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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Question about vet responsibility

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    • Anniebunbuns
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        Hello Everyone, I found this website while searching for answers to what is wrong with our new bunny.

        We have had our Lionhead bunny, Muffin McBunbuns for 6 weeks today. We got her from someone down the road with free-range rabbits – she was 8 weeks old. She seemed in good health. The only thing I thought was odd was how she would walk on her hind legs instead of hop most of the time. When I googled it I read that sometimes baby bunnies do that, so I didn’t worry too much. Then we noticed that she was falling over occasionally when out of her hutch. She’d pop right up and keep going but she kept falling, so I took her to the vet. This was March 14th. They did an exam including a fecal and watched her walk around on the rug – concluding she was “okay” just a baby.

        Fast forward a week and Muffin is falling all the time – flipping over and sometimes shaking. Back to the vet. They thought she broke her back. Almost $500 later, I take her home (spine is okay) with lots of medicine – maybe it is E.cuniculi. That was the 20th and she has not improved – in fact, she seems worse than before, almost spinning in circles when she moves. It is heartbreaking to see her like this. She is eating and drinking (by hand) but not on her own.

        My question is, how long do I wait to see if the meds will work on her? I feel like the vet is responsible for missing the problem in the first place. Maybe if she had gotten the meds when she was not so bad, she would get better? Would it be fair for me to tell the vet that I should not have to pay, should Muffin have to be put down? I don’t know what to do. It’s not about the money, it’s about what is fair.

        Thanks for your time


      • Mikey
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          EC meds can sometimes take up to a month before you start noticing major improvements. What meds is she on?

          Of course, if you dont like your current vet, head to a new one who also specialized in rabbits.


        • Deleted User
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            I’m sorry to hear that your bun isn’t doing well.

            Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do beside seek a second opinion from another vet. You are still responsible for paying the first vet for the services they did provide, even if you think they didn’t do a good job.


          • Deleted User
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              EC meds are a 28 days course. Bombur was just on them and it took about a week till I saw improvement. 2 days really isn’t enough time to judge a medicine, especially ones for conditions like EC. That being said, EC can be tricky to diagnose, so not every vet will treat for it unless there’s a positive. Yes, babies can hop like that, Asriel did and he turned out fine, so it really is something that could have been overlooked because what she was doing is common. Is your vet bunny savvy? because they will know a lot more.


            • Anniebunbuns
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                Thanks for the replies. They are supposed to be an exotic pet vet. But I may get a second opinion at this rate, like one of you suggested. Muffin ins on Enrofoxacin, Metcam and Panacur. They did not do blood tests – said to give her a week on this medicine.

                Right now Muffin eats and drinks hand fed. It’s like she can only turn in one direction, so when she moves, she is always spinning to the right no matter what. Also her eyes are going back and forth (side to side) so I’m not sure how much she can see. It’s so sad for all of us.


              • Bam
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                  You have been given the appropriate meds for both an ear infection and w cuniculi. If it’s an ear infection, she should show improvement within a week. Inappetence is a common side effect of enrifloxacine.

                  EC might not improve in just a week. There are no really good tests for EC, the available tests can give false negatives. A positive test often just means the bun has been exposed to EC, it’s not definite proof there’s an active infection. This is why many vets choose to treat on symptoms of poor balance and nystagmus (the eye going back and forth is called nystagmus).

                  For an ear infection the vet can sometimes see (with an otoscope) the tympanic membrane bulging out, but you can’t do a culture because the infection is contained within the middle ear.

                  Some vets add a antihistamine to make the bun feel less dizzy, her condition resembles sea sickness symptoms-wise. An antihistamine can sometimes help improve appetite.

                  I’m very sorry your little bun is going through this.
                  You do have to pay the vet. There are never any guarantees with medical treatment, not for animals and not for humans. All that can be done is to provide the best possible care and treatment and then hope the patient’s body will respond. I sincerely hope Muffin won’t have to be pts.


                • alexandra
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                    I’m so sorry to hear your bun isn’t feeling well. I just went through this very similar to what you are experiences and it takes patience. Here is my thread when it happened to my bun:

                    https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/165076/Default.aspx

                    I know it is painful to watch your bun like that too, and I had strongly considered putting mine down because I just thought he was suffering. But my hubby told me to give it more time so I did and I am so glad I did because he made a full recovery. Now that being said, from the day I noticed something was wrong and took him to the vet, to his last checkup giving him a clean bill of health was 7 weeks and roughly $500.

                    She does seem to be on the appropriate meds for both an ear infection and EC. There is another medicine called SMZ TMP that my vet gave Blu when we were concerned the Enrofoxacin wasn’t working. I would give the Enrofoxacin some time but if you don’t think she is showing any improvement, ask your vet about SMZ TMP. I think for my bun, the right meds were SMZ TMP and Panacur. He was also on ear drops (Ofloxacin). My vet was also very open to my suggestions from research and other bun parent’s opinions online.

                    Also, critical care was a miracle in all of this. That is what Blu ate for a while, just that and water. They make it in different flavors too if your bun is picky. I also gave him veggies soaked with water so he kept hydrated. You can also make the critical care more runny (by mixing it with more water) so she gets more water.

                    Another idea my vet had was for me to flush Blu’s ears out once a day because they were dirty and she was worried his ear drops weren’t getting in there good. I saw improvement once I started doing that too.

                    I hope your bun gets better soon.


                  • LBJ10
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                      Aww, poor thing. I agree with the others. You were given medications consistent with the suspected conditions. Considering all of the symptoms you are describing, it seems EC is probably the more likely culprit. But treating for both a possible ear infection and EC is still appropriate. Many vets would approach it the exact same way. The problem with EC is it can take a long time to see improvement. You just have to keep at it though because we have seen so many success stories here on BB, just like alexandra’s.


                    • Anniebunbuns
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                        Update on Muffin: She is not any better, but will eat and drink out of our hands. My vet is out of the office until Thursday so they recommended our local State Vet Hospital – no appointments there either. They said I can bring her in as an emergency and the cost for just being seen is $135. I’m not sure what to do. It’s not like this is an emergency-emergency. Muffin eats and drinks, pees and poos and if we take her out of her hutch, will move around – although clumsily. Wondering if I should get a second opinion from another exotic vet or just take her to the ER at NC State. Any suggestions? I’m so upset about all this, I don’t think I’m thinking straight!


                      • Bam
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                          I honestly think Muffin is getting appropriate treatment for the two most likely causes of her problems. I don’t think an emergency vet wouod be much help, it’d just cost a lot of money to do examinations and test, and often emergency vets are not specialized in rabbits. They’re good for emergency care, life-saving acute measures etc. But Muffin isn’t really in need of that right now.


                        • Mikey
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                            EC treatment can take a long time. Many people dont see major improvements until after several weeks. Where she is at now sounds pretty normal with the treatment shes on. I wouldnt bother seeing a vet until you see absolutely no change in over three weeks.

                            Since EC treatment is pretty slow, I suggest you keep a health journal for Muffin. Write down the times and dates when she eats, drinks, and toilets. Write little notes about how much she ate, what she ate, what her poop/urine looked like. If she shows any activity (flopping, running, playing, happiness, etc), write down the time and date for that, too. If you want to, you can also write down when she shows decreases (falling over, rejecting food, straining to toilet). It could help your vet to know when she shows declines, too.

                            To help see improvements without rereading every page, write everything in color and set a color to everything so you can see at first glace. Blue for how often shes drinking, green for eating, purple for playing and exercise, yellow for happiness, black for declines, etc.


                          • Anniebunbuns
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                              Thanks so much for the ideas and advice. I’m going to try to be patient! Will keep you all posted.

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                          Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Question about vet responsibility