letting go

[keieeeye]

I took Holly to the vet for his check up today and it is bad news... he has a head tilt that isn't getting any better (it is like a 90 degree angle.. or worse) and despite the antibiotics, antiparasitic and steroids, he's now underweight and his eye is weeping because he can't blink properly/often enough.. and the liquid is trickling over his nose and he's starting to snuffle.

I will probably call back tomorrow to arrange to have him put to sleep, I can't handle it today. It's been three and a half hours and I have just been crying and stroking him and holding him in my lap. I'm taking photos and videos now while I can, luckily he is still running around at least, but not as much as he should be. He is only eight days away from being five months old.

[CrWoodyspets]

Oh I am so sorry. Just tell yourself its best. In my heart, both of you

[Dragonrain]

Did you do tests to figure out what is causing the head tilt? Also, what antibiodics did you try? A lot of rabbit bacteria have developed immunities to common antibiodics like Baytril and react well to stronger antiobiodics or even a mixture of two diffrent antibiodics. It can also sometimes take a long course of treatment, a couple of weeks or months depending on the case.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/tilt.html

If he's still eatting and running around, and your vet didn't do sensativity tests and try diffrent antiobiodics, I would do that stuff before considering putting him down. How rabbit savvy is your vet??

Also, I know a number of rabbits with permanat head tilts (their infections have been cured but they head tilt didn't go away) that are living perfectly happy lives.

Good luck! You know your bunny best and I'm sure whatever you decide to do will be in his best interest. I'm sorry you have to deal with this.

[keieeeye]

I believe the one they have him on is Trypan or something similar. The vet herself owns rabbits and I quite often see other rabbits when I'm in there, plus they have quite a lot of rabbit information on their website. They've been treating him since I took him for his 12 week vaccines two months ago which was just after I first noticed the headtilt and since then there are times when it almost looks completely upside down.

Last night when I was listening to him wheezing I thought I would probably make the call today but he is quieter today. I'm taking him in for his shot as normal on Friday I think and then giving him another week to see any improvement at all, today I've been focusing on trying to get some more food into him. I've offered him banana and apple and spinach and he's had the spinach and nibbled the banana and had a few pellets... the only problem is that when I try to handfeed him, he is far more interested in licking me! He's also spent most of the day lying down.

[Dragonrain]

Aww poor Holly. I really hope he shows inprovment, but like I said I'm sure you'll do whatevers best for him at the time.

I don't know anything about Trypan. I've seen quite a few people have good luck using injectable bicillin, maybe you could talk to your vet about it? Penicillin isn't safe to give orally because it causes GI problems but as an injection it can be used to treat things like ear infections and abcesses. Maybe something to look into or ask the vet about if his current treatment idoesn't seem to be helping.

[Jennicat]

Trypan is actually a stain used during cultures, so I don't think that's the antibiotic that he's on.

Has e. cuniculi been effectively ruled out?
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-2/e-cuniculi.html

[Dragonrain]

Quote: Trypan is actually a stain used during cultures, so I don't think that's the antibiotic that he's on

Ahh yeah, I tried looking it up and got that too.

What tests did the vet do on Holly before starting treatment? Do you know for sure if it's in ear infection?