Looking on the bright side.

So I had already planed this weeks blog, which will have to be slotted in at another time.
On Monday night I saw that our house rabbit Benji had a noticeable head tilt. Not the worse that I have seen on a rabbit but it was unmistakable and he definite didn't have it earlier.
I made an emergency appointment at their first opening which was at 4:45 the next day. In the meantime Benji was still alert and eating and moving with direction and purpose, although he veared off to the left as he hopped away from me. I also had to remove the large water bowl as despite having the entire width of the hallway to circumvent the bowl he stumbled through it, leaving me worrying that he might accidentally drown himself in the night! So I gave him a breakfast bowl and covered every conceivable hard object and piece of furniture in a cushions and blankets, effectively turning the hall way into a soft play!
Upon seeing the vet, luckily the same vet who had noted his irregular heart rhythm on his visit not so long ago, was very thorough in examining him. She watched him hop around and as the night before he moved with purpose and clear direction, just a slight left incline. In extreme cases rabbits roll around with out any ability to control their movement. She looked with with a light in the dark in his eyes, which we both thought didn't quite look right; and despite some disgruntled ear flicking with his dumbo lugs she managed to look down into his ears, which were clear. The vet agreed with my suspicion that he most likely had E.cuniculi, a parasitic infection that attacks the brain and and nervous system. This infection is the most common cause of head tilt in rabbits. we can only hope that we have caught it early enough for the treatment to be effective. he has began a treatment program of panacur paste in the mouth in the mouth once a day for 28 days.
Fingers crossed, I'll keep you up to date with his progress on our facebook.

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