Bunny headrest ideas ??

[Boston's Mama]

New bunny ( has e . Cuniculi causing intermittent head dropping on a diagonal downward angle – expecially when at rest , and eye issues )
So last night I found him sleeping head fully rested on his water bowl. He proceeded to do head resting around his cage and toys so I added a bigger teddy so he can rest on it’s legs and a rolled up blanket -any other ideas ? Must be about water bowl height

[sarahthegemini]

Do you have any long socks that could be balled up? Or maybe some slippers you could sacrifice? Lol. Orrr how about a rolled up scarf?

[Boston's Mama]

Great ideas Sarah ! Thanks

Can someone add this photo for me please? [photo addded by FL ]

[sarahthegemini]

No worries Hope they work! I’m tempted to give my bunnies some balled up socks now just to see how they’d react lol!

[Boston's Mama]

He struggles to hold his head up when tired as his illness makes his head fall down – looks like a puppy falling asleep sitting up

[Limit]

When Smudge had Ec we gave him a large fabric carrier and rolled up blankets on all the sides so that he could lean as much as he wanted. Most of his area we blanketed though as mine rolled a lot with his ec. Think Sarah covered your answer!

[Boston's Mama]

I have made his pen smaller ( 1metre x 60cm and I already had blankets on the ground ( him and Oakley both have that in their areas anyway all the time )
I just have a very large hide away whichever is plastic and bright coloured ( red for new guy ) with large opening so he has no issue getting in
A large bright green plastic tunnel , litter tray ( which he is perfect at using already for wee ) and his hay is in a garden pot laying on its side for easy access
A rolled blanket , large teddy and water bowl ( all he rests on but more the bowl than the others )

The carrier is a good idea with the rolled blankets on the sides!! Thanks !

[vanessa]

I think you are doing everything that I would. My lop has the same thing. EC, and he rests with hsi head on objects. I roll up a towel for him on occasion, but his favorite are his two stufies, since he is already “bonded” with them. He sleeps with is head rested on them, and grooms them. He also sleeps with his head draped over his pal, Guinivere. While he was imobile and supported in a donut, I draped towels over the edge of his litter box. He used to sleep with his head in his food bowl. Now he prefers to use his stuffies. It is terribly cute. The other night his head was sliding off the stuffy, so I held his head and positioned it where it wouldn’t slide of. He just sat there and let me rearrange him. It is cute and sad at the same time. I have pics posted in the March pics forum. The stuffoe he is on there is quite low. That one works best for him when he flatens out his whole body. If he wants to “meatloaf”, he has a taller stuffy that works better. I also pack his stuffy in his carrier when he goes to the vet. Always have to keep him comfy 🙂

[Boston's Mama]

Vanessa I’m still learning about EC so I have some qs if you don’t mind?
It sounds like yours has had it a long time? Does it reflare ? Or is it the aftermath of it ( left side effects) that your one has ?
My boy is on a 6 week course of treatment and the vet said he may improve completely or he may have the current issues he has – forever – but that the ec will no longer be active ( my understanding is that a lot of rabbits have ec losing dormant but some it can become active like my guy – and after treatment it is dormant again ? Is that right ?)

[Q8bunny]

What about a child sized neck rest – the kind people bring on airplanes?

[Limit]

Posted By Oakley’s mama on 3/07/2017 11:32 PM
Vanessa I’m still learning about EC so I have some qs if you don’t mind?
It sounds like yours has had it a long time? Does it reflare ? Or is it the aftermath of it ( left side effects) that your one has ?
My boy is on a 6 week course of treatment and the vet said he may improve completely or he may have the current issues he has – forever – but that the ec will no longer be active ( my understanding is that a lot of rabbits have ec losing dormant but some it can become active like my guy – and after treatment it is dormant again ? Is that right ?)

Hope you don’t mind if I answer a few . All rabbits have ec, like you said it lays dormant in most. Your bun will always be ec positive, it won’t be dormant like most are (Not sure on this but that’s my belief from personal experience!). I found that my bun flared up with stress, vet visits were a nightmare and he had to be in a bunny burrito so he wouldn’t roll. Regarding improvements, it gets better most of the time, some have a constant tilt afterward and some can correct themselves.

I do hope your bun glides through this with ease. Ec buns are my soft spot

[vanessa]

My soft spot too. My first EC bun was euthanized. They don’t all get better. And perhaps he would have gotten better if I had held out, but he was in such poor condition, I felt it the best thing to put him to sleep. I have done much more reading and learned a lot more since then. Not necessarily all bunnies – but about 80% have the parasite. It does not cause problems inmost of those 80%. (Some reports say 50%, but the concurrence is – most bunnies). When it does cause a problem, just like your vet said – it might get better, might not. There is no known cure. The symptoms might go away completely, or not. We can’t predict the degree of recovery. We know that fenbendazole/albendazole for 28 days are the only scientifically tested drugs for EC, (I may be missing some of the bendazoles in this statement), which is why it is most commonly prescribed. We know that fenbendazole works better with the potential for red cell toxicity in long term use. No short term use has proven to be toxic. Albendazole is less effective, without the same long term side effects. It does flare up. Lancelot has had 2 flares since first getting sick in June/July last year. He does have residual problems. He is still weak, he does the diagonal head drop that you are talking about, Can’t hold himself up in a firm position like my other buns can, is blind from the eye involvement, (he was deaf when I adopted him), has weak hind limbs so his mobility is limited, and he is incontinent. That’s the hardest to deal with. I have to express his bladder to keep the UTIs at bay. Not as easy as it sounds. Pees and poops everywhere. So he has multiple leakproof barriers on the floor of his bunny room. I change the top layer twice a day, and the middle layer every weekend. He doesn’t react when he pees – he sits in it and gets scald on his feet. His weakness has improved to where he can assume the correct posture, and not pee on his legs, most of the time. He still gets butt/feet baths every weekend, and I clean his scent glands at the same time. I have to watch him carefully – if he starts getting dizzy, he goes back on meds. At the moment his appetite is fantastic, and since I started concentrating on his whole well-being instead of focusing on the EC, he is more energetic. Still weak, but he shows great enthusiasm when I come into the room. This might be bad to say, but he is my Stevie-Wonder little bunny… swaying and bee-bopping to find me by scent when I’m in the room. Because he is incontinent, his head rests have to be something that won’t get peed on. A rolled up towel will get tossed around and peed on. I like the stuffed sock idea. Because it is difficult to keep his weight up, he has a piece of fleece veterinary bedding to rest on. He loves it. I change it out every other day. Don’t believe your vet that the treatment will kill the EC. That has never been proven. The parasite will go “dormant” for a while, but there will always be the chance of a flare-up. Can be caused by stress, and other triggers that we aren’t aware of. I have read various articles on prevention of flare-ups, or reduction of flare-ups. The standard advice is 9 days of fenbendazole every 6 months. There is an article by Barbies Bunnies about using ivermectin. I give him 2 doses separated by 10 days with each fenbendazole course. Dana Kremples doesn’t see the benefit of ivermectin. She recommends Fenbendazole for 3-5 days, every month. That’s for bunnies who have had active EC. For Guin, his bonded pal, I give her fenbendazole twice a year for 9 days each. In the other half of the bedroom are Avalon and Morgana. I don’t treat them. I’ve been reading up about the use of ponazuril, and it also has conflicting reports. I wish we had more scientific trials with these other drugs so we would have more information to base our decisions. Instead – there are articles by various breeders/vets/individuals who have tried them on their own.
His current “wholeness” care includes myristol for his joints, 2 of each oxbow natural science supplement daily (I buy the ingredients separately and make bunny cookies that have all the oxbow ingredients in 1 cookie, and another cookie with myristol that he won’t eat on it’s own. He gets Sherwood digestive support tabs for the vitamin B supplement, and I use critical care/Sherwood SAR in his hay cookies for his belly. I add benebac to his water once a month, or whenever he gets mushy cecotropes. No fruit treats, only to hide medicine. Although I can get a syringe of meds into his mouth pretty quickly, I prefer to give it to him over banana or strawberry, to limit the stress. He hasn’t eaten long strand hay since June last year, another reason I bake hay cookies with ground up compressed hay cubes and critical care powder. He gets his teeth filed a couple times a year since he stopped eating hay. I’ve started adding ACV to his drinking water, but it takes a bit of apple juice to convince him to drink it. The thing with EC is that you can only truly rely on the rabbit’s immune system to fight it. So that’s why I’m focusing on whole well-being. If he can go 4 months without a flare-up, then he has beaten his history.

Because of the damage the parasite can do, and the damage from the granulomas which are the body’s own response to inflammation, the sooner you catch a flare, the better the recovery. I am a strong believer in early and aggressive treatment. I’v read so many sad stories of treatment too little too late. But I’m also seeing the value in whole-being wellness.

[Limit]

My first Ec bun was euthanized

Smudge was what I call my ‘soul bunny’ and unfortunately after trying to battle ec for a month he started to give in and he too was let go My condolences for your loss, it’s so hard when sometimes there’s nothing you can do.

[vanessa]

Thanks Limit. I’m sorry for Smudge too.

[Boston's Mama]

Oh wow thank you so much for all the info !!! I’m so sorry for your losses both of you

Vet didn’t say it would be a cure – she explained to me that it would go dormant again ect
I just didn’t word it well above

I didn’t realise it would / could reactivated again though -do you know the chances of it reactivating ?

[Limit]

I think the chances depend on your bunny and environment. Not much info on why ec can flare up… maybe it’s the luck of the draw. Sounds like your bun is coping okay though, is this your gorgeous new bun? (Can’t remember if you mentioned it on that post)

[Boston's Mama]

Yep – Boston

We also have Oakley who is a 4.5month old cream holland lop but they are housed on opposite sides of the room

[vanessa]

I agree with Limit. We don’t knoe why it flares up. Stress is always listed as a trigger, but I can’t pinpoint anything stressful that would have caused Lancelot’s flareup. Which is why I try to improve his overall wellness, so hopefully his immune system can handle it better the next time. Perhaps the stress of bonding caused his first flareup. Not really sure. But on the otherhand, being very sick and surendered to a shelter and then adopted – must have been stressful too, but after a few weeks with me, he was happy, made buzzing sounds while he circled my feet, always ran up to me when I came into his room, and was otherwise very laid back. So I don’t know why he got sick from EC. And I don’t know why he had flareups. There is no way to predict. That’s why you need to know all the possible signs. Every rabbit doesn’t show the same signs, in the same order, or even the same signs for the next flareup. You’re familiar with the diagonal. Here’s a list of symptoms from BarbiBrownsBunnies, a breeder, but has had some experience with EC. “The common symptoms include, but are not limited to, the following:

Tilted head
Walking in circles
Nystygmus (darting eye)
Rolling (in later stages)
Paralysis of the hind quarter
Early symptoms frequently overlooked are:
Lack of movement around the cage – huddling in corner
Loss of appetite
Darting eye (nystygmus)
Weepy eye
Lying close to the floor with head down
Weight loss
Dehydration
Weaving from side to side
Staggering gait
Stargazing ( starring up at nothing)”
https://barbibrownsbunnies.com/wryneck/

Here are a few other articles I found educaitonal.

http://feelingkeep.com/article/encephalitozoon-cuniculi-in-rabbits
I can’t say much about the credibility of this website, and the English translation is not good, but I think the explanation is very good.

http://www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html
This one is obviousely credible, and also has some good explanations.

[Boston's Mama]

Awesome thank you so much

[Boston's Mama]

I just had a read – I’m curious though – everything I read and watch ( on YouTube ) seem to refer to the head tilt as a distorted kind of look … Boston’s looks completely normal most of the time – BUT when he stays still his head starts moving slowly to the side and one a diagonal angel – the only thing I can think to describe it as is a puppy or child falling asleep sitting up but it’s repeatiive – like it happens until he almost falls then he straightens it then repeats
He has to rest his head on anything near him and head height when sleeping too

Does that sound like it??

I know he has nystagmus and I’ve watched videos and agree with the vet that is there
He has very tiny poo but vet isn’t too concerned as he is still doing a lot of them and he is eating and drinking
And he did have very red irritated eyes around the outter which now on day 3 of panacur that has completely gone

I guess I’ve just spend a few hours reading and watching videos and I can’t find anything that matches his head movements in them …

[Boston's Mama]

He also has a ruby cast ( I think that’s what you call it ? When in certain lights his brown eyes appear to be red so he must carry rew gene ) in my search I also came across “scanning” by rew or rew gene carries – I asked the vet but she kinda laughed it off …
I guess because the needing to rest his head , pinky red irritated eye lids and the head movement on top points her one way – I haven’t seen any other rabbit do this before though – but I’ve also only ever owned rabbits with pure brown eyes that don’t carry REW so I don’t really no if it would resemble what they call “scanning ” either …

[vanessa]

I completely agree with those head movements. Actual head tilt is very exaggerated. Lancelot never had actual head tilt. He had and still sometimes does have, what you are describing. To the tee. Sitting up, head slowly nods off down and diagonally, not just strait down. Sometimes his whole front quarter including shoulders slide down diagonally. That’s when I prop him up with stuffies and start the meds. It is cute – but definitely a sign. While I’v read of it in a list of symptoms, I haven’t read of a biological explanation. Maybe it is just general weakness and lack of nerve coordination, since the motor effects of EC are due to nerve damage to the CNS.

When I see the darting eyes, I know I’ve waited too long. Ideally you want to start meds before it gets to that point. Each relapse means more CNS damage. Another thing I’m trying, is GLA. I read a study of (Gamma Linolenic Acid found in Borage Oil) GLA used to reverse damage done to the cornea of rabbits. I put it in his medicated hay cookies. I’ll give it 3 more months and then decide how much of a difference I see. I’m hoping that some of the CNS damage can heal, and he could one day realize that he needs to pee, instead of it just coming out once the bladder is over-full. I didn’t know this about GLA when I had started planting borage for them to eat. They like the leaves, and it is on the safe list for bunnies. The oil is found in borage and primrose – primrose is bad for bunnies. But I don’t now if it will work.

Mental fog and lack of movement around the cage/living space is an interesting sign. It’s not something I would have associated with EC, but looking back, I can see periods of mental fog/lack of movement before noticing that it’s time to start meds. He would sit with his back to the world, and not show interest in anything. He ignored his pal, ignored me, ate his food when he happened to get around to it, just didn’t look alert or happy.

It’s one of those situations where you have to be very observant and notice everything – but at the same time, I don’t want to be blowing anything out of proportion and overmedicating.

[Boston's Mama]

Yeah I wish the vet had mentioned reflaring.
She made it sound like the meds will make it go dormant again and then he wouldn’t be more at risk of flaring again than any other bunny ( that was what I got from it )

I’m nervous as I am immunocompromised
I’m not cleaning his tray or bowls ( other half is ) but I didn’t know that could be like that forever …

Do you know how the spores spreading works ? Like if My other bunny breath it in could he get it ? He’s currently caged on opposite side of room to Boston – I was hoping to be able to put their pens near each other after the meds finish but is it better to have them opposite sides of room ?

I also worry about the spread of it for me

[vanessa]

Basically, the parasite injects itself into a cell, multiplies, the cell ruptures, and the spores are set free. Spores are shed via urine. I’ve read credible peer-reviewed literature that states it is spread via ingestion. So bonded pals have the greatest risk. The litter box is a source of infection. I have read that spores can be inhaled, but I haven’t seen this in a peer reviewed article, so I don’t know how true it is. In order for it to be spread via inhalation, the urine would have to dry, so the spores can become airborne. So frequent cleaning of the litter box could reduce this risk, if it is indeed true. I’ve also read that spores can be shed via feces and respiratory secretions. Wash your hands after you handle your bunny, since he visits his litter-box. I would bleach the litter box, bleach anything that is non-porous, and steam-clean the carpets. Bleach, 70% alcohol, or 1% hydrogen peroxide, are all effective against EC as a sterilizing agent. If you have carpets, you could steam clean them. Since spores are shed intermittently and possibly throughout the life of the rabbit, you would want to keep the area consistently clean. In fact – all surfaces that you walk on, could be contaminated. I read that only severely immune compromised people, such as HIV/AIDS patients, are at risk of EC. Although I have read that it could be deadly in these cases, I have also read that there has been NO known case of EC being transmitted to a human from a rabbit. There are various types of Encephalitozoon parasites, and any studies of such a disease in humans, are not related to EC in rabbits. It is still prudent to be cautious. These links are from a Canadian university.

http://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2010/04/articles/animals/other-animals/eliminating-e-cuniculi-in-the-household/

http://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2008/12/articles/diseases/other-diseases/neurological-bunnies-encephalitozoon-cuniculi/

Oakly “could” breath it in. He could also already have it – you don’t know unless you have him tested. Bunnies can get EC from their mothers via the placenta, so some are even born with it.

[Limit]

Just wanted to ask how the little lads doing? Hope all is well and Vanessa I sat down with a tea and read through your posts thoroughly, so interesting to learn more about this

[Boston's Mama]

Thanks for all the info
That is good to know there isnt proof of a rabbit to human transmission as I’m immunocompromised ( autoimmune disease doc on chemo pills)
I’m very nervous about this but that eased my mind a bit !
He’s doing great he is still resting his head on objects to sleep , irritation on eye lids is no longer there , seeing less of the “scanning ” / ” swaying ” when still

Vet said on phone just now he isn’t sure yet it is EC. It’s a wait and see kind of thing.
I really hope it’s not! I’m not sure why the antibiotics would clear his red irritation on eye lids if it’s not though (?)
Nor what else it could be!

Could it be scanning cos of his ruby cast? He was in a glass tank with mesh top and sawdust on the floor at petshop ! So he was looking through glass there . It was more obvious at petshop than at home for sure – but meds started first day home too doc I don’t know … Could he have been exhausted from moving to petshop and poked and prodded so he was stressed out?

And if it’s not EC I don’t know what else vet has on his mind it could be …

I just hope it’s not EC as I’m scared of the risk for him and also for me with my immunity
I’m having extra careful hygienic techs of course
But still

[vanessa]

What sort of testing is the vet doing? My vet never did any kind of testing – since it is almost impossible to prove that EC is the cause of the symptoms. The serum test will prove whether the rabbit has been exposed to EC, but since so many rabbits have been exposed (50-80%), that still doesn’t prove anything. My vet doesn’t want to “pigeon hole” this as EC. A second vet I took Lancelot to didn’t say one way or another, but treated it as if it was EC. That’s the general concensus. Treat it as if it were EC, since it is about impossible to prove. A sure-fire way to prove EC, would be a brain tissue biopsy on a deceased rabbit. This will show lesions in the brain, which proves an active EC infection. But on a live bunny – a positive EC test doesn’t mean much. Some vets use high and low titers to check treatment eficiency. If the EC count is high and fenbendazole brings it down at the next test, then i is consiered strong proof. But even having high titer counts – still isn’t proof that EC caused the symptoms. I read a few other peer reviewed articles that talked about a study of 118 bunnies with wry neck and opther EC symptoms. Amny things could cause EC symptoms – not just EC. For example, if wry neck were the main symptom, it could be possible that a bacterial infection caused the wry neck and inner ear disturbance, with or without EC. The 118 bunnies had a variety of other health problems that coudl have caused their symptoms, and only a handfull tested positive for high EC titer counts. So what I’m saying is – don’t get hung up on whether it is EC or not. I would treat it as if it were EC regardless. 28 days of fenbendazole won’t hurt yoru bunny. How many days is he into the treatment? Fenbendazole is typically accompanied by antibiotics and antiinflamatories, so even if it isn’t EC, if it is just a bacterial infection, the antibiotic will take care of it. But if you leave out the fenbendazole because you are looking for positive proof of EC, you could be putting your bunny at risk, and you won’t find that positive proof. It is widely advised that if the symptoms are suspicious, treat it as EC while being open to the possibility that it could still be something else. But don’t leave out the EC treatment. The fact that so many bunnies have been exposed to EC, means you should still be careful about handwashing, litter box changing, room cleaning, etc. (Organ recipients and cancer patients are also on the list of severely immunocomprimised – didn’t want to make it sound like I thought you had HIV!)

One of those articles talks about brain vs ear involvement, and the direction of the eye movement tells where the infection is. Lancelots is in his brain. Another article I read talks about the vestibular nature of the symptoms. If the neurological symptoms go away and never come back, AND there is a low or no titer test, then I could accept it is not EC. Untill then – I would rather say – it could be EC, it could be something else, I’m going to treat for EC and cover the something else, but if I don’t insist on treating for EC, I put my rabbit at severe risk.

Your original quesiton – I have read that red-eyed rabbits scan. But they should still be able to hold their head up with out nodding. It could still be just a vestibular infection that is not EC related. If he necer has any other EC symptoms after thsi clears up, I could agree that it is not EC.

What other symptoms does he have or has he had?

[Boston's Mama]

I have only had him 3 ( this is 4th ) days so no idea on prior symptoms
I saw him at petshop 5days ago in a glass tank with sawdust at first he just looked like a sleepy baby. Closer look I saw he had red irritated eyes – as did his cage brother and next cage of his litter sisters ( the girls eyes were worse than Boston’s but none others had the head movement ) I walked about 2-3 metres away to look at toys but kept looking over at him to see him doing the head movement I described – there is no nod to be clear , it’s a very slow centre to left side head movement , but instead of straight across it has a slight downward diagonal angle to it. As in from centre start point to time his head goes to the left he probably is about 1.5 cm Lower jaw line than he had when head was centred if that makes sense.
I informed the staff of the eye issue and the head issue
A day later I went back – head thing happening just as much – he barely had access to hay so his pops were tiny , eyes were redder and they still hadn’t sorted a vet! After an hour watching the bunnies the girls had other boys only had the eye redness but Boston eyes looked to be realigning after the head thing – and he had the head thing , and red eyes- so I rung my vet – said I’m concerned he isn’t getting treatment so I was buying him and needed a vet appointment.
Only other symptom is the resting his head on objects / toys / waterbowls
This has reduced greatly today though and he actually is not only sleeping with head on ground but is flopping today twice
So he has had 3 doses. 4th will be tonight.
He’s only on panacur ( vet has not mentioned an other meds would / are needed??)
We have absolutely no tests here for EC ! not even bloods for it I just found out now !

[Boston's Mama]

Vet checked his ears too and they were clear except blood deep in ear ( visible with a torch thing from outside though ) from him scratching at it – he scratched it a lot first day but not after that

[vanessa]

With no other symptoms, a light antibiotic like SMZ is typically prescribed along with the panacur. Baytril and chloramphenicol are reserved for worse (baytril), and severe (chloramphenicol) cases. It’s good that there are no other symptoms. I have heard it called a “nod”, but I really do know exactly the head movement you are talking about. I’m glad you were able to get the bunny and get him to a vet. I used to do that with guineapigs – I’d buy the sickest one from the pet shop so I could care for it. Does he show any weakness or hind leg involvement? I would continue the course and reevaluate after 28 days. Perhaps your vet didn’t prescribe antibiotics or antiinflamatories because of the lack of multiple symptoms. I still think they are all 3 important and all have an effect on EC. The antiinflammatory (metacam) helps with the body’s reaction to the EC cellular damage. When the spores have shed from the ruptured cells, the body creates granulomas in response to the cellular injury. While this helps to heal, the granuloms also aggrevate the damage. So controlling inflamation, helps limit the CNS damage. EC shows slow response to fenbendazole, and you do need the full 28 days to assess the improvement. I’m glad to hear he doesn’t have multiple symptoms. That’s encouraging. If it is EC, you have probably caught it early before too much damage is done, and the recovery will be much better, with way fewer lingering effects.

[Boston's Mama]

No sign of weakness in legs or leg movements ( although he only meerkat today and flopped today – not sure of he couldn’t or if he was just settling and getting over the tiredness and sore eyes etc and stress of two moves ( to petshop then here and to vet )
Day two he was struggling a little to balance enough to clean his face
Remembering he is young too ( 8weeks old yesterday so I got him at 7.5 weeks and the petstore he is from usually gets them a week to 2 weeks before sale and his “breeder” (pfft ) brought 30 babies at once (some born 13th Jan some 28th of Jan) that were then distributed to different branches of their stores before sale – so likely he left the “breeder” at 5-6weeks old

[Boston's Mama]

I finally got on video the eye movement ! I also have figured out it happens in the left eye
And I think it looks cloudy on bottom half of that same eye
It was also his left ear he was itching first day home and the left ear the vet saw the blood in she says is from scratching it

Not sure what relevance any of this has

[vanessa]

Wow! 5-6 weeks is too young to leave his mother. He should be with her till 8 weeks. Make sure he is on unlimited pellets and hay. Young bunnies are typically super active. the cloudy eye and tiredness are relevant. He could be scratching his ear because of an inner/middle ear imbalance that doesn’t feel right to him. It could also be mites or wax, but if your vet didn’t see anything obvious, then it might be inner ear, which is relevant. The cloudy eye could be caused by a number of things – including cataracts from EC. Which is another reason why EC bunnies scan – they can’t see through the cataracts so they are moving their head around to collect more visual information and see around the cataracts. I’m not sure what the redness would be about, unless there is an infection somewhere around the eye. All together – I would ask the vet for SMZ or baytril, and Metacam. SMZ is easiest on the belly, but baytril has a better effect on EC. However, I’d have to read up some more about antibiotic appropriateness and safety for a 8-week old bunny. The tiredness is typical of EC. They tend to rest when not eating. It’s part of the mental fog. They are either alert and eating/drinking, or they are resting and not moving around a whole lot. For such a young bunny, he probably got infected from his mother before he was born. It’s good that there is no hind leg or urinary involvement. That makes his care a whole lot easier.

[vanessa]

By the way, Lancelot’s blindness is caused by his cloudy eyes. Cataracts. That’s why I say he sways like Stevie Wonder while frantically moving around the room trying to find me.

[Boston's Mama]

Oh I totally agree he should be with Mum ! And I would not have purchased from petstore had it not been he was sick and after telling them he needed a vet then returning next day to see he hadn’t – he was begging me to save him too

I haven’t got him on unlimited pellets yet as he was having issues with his poo being way way too small – like 1/5 of a normal poo for baby bunny – from lack of hay at petstore. And they had him on rubbish coloured pellets for a week or 2 since leaving Mum – and who knows what “breeder” had hm on…I have done unlimited hay which he loves and slowly introduced oxbow pellets over the last 5days – he is up to a milk bottle cap and a half filled twice daily so far so almost a 1/8 of a cup so I think I’ll be safe to make that unlimited now that he is tolerating that??

Also his poo is normal size now after unlimited hay for 5 days

[vanessa]

Good thing he found you 🙂

[Boston's Mama]

Thanks but it’s more that it’s sad he started with multiple people who didn’t do what they should – I’m just trying to give him what he should have had.
I went through a breeder – a great one – to get Oakley to avoided the risk of things as much as you with my immunity – vaccinated parents , not off Mum till 9 weeks – no ec or cocci in the rabbitry etc etc
And I’m glad I did
But it took over 6months to filter out bad breeders first – I’m def not saying breeder=better as it comes down to lots of factors. And if I hadn’t been ill I would have rescued without a doubt!

But petstores here are always problems – usually they just get bunnies from breeders who’s reputations are too bad to sell them themselves so they sell to petstores instead.
And I wouldn’t have “supported” that by buying from there except he needed help – I tried to get them to help him first but they still didn’t. He stole my heart that day though , he def chose me that day too

[vanessa]

You are doing a good job with the pellets and hay. I’d keep adding more pellets slowly just like you are doing. It probably is safe to go unlimited, but considering his dietary history and sensitive belly, I might stick with the slow approach. I’d probalby add a tablespoon more a day.

[Boston's Mama]

I have been thinking about the irritated eyes he had ( and some siblings there ) I wonder if it was the pine shavings in a glass tank at petstore ?
It wouldn’t ventilate very well in there I’m assuming and that could be a cause of irritant to a bunny I would think ?

[vanessa]

I’d agree with that. The irritated eye doesn;t sound related to the ear or possible parasite. But pine shavings would do it.

[Author]

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