So we really suck at this bunny thing :P
Yesterday we got home a little early from work so as not to be traveling when the supposed Tornado Storm Of D00m!!1! was to arrive, and were just relaxing in front of the t.v. I was eating some fruit and thought.. hey the bunny has been doing so well lately, just a tiny piece of fresh fruit shouldn't hurt him. So I hunted him down in his hiding place, as he tends to sleep most of the day. However he wasn't interested in the food.. or any other of his favorite treats, and when he got up to walk around, he was wobbly and kept leaning to his right. :P In the bunny world, or in any other pet world this is Not Good.
We called our vet, who was booked until Monday :P So we called the emergency vet in Middleton, packed up the bunny and headed on over. When we got there, he had perked up a bit and was nibbling some hay, but still was rather wobbly. Since he didn't have a head tilt with the wobblyness, the vet was reluctant to make a specific diagnosis and we opted to just give him some fluids and watch him overnight. So we packed up the bunny and brought him home (he was sooo not pleased with us and our car travels). Once home he just kinda hopped around for a bit, but everytime he'd shake his head, he'd about fall over. Also Not Good. He laid down to take a little nap, and after a bit when I checked on him, he seemed worse.. his head was starting to tilt to the right. Not Good.
We had elected to not do a blood screening on him at the emergency vet before, but promptly changed our minds, called them up, packed up the bunny again, and trotted him across town. Once there, the vet said, 'yeah, he is worse. yeah, he does have a head tilt.. you guys were just here a few hours too early for a clearer diagnosis.' When they tried to draw blood however, his veins were just too tiny and they couldn't get a thing. But it didn't matter much as what causes head tilt is most often a bacterial infection of the inner ear, which with careful antibiotics and close attention for a month or so, often can be cleared up. The next most common problem besides lead poisoning, is this protozoan, which is usually lethal and there really is no clear treatment. Since the lead poisoning seems to be unlikely, we opted for antibiotics, and are crossing our fingers and hoping that will do the trick. Now we just have to wait and see what happens.. in 3 weeks time, we'll probably either see improvement or he'll be dead. right. yeah, we really suck at this bunny thing :P
We called our vet, who was booked until Monday :P So we called the emergency vet in Middleton, packed up the bunny and headed on over. When we got there, he had perked up a bit and was nibbling some hay, but still was rather wobbly. Since he didn't have a head tilt with the wobblyness, the vet was reluctant to make a specific diagnosis and we opted to just give him some fluids and watch him overnight. So we packed up the bunny and brought him home (he was sooo not pleased with us and our car travels). Once home he just kinda hopped around for a bit, but everytime he'd shake his head, he'd about fall over. Also Not Good. He laid down to take a little nap, and after a bit when I checked on him, he seemed worse.. his head was starting to tilt to the right. Not Good.
We had elected to not do a blood screening on him at the emergency vet before, but promptly changed our minds, called them up, packed up the bunny again, and trotted him across town. Once there, the vet said, 'yeah, he is worse. yeah, he does have a head tilt.. you guys were just here a few hours too early for a clearer diagnosis.' When they tried to draw blood however, his veins were just too tiny and they couldn't get a thing. But it didn't matter much as what causes head tilt is most often a bacterial infection of the inner ear, which with careful antibiotics and close attention for a month or so, often can be cleared up. The next most common problem besides lead poisoning, is this protozoan, which is usually lethal and there really is no clear treatment. Since the lead poisoning seems to be unlikely, we opted for antibiotics, and are crossing our fingers and hoping that will do the trick. Now we just have to wait and see what happens.. in 3 weeks time, we'll probably either see improvement or he'll be dead. right. yeah, we really suck at this bunny thing :P