Doe tilting her head slightly

[CochinBrahmaLover]

So today I was feeding the kit (holding the mum to feed her kit) and when I put her back in her cage, I noticed her head had a slight tilt. Not super obvious, but a slight tilt to the right (looking head on).

Should I be concerned? She's living indoors and seems otherwise healthy. Good milk production, good appetite, normal attitude. Although she is being a bit less sassy, but I figured it was the hormones making her less sass (she started be super grunty/squeaky/don't touch me in the last week of her pregnancy).

No signs of ear mites. She lives near my other rabbits, both of whom look perfectly healthy, but I don't want them to get infected if she is in fact sick.

 

[Nyctra]

IDK how you lift or flip...but me, I usually pin the ears against the back when holding the scruff. (It always seems to make them stay calmer?) Sometimes the ear gets tugged a little when I'd do that, and they'd shake their head and maybe have a tiny tilt for a few minutes after. Sometimes I wouldn't even realize it had happened until they fussed. Just a thought.

 

[michaels4gardens]

use a small flashlight, look in the ears, to see if it has got "goop" in the ear canal, the front canal is a dead end,[false canal] so pay special attention to the rear canal as it leads to the eardrum. if it is impacted it could cause a head tilt, and/or some shaking of the head. -if it is very dirty, or impacted you will need to clean the ears, - if it is bad ,a little warm water put in the ear with a dropper, or squeeze bottle, and gently massaged at the base of the ear,will help loosen the buildup in the ear, using a good quality q-tip,[so you don't loose the tip in the ear canal] gently insert the tip into the rear ear canal and twist to remove the debris, [if / when you see any pink or red staining on the q-tip you have gone far enough for that day, -- the next day repeat the process, keep doing this every day until the q-tip comes out clean. [if the goop from the ear smells bad, or looks especially nasty, , you may have an ear infection, and antibiotic ear drops will need to be acquired, and used.]

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

IDK how you lift or flip...but me, I usually pin the ears against the back when holding the scruff. (It always seems to make them stay calmer?) Sometimes the ear gets tugged a little when I'd do that, and they'd shake their head and maybe have a tiny tilt for a few minutes after. Sometimes I wouldn't even realize it had happened until they fussed. Just a thought.

This is how I normally do it, but it was taught that lop ears are more fragile, and scruffing alone is painful, so for simplicities sake I just grab her chest & legs and flip her over (was taught a special way to flip lopped ear bunnies, but like I said, for simplicities sake)

use a small flashlight, look in the ears, to see if it has got "goop" in the ear canal, the front canal is a dead end,[false canal] so pay special attention to the rear canal as it leads to the eardrum. if it is impacted it could cause a head tilt, and/or some shaking of the head. -if it is very dirty, or impacted you will need to clean the ears, - if it is bad ,a little warm water put in the ear with a dropper, or squeeze bottle, and gently massaged at the base of the ear,will help loosen the buildup in the ear, using a good quality q-tip,[so you don't loose the tip in the ear canal] gently insert the tip into the rear ear canal and twist to remove the debris, [if / when you see any pink or red staining on the q-tip you have gone far enough for that day, -- the next day repeat the process, keep doing this every day until the q-tip comes out clean. [if the goop from the ear smells bad, or looks especially nasty, , you may have an ear infection, and antibiotic ear drops will need to be acquired, and used.]

Nope, no ear goop.

She does it more pronounced around me. When she's just in her cage it's not really noticeable, but if I pick her up or anything, it becomes more obvious. I'm not grabbing her ears or anything, just grabbing her body and holding her close to me.

 

[michaels4gardens]

keep an eye on her -- if there are any signs of it getting worse, or any clumsiness is noticed, you may have to consider EC as a possible cause.-- a slight head tilt is usually the first symptom,---

 

[akane]

I would watch her for a day or 2. If it gets worse or if it doesn't go away after a couple days and you want to save her without a vet I would start feed store antibiotics and ivermectin. Ivermectin will help a parasite problem that can cause head tilt and antibiotics will get rid of ear infection.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Ah, well, that's not good.

Yes I will keep an eye on her.

Thank you. Hopefully she was just acting weird.

 

[Miss M]

We have a wry neck bunny. I hope she's just acting weird, but... to tell you the truth, if she were mine, I'd go ahead and start treating her.

The reason is that if it is E.c., the earlier you catch it, the better the chances of recovery. I'd go ahead and start her on at least ivermectin, and maybe fenbendazole as well.

I'm assuming you're dealing with this without a vet.

Our bun is a happy bun, always begging to be picked up for a nap in your lap, but he is pretty restricted in what he can do.

 

[michaels4gardens]

My experiment with garlic chives, and garlic tops, and "possible EC" was very successful, green onions will work if chives and garlic tops are not available.

and-- I totally agree with Miss M

 

[Miss M]

Yes, I read M4G's garlic experiment with interest:

garlic-for-coccidiosis-and-maybe-e-c-protozoan-parasites-t20890.html
doe-fed-garlic-chives-for-ec-has-13-kits-t21740.html

Yet another reason I need to start growing garlic and onions.