they might give him antibiotics  but ER vets are as a rule not exotics vets.

It’s great that you have filmed him, its very good to have vids to show the vet because he might not do the head roll during the visit. It’ll be very wise to get him to a vet but I cant say that its ok to wait until Monday – we cant give veterinary advice here since none of us here are vets. You must assess him yourself regarding this.

[LBJ10]

Hmm… this doesn’t look normal. As Bam said, this looks like nystagmus. We are not vets, so we can’t give medical advice. That being said, I don’t know how much an emergency vet will be able to help. They generally just provide supportive care and then refer you to your regular vet for follow-up. Will he be OK for a couple of days and not get suddenly worse? It’s hard to say.

[Lisa99]

Hi guys, thank you both for your helpful comments and suggestions. I think you are probably right, and a ER vet will not be much help, as he is eating/drinking normal, pooping normal and behaving like his usual self, I’ll wait until Monday when I can take him to my usual, rabbit specialist vet .

 

He still wants to be around me and is enjoying playing, but it seems to be something he’s done mainly when he’s still, so if he’s not eating, not playing etc, he does it constantly. I’ll carry on keeping a close eye on him, stick to seeing the vet on Monday and hopefully he should be okay!

 

Thank you both so much, really appreciate your replies 🙂

[TinyPawTracks]

Hi Lisa99! How is Theo?

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