Question about seizures

[Luna]

Not sure if I’m posting in the right place. My white lionhead, Sofia, is concerning me a bit. I’m trying to figure out if she had a seizure. I know that like ppl, animals can have focal seizures. She looked like she was completely zoned out and didn’t respond to me waving my hand in front of her face. One eye and the side of her face was twitching for about 15-20 seconds. About 30 seconds later, she snapped out of it. She seems fine now. Something similar happened a couple of months ago. There wasn’t really any twitching, just the blank stare, kinda confused look. That also lasted about 45 seconds or so.
I read that seizures are more common in blue eyed, white rabbits. Should I be concerned?

[Wick & Fable]

Your description does seem abnormal, and I recommend consulting your rabbit savvy vet and describing it. On one hand it could be a seizure. On the other hand, perhaps there’s something bothersome about your rabbit’s eye, such as weird pressure build up or an irritant that is reemerging.

I highly suggest keeping a notebook where you write down the date, start time, duration, and expression of each episode. The next time it occurs, I recommend calling your vet with the information and from there, you can make decisions on what assessments or treatments would be best.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[LBJ10]

Is she sitting up while doing this or lying down? I ask because Wooly sleeps with his eyes open and his eyes/face will twitch if he’s in a deep sleep. It’s super creepy!

[Luna]

She is sitting up. I’ve seen her twitch when she’s sleeping. Her eyes and her ears. But this is different. She’s wide awake, hopping around. Then suddenly, she’s very still, staring off into space, and her eye and face twitched. It is the weirdest thing. While it was happening,it was like she wasn’t aware of anything else.

[Bam]

Try to film her when she dies it. That’s not easy of course unless you have a bunny cam. But it would be very useful to be able to show to your vet.

To me it sounds a little bit like an absence-seizure that kids can get. (Grownups can get them too but they’re much more common in kids). It’s a very, very short-lasting fit of epilepsy that makes the kid unconscious of its environment for a short moment. There are no big convulsions or anything. The main danger is that if the kid is bicycling or swimming etc when an absence episode occurs, the kid could fall off the bike or drown.

Rabbits can have epilepsy and there are meds against it. Luckily our house bunnies don’t bicycle or swim, so the risk of them hurting themselves during an absence seizure is much smaller.

Other causes must of course be ruled out.

[Author]

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