help deciding what to do with Amako

akane · Nov 22, 2013

She's nearly finished her antibiotics and the infection is pretty much gone but it's left her with a very bad head tilt and she seems to have gone blind in the eye facing up making it impossible for her to see. She is not adjusting to her head tilt and can't clean herself. Her coat is dirty, she's lost condition, she has to be hand fed water 3 times a day because she can't find the bottle and she still falls over and thrashes around to right herself. We can supplement her diet to up her weight but we just can't keep giving her water by hand for the rest of her life and someday she's going to break her back or if I move her to a cage with wire sides injure a foot kicking out. She's no longer miserable and is alert but I still question her quality of life.

We have 3 options. We can take the research we've done to the vet and see if she'll try a course of very strong antibiotics in an attempt to completely eliminate any infection, this would be despite the vet not seeing a problem with Amako's ears and we are low on cash until I sell some hedgehogs next month, just wait until a month is up because that's when most people seemed to have had their rabbit adjust or not, or put her down now so she doesn't suffer anymore and I will probably have her cremated.

DogCatMom · Nov 22, 2013

Oh, no; that's too bad.

Maybe a tour around this disabled rabbits site has helpful advice for your situation. It's one of the few "disabled rabbits" sites I found that isn't run by HRS but rather by someone who's gone through it herself.

Best wishes to you and to Amako.

MaggieJ · Nov 22, 2013

Very tough, heartbreaking situation. Sleep on it, Akane... I think in a day or two you will find you have made a decision while looking the other way. All the choices have validity and there is certainly no way any one of them would be wrong. Poor Amako! I know she is very special to you, which is why I suggest you take a little more time to decide what would be best.

Miss M · Nov 22, 2013

Amako is only 10 days into the head tilt, right?

We were hand-feeding and hand-watering Pinto for several weeks... maybe even 6 weeks or so. After a couple of weeks, we were able to feed him from soup mugs in our laps. We'd hold him so he could eat or drink.

We softened his Safeguard medicine pellets with water or pineapple juice, and mixed them with applesauce, or pumpkin, or whatever would entice him to eat. He did not like the Safeguard. We would help him eat it with a spoon. That was a sight... a rabbit eating from a spoon!

He got downright skeletal for a little while. He started putting weight back on faster once we stopped the Safeguard. His backbone still protrudes a little, but I'm not sure why... the rest of him is nice and filled out again.

It was a few weeks into the wry neck before he started being able to clean more than his left front paw.

He does still fall over sometimes, but rights himself much more easily now. He will ask to be held by flopping over, and he'll ask to go back to his carrier by tugging on your clothes.

We have thought maybe he was blind in his up eye, but I don't really don't think he is. Or maybe he's responding to something he hears. I can't tell.

I hope I'm not frustrating you by continuing to tell you about Pinto... I just keep thinking of things... and I hope that by telling you what's going on with him, it will help you decide about Amako.

Most other bunnies, if I'd seen the wry neck, I would have put the rabbit down. But he's my son's pet. My children each had two pet bunnies that were part of our herd. My son's were Pearl and Pinto, my daughter's were Thumper and Squeak. She still has both of hers. Pearl died a couple of years ago of wool block. That's why we've tried so hard to bring Pinto back from the brink. Like Amako... Pinto was one of his first two bunnies.

Zass · Nov 22, 2013

When it comes to wry neck, it's really individual. Some rabbits can live a good life for years, and some can suffer terribly. Trust your guts, because it's a decision only you can make.

I personally would cull, because it's already too hard to find homes for sweet ones in perfect health.

But others? may love and cherish such rabbits for it's lifetime. *shrugs*

akane · Nov 23, 2013

The vet confirmed an ulcer in the eye that is up and she doesn't react to getting hay in it or anything. It's also that glossy blueish color when you shine light on it with no pupil movement. We're also dealing with bacterial caused head tilt not parasitic. The abcess causing the continued head tilt could be in her brain causing neurological damage if there's no ear infection. It would take very serious antibiotics from the vet to kill it all. Maybe with a month or 2 of care she could recover but Amako gave up 3 days ago. She eats and drinks what's put in front of her and most of the time tries to stay upright although she's laying upside down right now but you know how you just get this feeling they've given up on life and don't want to try anymore. That's the main thing affecting my decision.

We're trying motion sickness medicine for the balance issues this weekend and we'll see monday. We did ask and it's $150-$250 for putting down and cremating a little 3lb rabbit at the vet we normally use which is just insane. If it comes to it I will probably put her down myself and then use the pet cemetary and crematlon service a couple towns away.