something is wrong with my pet rabbit.... advice needed please

[dalebillster]

Hi everyone, i am in need of some advice. Last sunday (feb 21st) i noticed my rabbits head was tilting quite bad, he was unable to walk properly in a staggered motion, his eyes rolling & at times slumped up the corner of the hutch. Almost immediatley i rang up the vets & got booked in within 3 hours of noticing it. The vets thought at first he had had a stroke, then possibly an ear infection (so put him on antibiotics until today), then when i went back up there today they said he has 'a worm on the brain' & needed to be put to sleep or try some type of new medication which might or might not work. Ive got to got back to the vets tomorrow to collect the 4 month long medication. As you can understand this is very distressing for me & my pet loving partner as we obvoiusly dont want our rabbit to be put to sleep... We am quite confused as to what is wrong with our 2.5 yr old netherland dwarf lop called peter, the vets have said it is one of three different things... He is now stilla bit wobbley on his legs but is eating, drinking & is 'almost' back to his normal self. Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem could be as we are lacking a bit of confidence in our local vets at the moment ......

we are very greatful for any replies, & i will do my best to reply to people straight away, thankyou,
Dale & Stacey.

[carmalee]

Sorry to hear about your problem - am sure you've been trawling the net to get some answers and hope you get sorted. In the meantime why not ask for a second opinion - you are perfectly entitled to do what you think is best for your pet - I believe the proceedure is for you to mention to the 2nd opinion vet why you've sought a 2nd opinion then as a curtesy he/she will ring the first vet. Ring around other veterinery surgeries to find a vet specialising in small furries - or try the local rabbit club, they probably know the best vet in the area. Keep us posted.

[cherrypoker]

Hi,

I would have to agree and say get a second opinion. I took my 16 month old pet rat to my vet who i had been with for years. Fred was making a rattling sound when he was breathing and his eyes were also bulging. My vet diagnosed a brain tumour and he was giving medication at a cost of £58.
As his breathing wasn't getting any better i took him to a different vet who diagnosed pneumonia. He was given an injection and baytril which is an antibiotic at a cost of £4.67.
It just goes to show that your vet isn't always right.

(((Hugs))) to Peter. I hope he is better soon :0) xx

[dalebillster]

thanks a lot for your advice & i will seek a second opinion but the only problem i have is i am registered with my local PDSA as we are both out of work & we have found it very costly in the past using normal vets where normal prices apply. Its a real shame when things come down to money over pets health. Do you think there is any other cheaper organisations available to me other than PDSA?

[carmalee]

think the Blue Cross does but only in certain areas - sorry can't be more helpful. Hope Bun gets better.

[ruthann58]

we had a rabbit that had an ear infection it took at least four lots of antibiotics to clear it she constantly had her head on the side and when at her worst used to roll over and over ,our vet told me not to give the anti biotics in milk only in water but in the end he show me how to inject her and with the injections she recovered good luck

[dalebillster]

wow thats really interesting ruthann as i forgot to mention on the original message that he was rolling over quite a lot on sunday night, just a few hours after we noticed something wasnt quite right. i went back up the PDSA for my appointment this afternoon & they gave me a medicine for peter called 'Panacur'. It is ''for the control of E. Cuniculi & intestinal worms in rabbits''. From what i can gather its a worm or bacteria that has supposedly damaged part of his brain. This is to be administered once a day for a month, every 4 months. Any thoughts on this? It is supposed to be very common in rabbits & the bacteria is supposed to lay dormant in upto 52% of pet rabbits, but only showing symptoms in 6% of them. Surely if it affects that amount of pet rabbits there must have been more research into this problem?................... Good news is, Pete shudnt get any worse now hes on this medicine & his head tilt may even get better in time...

[ruthann58]

glad your bunny is going to be ok , we did worm our rabbits with panacur but cant remember how often , you can probably buy the panacur online cheaper then from the vets, good luck