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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Head tremor

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    • OliverBun
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        Oliver and I have just returned from the vet, and she was unable to tell me what’s going on with my bun. According to the vet, Oliver’s physical examination shows nothing wrong with him and his blood work is great. However, he has a head tremor that happens about once a week while he’s resting in addition to what appears to be occasional “muscle cramps” in his back legs. 

        With his back legs, he’ll be sitting, then he’ll try to move and won’t appear to be able to move one of his back legs (it’s happened with both legs, but always one at a time). Then he limps for a second, kicks his back legs out and hops away like nothing happened. It’s very odd.

        Here is a link to a video of his head tremor: https://vimeo.com/113656052 

        Go to about 47 seconds to see the tremors.

        The vet is currently running tests for E. Cuniculi, but that’s just a guess from her since nothing else appears wrong with him. I’ll find out those results in about a week.

        However, I was hoping that someone here might have had experience with this and may know what it is. Any input would be greatly appreciated.


      • BinkyBunny
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          How old is Oliver? While Ecuniculi can cause head tilt and back leg weakness, usually the head tilt is a wavey head bobble (not like these little Hiccup type movements that I am seeing). Doesn’t mean that’s not what is going on, but it’s just not what I am used to. Did you show the vet the video?

          As far as the back leg movements — can be related to E.cuniculi, or back pain due to an pinched nerve, injury, — as well as arthritis can also cause issues that are similar to this.

          I noticed he was tooth grinding, but didn’t appear to be in discomfort which made me think he was just purring. I wonder if he has any teeth issues, where when he purrs it hurts or clips his cheek or something.

          How long has this been going on? Is he eating and pooping normally?


        • OliverBun
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            I’m going to try to pack a bunch of info in on this response. Sorry if it gets to be a bit dense of a read!

            I did show my vet the video and she did not seem to have any idea of what that was. Over the past year Oliver has had two sets of x-rays, been put under for exploration in to snoring and sudden squeaking while asleep (which according to the vet is probably some flap getting relaxed and he actually can’t breathe for a second), two sets of blood work and many many physical exams. Everything looks great with him on paper. The vet does not see anything that indicates an issue with his teeth. He did have some minor spurs ground down while he was under, though.

            He does have arthritis and has been taking metacam once a day for about 6 months now to help with that. However, he is still extremely active and sometimes I think if I hadn’t had him all this time I wouldn’t believe he was as old as he is.
            He is pooping is normally for the most part. Occasionally he will have unformed cecals or will have smaller mis-shapen poops. However, that’s only temporary and normal pooping resumes. He is currently on a diet where I eliminate 1 thing at a time since the vet thinks it may be caused by something he is eating and is sensitive to.
            He is also eating normally (well, a little less today but I think that’s from the stress of the vet yesterday).

            The leg thing I have noticed twice in the past month and a half.
            The head thing has been going on for maybe 3 months. I didn’t take him in earlier because (as you can see in the video), if I touch his head he stops, which made me think whatever it is he’s doing is voluntary.
            Two other things–when he cleans himself more often than not he uses one front paw rather than two. Although he still will use two sometimes, it seems like his back is too weak to hold him up for long that way and so he prefers the one. Also, he has started stretching his back quite a bit. He’ll be laying down and then sort of move his front body forward and arch his back. I thought this was due to arthritis but again,the vet isn’t sure.

            Finally, he was purring in the video. He is a purr happy bunny. His cage is in my room and every night I fall asleep to him eating his food then purring–it’s absolutely wonderful.


          • OliverBun
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              Is it possible these tremors are just bunny hiccups?

              This question seems to describe what Oliver has been doing:

              http://therabbitadvocate.blogspot.com/2009/04/question-from-audience-hiccups.html

              Of course, that doesn’t explain the leg cramps, but one thing at a time!


            • LBJ10
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                I can’t see the video.


              • OliverBun
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                  Video

                  @LBJ10 does that work?


                • LBJ10
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                    Nope, I can see a still shot of your bunny. I hit play and the screen just goes black. Weird.


                  • OliverBun
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                      Odd. I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to do…


                    • BinkyBunny
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                        Do you notice that his head pops or the possible hiccups correspond with — “Occasionally he will have unformed cecals or will have smaller mis-shapen poops.”?

                        It doesn’t seem to be hurting him or causing distress, so that’s a good thing while this remains a mystery. Maybe it is just hiccups as he may have a sensitive stomach and that link does seem to mention a correlation with that.  On the the other hand, I understand that when you touch him, it stops so it seems voluntary, but maybe it somehow calms them right away. Something to keep checking out for sure — interesting!

                        You mentioned that Oliver also cleans himself with one paw at a time — that’s exactly what both of my senior bunnies did as they aged and their arthritis worsened. It did help to up the dose a bit of the metacam (with the vets instruction!). But upping the dose can also cause some liver damage over long-term use, so trying to find the right balance or switching to another med may be an option to discuss with your vet. I did try another med (tramadol), but it just made her balance worse, so I chose to up the dose to make her more comfortable during her senior years, even though it could cause issues to the liver. I chose comfort over longevity. When she did pass though — her liver was fine, so upping the dose in our case did not cause problems for her (it had been over a year).

                        Vivian also had to sort of jump start her back legs, due to arthritis, but one leg in particular was having a rougher time, so I took her to the vet and they found she had a torn tendon. At her age, there was not much we could do about it, but I did get a herbal med (can’t remember the name now) from the vet. It was meant to help with tendon issues — I am sometimes skeptical of this kind of thing, but it actually worked! I was happy.

                        At then end of her life, she developed Floppy Bunny Syndrome that can cause severe weakness and then paralysis. (and there is treatment for it), but due to her already hind end leg weakness, I didn’t notice it until she became paralyzed, and due to her age and possible other health issues, the meds did not work. This isn’t something that I think your bunny has though as Floppy Bunny Syndrome is very fast acting. (within 24 -48 hours). You mentioned that this has been like this for months, so I think you only have to worry about that if he declines further very quickly. Just wanted to mention it because it can be one illness that can go undetected right away if you have a bunny who is already having some movement difficulty.

                        IF your bunny comes back as e.cuniculi positive – it doesn’t mean that your bunny is being actively attacked by e.cuniculi, just means your bunny has been exposed. I have had a bunny that never showed symptoms, even though she was positive. I had another bunny who only showed symptoms later in life when the immune system was weakened. It is estimated that 1 in 4 bunnies will show positive – doesn’t mean they will become symptomatic. If the test does come back positive, most vets will treat for it just in case, especially if there are symptoms like hind leg weakness etc as it is smart to try and tackle an active case of e.cuniculi before it does further damage. But IF your bunny does show up positive, it would be a good idea to have another blood test later to compare the titer levels (if the levels raise, that is more of indicator that the disease is active as well – or if lowered, that the meds are helping). Anyway, just something else to discuss with your vet if the tests come back positive.

                        I forgot to mention, the snoring/squeak during sleep.  This was not uncommon to hear when I volunteered at a rabbit rescue.  A few bunnies (seem like dwarfs or lops) could be big snoring/squeakers.  Not sure if that is because their face is a bit more compacted and so it’s sort of like how some pugs can have some breathing issues.   The fact your bunny needs to get his spurs trimmed may also indicate some jaw/face misalignment or malocclusion.   Just throwing a guess out there, but I wonder if that could contribute to hiccups – (his breath intake at times)

                        Sorry for any typos etc. It’s late, and I’m sleepy.


                      • BinkyBunny
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                          One last thought — any urine issues?  Sludge?  


                        • BinkyBunny
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                            okay, sorry — I keep adding on, – but I just went and checked your history and you said that your bunny was leaving little spots of urine. His being red and dark red, and while that usually is due to food and even medicine, if you want to check for blood, pour a little hydrogen peroxide on the spot. If it bubbles up quite a bit, it could mean there is blood. My bunny Jack had a bladder stone and that caused some weird behaviors. One of which we called the “Chocolate Bunny” because he would sit straight up like a chocolate bunny and just sit there and stare. I think it was his way to get “comfortable” even though it looked uncomfortable. He never seemed in pain though. But his urine looked red, but many times it would have yellow, but with streaks of red. (before it call all mixed up). That’s when I got concerned.

                            Anyway, I just brought that up due to his new “stretching” type behavior too — I find that sometimes I can find an overall issue by noticing many little things that may seem unrelated.

                            Though it all might be related to arthritis — as that can cause discomfort, which can cause eating issues, urinating issues etc etc etc.


                          • OliverBun
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                              No his “hiccups” are not happening in relation to the poop issues. His urine doesn’t seem to have any blood in it…it comes out completely pale yellow and then turns red.

                              Since yesterday morning he has been extremely lethargic. I’m very worried about him. He’s eating, but slowly and pooping, but less. All he seems to want to do is nap.

                              This is driving me insane! What should I do? I called the vet again and they said it’s not stress from the trip to see the vet and probably a progression of his (what they are referring to as) neurological symptoms. They said if he gets any worse I should take him to the emergency vet.

                              This is awful.


                            • OliverBun
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                                Binky Bunny, I just want to say thank you for all the information. Too often I feel at a loss with my rabbit. There is one vet in my area who treats bunnies and she only works 3 days per week. I feel like this site (and especially you in this thread) is the only place I can get some real information.

                                 Hopefully he does not develop Floppy Bunny Syndrome, as that sounds awful and I don’t see anything to indicate that Chocolate Bunny thing you described.

                                Currently Oliver hasn’t really moved much for the past two days but is still eating, drinking and pooping (small and misshapen poops). He did have those hiccup symptoms again earlier today–so I retract my earlier statement about those symptoms not happening at the same time.

                                 What I’m hoping is that they are indeed hiccups associated with something that is giving him gas and that he will recover from whatever is going on soon. 

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                            Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Head tremor