# Need advice. Old rabbit has started spinning and has scanning eyes.



## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

My 9 year old bun Bonnie may have an inner ear or possibly brain issue and I'm hoping for some advice to help her. Late Thursday night I noticed her eyes were scanning horizontally and her head was following along a little bit. Her eyes have been scanning to the right. She has no head tilt at all.

First thing in the morning I called around to a bunch of vets to get the soonest appointment with a reputable rabbit vet and was able to take her in late the next morning. Since her condition wasn't too advanced yet, the vet wasn't sure what the cause could actually be. Her ears had some flakiness inside but other than that, she is a very healthy girl. I was given revolution to treat for possible ear mites, and two antibiotics in case it could be the start of an infection.

She seems to get overstimulated when picked up and moved and will have the nystagmus, but when she's calm, she doesn't have any signs of an issue and her eyes are normal. Saturday night after getting picked up and held to be given her meds and then put back in her crate, she started physically turning in a circle a few times. When I put my hand over her eyes and pet her, she calmed down and was ok. Now whenever she gets her meds and is moved all around, she gets dizzy and will spin a few times when set back on the floor, but calms down with pets. She tends to get excited in the early morning and likes to dig in her cage, and I woke up a couple times in the morning hearing her make noise and I saw her turning in circles in her crate (presumably because she gets more active in the morning) but she stopped spinning on her own each time and was ok. She hasnt' gotten any worse and it's now Tuesday and she gets her last dose of one of her Abs tonight, but still has a while for the other one.

She is still eating and drinking, but less than normal, and her poops are smaller. She's gotten a little bit of poopy butt from the ABs, so she's getting benebac to hopefully settle her stomach. The vet that saw her is out today, so I emailed her with all this information in an update. Hopefully she responds soon, but she was saying if it got much worse, she may need to see a specialist and get a special head scan at a veterinary college nearby and a few other things which could end up being a few THOUSAND dollars... I dont' know what to do... we could afford it if we cut back a lot and end up paying it off ok in a couple months, but it's a lot of money. There has to be something else we can do. And I guess this type of stuff comes in 3s, because I spent about $150 on Bonnie already, and over $200 for my senior 3 year old ratty with chronic uri to try a new vet, new meds, and bought her a nebulizer which has helped. And our dog now has an issue with her tail tip and looks like it could be at the start of becoming necrotic since it's not healing on its own like a normal scab, and I'm afraid she might need it amputated. We're waiting a little longer to see if it gets worse or gets better before we take her in. It might end up just being a scab that will be ok, but whatever it is, it's been very slow to progress, but if it gets any worse, I'll take her in. But that whole thing could end up being close to a thousand dollars too.

Man, just so much money at once and so much worry over their health and if they'll be ok or not!


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I used to have rabbits before I had rats. Did the vet check for ear mites? The flakiness you're talking about reminded me of my rabbits who got ear mites. For the mites he got some ear drops, don't remember the name. If it is an ear infection, isn't there any ear drops that could help? Any ear drop antibiotics? The reduced size of the poop and not eating as much could cause stasis which I'm sure you know is serious. What brand of hay are you using? I'll try to find the name if the one I used, it was wonderful and my rabbits loved it. Is she still eating her greens? Asking to make sure she is well hydrated.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Here is the hay my bunnies loved. It smells so good, soft, and organic. I used to get the 9lb box. My rabbits would never like the pet store bought hay but this one they would devour it, lol. https://www.sweetmeadowfarm.com/animal-food-and-hay/timothy-organic.html


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Yeah, she checked for mites and thought that's what the flakiness might have been from so I was given the revolution. I asked about any type of ear drops and she said it wasn't necessary and wanted to try the oral ABs so idk.. She gets either orchard grass hay or timothy grass hay from a feed store. I don't think there's any brand to it, they portion up bales and weigh them into large bags which I buy for them.

I'm not too worried about stasis since she's still eating pretty well and seems to feel ok. She used to be like a labrador and inhale her food, but now she grazes and won't finish her bowl of oxbow pellets in one night and instead may have it it all day, but she's still eating. I'm giving her bene-bac and biotin an over the counter nausea drug the vet recommened that might help, in some mashed up banana and critical care, so hopefully that helps. Whenever I check on her, she's either laying stretched out and relaxing or nibbling hay so she is definitely still eating pretty well, just not great. I'll try offering her more greens once her poopy-butt clears up hopefully soonish. 

Also I hope this wasn't just a one time thing, but after getting her meds tonight her eyes barely were scanning and she had no spins at all! yay! I hope she's improving now! A friend's younger sister had a dwarf mix who was only middle aged, but ended up with severe head tilt, and uncontrollable spinning all day and night. Couldn't groom herself, potty on her own, or eat on her own. It was terrible.. They refused to have her pts though because the sister was too emotional about it but none of the treatments helped and the poor bun was miserable like that for months before she finally passed away.. Poor poor thing, what suffering. She was very unhappy and in a lot of pain and grinding her teeth a lot loudly and had to be force fed. I just kept picturing that when Bonnie started to get the spins and I would definitely have her pts a lot sooner if it looked like she wasn't going to improve, so I hope she keeps getting better.

The vet never replied to my email from this morning, but I suspect it was never forwarded to her.. Bonnie got her last dose of one of her meds tonight and has none tomorrow, and I'm not sure if this was intended as only a 5 day treatment? Seems too short for any type of AB. I'll call again in the morning and hopefully will get an answer.


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